News Notes

The paper surveys the Russian aluminum industry during the turbulent transition years of the 1990s, and updates developments to the current period. The focus is on primary aluminum production, with emphasis on the key topics of ownership and governance, output and performance, costs of production (dominated by energy and transportation), investments, technology, and alumina and bauxite inputs. Considerable attention is devoted to elucidating the corporate strategies of the two dominant Russian aluminum companies emerging by the end of the period—Rusal and SUAL. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F21, L61, L72. 1 figure, 4 tables, 79 references.     

HMQS Mosquito: the rediscovery and identification of Queensland's first warship

In 2009, the remnants of Her Majesty's Queensland Ship Mosquito, a 2nd‐class torpedo‐boat built in 1883, were relocated. Purchased by the colonial government of Australia in response to heightened tensions between Great Britain and Imperial Russia, Mosquito was assigned to Queensland's capital, Brisbane, where it had a largely uneventful career. Following removal from active duty it was stripped and abandoned on the foreshore of a tributary of the Brisbane River. This paper discusses Mosquito's historical background, and chronicles the rediscovery of the vessel, and the archaeological investigation and identification of its remains. © 2010 The Author     

二叶亭四迷与鲁迅的关系考辨

二叶亭四迷作为日本近代文学的奠基人,在日本文学史中曾被埋没多年。同样,在中日两国的鲁研界,谈及对鲁迅产生影响的日本作家,二叶亭也不在其列。但是二叶亭在鲁迅留日期间发表了大量的俄罗斯文学及文论的译文,这成为鲁迅通往俄罗斯文学道路上的一座重要的桥粱。在小说创作上,因为中日两国近代社会变革和小说流变有着惊人的相似,二叶亭作为筚路蓝缕者,替鲁迅完成了过渡期的挣扎和探索,使鲁迅在高于历史的平台上起步,一举奠定了在中国现代小说史上的地位。     

West European Countries and Their Foreign Policy in the Views of the Russian Liberals of Mid-to-Late Nineteenth Century

The article analyses the perception of the mid-to-late nineteenth-century Russian liberals of the West European states and their foreign policy of the time towards Russia. The article discloses the main features and differences in assessing the West and Russia as its part. It allows to reveal such features in Russian liberalism as common provisions and values typical of world liberal theory and a number of special features which resulted in developing different schools of liberal movement in Russia. The article underlines that the range of liberal ideas varied from selective borrowing of some elements of the western political system to their complete adaptation in Russia. The article focuses on the opinion of a number of national-oriented Russian liberals of the time who put forward a priority task to modernize the country, to implement liberal reforms, but not to strengthen its foreign policy power which, according to them, prevents improving well-being of the people and social stabilization.

The study allows to define a main vector of the ideological pursuit of the Russian liberals, the part of whom tried to enroot the liberal ideas in the backward peasant country.     

Nationalism and revolution: friends or foes?

Nationalism and revolution have generally been held to go together. Many nation‐states have had their origins in revolution, from the Americans in the 18th century to a host of Third World nation‐states in the 20th century. Generally, both modern revolutions and modern nationalism have the same origins, in 18th century Enlightenment thought. But this paper argues that, despite this common origin, the principles of revolution and nationalism are divergent, and can set one against the other. Revolutions emphasise freedom and equality; nationalism emphasises integration and unification. These principles can clash, though not inevitably and not always. The paper examines the 1789 French Revolution, the 1848 revolutions and the 1917 Russian revolution. It shows that in the first two cases, revolutionary aspirations came up against and were eventually displaced by nationalist aims. In the case of 1917, revolution paradoxically, and unintentionally, institutionalised nationalism. These examples show that, though linked at some high level of modern thought, revolution and nationalism express different and at times divergent strands of modernity.     

Variety and Adventure in the Life of Carl Linden

Abstract

In his long life Carl Linden lived variously and wonderfully. For more than half a century he was a teacher and promoter of Great Books in the classroom and in the neighborhood. Great Books in his hands and mind transformed him into a kind of latter-day Socrates, always questioning, always smiling, sometimes teasingly. As a naturalist he was a hiker/biker on the C&O Canal towpath and promoter of it, as well. His scholarly pursuits took him to Eastern Europe, especially to Russia and Ukraine, about which he wrote and taught for four decades. Finally, he was a bon vivant whose Socratic ways won him laurels in the classroom and friends in the places where good fellows meet.     

Russian Revenues from Oil and Gas Exports: Flow and Taxation

A senior Japanese economist traces the flows of revenue derived from oil and gas exports through the Russian economy. The author examines the use of revenues and investigates their contribution to Russia's state and regional budgets in the form of taxes. After detailing the methodological difficulties encountered in measuring revenue streams statistically, he proceeds to approximate their magnitude through intensive use of input-output table data and budget statistics provided by the Russian Federation Ministry of Finance. His investigation of the list of destination countries for Russian oil and petroleum products exports has interesting implications for the study of capital flight from Russia to the West. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F14, H20, Q43. 10 tables, 37 references.     

Regional Distribution of the Muslim Population of Russia

Drawing on the results of the 2002 population census in Russia, an American geographer examines the size and spatial distribution of ethnic groups classified as Muslim. Methods of classification and issues with enumerating the Muslim population and changes since the 1989 census are described and analyzed. Considerable attention is paid to the implications of such a large and territorially concentrated Muslim population under conditions in the post- Soviet era. Demographic, social, and economic differences between Muslims and the rest of the population of Russia are examined. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: I00, J10, O18. 2 figures, 6 tables, 53 references.     

Developments in Russian Gas Production Since 1998: Russia's Evolving Gas Supply Strategy

An American geographer and prominent authority on the oil and natural gas industries and resources of Russia and other former republics of the Soviet Union reports on overall trends in Russia's natural gas production in the years following the country's ruble devaluation and financial crisis. The account—based on systematic in-country observations, discussions/interviews with industry executives, and a review of industry sources—focuses on factors affecting domestic supply and demand as well as export capacity (will Russia have enough gas to meet rising domestic demand while fulfilling its export obligations?), regional patterns of production (and performance of Gazprom regional production enterprises), obstacles to the use of associated gas derived from crude oil extraction, and major pipeline construction projects in West Siberia and the Russian Far East. The paper concludes by outlining CERA's forecast for Russian gas production to 2020, also disaggregated by region. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L71, O13, Q40, Q48. 7 figures, 8 tables, 51 references.