Oct 5, 2009

To boost the Russian population, make non-Russians Russian


This is the latest idea from the UN. According to YahooNews, the UN is urging Russia to reform its immigration policies to reduce the impact of labor shortages, slower economic growth and other pressures brought on by its ongoing demographic crisis. Hey UN, I've been saying this for years! Couple problems with that, and at the top of it is xenophobia. Other ground-breaking information on Russia's demographic crisis from the UN report...

For reasons that are not fully understood, Russians suffer very high levels of cardiovascular disease. But most experts blame the country's overall high death rate on alcohol. Drinking has been linked to everything from liver disease to Russia's high number of murders, suicides and fatal accidents.

For this problem, the UN suggests maybe overhauling the healthcare system.

Thank you, UN, for letting us know what everyone already knew.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ern,

It's not just xenophobia. Russia's antagonism toward a more flexible immigration policy is also rooted in anti-Americanism and general anti-liberalism:

http://eng.mvdrf.ru/press/interview/5082/?print

I would mention that many in the U.S. harbor xenophobic and similar "Clash of Civilization" approaches, but this is not the forum for that.

Ern said...

How is being anti-American not xenophobic?

And as always, the same disclaimer, just because I disagree with how something goes down in Russia, doesn't mean I think it's better in America. Quite often I don't.

Pirates(and)Diplomats said...

Lol, Ern.

L: I shudder to think what wonders the UN can now create, given centuries of experience with extra-territorial ethnic minorities living inside Russia's borders.

Anonymous said...

I interpret anti-Americanism as a political emotion rather than a ethnic/cultural one. Certainly one can hate U.S. culture and be anti-American too, but anti-Americans certainly love US movies, US-derived pop music, etc.

That's why I don't like when people shout "Russophobe!" when some critique Kremlin policy.

Ern said...

Well here's a timely article that happens to discuss what we're on about: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/opinion/06iht-edshlapentokh.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

akarlin said...

Russia is not particularly anti-American by world standards. Try the Islamic world and Latin American or that.

It is not xenophobic to be concerned that high levels of immigration will undermine the social and cultural cohesion of the country, and oppose it on those grounds. There are similar concerns in the US - and unlike in Russia, America is a nation of immigrants.

Ern said...

I'm sorry, I completely disagree. Are you not considering all non-Russian post-Soviets as immigrants? Not to mention the influx of Asian immigrants and even a few from Africa.

In the meantime, check out the SOVA center sometime, and see the attacks made on people from Central Asia and the Caucasus, who are only in Russia to work and send money back home.

Ani said...

If you don't think xenophobia is rampant in Russia, you simply haven't been following the news. Did you miss the skinhead rampage that these "Clockwork Orange" guys filmed themselves while killing several guys who were simply walking home?

Anyway, here's an article from Paul Goble yesterday, who has many more you need to remedially read as well: http://tinyurl.com/yaq6dg8