Unit 4, China and Russia

Lately the country of Japan has been at odds with both China and Russia with various land disputes. According to the article, the Kuril Islands or "Northern Territories" as Japan calls them are still being disputed by Russia and Japan. In fact it was interesting to discover that since World War Two Russia and Japan still yet have to sign a declaration of peace over the issue. China is also at odds with its neighbor Japan, due to a territorial dispute over the uninhabited but resource-rich Senkaku Islands, also known as the Diaoyus in China. It was during a meeting between Russia and China that Putin approached the Chinese President with not only this similarity, but the similarity that both countries had stood together before and assisted in the defeat of Imperialist Japan. Both countries intend to celebrate the 70th anniversary of their victory over Fascism in 2015. This is to not only show their military strength, but to show that they are still powerful allies that have overcome a similar  adversary before.

Almost WWIII...........

Everyone should know what the Cuban Missile Crisis is, but in case you don’t it was the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were the two super powers in the world at this time after WWII and it just so happened that American capitalism and Soviet Communism made for an unhappy living arrangement causing the world to be on high alert for WWIII. Most people though don’t know how close we came to fighting a nuclear war. The decision to abstain from war actually rested on one officer’s command.

He was the man who saved the world by single-handedly averting World War Three. At the height of the Cold War, when paranoia on both sides meant the slightest mistake could spark nuclear war, four submarines secretly set sail from Russia to communist Cuba.Only a handful of the submariners on board knew that their ships carried nuclear weapons with them, each with the strength of the bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945.

Vasili Arkhipov, aboard the sub B59, was one of them. As his craft neared Cuba, U.S. helicopters, aeroplanes and battleships were scouring the ocean for Russian subs. In a game of high stakes cat and mouse it wasn't long before the Russians were spotted. Arkhipov's sub was forced to make an emergency dive. As the submariners tried to stay hidden from their US hunters, conditions in the sub deteriorated. For a week they stayed underwater, in sweltering 60C heat, rationed to just one glass of water a day.

Above them, the U.S. navy were 'hunting by exhaustion' - trying to force the Soviet sub to come to the surface to recharge its batteries. They had no idea that on board the submarines were weapons capable of destroying the entire American fleet. The Americans decided to ratchet up the pressure, and dropped warning grenades into the sea. Inside the sub, the Soviet submariners thought they were under attack.

Valentin Savitsky, the captain of B59, was convinced the nuclear war had already started. 

He demanded that the submariners launch their torpedo to save some of Russia's pride.

The programme on Channel 5 revealed how in any normal circumstances Savitsky's orders would have been followed, and World War Three would have been unleashed. And although his men were against him, he insisted that they must not fire - and instead surrender. It was a humiliating move - but one that saved the world. The Soviet submariners were forced to return to their native Russia, where they were given the opposite of a hero's welcome.

With the 22nd 2014 Winter Olympics approaching, Russian president Vladimir Putin has decided that it is time that the Olympic torch be taken back to space. Yes, back. this will be the third time the torch has gone to space, once in 1996 and again in 2000. The only difference being is that this time, the torch will go on its first space walk. This is just one of the many stunts president Putin has done in an attempt to change the perception of Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union for the February 7th Winter Games. the shuttle took off November 7th and returned November 11th safely with Russian Fyodor Yurchikhin, American astronaut Karen Nyberg and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano in Central Khazakstan.

A More Sporting Lifestyle

In Russia a new way to pay for subway tickets has been released. This is by doing squats. As payment for a one way trip on a subway you can do thirty squats in less than two minutes. This is opposed to about ninety cents you would pay for a normal ticket. Failing results in you having to pay for a ticket. There aren’t any participation points.

            This machine was installed for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at the Vystavochnaya subway station. Alexander Zhukov said “We wanted to show that the Olympic Games is not just an international competition that people watch on TV, but that it is also about getting everyone involved in a sporting lifestyle.” Along with these squats new ways are being developed to add a sporting element to Russian lifestyle in preparation for the winter games. They are currently working on exercise bikes to be able to charge a phone and other various electronic devices.

                                                    

Presumed Innocent, but Caged in Court

Assessing the commonly criticized Russian judicial system 

      Russia has a history of being viewed as a corrupt in everything from Government to Economics - however, the Russian constitution seems to give fair rights to those convicted of a crime. At least, these rights are the impression one gets upon reading the constitution. Unfortunately, these preconceptions are shattered when one looks into the proceedings in a Russian courtroom, particularly the "lock docks" which have recently come under fire. 

The Russian band Pussy Riot, after protesting at a church, was charged with hooliganism and tried in a Russian court of law. Pictured above, the band is held in a metal cage in the courtroom during the trial. Does this image not lend itself to the idea these women have already been weighed, measured, and found guilty?

The Russian legal system places virtually all defendants in lock docks such as this one, defying the new age cultural norm of only restraining potentially violent criminals, and doing so discretely. The implications of such actions are two fold - defendants are presumed guilty when entering trials and justice is heavily obstructed throughout because of the process. “There is a joke,” Mr. Golubok said, “that in the cages, the defendants were like animals, and the glass cages are like aquariums; the defendants are fish.”

Without the ability to communicate with one's client, how could one expect a coherent defense to be put together? The presumption of guilt is a fatal flaw in the Russian legal system and needs to be rectified if Russia can ever be expected to rise out of the global cries of corruption and fraud. 

US Currency

In Russia currently, the banks support US currency. You can trade this directly at banks without having to worry about the exchange rates and all the nuances that come with that. A poll went around 130 cities in Russia getting approximately 1,600 respondents with a 3.4 percent margin of error. The poll shows that one in every four Russians support the proposal to ban US currency from circulation and savings deposits. 39 percent wanted the currency to remain legal and 32 percent had no opinion. This poll was run by the state-run VTsIOM pollster because of a bill proposed by a state lawmaker last week.

40 percent of the 28 percent who wanted to ban the US dollar completed an elementary level of education. More than half of the opposing side were highly educated. This statistic alone shows how various education levels view every day decisions.

This bill was because of the belief that the dollar was on the brink of collapse and needed to protect the russian economy from an economic disaster. Whether or not this is the case, we will find out in time.

Orthodox Icons

The Russian Orthodox Church is very into icons. They are believed to be windows into heaven, a link to the divine on the mortal plane. The mosaics are unique in the way they seem dematerialized and abstract.The figures are often painted onto a golden background. It makes the image seem to flicker in the candle light. Halos are also commonly used in Orthodox icons. Also known as nimbus or  auroras, they surround saints, prophets, Jesus and Mother Mary. One of the reasons icons are so useful is they were used to teach the illiterate. Paintings, mosaics, and statues could communicate the stories of the bible quite well to those who couldn't read it for themselves.

Plane crash in Russia

A Russian plane crashed a day ago, killing the 50 people on board. The plane crashed seemed to be caused by losing control of the aircraft, earlier that day the pilot had trouble landing the plane and eventually lost control. The aircraft that crashed was a Boeing 737, and in the crash teams found the tape of the cockpit's recordings, which is a crucial piece of evidence when piecing together why the crash happened. The Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee provided the teams to investigate the crash, The committee investigates crashes all over the former Soviet Union. They figured out that the crash was loss of control, but both pilots had sufficient experience, but not with second landings, which could have been the pilots' downfall.

I recently discovered that there are a number of buildings with crazy architectural structures created by Russians. The first of which being the crematorium in Kiev, Ukraine.

The second being the Central research institute of robotics and technical cybernetics, Saint Petersburg.

The third being the The House of the Soviets, Kaliningrad.

The forth being the Sports and concert complex "Amalir", Yerevan, Armenia.

And the fifth being the Recreation and retreat centre Druzhba (Friendship) in Yalta, Ukraine.

Although not all of these are located in Russia, they were all created by the imaginative minds of Russian architects.

Images can be seen on http://sploid.gizmodo.com/five-crazy-buildings-that-were-actually-made-by-russian-1468557202/@kcampbelldollaghan

The Fox says “привет!”

The Fox says “привет!”

Animal enthusiasts the world over are excited about an astounding new breakthrough in the domestication of the Siberian Fox.

An experiment, which was founded by scientist Dmitri Belyaev around the year 1959 as an attempt to explain the differences in fur between wolves and dogs, has succeeded in producing a relatively large species of the fluffy creatures with the benign temperaments of many modern pets... Sort of a hybrid between cats and dogs.  They can be taught tricks and commands (and, if purchased, will almost certainly come equipped with prior knowledge of the basics, to be dictated in your favorite Russian dialect). They eat anything from grain-free dog food to fruits and vegetables, or the occasional small rodent. The only real remnant of their past life is that they evidently hold-on to a ‘puppy-like’ energy, never outgrowing their energetic whims to play and chew.

On a more scientific note, the study is famed for supporting an “interplay between behavioral genetics and development”, which will assist future scientists  in deducing how already domesticated animals (such as pigs and cattle) evolved from their ancestors. The foxes experienced behavioral, morphological, and physiological changes as a result of their breeding and upkeep, resulting in a desire to socialize with humans, offspring increasingly prone to floppy ears, changes to the tail length, and a loss of the distinct “musky” odor that would typically label them as wild.

Anyone interested in purchasing one of these rare Russian foxes can do so for the bargain price of $8900 (shipping and handling included). They will, however, be sterilized before leaving the country to ensure the existence of only one genetically tame line.

 

Check it out, if you’re interested:

http://scienceblogs.com/thoughtfulanimal/2010/06/14/monday-pets-the-russian-fox-st/

http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/1999/2/early-canid-domestication-the-farm-fox-experiment

http://www.domesticfox.com/