Soft power,Russia and the former Soviet states: a case study of Russian language and education in Armenia*

Abstract

As in human relations, attraction can be an influential force in international relations. A well-known tool in Western countries, in Russia ‘soft power’ has come into play mainly under Putin’s presidency in the 2000s. This paper focuses on language and education as sources generating ‘soft power’. It looks first on the institutional framework progressively established to attract and integrate culturally the former Soviet space. Second, it studies the evolution of the Russian language and education in Armenia. The findings suggest that even if the previous decline in the usage of Russian has been reversed, the monopoly once enjoyed by this language seems to be over. Russian is promoted in a multicultural environment – alongside English, French, German or Chinese – which reflects the new geopolitical reality. Multicultural landscape characterises also the Armenian higher education system.     

黑龙江省边境贸易探析

边境贸易作为一种特殊的国际贸易方式,是毗邻国家在其边境地区进行的经济联系与交往。本文探讨了黑龙江省同俄罗斯远东开展边境贸易的区位条件与因素,分析了该省边境商品贸易的现状特征,在此基础上,探讨了对中俄边境贸易的制约因素与发展对策。     

跨国地区的空间经济联系与格局特征研究——以中国东北三省与俄罗斯远东联邦区为例

以中国东北三省和俄罗斯远东联邦区为研究对象,运用区域经济等级、经济联系强度、地缘经济匹配等研究中俄跨国地区空间经济联系与格局特征,研究表明：2010—2019年,(1)俄远东繁荣的经济区与停滞的落后区两极分化现象显著。一级经济区位于滨海边疆区、哈巴罗夫斯克（伯力）边疆区、萨哈（雅库特）共和国、萨哈林（库页）州,二级经济区分布在阿穆尔州、外贝加尔边疆区、布里亚特共和国,三级经济区包含堪察加边疆区、马加丹州、犹太自治州、楚科奇自治区。(2)中国东北三省与俄远东区的经济联系强度不断增强,同其毗邻东向的滨海边疆区,北向的阿穆尔州和哈巴罗夫斯克（伯力）边疆区的经济联系量最多。空间上,中国东北三省与俄远东不同地区（南部>西部>东北部）经济联系差异较大,呈“南高北低、西高东低”的格局特征。(3)中国东北三省与俄远东多数联邦主体隶属于地缘经济互补型,表现出距离越近的联邦主体、竞争关系较强,距离越远的联邦主体、互补关系较强的态势。     

The Effects of Climate and Socio‐Demographics on Direct Household Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Australia

Household CO₂ emissions are a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions and consequently climate warming. Despite this, there has been little consideration of how household CO₂ emissions may be affected by changes in climate. The aim of the present study has been to investigate the way climate, as well as socio‐demographic characteristics, may affect household CO₂ emissions produced from energy use. A national online survey was conducted to determine current household CO₂ emissions in Australia as well as capture the ownership and use of household appliances and installations. Electricity and gas‐based emissions as well as the ownership of a variety of household appliances and installations were found to be strongly associated with temperature. Electricity and gas emissions were found to decrease as annual average temperatures increase. However, as temperatures continue to rise under climate change this pattern may be reversed owing to increased reliance on air conditioners. One option for preventing this from occurring is to encourage houses to adopt more solar‐passive installations. Although this may be expensive, households with higher emissions tend to have higher incomes, indicating that they may have the capacity to pay for such installations.     

Measurements of gas permeability and diffusivity of tight reservoir rocks: different approaches and their applications

Permeability and diffusivity are critical parameters of tight reservoir rocks that determine their viability for commercial development. Current methods for measuring permeability and/or diffusivity may lead to erroneous results when applied to very tight rocks including gas shales, coal, and tight gas sands, as well as rocks considered as seals for nuclear waste repositories and strata for geological sequestration of CO₂. The use of He as routinely applied to measure porosity, permeability, and diffusivity may result in non-systematic errors because of the molecular sieving effect of the fine pore structure to larger molecules such as reservoir gases. Utilizing gases with larger adsorption potentials than He, such as N₂, and including all reservoir gases to measure porosity or permeability of rocks with high surface area is a viable alternative, but requires correcting for adsorption in the analyses. This study expands several approaches to measure permeability and diffusivity with considerations for gas adsorption, which has not been explicitly considered in previous studies. We present new models that explicitly correct for adsorption during pulse-decay measurements of core under reservoir conditions, as well as on crushed samples used to approximate permeability or diffusivity. We also present a method to determine permeability or diffusivity from on-site drill-core desorption test data as carried out to determine gas in place in coals or gas shales. Our new approach utilizes late-time data from experimental pressure-decay tests, which we show to be more reliable and theoretically (and practically) accurate than the early-time approach commonly used to estimate gas-transport properties.     

近代俄国的历史观念与国族意识——以历史学家米留可夫为例

俄罗斯随历史发展成为领土辽阔的庞大国家。随时间与空间的延续,生活在其中的人竟然无法就国族文化得到共识。十九世纪的知识阶层独立于政权之外展开社会自发的国族论述。从早期斯拉夫派与西方派的国族本质辩论,到革命前政治意识型态之争,国家历史是知识分子最重要论述依据。历史学家应能发挥专业长才,贡献于审视国族文化,却又往往被视为与知识阶层隔绝。本文以莫斯科学派的米留可夫为例,探究历史学家的国族观念。米留可夫无法认同长期受浪漫主义唯心哲学主导的俄国社会思想,主张经验历史的重要,如此才能建立正确的历史知识,找到真正的国族文化。他希望用客观的方法替代过去以人类精神为主体的理论架构,因此为俄国历史学和国族论述添上了新的一页。     

Obsidian provenance for prehistoric complexes in the Amur River basin (Russian Far East)

The sources of high quality volcanic glass (obsidian) for archaeological complexes in the Amur River basin of the Russian Far East have been established, based on geochemical analyses by neutron activation and X-ray fluorescence of both ‘geological’ (primary sources) and ‘archaeological’ (artifacts from the Neolithic and Early Iron Age cultural complexes) specimens. A major obsidian source identified as the Obluchie Plateau, located in the middle course of the Amur River, was found to be responsible for supplying the entire middle and lower parts of the Amur River basin during prehistory. The source has been carefully studied and sampled for the first time. Minor use of three other sources was established for the lower part of the Amur River basin. Obsidian from the Basaltic Plateau source, located in the neighboring Primorye (Maritime) Province, was found at two sites of the Initial Neolithic (dated to ca. 11,000–12,500 BP). At two other sites from the same time period, obsidian from a still unknown source called “Samarga” was established. At the Suchu Island site of the Early Neolithic (dated to ca. 7200–8600 BP), obsidian from the ‘remote’ source of Shirataki (Shirataki-A sub-source) on Hokkaido Island (Japan) was identified. The range of obsidian transport in the Amur River basin was from 50 to 750 km within the basin, and from 550 to 850 km in relation to the ‘remote’ sources at the Basaltic Plateau and Shirataki-A located outside the Amur River valley. The long-distance transport/exchange of obsidian in the Amur River basin in prehistory has now been securely established.     

Climate protection or privilege? A whole systems justice milieu of twenty negative emissions and solar geoengineering technologies

In this study, we utilize a large and diverse expert interview exercise (N = 125) to critically examine the whole systems justice issues associated with ten negative emissions and ten solar geoengineering technologies. We ask: What equity and justice concerns arise with these 20 options? What particular vulnerable groups could be affected? What risks do these options entail for communities or the climate? Utilizing a “claims making” approach, we examine existing and prospective injustices across a pluralistic whole systems framework analyzing (i) resource extraction issues including minerals, chemicals, and fertilizers (ii) manufacturing, labor and ownership concerns, (iii) transportation-network and land-grabbing dynamics, (iv) unfair and exclusionary policymaking and planning, (v) operational injustices resulting from deployment and use, and (vi) waste flows, liabilities and disposal requirements. We then explore how these potential concerns culminate in a milieu of injustice cutting across the dimensions of distribution (who gets what), recognition (who counts), participation (who gets heard), capabilities (what matters), and responsibility (who does what). We conclude with insights for both policy and future research.     

《俄事警闻》《警钟日报》与反缠足运动

20世纪初,以宣传、鼓吹社会革命为中心的《俄事警闻》、《警钟日报》,将反缠足问题纳入救亡图存、解放女性的社会变革运动中,揭露缠足的危害,引导女子反思,劝导女子不缠足;将戒除缠足与救亡图存、强国保种和提高女性权利结合起来,宣传女子不缠足对女子自身健康和繁衍种类的积极作用,促成女性自觉醒悟,放弃缠足;用近代西方进化论和女权学说论证缠足是陋俗、国耻;将解除女性生理束缚和精神钳制联系起来,创办女学和女工传习所,提高女子思想文化水平,培养女子谋生能力,以达到女性最终能自立自强。20世纪初年的不缠足运动不但要解除女性的生理束缚,而且开始倡导女性的精神解放,推动了女性解放运动向纵深发展。     

The Russian Orthodox Church and ‘Patriotic’ Support for the Stalinist Regime during the Great Patriotic War

Soviet wartime propaganda and contemporary Russian work on the activities of the Orthodox Church during the war promote the Church’s claim that it was motivated by patriotism, a point it used to claim legitimacy in the USSR and now in contemporary Russia. In contrast, this paper argues that the hierarchs and laity of the Patriarchal Church were not essentially motivated by patriotism or the desire to show loyalty to the Soviet regime in 1941, but instead acted to use the war to achieve three goals: first and most important, to become relevant in the everyday life of the Soviet people by promoting Christian beliefs and values; second, to earn legitimacy in the eyes of anti-clerics and non-believers by lending moral and practical support to the war effort; and finally, to obtain legal standing by showing its trustworthiness and loyalty through displays of Russian (not Soviet) patriotism consonant with its historic role, all the while without endorsing communist ideology. The hierarchs orchestrated a campaign from the top down throughout the clerical hierarchy, to achieve the aforementioned goals whilst from below the faithful, independently of the hierarchs, used their local displays of patriotism as leverage to reopen local churches and to force the regime to respect their right to worship. The grassroots response by believers and parish clerics in support of the Church and its wartime activities represents primarily an endorsement of the Church, Christianity, Russian patriotism, and only secondarily, if at all, loyalty to the Stalinist regime.