No File Essay

My cherished friend, I regret to inform you that our beloved Soviet society has ceased to exist. Our solid red flag with its magnificent gold emblem of the hammer and sickle flew above the Kremlin for the very last time on Christmas day, 1991. Prior to this gloomy day, eleven of the fifteenth Soviet republics that once made up the strong and prosperous Soviet Union, met in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, to announce that they would no longer partake in the Soviet Union, and had created a Commonwealth of independent states. Our Baltic brothers: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia were the first to break apart, while Georgia remained as the last republic in the Soviet Union. I have served the Soviet Union as Minister of Foreign Affairs

The Soviet Union faced a number of significant challenges during the 1980's. The most obvious challenges were economic. The Soviet Union's command economy, where the government determined output and prices,

The many long-term internal causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union centralized around weaknesses in their economy. They had an inflexible central planning system, the inability to modernize, and the inefficiency in their agriculture production. Sometime around the 1970's the computer and automation revolution had emerged. This revolution took over the West, but practically missed the Soviet Union, except in the military sector (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) Gorbachev's goal in economic restructuring was to create a separation between the economic and the political. The major changes began with the legalization of private farming and business co-operatives, and the allowing of foreign company ownership over Soviet enterprises (Baylis &Smith, 2001) All of Gorbachev's ideas on economic restructuring backfired on him since the price levels were inconsistent, and a sense of social confusion about the future of their state was created.

Major Historical Changes: Russia shifted to industrialization and technology in its frontiers. The land size remained relatively constant

From a century to another and from regime to regime Russians have been accused of empire-building and imperialism. It is not always without a reason, since the Tsarist Russian Empire was clearly and undeniably imperialistic. (Beissinger 1995) However, the case of Soviet Union and especially their rule over Central Asia is more ambiguous and unique. It is highly disputable whether Soviet actions were actions of state-building or actions of empire-building. In this essay I examine Soviet rule in Central Asia in order to find out if it was imperialistic, and if so, to what extent. I argue that there are several facts that support the idea of Soviet imperialism in Central Asia and therefore it is correct to define it as imperialistic. Yet at the same time there are several facts that demonstrate how Soviet Union was very different from earlier Western Empires such as the British Empire. Some evidence even makes Soviet actions to be seen as actions of state-building. Therefore it is to be noticed, that the Soviet Union was not entirely imperialistic and when it was, it was imperialistic in a very unique way.

Document number two supports my argument because it shows how Russia's climate takes a toll on the human development. Russia's extreme climate affects how long its citizens work, how the crops are grown, and how much power is used. These increased demands have a major impact on the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation takes extra lengths to make buildings and machinery that can withstand the cold winters. Instead of having money to further develop the country, Russia must work around the physical aspects like the weather. This

Even though Russia wasn’t founded until 25 December 1991, its history traces back to the 9th century. During this period, the first signs of the country’s infrastructure began. Creation of trade routes enabled empires being supplied, while leading to the country’s growth. When the 10th century hit, we got the first mention of Moscow. At the time, Moscow was a small settlement that would soon become the pre-eminent city in Russia (A Brief History of Russia). By the 15th century, Moscow became the capital of, which consequently became, Russia. Moreover, in the centuries that would follow, Russia would battle through many wars, variety of leaders who wanted to take the country in different directions, weak infrastructure, communism, and failures of economic growth.

“Perestroika [and Glasnost are] an urgent necessity arising from a profound process of development in our socialist society.” (Gorbachev) Gorbachev recognized the need for immediate action because “In the latter half of the seventies...the country began to lose momentum.” (Gorbachev) Gorbachev was correct in this assertion, Soviet GNP was growing at only .7% and “for the first time per-capita income actually dropped.”(Goldman) Services became harder to come by as fewer and fewer resources were devoted to healthcare, education, and transport. (Gorbachev) In addition, economic incentives in the Soviet Union made it so factories focused on quantity rather than quality (Harvard Business Review). The Soviet planned economy gave bonuses to factories that “increased output over the preceding period” (Goldman) The result of this archaic policy was tragic- in some factories 70% of all goods produced did not pass quality standards (Harvard Business Review). The same was true for agriculture: 20% of Soviet crops rotted in the fields (Goldman) and in a highly agrarian economy, this shortfall led to substantial monetary losses. These shortcomings existed because the Soviet economy had not undergone substantial reforms since the days of Stalin. It was Gorbachev who finally realized that a planned economy and an Orwellian state had no part to play in an increasingly modernized and

Russia's is a large country, with plenty of land, but due to air pollution and hazardous waste, most of the land is not usable in regards to growing crops. Only .11% of the land is used for growing crops. The Location of Russia is also not ideal. Waterway traffic does cause some issues in regards to where Russia is located since it borders other countries. The winter is also very harsh on Russia,

According to Smith, some of the Soviet Union legacies are the literacy system, authoritarian government, strong secularism and the urban lifestyle (pg 96). The authoritarian regimes have a great influence on the three territories. The acceptance of lack transparency in their government, such as in the Soviet Union era became part of the territories culture. Not to mention the continuing of the Russian “hard power” influence in the South Caucasus from the use of military and economic ties. Such as, the gas pipelines in the three territories and the military use in Abkhazia and South Ossetia for its alliances with Armenia (pg 96). Unfortunately Russia has taken an imperial approach that does not resonate well because it brings back old sentimental

Russia is the biggest country in the globe. Russia has many positive possessions in their country. For example, they have tons of natural resources. They are the leading source in the globe for natural gas and come in at second place in oil production. When positive possessions are present, so are negative possessions. Russia has been having environmental issues such as pollution and nuclear weapon waste, their government has been suffering, and their relationship involved with ex-members of the Soviet Union are pending.

Russia at this time was a backwards and provincial society: encompassing a vast expanse of territory, the towns were underdeveloped and the

Russia expands throughout northern Asia and most of the Eastern Europe region and it extend from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caucasus in the south. Russia’s total area is 17,098,242 sq. km and covers more than one eighth of the earth’s colonized land areas. This makes Russia the largest country in the world in terms of area, and it’s 1.8 times the size of the United States. Despite Russia being the largest country only 7.3% of its land is arable, which is a result of the unpredictable climate, and lack of proper soil. However, there a many natural resource located in Russia such as, oil, natural gas, coal, minerals, reserves of rare earth elements, and timber. Furthermore, the climate in Russia varies by geographic location. In the cities the temperature is known to be very humid and during the Siberia winter the temperature drops below freezing. For instance, Siberia in the winter is devastatingly frigid, while its summers are generally pleasant, despite a little rain. Whereas in the region near the Black Sea has mild winters, and encounter a decent amount of rain. Throughout Russia there is a vast amount of different landforms. For instance, in central and southern Russia there are larger amounts of fertile areas, marsh, steppes, and massive coniferous forest. Whereas Siberia is a mixture of frozen tundra, hills rising to plateaus, and scattered mountain ranges. However,

Centered on the key infrastructure of Russia is Moscow, the capital city. Most of this great country is underdeveloped and not maintained. Commercial transportation relies on its rail system. About 90 percent of Russian transportation is centrally on the rail system. The Russian trucking industry is only minimally developed, and since it is very underdeveloped, it is not a main source of transportation. The Russian railway system includes a total of nearly 93,000 ft. making it one of the most widely used rail systems in the world. The Russian highway system includes a total of a half a million miles of road. Of the total road system, only half of that is paved. The countries rough terrain has hurt their transportation industry. The Russian waterways are an important element of their transportation infrastructure. The total navigable routes used by the Russian River Fleet amount to 62,761 miles. Russia's most important ports are Arkhangelsk, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow,

The Russian Federation broke down as an independent country on December 25, 1991, giving Russia the voice on an international level. The country is comprised of 83 state like constituent entities of Russia, which includes 21 republics, 46 oblasts, 9 krais, 1 autonomous oblast, 4 autonomous okrugs, and 2 federal cities. Boarding European and Asian countries as well as the Pacific and Artic oceans, the capital city Moscow is located on the west side of the country close to Ukraine and Belarus. The ethnic Russians have a similar appearance to Poles, Ukrainians and Slovenians, with predominantly light skin, thin lips, narrow brows and broad-tipped, protruding noses. Russian hair color is typically ash brown or dark blond with either a straight or slightly wavy texture. The growth rate for Russia has started to decline from last year at a negative 0.06 percent, from the birth rate (11.3 births/1,000 population) being less than the death rate (13.6 deaths/1,000 population). The density of the population is around 23 people per square mile, making it the most sparsely populated countries in the world. As it stands in the year 2016, the population is currently around 143 million spread out mostly in the western area of Russia were the capital Moscow is and most of the government is located. Religion is mostly centered around Russian Orthodox (15-20%) and Muslim (10-15%), with Christian coming in only around 2 percent. Moscow the capital city has hundreds of churches and dozens of