Russia Today

Objectives:• The reasons the Russian economy

improved after 1991• How increased government

controls have set back democratic reform in Russia

• Identify main ideas and details about current issues in Russia

Russia Recovers

• Few nations have experienced quick recovery like Russia

• Did experience an adolescent period– Depression and alcoholism– Violence, crime, and corruption

• Since 2000, Russia has changed at remarkable pace

• Russia has increased inself-confidence– Putin!!

What is this cartoon saying?

What is the building in the background?

VLADIMIR PUTINFormer KGB officer with strong feelings about state controlLEGEND?

Pro• Reduced pol. corruption, crime, and

terrorism• Reforms to banking, private property,

and labor helped Russian econ.• Reduce poverty• Emergence of middle-class families –

DISPOSABLE INCOME• Grew/strengthened military• Became world’s leading producers of

oil and gas• 2014 Winter Olympics

Con• Uncertainty of pensions and wages• Concerns about healthcare• Migration due to unemployment,

pollution, to find work • Emmigration• Censorship of the press• Nationalized oil industry

– SUPERPOWER• Human rights record• Ethnic and religious tensions• 2014 Winter Olympics• Anti-NATO • Chechnya, Georgia• Ukraine / Crimean Peninsula

This image is full of symbolism.

Identify the various Tattoos on Putin’s body and identify whatit represents.

What message is the artist trying to convey?

A

What are the various symbols in this image? What is the cartoonist conveying with his drawing? What is the bias?

What is this cartoon saying about the Olympics?

What is this propaganda poster’s original reference? Where was it employed first?What is the bias?

What do these two cartoons suggest about Vladimir Putin?

Russia Today

Pro• Group of 8

– Anti-terror initiatives/climate change/energy/econ development

• North Korean Six-Party Talks• Supported independence movem’t

– Abkhazia and South Ossetia• Supplies EU energy

Con• Uses oil and gas as “carrot” in global

politics• Ukraine

– Resurrecting Cold War?

• Trade partner with Iran/Syria• Joint military practices with China