For over a year now the Obama administration has been planning to put $50 million in aid in order to promote democracy and civil society in Russia. It is said to be used as an effort to "advance rule of law, to advance accountable government and to strengthen civil society."
Vladamir Putin had accused the American officials of attempting to cause unrest in Russia, causing conspirac rumors about what the money is supposed to do. Many people became fearful of the US interference in Russia's private sector, while others thought the money would be welcomed.
This kind of investment of "enterprise funds" are not new, ie. the SEED Act in 1989 and the US-Russia Investment Fund. They have proven to have impacted development in the private sector as will as positively influenced the Russian civil society. They're also evidence in addressing human right concerns.
The US officials have claimed that they have nothing to hide in terms of where the funding for Russia is going."
MP:3 Comment: 7
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I was reading this and I know that it could have some positive effects for Russia...but I also think the US tries to shove themselves in on everyone's business.
If Russia doesn't want the US to be involved, I really REALLY don't think we should push our money on them. Especially since we probably just want them to take our money so we can use it for leverage later (because no one does anything anymore "just to be nice").
Also, I have no knowledge of economics but isn't money dumping sort of a bad thing? Also, I know the US wants to give Russia money to "promote democracy" but what if Russia really doesn't want a democracy? Is that still a possibility?
Sometimes I wish I lived in Canada where no one does anything.
I agree with Hannah, Russia probably don't really want the US involved in the future of their nation. If we are "giving" aid, it's probably being misappropriated. The only way to really promote democracy would be to do things like Project Citizen and things like that. Also, Russia is in a sense becoming more democratic. In the recent elections and on the internet, there have been numerous protests which the Russian government has done little to control.
ReplyDeleteRussia resents the United States because it has a history of world war 1 and from there. When Nicholas II was executed along with his family we tried to send in Allied forces to defeat the Communists and restore democracy to Russia. Sadly we lost and Communism won and they didnt trust us because we wanted to get rid of their system and we did "fight" them during the Cold War. We always say bad things about them whenever they do things that protect their National Security from Chechen rebels because the way they see it it protects Russia and if your not Russian you really have no rights there. We dont like Putin due to this ties with alot of Rouge States in the world so its easy to see why they would think we are trying to overthrow Putin with someone more free and pro-American although thats hard to find.
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