Sunday, December 22, 2024

Russians Today Associate Stalin with Victory and Order and See Him as Model Russian Ruler, ‘Svobodnaya Pressa’ Informal Survey Finds

Paul Goble

Sunday, December 22, 2024

    Staunton, Dec. 20 – On the 145th anniversary of the birth of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, Svobodnaya Pressa journalists conducted an informal survey of Russians on the streets of Moscow. They found that Russians today feel that Stalin is the embodiment of victory and order and thus is the model Russian ruler.  
    Although the survey was not conducted among anything resembling a representative sample and although those sharing their views may not have wanted to say anything to someone they did not know that might put them at odds with the Kremlin, the answers they did give suggest how successful Putin has been in getting Russians to look past Stalin’s crimes.
    (For the poll, see svpressa.ru/reports/sptv/442873/ and the attached video recording of Russians’ answers.)

Sunday, December 22, 2024


Fertility Rates Falling across the World But Not in Post-Soviet Central Asia

Paul Goble

Sunday, December 22, 2024

    Staunton, Dec. 20 – Over the last three years, fertility rates – the number of children per woman per lifetime – have fallen across the world from 2.23 in 2022 to 2.19 in 2024 and are now below replacement levels almost everywhere including in Russia. But there is one region that is an exception: the countries of post-Soviet Central Asia.
    There, according to Moscow observer Konstantin Dvinsky, statistics show they have risen in four of the give countries over the last 20 years and so the population there will continue to rise and at least for some time be a source of migrant labors for other countries, such as Russia (iarex.ru/articles/143234.html).
    Between 2003 and 2023, fertility rates rose from 2.07 to 3.01 in Kazakhstan, from 2.5 to 3.5 in Uzbekistan, from 3.42 o 3.5 in Tajikistan and from 2.59 to 3.5 in Kyrgyzstan, reversing earlier declines and making Central Asia an outlier as far as demographic behavior of the world’s regions is concerned.
    According to Dvinsky, this is good news for Russia because it means that the Russian Federation will be able to count on Central Asia as a source of immigrant labor well into the future.  

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