Term
| What term is given to the small group of Russians, like Mikhail Prokhorov, who acquired tremendous wealth in the 19000's after the collapse of the soviet union? |
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Definition
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Term
| What two factors contribute to this region having a relatively simple prevailing climate pattern (albeit a harsh one)? |
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Definition
1. The absence of mountainous terrain, except in the far south and east
2. the lack of any significant moderating influence os south and east, and the lack of any significant moderating influence of oceans and seas means that the prevailing climatic pattern is relatively simple. |
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Term
| Although the west siberian plain is mostly inhospitable for settlement and agriculture, what two natural resources are found here in significant amounts? |
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Definition
| Oil and natural gas reserves |
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Term
| Briefly explain how the northernness of the region limits the use of its rivers for navigation and for generating hydropower? |
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Definition
| Many rivers are frozen for much of the year, whereas the mouths of some remain frozen through the spring, causing backed-up meltwater to flood extensive areas of wetlands. |
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Term
| What two reasons are given for the industrialization world significantly slowing down atomic power plant construction? |
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Definition
| Unresolved safty considerations and the failure to develop a safe, permanent means of disposing long-lived nuclear waste |
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Term
| What has the Russian Federation been doing at low cost to address one of these reasons? |
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Definition
| The russian federation undertakes to store or reprocess highly radioactive nuclear waste from other countries at a relatively low price. |
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Term
| How does Salinization occur? |
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Definition
| It is caused when water evaporates from the surface of the land and leaves behind sals that it has drawn up from the subsoil. |
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Term
| What does Salinization do to crop yield levels? |
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Definition
| an excess of salt in the soil seriously affects the yields of most crops, yields remain comparatively low, despite irrigation |
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Term
| What sea, once the 4th largest lake on the planet, has shrunk 10% of its original size due to excessive withdrawals of water? |
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Definition
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Term
| What feature, described as "the pearl of siberia" because of its pristine beauty and unique ecology, has been threatened by human and industrial waste from facilities like the Baikalsk pulp and paper mill? |
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Definition
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Term
Briefly describe the difference between winter and summer in terms of amount of daylight in the russian tundra.
(winter) |
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Definition
| the tundra landscape has a uniformity that derives from snow cover and the somber effect of long nights and week daylight , the sun remaining low in the sky. There is little sign of life, apart from herds of reindeer or occassional polar or fox |
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Term
| riefly describe the difference between winter and summer in terms of amount of daylight in the russian tundra. (summer) |
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Definition
| Vegetation burst into bloom, and animals, birds, and insects appear. The days are long-in june the sun circles the horizon, and there is no night at all. |
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Term
| What 2 factors make agriculture chancy in the taiga environment? |
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Definition
| poor, swampy soils and short growing season make agriculture chancy |
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Term
| Although agriculture is not significant here, what resource, covering 90% of the territory, is extremely valuable for russia? |
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Definition
| 90% of the territory is covered with forest, and more than a quarter of the russian federation's lumber production comes from the region |
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Term
| What characteristic of the post-soviet economic transition in russia has meant that environmental regulations are easily ignored or circumvented? |
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Definition
| The ubiquitous corruption |
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Term
| what 3 cities established along the silk road, became places of glory, wealth, and intellectual achievement in discipline like mathematics, architecture and astronomy? |
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Definition
| Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva |
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Term
| What century did russia acquire its eastern territories, including a pacific coastline for the first time? |
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Definition
| seventeenth century acquisitions |
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Term
| What method is the principal source of furs for the world fur market today? |
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Definition
| Fur farming (raising animals in captivity under controlled conditions) rather than trapping |
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Term
| What % of the world supply of pelts does russia produce? |
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Definition
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Term
| What were the main factors behind russia's imperial expansion over the centuries? |
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Definition
| the factors behind expansion were the drive for more territorial resources (especially a warm-water port) and additional subjects. The difference for russia, however, was that vast stretches of adjacent land on the Eurasian continent were annexed |
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Term
| describe what lenin's federal system of the union of soviet socialist republics was intended to do in regards to the ethnic and national diversity of the country? |
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Definition
| he believed that this federal system, with each republic defined according to the geographic extent of ethanol communities, would provide different nationalities with a measure of political independence |
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Term
| how were each of the (eventually 15) republics defined? |
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Definition
| according to the geographic extent of ethnonational communities, would provide different nationalities with a measure of political independence |
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Term
| What soviet leader masterminded the rapid industrialization of the soviet union through severe exploitation, repression, convict labor, and even death of dissidents in the 1930s |
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Definition
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Term
| What 3 broad criteria did soviet planners seek to follow in order to shape the economic geography of the soviet unions state socialism? |
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Definition
1st-the idea of technical optimization
2nd- the idea of fostering industrialization in economically less-developed subregions, such as central asia and the transcaucasus
3rd-consideration was secrecy and security from external military attack |
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Term
| what do the authors describe as the "critical economic failure" leading to the demise of the soviet union? |
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Definition
| was state socialism's inherent inflexibility and its consequence inability to take advantage of the new computerized information technologies that were emerging elsewhere |
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Term
| what was the crux of the problem that resulted in the global financial crisis that began in fall 2008 hitting russia so hard? |
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Definition
| is the it depends on the outside world to provide much of the cash that keeps the financial system afloat |
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Term
| the decline of the traditional industrial sector in moscow has been mitigated largely by the rise of which three industries in other economic sectors? |
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Definition
| new sectors in the economy, particularly in tourism, retailing and banking |
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Term
| What city, originally designed to be a new capital city for russia by peter the great, is once again realizing its gateway between europe and russia? |
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Definition
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Term
| least urbanized to most urbanized? |
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Definition
| central asia, transaucasus, russian federation, and belarus |
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Term
| what event resulted in the reduced number of men aged 70 and older as well as the relative lack of men and women in their early 50s, in mid-1990s russia? |
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Definition
| the effects of WW2 and the reduced birthrates |
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Term
| which 3 former soviet republics had more than 30% of their populations being ethnic russians? |
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Definition
| estonia, latvia, and kazakhstan |
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Term
| what group represents the fastest-growing religious group in russia? what is the primary reason for this growth? |
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Definition
| Because of the higher birthrates, muslims account for the fastest-growing religious group in russia |
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Term
| What lang. family dominates the Central asian countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Kyrgyzstan? |
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Definition
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Term
| briefly describe the negative impacts on russia's women in terms of wages and political representation since the breakup of the soviet union |
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Definition
| women's wages were 70% of mens, the were only 3.4% of the seats in russian parliament were women and their were none in government at the ministerial level |
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Term
| What group's independence movement was at first ignored by russia, but eventually resulted in a bloody war, numerous human rights atrocities and terrorist acts in russia |
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Definition
| chechen independence movement |
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Term
| Russa launched a brief war against which transaucasus country inn 2008 over south Ossetia? |
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Definition
| separatists of south ossetia |
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Term
| Which central asian country now relies on russian federation troops to defend its border after the russians intervened in its 1993 civil war? |
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Definition
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Term
| What term does russia use to describe its special sphereof geopolitical influence comprised of the former soviet republics, especially those containing large numbers of ethnic russians? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is described as an "essential precondition for pluralist democracy"? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| a society in which members of diverse groups continue to participate in their traditional cultures and special interests |
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