Not Willing to Sacrifice the Bonus of a Single Frankfurt Banker
Few things I’ve read recently are more depressing than this WSJ article about European, and specifically German, enabling of Putin’s and Russia’s aggression:
Opposition to economic sanctions as a way to penalize Russia runs from 36% in Germany to 23% in Great Britain, to 15% in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, according to a YouGov poll taken across Europe from March 21 to 27.
In an interview with the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said he found Mr. Putin’s actions “absolutely understandable” and urged Germans to reflect on history before condemning the Kremlin.
“More important than appealing to international law is the historical development of Crimea,” Mr. Schmidt said. “Historians are divided over whether there is even such a thing as a Ukrainian nation.”
Gerhard Schröder, who as chancellor until 2005 developed a close friendship with Mr. Putin, has expressed his understanding for Russia’s “fear of encirclement” by the West.
Mr. Schröder’s pro-Russian leanings are well known in Germany. The ex-chancellor, now chairman of a gas-pipeline venture majority-owned by Russian state energy giant Gazprom, once deemed Mr. Putin a “flawless democrat.”
While not condoning the Crimea annexation, Mr. Schröder has made light of Russia’s violation of international law, saying that Germany and NATO also broke international law when they bombed Serbia without U.N. authorization—a precedent that Mr. Putin also cites.
Ms. Merkel has used tough rhetoric against Mr. Putin and warned the crisis could inflict “massive damage” on Russia. Much of the German press panned Mr. Schröder, Mr. Schmidt, and other “Putin-understanders” and “Russia-understanders” for excusing 19th-century-style military aggression.
But the sympathetic tone strikes a chord with the German public and some elites. Siemens AG chief executive Joe Kaeser cited the two former chancellors’ remarks in justifying his controversial visit to Mr. Putin last week.
Among Germans polled on March 31 and April 1, 49% said the country’s foreign policy should represent a “middle position between the West and Russia,” whereas 46% said Germany should stick to a firm alliance with the West, according to polling company infratest dimap. In another poll taken in mid-March, half of Germans said the EU should simply accept Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
“People who say ‘Russia-understander’ never understand what they are talking about—it’s either black or white for them,” said former German Ambassador to Russia Ernst-Jörg von Studnitz. “Many people call me that, and I don’t mind at all.”
Germany appears dead set on making the French look grateful.
This whinging about Russia being “surrounded by enemies” and having “defenseless borders” and being threatened by Nato expansion is so much bologna. Nato has neither offensive capability or intent. Russia has more strategic depth than any nation in the world. Just ask Charles XII, Napoleon or Hitler. As they all found out to their bitter chagrin, you can cross Russia’s borders, only to get lost in the trackless wastes that lie beyond.
And if Putin is so worried about Nato moving closer to Russia’s borders, why is he making moves in Ukraine that would move Russia’s borders closer to Nato?
Russian “fears” about a Nato invasion threat are not based in reality: they are either paranoid delusions, or contrived, or both.
Germans whine about not wanting another Cold War. Sorry, Fritz: this isn’t your choice. Putin has a vote too. Or to paraphrase Trotsky: you might not be interested in another Cold War, but another Cold War is interested in you. Courtesy of Vladimir Vladimirovich.
In large part due to the heavy burden of its horrific past, Germany wants a vacation from history and civilizational conflict. But Putin is on a civilizational mission, and if he is not stopped now, he will continue to push until some confrontation occurs in the future.
But to achieve this, Germany is not willing to sacrifice the bonus of one Frankfurt banker, let alone the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier. And indeed, it appears that mercenary considerations are paramount. German business leaders, notably from Siemens (one of the world’s technology leaders-as well as a leader in bribery and corruption), are bleating about the economic costs of even mild economic measures against Russia.
Looking over the past several years, it becomes clear that such commercial considerations are paramount in Berlin. Germany abjures any leadership role when it comes to Russia, rationalizing this choice by harking to its bad experience with Führers. But when it comes to German money in Greece or Spain, Germany was quite willing to throw its weight around and push policies that advance German economic interests. That is, it’s not about historical burdens making Germans shirk from leadership. It’s about German commercial interests causing it to conduct a passive foreign policy sometimes, and a very heavy-handed one at others.
In other words: le perfide Allemagne. The common denominator in German policy towards Europe and Russia is what benefits German industry and German banks. Germany’s foreign policy is ultimately corporatist, and the country is quite willing to sell the rope that hangs some poor Eastern Europeans.
Germany has never hesitated to preen about its moral superiority, and to attack the US in particular for doing the dirty work that has kept Germany free and prosperous for going on 70 years. The pretense is beyond annoying.
Germany is enabling Putin, and for the most crass commercial reasons. Its policy is due neither deference nor respect.
This is a bit jumping to conclusions . It’s true that business and popular opinion in Germany is in an appeasement mood, however, unusually so, the political class (including the greens) and the press sounds very hostile to Putin. How much practical effect this is gonna have is not yet clear, but the mood in Germany is very different than even just a couple months ago.
Comment by Krzys — April 4, 2014 @ 8:30 pm
@Krzys-One response, re the Greens. I attribute their hostility precisely to the fact that they are the most anti-business party in Germany, and do not have the close connections to business that the other parties do (including the SPD). So that actually supports my point.
The irony is that it is normally the Americans who are accused of bending over backwards to satisfy their corporations, when in fact their anti-corruption laws and various sanctions harm them considerably. But as I pointed out when Schroeder was appointed to the board of the Nord Stream consortium, Europe usually ends up doing what they imagine – wrongly – America do be doing.
The other ironic thing is that these last 5 years or so have made Dubya look like one of the finest statesmen of his generation. That is some achievement by all the others.
Comment by Tim Newman — April 5, 2014 @ 1:45 am
@Tim-You are spot on as always. It is a staggering achievement to make Dubya look like Metternich. Your observation re FCPA is also exactly right.
There is a Snowden/NSA angle here as well. As James Woolsey wrote years ago, yes, the NSA conducts surveillance on European companies precisely because of their proclivity to pay bribes.
Your remark re European imagination of what Americans do is also apposite. I would just add that they construct those imaginings to rationalize their conduct.
“Russia has more strategic depth than any nation in the world.”
Liar. The US has far more.
Comment by PailiP — April 5, 2014 @ 11:02 am
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/497472.html
Chocolate Plant Shuttered Amid Ukraine Crisis
LIPETSK, Russia — After three years of court cases involving authorities and competitors, Taisiya Voronina thought she had seen everything in Russia’s rough and tumble business environment.
That was until a final ruling this month sent dozens of armed police and plainclothes officials through the Ukrainian-owned chocolate factory she manages in southern Russia.
Her factory now shuttered, Voronina, who wants little to do with politics, fears she may become another victim in a struggle for influence between Russia and the West in Ukraine.
Dozens of men searched her office, took away armfuls of documents and questioned the general director for most of the night, asking questions she said had little to do with the criminal case which has been opened against her — a case she rejects.
She is charged with conspiring with unnamed others to use a registered trademark illegally to “extract additional profits.” Her factory workers in the town of Lipetsk suspect they know better.
“It is because of Ukraine,” they whisper, blaming the lack of work on the factory’s owners, the company Roshen and its billionaire boss, Petro Poroshenko, front-runner in Ukraine’s presidential election.
With work now stopped and the factory’s accounts frozen, Ukraine has called the move “a dangerous precedent,” a possible prelude to the confiscation of Ukrainian businesses in Russia as punishment for pursuing closer ties with the West.
Comment by elmer — April 5, 2014 @ 11:16 am
“Russia has more strategic depth than any nation in the world.”
Liar. The US has far more.
What if Canada and Mexico were allied with China?
Comment by So? — April 6, 2014 @ 1:17 am
@elmer,
Oh Crimea a chocolate river! In Lvov, a stupid Russian sovok Igor Churkin was gullible enough to buy the Lvov Bus Factory (LAZ). The city never paid for the deliveries, he sued, they counter-sued, they lost, and then simply expropriated the company from him. This was well before Maidan. Serves him right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YewTRVnfPU
Comment by So? — April 6, 2014 @ 1:37 am
I guess PailiP failed geography as well as history…..
Comment by Andrew — April 6, 2014 @ 2:44 am
Russia pulled Ukraine from the abyss. Who is Ukraine going to sponge off now? Everyone is talking about tanks and soldiers, but no-one wants to talk about money, let alone lend any, let alone donate any.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2014/04/03/russia-helped-ukraine-but-now-ukraine-needs-more-imfs-lagarde-says/
BTW, the economic provisions of the EU association agreement, the signing of which has been conveniently postponed to occur after the elections, would mean the death of Ukrainian heavy industry. Now I’m all for economic rationalism, and most of this industry is in the Russophone Sovok East, but does it not explain the East’s Europhobia just a little bit? Ukraine’s heavy industry is obsolete and uncompetitive in Europe, but it is still somewhat competitive in the CIS, and Russia is where most of its market is anyway.
Comment by So? — April 6, 2014 @ 4:42 am
If Canada&Mexico were allied to China, lol
Such is the ahistorical fantasizing one must indulge in to conjour up a land military threat to the US.
So SWP’s still a liar.
Comment by PailiP — April 6, 2014 @ 11:32 am
@So
you are relying on a Russia propaganda outfit – Russia 24.
The katsaps from the Rasha 24 “news channel” also included screaming headlines about the Lviv “khokhols” and “banderovtsi” – favorite boogemen of Kremlinoid idiots like Putler and his bunch of thugs.
Igor Churkin and his brother bought LAZ.
There was a criminal proceeding brought, but it was dropped in 2009.
story is here – http://zaxid.net/home/showSingleNews.do?kriminalnu_spravu_proti_vlasnika_lazu_zakrito&objectId=1070323
seriously – you may eat up the stupid Kremlinoid troll propaganda put out by the Rasha Kremlinoid trolls, but noone else does.
“katsap” == “kak tsap” – like a goat, referring to those Rashans who like to demean Ukrainians by calling them “khokhols”
BANDERA – boogey, boogey, boogey – have a heart attack, So, BANDERA is hiding beneath your bed and is coming to get you and Putler and everyone in the Rasha
Comment by elmer — April 6, 2014 @ 11:54 am
The phrase “crazy like a fox” comes to mind, but to describe Merkel, not Putin.
Consider: three months ago, the eastern edge of the EU sphere of influence was Poland, and there was a constant low-level diplomatic niggle over the status of Ukraine – was it in the Russian sphere of influence, or was it heading towards EU membership?
Now, Putin has Crimea, but the eastern edge of the EU sphere of influence is Western Ukraine, and the debate is now over the status of the rest of Ukraine.
That rather looks to me as if the EU has come out of this struggle having gained half a province, and Putin lost any hope of getting control of the whole of Ukraine.
These guys know that they’re in a Cold War and have been fighting it, at the lowest of low temperatures, for the last five years. They’re actually much better at it than you’re giving them credit.
Comment by dsquared — April 7, 2014 @ 1:39 am
Bandera may have been Jesus and Mother Teresa combined, but he will never be considered a hero in the East. It’s a fundamental schism, and no amount of forcing him down the throats of Easteners will ever make him anything but a terrorist to them. The fact that the Westerners are refusing to acknowledge this fact and persist can only mean they don’t want to keep the country unified anyway. Soon they will get their wish and Galicia and Ternopil will join Europe all on their own. Western Ukrainians will get the opportunity they always dreamed of – to do low-paid unskilled labour in Poland and Germany without a visa.
Comment by So? — April 7, 2014 @ 3:47 am
@So
BANDERA BANDERA BANDERA- boogey boogey boogey
dezinformatsiya, provokatsiya, maskerovka and agitprop
The only ones making BANDERA into Jesus and Mother Teresa are Putler and the Kremlinoid, in an effort to scare the shit out of the Russian people, and in an effort to keep Putlerism alive.
It doesn’t matter whether it is BANDERA, Jesus or Mother Teresa – Putler and his Kremlinoids are deathly afraid of all of them.
So Putler sends some thugs into 3 cities in Eastern Ukraine to “demand a referendum” – just like in Crimea.
Except that people in Ukraine don’t want Putlerism – and neither do the oligarchs in Ukraine.
One of the jokes in Ukraine currently is:
“I have stopped speaking Russian”
“Oh, really, why, because you are afraid that Ukrainians will beat you up for speaking Russian?”
“No – I’m afraid that Putler will come to ‘save me'”
Another one, involving a call from St. Petersburg to Ukraine:
“Hi, I hear that the fascists have taken over Ukraine”
“No, so far the fascists have only taken over Crimea”
So, can’t you get the Kremlinoid troll control center to feed you some new stuff?
That BS about Western Ukraine splitting off, and about cleaning toilets, is about
20 years old now.
People in Ukraine do not want Putlerism.
Only the paid thugs hired by Putler want Putlerism.
Watch out for BANDERA, So – he is hiding in your closet and he is coming to get you.
boogey, boogey, boogey
Comment by elmer — April 7, 2014 @ 7:52 am
>> Watch out for BANDERA, So – he is hiding in your closet and he is coming to get you.
He definitely is: people are gradually learning the truth, and the “East” defined as the territory poisoned by sovok propaganda is visibly shrinking both in size and in demographics every year as the “So?”s are going extinct. This is why the fascist Russia is desperately trying to occupy Ukrainian territories now: when the generation born during independence starts dominating Ukrainian politics, it will be hopelessly too late. Let’s hope it’s too late already.
Comment by Ivan — April 7, 2014 @ 8:59 am
More insanity from the Putin machine, of course the writer was appointed by Putin in 2007…..
http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-crimea-and-the-good-hitler/25322600.html
We’ve been hearing a lot from Moscow about all the Nazis and fascists purportedly running around Kyiv lately. In fact, the only place you could probably hear more references to Nazis than on Russia’s state-controlled media is on the History Channel.
But the fiercely pro-Kremlin daily “Izvestia” seems to have crossed into entirely new territory with a piece by Andranik Migranyan on April 3 (a big h/t to Vladimir Kara-Murza for flagging this first).
Migranyan heads the New York office of the “Institute for Democracy and Cooperation,” an NGO set up under President Vladimir Putin in 2007 to monitor human rights in Western countries. His piece in “Izvestia” is basically a hit job on historian Andrei Zubov, who lost his job at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations after writing an article comparing Putin’s annexation of Crimea to Adolf Hitler’s seizure of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland in 1938.
Thing is, Migranyan doesn’t really refute Zubov’s claim. Instead he writes that we need to — brace yourself — distinguish between the “good Hitler” and the “bad Hitler.”
And who exactly was this “good Hitler” of whom Migranyan speaks?
“We should distinguish between Hitler before 1939 and Hitler after 1939, and separate chaff from grain,” he writes.
“The fact is that while Hitler was gathering German lands and he united Germany, Austria, the Sudetenland, and Memel without a single drop of blood. If Hitler stopped at that, he would be remembered in his country’s history as a politician of the highest order.”
Blogging on the article at “World Affairs Journal,” Kara-Murza appeared nothing short of flabbergasted.
“Just when you think Vladimir Putin’s propaganda cannot sink any lower, it invariably does,” he writes.
“Perhaps someone could remind Andranik Migranyan and his Kremlin overseers of the track record of this ‘politician of the highest order’ and ‘gatherer of German lands’ prior to 1939 — including the establishment of concentration camps and the public burning of books; the purges of ‘non-Aryans’ and the creation of the Gestapo; the closure of newspapers and political parties and the establishment of a one-man dictatorship; the Nuremberg racial laws and Kristallnacht. But of course they already know that.”
Migranyan’s article comes as the State Duma is debating legislation that would impose stiff fines and prison sentences for publicly justifying Nazism. The recently bill cleared its first reading and is expected to be passed into law in time for the May 9 Victory Day holiday.
The irony was not lost on Gazeta.ru, which asked, “What kind of fascists is the Duma afraid of?” in an April 4 editorial suggesting that, in the Kremlin’s eyes, not all Nazis are created equally bad.
“The bill…is directed against the so-called national-traitors who disagree with the course of the president — those that propagandists today lightly call fascists,” the online publication opined. “But any stick — even a police baton — has two ends. And the law could also be useful for those anxiously reading in Izvestia about the ‘good Hitler’ who only turned bad after 1939.”
— Brian Whitmore
Comment by Andrew — April 7, 2014 @ 11:36 am
It is very clear that Putler and Dugin want to interfere with the upcoming presidential elections in Ukraine very, very badly.
Hence, all of the thug provocateurs running around like hyenas, screaming about Moozer Oily Orthodox Rasha.
dezinformatsiya, provokatsiya, maskerovka and agitprop
Meet the moron separatists —-
http://euromaidanpr.com/2014/04/07/three-myths-about-separatism-in-eastern-ukraine/
Three myths about separatism in Eastern Ukraine
At a time when pro-Russian activities continue to take place in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv areas, Espreso TV has decided to debunk a few myths that have managed to form in mass consciousness, most notably in the mass media of “brotherly” Russia.
Myth #1: Separatist leaders in Eastern Ukraine are local and have popular support
All separatist activity in the Eastern regions follows the same scenario, which more or less follows the one used in Crimea: demonstrators under the Russian flag choose so-called “people’s governors.” But in the absence of real public support, these “people’s governors” are individuals who not only lack authority on the regional level, but who also are completely unknown to the general public.
The first such pseudo-governor was a certain 29-year-old Pavlo Hubaryev. His biography has already appeared in the Russian Wikipedia and tells of a heroic struggle for the “Russian idea,” starting in 2004, as well as participation in Natalia Vitrenko’s Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine. However, it appears the Hubaryev character had no authority even in Vitrenko’s political group, which specializes in political clowning and is known primarily for the idiotic declarations of its exalted leader.
The main occupation of this Hubaryev was managing a company that organized New Year’s parties for children. In other words, the “people’s governor” worked as a hired Santa Claus — an occupation, which while not at all shameful, certainly does not indicate great authority and social prestige.
After Hubaryev’s arrest, the Donetsk separatists put forward another “people’s governor” — Denys Pushylin, an employee of a commercial organization called “Sweet Life.” This separatist is known only for his past activity as head of one of the divisions of the notorious MMM financial pyramid in Ukraine. So the “people’s governor” continues to work for thieves. It’s just that earlier he worked for Russian economic thieves. Now the scale of his employers has increased somewhat — he is working for political thieves.
In the Luhansk region, the separatists elected as “people’s governor” a similarly unknown person– Oleksandr Kharytonov, leader of the “Luhansk Guard.” Like his “colleague” Hubaryev, Kharytonov also comes from Vitrenko’s party, whose ratings have long been within the margin of statistical error. Therefore, it is not surprising that most people in Luhansk never even suspected that such a politician existed.
The “people’s governor” of the Kharkiv region is somewhat better known in his region, but certainly not for his positive qualities. Ihor Masalov, the “people’s governor” of the Kharkiv region, is the head of the “Honor and Dignity” front and the director of the “Kremlin Strategy” center. This individual, a former Komsomol member, is now a member of the Party of Regions and an activist in Viktor Medvedchuk’s “Ukrainian Choice.” In Kharkiv, Masalov is known primarily for heading up the joint stock company “Salamander,” in actuality a financial pyramid through which, as local media reported, Masalov cheated some 100,000 people. Additionally, Masalov managed a funeral services business. Therefore, this “people’s governor” turns out to be a common crook and undertaker. However, his connection with the “Medvedchuk choice” obviously speaks for itself.
Myth # 2: The movement to join Russia has broad popular support
The Russian mass media, in addition to other lies, is actively spreading the myth that most of the population in Southeastern Ukraine is waiting impatiently for Putin, the liberator on a tank, while dreaming of a reunion with brotherly Russia. The reality indicates something quite different. Most of the opinion polls have demonstrated that the idea of uniting with Russia is supported only by a minority of the population in Southeastern Ukraine, even in occupied Crimea. This is why Putin’s popular support for the “referendum” in Crimea was possible only because of Russian troops.
To realize that the separatists do not have broad support in the Southeast, it suffices to look at the number of participants in the pro-Kremlin rallies — they rarely exceed 1,000 people, which is not a lot for cities with populations of a million –Donetsk and Kharkiv — but also for Luhansk, which has a population of almost half a million. Therefore, the “massive” pro-Russian rallies in Donetsk on average attract 0.1% of the population. In Donetsk, one could speak of a massive movement if 100,000 people came out on the street, or even 50,000. However, protests numbering 1,000 to 1,500 participants point to large-scale provocations rather than a broad popular movement. Even among these people, “tourists” from a neighboring state are widely represented.
Therefore, the available human resources for Putin’s puppets are very limited and sufficient to provoke unrest only in three oblasts simultaneously. Putin’s plan for a “Russian Spring” in the entire Southeast has apparently failed, which is why the separatists are concentrating their efforts only on three key areas that have become a sort of Russian springboard for further Russian advances: the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv oblasts.
Myth # 3: Law enforcement is conniving with the separatists
Lately it is a rare person who fails to criticize law enforcement for its imitation of counteraction against the separatists, especially after events in Donetsk and Kharkiv, where people were injured and even killed. However, it must be understood that Ukrainian law enforcement has to deal with the separatists while taking into account the enormous forces of the Russian army, which are concentrated in the immediate vicinity of the “hot” border areas. One must not forget that large-scale actions to disperse the separatist rallies can become an excellent pretext for invasion by the neighbor’s troops in order to “protect the Russian-speaking population.” This is exactly why law enforcement has adopted the tactic of bloodless suppression of separatist activity.
Also, one must not forget that every day police are detaining separatist activists and that the “national governors” Hubaryev and Kharytonov have been residing in prison for some time. Additionally, law enforcement has managed to establish some control over the tourist-separatists arriving through the rather leaky Russian-Ukrainian border.
Therefore, law enforcement carefully but systematically is trying to negate the separatist efforts of the Kremlin while being careful not to provoke violent confrontations or even military aggression in the country.
Comment by elmer — April 7, 2014 @ 12:36 pm
@Andrew,
“The fact is that while Hitler was gathering German lands and he united Germany, Austria, the Sudetenland, and Memel without a single drop of blood. If Hitler stopped at that, he would be remembered in his country’s history as a politician of the highest order.”
Get a German drunk enough, and he’ll admit that much as well. You have to know when to to stop. For example, Bush Sr did, Bush Jr didn’t. Heck your own Führer did pretty well right up until 080808.
Comment by So? — April 8, 2014 @ 2:05 am
@elmer,
Russia has nothing to do with Donetsk. Putin is a colonial pipeline administrator. He got his shallow waters for the South Stream – mission accomplished! Russia has spent zip on propaganda and promotion of the Russian language in Ukraine. Most money is spent on white elephants like Russia Today.
The real separatists are in Kiev. Nikolaev is a Russian city, with only 12 (out of 68) Russian schools. Do you think this is normal and the people will tolerate this indefinitely? So go ahead, ban the Russian language, turn V-day into mourning day, canonize Bandera… After all the Easterners are zero-initiative vatniks, bydlo, slaves, it’s only Moscals stirring them up.
Comment by So? — April 8, 2014 @ 2:34 am
What fuhrer in Georgia So? He lost a free and fair election and is gone?
Georgians once again outperform Russians in development of a modern society.
Of course comparing anything to Russians is setting the bar pretty low….
BTW So? how many students can learn their native non Russian languages in a state school in Russia? None.
Non Russian languages are banned from state schools, and have been for a few years now.
Meanwhile in Georgia and Ukraine, you can still study in minority language schools.
Comment by Andrew — April 8, 2014 @ 3:00 am
dezinformatsiya, provokatsiya, maskerovka and agitprop
Andrew – everything you say is true.
But where have I heard the crap that So spews before? Oh – from Lavrov! There are no Rooshan tourists, there are only separatists from within Ukraine! There is no Rashan military in Crimea – only little green men in military outfits without insignia who are “self-defense” squads.
And the bit about Rashan schools in Ukraine – how laughable.
It is another pink fuzzy monkey that the Kremlinoid trolls dreamed up.
To which the answer is:
“In Ukraine, people are free to speak out in Russian.
In the Rasha, people are not free to speak at all.”
ФАК КРЕМЛЬ
ФАК ПУТЛЕР
Comment by elmer — April 9, 2014 @ 8:00 am
Andrew,
> Georgians once again outperform Russians in development of a modern society.
Wait, you are confusing Russia and Swaziland:
List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita
44 Estonia 24,450
45 Lithuania 24,356
46 Russia 23,589
47 Poland 22,783
48 Hungary 22,635
49 Latvia 21,810
99 Ukraine 7,298
103 Bhutan 6,591
104 Armenia 6,544
108 Angola 6,006
109 Georgia 5,833
110 Mongolia 5,374
113 Swaziland 5,161
Comment by vladislav — April 11, 2014 @ 3:34 am
Andrew,
> Non Russian languages are banned from state schools, and have been for a few years now.
What is it that compels you to invent new, newer and newest lies, Andrew? Is it genetic, or did your mom accidentally drop you from the 5th floor when you were young?
Not only non Russian languages are NOT banned from state schools, but in thousands and thousands of schools in Russia the entire education is in these minority languages:
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%85_%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B8
Образование на языках народов России
Среднее образование
В школах:[6][7][8]
Язык Число школ с преподаванием на языке Число школ с преподаванием языка как предмета численность народа в России
год 1995/96 1997/98 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2013/14 1995/96 1997/98 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2002 (перепись)
Аварский 584 592 497 589 537 502 514 586 549 814 473
Адыгейский 31 36 35 37 20 106 123 131 129 128 528
Азербайджанский 5 7 6 6 6 69 73 65 72 621 840
Алтайский 63 64 62 65 64 106 115 121 128 67 239
Армянский 2 6 7 3 7 34 17 19 16 1 130 491
Балкарский 23 17 10 8 5 68 78 88 89 108 426
Башкирский 892 906 884 886 911 838 1222 1424 1426 1 673 389
Бурятский 144 138 146 143 140 298 347 338 344 445 175
Грузинский 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 4 197 934
Даргинский 233 233 186 188 187 281 219 290 289 510 156
Иврит 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 229 938
Идиш 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 3 3 229 938
Ингушский – – – – 0 92 103 104 111 413 016
Кабардинский 106 92 86 74 74 179 188 208 219 519 958
Казахский 1 1 1 1 1 107 70 89 92 653 962
Калмыцкий 42 56 64 66 71 220 204 196 200 173 996
Кумыкский 72 91 75 73 71 175 184 177 176 422 409
Лакский 70 74 75 71 79 105 107 102 106 156 545
Лезгинский 148 122 149 137 148 199 215 214 210 411 535
Марийский (горный) 41 43 39 33 20 34 47 40 38
Марийский (луговой) 298 283 276 259 258 374 433 433 410
Мордовский (мокша) 137 134 110 113 117 137 118 127 121
Мордовский (эрзя) 101 95 96 97 83 134 142 144 154
Осетинский 64 57 58 53 45 202 160 199 197 514 875
Табасаранский 71 69 70 57 71 103 118 123 125 131 785
Татарский 2374 2406 2280 2207 2166 757[9] 2185 2400 2524 2469 5 554 601
Тувинский 150 151 152 151 153 129 140 142 147 243 442
Удмуртский 56 55 48 44 44 469 431 464 452 636 906
Хакасский 17 18 10 10 12 96 96 88 93 75 622
Черкесский 8 7 7 8 7 41 43 41 43 60 517
Чеченский 20 23 21 18 19 52 53 472 482 1 360 253
Чувашский 628 602 592 593 571 404 439 429 451 1 637 094
Эстонский 1 1 1 1 1 – 1 1 1 28 113
Якутский 430 419 426 441 445 75 99 98 94 443 852
Всего 6826 6803 6482 6439 6334 8841 9619 10 608 10 532 24 809 544
Comment by vladislav — April 11, 2014 @ 4:27 am
Ah Vladislav, your reading comprehension fails as usual.
I said a modern society, not economy.
In a modern society there are things like the right to free speech. Democratic transfers of power between government and opposition etc. Media freedom.
In these and many other indicators of a modern society Georgia is well ahead of Russia.
As to the language component in Russian Federal schools. Once again you are full of it.
Nice try but the figures are for 2002. Also the article has not been updated to reflect the homogenising policies introduced by Putin.
There have been significant protests in Tatarstan in particular.
And also your claim on LR as well as So?s that Georgia was not allowing minority language education is a lie
According to the Georgian Law on General Education every citizen of Georgia has a right on receiving secondary education in native language if Georgian is not their native. But in addition it is also obligatory to teach state language in such school as well. Today Georgian government is funding
141 Armenian-language schools.
117 Azerbaijani-language schools
151 Russian-language schools
3 Ossetian-language schools.
161 bilingual
6 trilingual schools
In order to provide equal opportunity for every citizen of Georgia to receive higher education in 2008 first time national examination in general skills was conducted in Azeri and Armenian languages as well.
One major difference between Georgia and Russia is the ability of Azeri and Armenian students to take national exams in their own language.
Meanwhile in Russia:
Instead, individual schools will decide. Or, in practice, the federal Ministry of Education and Science, whose writ runs in those schools. And the ministry has issued guidelines stipulating that no elements of the “national component” are to be taught on state time, as it were.
What this means for Russia’s 21 nominally autonomous republics and other ethnic minorities represented at other levels is difficult to overstate. Their struggle to retain their cultural and ethnic identities in today’s Russia is truly a desperate one.
In the Republic of Bashkortostan, a few thousand demonstrators took to the streets this week, while Tatarstan’s President Mintimer Shaimiyev has said the removal of the “ethnic component” from the educational curriculum is “unacceptable.”
The reaction has been strongest in Tatarstan and other predominantly Muslim regions in southern Russia. Speaking in August last year, the chief mufti of Perm, Muhhamedgali hazrat Huzin, said he does not want to become an “Ivan without a history.” In words that might have been borrowed straight from Medvedev’s speech two months earlier, the mufti said that for a civilized country where the rule of law prevails, “ethnic diversity is a grounding value.”
http://www.rferl.mobi/a/Apparently_Russia_Needs_Just_One_National_Component/1614655.html
Comment by Andrew — April 13, 2014 @ 5:49 am