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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-russia-library-idUSKBN16M0PW
First, armed police seized some of its books. Next, its director was put on trial accused of stirring up ethnic hatred. And now, quietly, its shelves have been emptied and its volumes packed up, ready to be merged into another library's collection. A year and a half after Russia's only state-run Ukrainian language library, Moscow's Library of Ukrainian Literature, was dragged into a political dispute between the two countries, Reuters has learnt that authorities are quietly winding it down.
Officially, what is happening to the library -- its 52,000 books are being transferred to Russia's main foreign language library -- is "a change of address" not a closure. But the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, some of the library's employees, and members of Russia's large Ukrainian diaspora say it is a closure in all but name.
Tatyana Muntyan, a library employee, said that even before the transfer its director had reduced opening hours, stopped home lending, halted acquisitions, and made readers show passports to gain entry. The library's director declined to comment. The saga, along with other measures, suggests political differences between Moscow and Kiev are driving a wedge between two peoples whose cultures have been interwoven for centuries. It is likely to stoke Ukrainian fears that their culture, as well as their territorial integrity, is under siege.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @03:17PM (1 child)
Russia is... Russia. Here is what happens when you don't understand Russia:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-09/hillary%E2%80%99s-wars-pt-1-clinton-reset-button-russia-goes-nuclear [zerohedge.com]
Russia likes to feel power. Russia is paranoid. Russia has a pitiful economy the size of Spain, mostly depending on oil and gas. Russia has a history of enslaving neighbors, and Russia feels that this is their right.
This means they enjoy being able to nuke us. Any resistance pisses them off. They will never give up their capability -- they will lie if required, keeping nukes we don't know about. Russia expects to control the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and nearly every country sharing a border with them. (kind of tough with China and the USA though -- yes we share a border at the Bering Strait) This is a country that regularly assassinates people, both at home and abroad, such as the polonium incident in the UK. Polonium is what you use when you want to send a message; only a couple places in the world can produce it. Russia is even hostile to Japan, keeping an island out of spite.
Russia is ever pissed off and jealous. This is not fixable. No policy will make Russia friendly, though hostility may cause greater problems.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by butthurt on Tuesday March 21 2017, @01:29AM
> Russia has a pitiful economy the size of Spain, mostly depending on oil and gas.
The World Bank puts Russia's 2015 per capita GDP, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), between Chile's and Latvia's. Disregarding PPP, your remark is correct.
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?year_high_desc=true [worldbank.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power_parity [wikipedia.org]
Russian propaganda outlet RT put it in an even more favourable light, claiming that the World Bank ranked Russia's total GDP, adjusted for PPP, between those of Japan and Germany.
https://www.rt.com/business/russia-gdp-5th-largest-158/ [rt.com]
When I downloaded the table, it showed Russia one step lower than what the RT story said, between Germany and Brazil.
http://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/GDP_PPP.pdf [worldbank.org]
Regardless, Russia ought to be capable of maintaining a Ukrainian-language library. Ethnic Ukrainians make up about 1.4% of the country's population.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Russia [wikipedia.org]