The Russian people have been so brainwashed by the “let’s procreate to stop the brown and the yellow threat” propaganda that they unashamedly peddle these ideological goods overseas. Here is the opening paragraph from an article by a Russian journalist in Foreign Policy:
“Russia needs babies” may as well be the unofficial slogan of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia Party. The country is in a demographic crisis, shedding 2.2 million people (or 1.6 percent of the population) since 2002, and the government is trying to encourage more women to bring Russian citizens into the world.
First of all, there is no “demographic crisis” in Russia. There are racist scary tales but the “crisis” only exists in the heads of Russian nationalists. Our planet is at risk because of overpopulation. This means that any discussion of how people are not procreating enough has to be motivated by racism. The numbers this pseudo-journalist provides are, obviously, all garbage. The migration into Russia has been huge and any “loss” of population has been amply compensated for by the new arrivals. The journalist coyly refuses to mention that the only population she deems worth counting is the white and blue-eyed.
Readers have probably now started wondering why I keep harping on this topic. The truth is that I am deeply convinced that the tendency not to take Russia seriously and not to pay any attention to it since the fall of the Berlin Wall is a huge mistake. The same people (or their children) are still in power in Russia. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a huge symbolic event. Its practical dimensions, however, were limited.
Racism, xenophobia, contempt for everything Western, and religious fanaticism are being promoted in Russia right now. Nobody wants to pay attention, however, because today’s narrative in North America is that Russia has been democratized, now all attention should concentrate on bringing the joys of democracy to the Arab countries. This attitude is as unreasonable as it is short-sighted.
Clarissa's Blog 
I haven’t heard of a “demographic crisis”, but the Russian woman expats I’ve talked to in America say that there’s a lot of single men in Russia because the women get sick of the limited opportunities there and go to Western Europe or North America to get an education, a job, and eventually a life partner so they don’t have to go back. Is there any truth in that, or are they just describing their own situation?
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Within Russia itself, the dominant narrative is that of the shortage of men, not women. The main topic of discussion on any Russian-speaking blog is “Where are the men?” Male mortality is ridiculously huge (the draft, alcoholism, poor healthcare). The average life expectancy for a Russian man is 54. 😦 This means that many men die in their 40ies and even 30ies because of heart disease, stroke, and many other alcohol-related issues. As a result, any single man – even a total alcoholic who is horrible towards women and hasn’t made a dime in a decade – is fought over by a group of highly intelligent, successful, professional beauties willing to feed him, clothe him, and be beaten by him in exchange for not being single. For a woman, being single is considered pretty much the worst thing that could happen.
So it’s a very sad situation no matter how you look at it.
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“Nobody wants to pay attention, however, because today’s narrative in North America is that Russia has been democratized…”
huh…
Today’s narrative in Western Europe is that Russia is a population of violent, drunken bigoted men; broken down old women who live on cabbage; and pretty blonde young women who are either targets for sex traffickers or pretty blonde fan-girls of Vladimir Putin who are even more bigoted than the men. The population is ruled over by ruthless, human-rights hating, power-hungry clique of ex-KGB men who cheat our companies, black-mail us using their natural gas pipe-lines, run the weird propaganda channel “Russia Today” and war with the gang of Yeltsin era neo-criminal super-capitalist oligarchs that emerge into the comfortable west occasionally to buy up a yacht, a football team or a newspaper.
Oh, and they have one chess grandmaster who believes in Freedom – but he got beat by a computer, so how much good is he gonna do?
😉
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“Nobody wants to pay attention, however, because today’s narrative in North America is that Russia has been democratized…”
huh…
Today’s narrative in Western Europe is that Russia is a population of violent, drunken bigoted men; broken down old women who live on cabbage; and pretty blonde young women who are either targets for sex traffickers or pretty blonde fan-girls of Vladimir Putin who are even more bigoted than the men. The population is ruled over by ruthless, human-rights hating, power-hungry clique of ex-KGB men who cheat our companies, black-mail us using their natural gas pipe-lines, run the weird propaganda channel “Russia Today” and war with the gang of Yeltsin era neo-criminal super-capitalist oligarchs that emerge into the comfortable west occasionally to buy up a yacht, a football team or a newspaper.
Oh, and they have one chess grandmaster who believes in Freedom – but he got beat by a computer, so how much good is he gonna do?
😉
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The part about the chess grandmaster is hilarious. The guy has become such a joke, it’s sad.
The narrative you describe is, in any case, better than the American belief in Russia on its way to democracy.
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Russia is clearly regressing from the putative democracy of Yeltzin to a form of Tsarist serfdom under Putin. The West is extremely unwise to ignore this malignant development. Population decline may have adverse consequences for the elderly, but since most men do not live to be old, this is primarily a serious problem for women. No wonder so many younger women migrate elsewhere.
The future of Russia depends almost entirely on its women. So if the best women leave first, that is a serious problem.
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That’s exactly what’s going on. I’m glad that there are people who realize what the dangers are.
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Most of what I read about Russia is about its return to authoritarian rule under Putin; hadn’t heard about the birth-rate panic there, though. (I had known that racism was pretty bad in Russia, from the experiences of a Russian friend of North African heritage and also my uncle, who teaches in Russia sometimes and has hosted a visiting professor from Afghanistan. He was very worried about this professor’s security while he was in Moscow.)
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well, most of the non-white minorities in Russia want to secede their territory, and do not consider themselves Russia, so the “white demographic crisis” does pose a direct threat to Russia as a nation.
As for the Russian girls being so desperate their willing to accept alcohols as husbands, I disagree with this. the problem is the opposite – that the Russian women would rather remain single and childless than accept a lower-class man. not that i don’t blame them, but you get my point.
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‘that the Russian women would rather remain single and childless than accept a lower-class man”
-Not a lower-class man as much as a man who is not ethnically Russian.
‘well, most of the non-white minorities in Russia want to secede their territory, and do not consider themselves Russia, so the “white demographic crisis” does pose a direct threat to Russia as a nation.”
-Not as a nation but as an empire. Of course, I, of all people, can hardly be expected to commiserate with Russia’s possible loss of its imperial possessions.
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