Russification

[Tommy_Carcetti]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russification

Russification (Russian: русификация rusifikátsiya) is a form of cultural assimilation process during which non-Russian communities give up (whether voluntarily or not) their culture and language in favor of the Russian one. In a narrow sense, Russification is used to indicate the influence of the Russian language on Slavic, Baltic and other languages, spoken in areas currently or formerly controlled by Russia, which led to the emerging of russianisms, trasianka and surzhyk. In a historical sense, the term refers to both official and unofficial policies of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union with respect to their national constituents and to national minorities in Russia, aimed at Russian domination.

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Crimea did not always have large amounts of ethnic Russians living in it. Neither did Eastern Ukraine.

The seed for the current conflict was planted decade, even centuries, ago. And I think the planters knew exactly what they were doing.

[Enthusiast]

1. Maybe we should attack them! The Russians!

[jsr]

7. The world must act now before Russia builds a nucular weapon or something

[Enthusiast]

8. Yeah! Like Iran!

[Starry Messenger]

2. Russophobia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russophobia

Russophobia or Anti-Russian sentiment refers to a diverse spectrum of negative prejudices, dislikes or fears of Russia, Russians, or Russian culture. The opposite sentiment—Russophilia—is also known.

There exists a wide variety of mass culture clichés about Russia and Russians. Many of these stereotypes were developed during the Cold War,[1][2] and were used as elements of political war against the Soviet Union. Some of these prejudices are still observed in the discussions of the relations with Russia.[3]

Negative representation of Russia and Russians in modern public discourse is also often described as functional, as stereotypes about Russia may be used for framing reality, like creating an image of an enemy, or an excuse, or an explanation, for compensatory reasons, etc.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Decades after the end of the Cold War, Russians are still portrayed as "Hollywood's go-to villains".[11]



Nationalism usually leads down some weird paths. In any country.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

4. We're not talking about Natasha and Boris here.

We're talking about imperialism and forced cultural assimilation.

[Starry Messenger]

6. Well, making it illegal to speak Russian should soothe the whole situation, for sure.

[Igel]

12. Since you're arguing by wiki link,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma


There's a large gap between forced assimilation and making Russian illegal.

The first happened, both in Russia and the US.

Nobody in Ukraine's saying to make Russian illegal. Only the Russian press is carrying rumors that this is *really* what the fascist Ukrainians want to do--it's a threat, you'd better fight it now before the blackguards impose that on us.

That's nice, but they're really invading over fictitious fears that they deem real. They can't even point to a bit of legislation that does more than repeal the requirement of full equality everywhere--even though it wasn't fully equal everywhere. The East was supported in speaking Russian by having a large Russian media and entertainment industry to support them, having the entire government speak Russian until 1993, having most university and educated people speak Russian first and foremost.

They fear losing "white privilege," Ukraine style. When in charge, only their opinion and language counts. When not in charge, they must have privileges and rights that their lessers weren't offered.

And many defend this. Still haven't figured out why.

[Starry Messenger]

14. The OP is a wiki link

Only 17% of Ukriane is Russian speaking.

These justifications for a right-wing takeover of the government are fascinating.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Actually the OP refers to a well understood process

going all the way back to Peter and Catherine the Great. You do know the term Czar is a variation of Caesar. Both Peter and Katherine and their descendants applied this process, which was a modification of the process used by Rome itself.

The US uses a variation of this, more in line with Athens and Athenian imperialism which had more respect for local cultures. But with large doses of Rome as well.

And what Putin is doing right now is trying hard to revive the Empire and the place of Russia among nations. He has not made a secret of it. No, this is not American propaganda, it's well known, he's even made statements on this, such as the USSR should have never died.

Now, whether this leads to a major war or not, I have no say. I am a mere peon in the games of those who play the grand chess game. That is another story altogether.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. But we are here, and it is now.

I don't think the Zionists will decamp from Israel, either. Nor will Caucasians decamp from the New World.

[jberryhill]

5. Reunite Gondwanaland!

[Enthusiast]

9. I would favor Laurasia.

[JVS]

11. There are five options in increasing levels of difficulty.

1. Accept Ukraine is multi-ethnic and don't topple the government for being friendly to Russia. A lot of Ukrainian citizens support friendly relations with Russia.

2. Keep the whole country united but do away with democratic government so you don't have to put up with pesky voters electing Russian-friendly politicians.

3. If this is unacceptable, redraw borders to try to keep Russian and Ukrainians in different states.

4. If this is still unacceptable, begin ethnic cleansing by evicting on an ethnic basis.

5. And if you've already rejected all of the above without realizing that you're deep in the violation of human rights, try killing off the population on an ethnic basis for a full descent into barbarism.

[Igel]

13. Basically.

But (1) was largely rejected.

And the response from the Ukrainians was the second half of (1).

(2)'s possible, but it's a zero-sum game: Russian-friendly mean "Ukrainian hostile." The trope that Ukrainians were fascists is second only to the meme that Ukrainians are all louts. Even Khrushchev, a Russian, suffered the taint of being associated with the rustic bumpkin Ukrainians. Yanukovich didn't even think keeping an agreement with the Ukrainians was worth thinking about. What truck do the superior Russians have with the inferior Ukrainians?

3 will lead to 4. Except that the definition of "Russian" is 3-way ambiguous: ethnic, linguistic, and nationality. Putin's blurred it considerably by not only saying ethnic Russians are under "real threat," but by saying that he defends all "Russian speakers" (many of whom are ethnic Ukrainians), and also Russian "interests." Add to that the issuing of Russian passports to Berkut and other Russian or Russianized Ukrainians, and you get all 3 kinds of ambiguity mixed.

Most Russophiles here wouldn't notice (5) was happening unless Putin told them.