Socialism has offered mankind the only reasonable principle of maintaining relations between states at a time when the world is divided into two systems—the principle of the peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems, put forward by Lenin. Peaceful coexistence of the socialist and capitalist countries is an objective necessity for the development of human society.
War cannot and must not serve as a means of settling international disputes. Peaceful co-existence or disastrous war—such is the alternative offered by history. Should the imperialist aggressors nevertheless venture to start a new world war, the peoples will no longer tolerate a system which drags them into devastating wars. They will sweep imperialism away and bury it.
Peaceful coexistence implies renunciation of war as a means of settling international disputes, and their solution by negotiation; equality, mutual understanding and trust between countries; consideration for each other’s interests; non-interference in internal affairs; recognition of the right of every people to solve all the problems of their country by themselves; strict respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries; promotion of economic and cultural co-operation on the basis of complete equality and mutual benefit.
Peaceful coexistence serves as a basis for the peaceful competition between socialism and capitalism on an international scale and constitutes a specific form of class struggle between them. As they consistently pursue the policy of peaceful coexistence, the socialist countries are steadily strengthening the positions of the world socialist system in its competition with capitalism.
Peaceful coexistence affords more favourable opportuni-ties for the struggle of the working class in the capitalist countries and facilitates the struggle of the peoples of the colonial and dependent countries for their liberation. Support for the principle of peaceful coexistence is also in keeping with the interests of that section of the bourgeoisie which realises that a thermonuclear war would not spare the ruling classes of capitalist society either.
The policy of peaceful coexistence is in accord with the vital interests of all mankind, except the big monopoly magnates and the militarists. The Soviet Union has consistently pursued, and will continue to pursue, the policy of the peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union advances the following tasks in the field of international relations: to use, together with the other socialist countries, peaceful states and peoples, every means of preventing world war and providing conditions for the complete banishment of war from the life of society.
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Deutscher believes that under conditions of peaceful coexistence the Soviet Union would present a real challenge to the Capital-ist world. He sees this challenge not merely as an economic rivalry in terms of “who will outproduce whom and when” but also as a contest that might find the U.S.S.R. a strong contender for supremacy on issues such as shorter working hours or enhanced opportunities for advanced education.
Deutscher acknowledges that the West is ahead as far as political freedom is concerned; but even here he foresees prospects for increased freedom in the U.S.S.R. However, Deutscher contends, if the West only “learns to face the future instead of clinging to the past,” it has nothing to fear from the challenge, and it may even gain in the end if and when competitive coexistence gives way to cooperative emulation.
In the first selection under Soviet Views, three Soviet specialists in international law assure the West that the Soviet Union has no subterfuge in mind when she proclaims peaceful coexistence as the cornerstone of her foreign policy. Peaceful coexistence, the authors proclaim, means “inter-national law in action,” means noninterference in one another’s internal affairs, and must exclude any attempt to export revolution or counter-revolution.
And the authors couple a demand for general disarmament with a proclamation of faith in the ultimate victory of Communism over Capitalism. For the past several years, the Soviet leaders have challenged the Capitalist world in general and the United States in particular to an eco-nomic race under conditions of peaceful coexistence to “prove” that their system is superior.
American social scientists may point out that in the field of agriculture the United States simply is not racing since American farmers are already producing more than the American public is able to consume; that the United States does not erect as many new dwelling places per month as the Soviet Union because there is no housing shortage in the U.S.A.; that while there are millions of unemployed at the present time, unemployment compensation, in many instances, is still higher than the income of the Soviet worker who does have a job; and that, after all, the really important difference between the United States and the Soviet Union does not lie in the field of production but in the area of individual freedom.
The United States may be unwilling to accept the challenge al-together—and yet, the race is on. It is on, as far as the uncommitted third of the world is concerned, as far as the hungry lands are concerned, as far as the newly created, less developed nations are concerned. It is on as far as all those impatient hundreds of millions are concerned whose main interest consists in finding the fastest possible way to increase their produc-tive capacity and living standards.
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It is highly debatable whether or not the Soviet Union ever considered it necessary to spread communism by aggressive war, since Marx had predicted the inevitable collapse of the Capitalist order due to internal “contractions.” But even if the Soviet Union ever did contemplate aggressive warfare against a Western alliance, the advent of the nuclear age seemed to impose the neces-sity of peaceful coexistence upon both East and West, as the only alternative to a war that could easily end in the total destruction of all contenders.
While there appears to be rather widespread (although by no means unanimous) agreement throughout the world that a nuclear holocaust must be averted at almost any cost, the question of just exactly what the Soviets mean by “peaceful coexistence” is a different matter altogether.
Does it mean that the Soviet Union would oppose any kind of war, even a war of “liberation” of colonial people against the parent country? Does it mean that the Soviet Union has given up the entire idea of the class struggle, the rebellion of the “exploited class” against the “exploiters”? The selections in Part A of this chapter are intended to introduce the reader to different views on what the Soviet Union means by “peaceful coexistence.”
The first selection below has been taken from the official Programme of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, adopted by the 22nd C.P.S.U. Congress in 1961. It represents the official position of the U.S.S.R. on the “principle of the peaceful coexistence of states with different social sys-tems, put forward by Lenin.” Under Western Views, C. M. Woodhouse interprets the Soviet mean-ing of peaceful coexistence as a policy of stirring up trouble by all methods short of a war that would directly involve the Soviet Union. Fedenko, next, attempts to prove that contrary to Soviet declarations Lenin did not really advocate peaceful coexistence as a permanent policy, and that only the awareness of the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear war induced Khru-shchev to retreat from Lenin’s position.
Isaac Deutscher, under Western Marxist Views, although by no means uncritical of the U.S.S.R., offers a considerably more favorable appraisal of Soviet intentions and prospects. He maintains that the Soviet Union appears to have a much greater economic interest in peaceful coexistence than the West since for her the armament race means an irrational waste of resources, while the West seems to view an unproductive expenditure as
The Chinese Communists, incidentally, would agree with Fedenko that IChrushchev’s course of peaceful coexistence almost at any price is quite contrary to Lenin’s teachings. It should be stressed that Deutscher, while a Marxist, has been a determined opponent of Stalinism for over thirty years; that he was expelled from the Com-munist Party in 1932; that for more than twenty years he has not been affiliated with any political party, group, or sect; and that he, therefore, speaks only for himself.
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The mid-17th century showed depicted a clash between the Western-Catholic church and the Easter-Orthodox church.
Gogol was the prominent figure in the Eastern-Orthodox church. He grew up in a family that has been less educated and has not been endowed with a rich intelligence either. He therefore saw his literary talent as a gift from God. He thought early on that he had a calling to be Russia’s spiritual guide. This was further intensified with the tragic death of Pushkin in 1837. Later on, the success of his first volume of Dead Souls further confirmed on him that belief. When the second volume came out, it was full of didactic tendencies and exhortations. It was unappealing to many. It was like that his talent was running out.
He was aware of what was happening to him. He then chose to intensify his religious moods and attempted to influence people as their didactic moral teacher. Later on he wrote “Selected Passages from Correspondence with My Friends”. It was an irritating work with a narrow Orthodox sense. His flirtations with the official Church and official Russia had a reactionary lining which cause consternation among the Westerners and the Slavophiles alike. The letter sent by Belinsky to Gogol was exactly how the Westerners thought of Gogol.
Belinsky belonged to a secularized civilization. His concept of Russia Salvation depended on progress of civilization and growth of human dignity. He didn’t believe in the doctrine of the Orthodox Church, who had always been a flatterer of despotism. He is angered at the tight connection of Christ and the Church that Gogol wants to impress upon. He said that Christ was so pure and a champion of human equality and freedom meanwhile the Church became so dogmatic, hierarchic and had been a defender of inequality and of power.
The distinction between Chaadayev and Gogol is thus made clearer. Chaadayev was from the Western-Catholic while Gogol from the Russian-Orthodox Church. Both were interested in reuniting culture with religion.
Since Belinsky came from a different organization his perspectives were in disagreement with both.
Gogol hurt by Belinsky’s letter wrote a reply. Some of his words were, “you say that salvation of Russia consists in European civilization, but what an immense and limitless word this is! Had you at least defined what one ought to understand by the name of European Civilization? We find it in all sorts of phalanteres… – all of them are ready to tear up each other and all of them full of destructive, principles that each thinking mind troubles in Europe and keeps asking: Where is our civilization?”
Chaadayev and Gogol represent two widely divergent opinions towards the West as well as towards Russia. The quasi-religious outlet championed by Gogol had repelled not only those who had liked his literary work but also the Slavophiles. It was Lewinsky’s Westernism that prevailed among the Russian Intelligentsia.
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The story of the Slav cause is a story of various men who fought with intellect, undying will and love for their cause. Yury Samarin was among those who championed the freedom of the serfs. In 1857 he joined an organization that serves to abolish the system of serfdom. They were badly demoralized upon the death of Konstantin Aksakov.
His brother, Ivan Aksakov, had no hesitation filling-in the role that his brother Konstantin left unfinished. Ivan has been passionate in the pursuit of the cause. He began writing and his works were intense. He was considered as the most enterprising political journalist of the group. His eloquence was superb which drove a lot of interest to many readers. His editorial skills were frail. At times he would write good stuff other times the material were not that great. It was after the Crimean War that he got editing help from Samarin. They establish the newspaper called Den (The Day). The content was most of the time unappealing to the authorities. Their constant attack soon forced authorities to order their closure in 1865. Another newspaper he put up in 1867, Muskvale (Moscow), was also closed down. The last remaining part of his life was spent in the Russ (The Russian Land). He did the editing on his own. The newspaper ran from 1880 to 1885. It was also during this period that he worked on his major literary work. It was a biography of his father-in-law, the poet Tyuchev.
His most prominent contribution to the Slav Propaganda happened in the years 1877-1878. His voice was something to listen to. He championed the liberation of the Balkan Slavs from the Turks. This led some Bulgarians to find interest in putting him in the throne.
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Turmoil in Egypt by Daniel Pipes The Washington Times February 1, 2011
category: Uncategorized
Turmoil in Egypt by Daniel Pipes The Washington Times February 1, 2011 http://www.danielpipes.org/9391/turmoil-in-egypt As Egypt’s much-anticipated moment of crisis arrived and popular rebellions shook governments across the Middle East, Iran stands as never before at the center of the region. Its Islamist rulers are within sight of dominating the region. But revolutions are hard to pull off and I predict that Islamists will not achieve a Middle East-wide breakthrough and Tehran will not emerge as the key powerbroker. Some thoughts behind this conclusion: Cairo’s Tahrir Square on January 25, 2011. An echo of the Iranian revolution: On reaching power in 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sought to spread Islamist insurrection to other countries but failed almost everywhere. Three decades had to go by, it appears, before the self-immolation of a vendor in an obscure Tunisia town could light the conflagration that Khomeini aspired to and Iranian authorities still seek. Part of a Middle Eastern cold war: The Middle East has for years been divided into two large blocs engaged in a regional cold war for influence. The Iranian-led resistance bloc includes Turkey, Syria, Gaza, and Qatar. The Saudi-led status quo bloc includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, the West Bank, Jordan, Yemen, and the Persian Gulf emirates. Note that Lebanon these very days is moving to resistance from status quo and that unrest is taking place only in status quo places. Israel’s peculiar situation: Israeli leaders are staying mum and its near-irrelevance underlines Iranian centrality. While Israel has much to fear from Iranian gains, these simultaneously highlight the Jewish state as an island of stability and the West’s only reliable ally in the Middle East. Lack of ideology: The sloganeering and conspiracy theories that dominate Middle Eastern discourse are largely absent from crowds gathered outside of government installations demanding an end to stagnation, arbitrariness, corruption, tyranny, and torture. Military vs. mosque: Recent events confirm that the same two powers, the armed forces and the Islamists, dominate some 20 Middle Eastern countries: the military deploys raw power and Islamists offer a vision. Exceptions exist – a vibrant Left in Turkey, ethnic factions in Lebanon and Iraq, democracy in Israel, Islamist control in Iran – but this pattern widely holds. Iraq: The most volatile country of the region, Iraq, has been conspicuously absent from the demonstrations because its population is not facing a decades-old autocracy. A military putsch? Islamists wish to repeat their success in Iran by exploiting popular unrest to take power. Tunisia’s experience bears close examination for a pattern that may be repeated elsewhere. The military leadership there apparently concluded that its strongman, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, had become too high maintenance – especially with his wife’s family’s flamboyant corruption – to maintain in power, so it ousted him and, for good measure, put out an international arrest warrant for his and his family’s arrest. Gen. Omar Suleiman – Egypt’s fourth military ruler since 1952? That done, nearly the entire remaining old guard remains in power, with the top military man, Chief of Staff Rachid Ammar, apparently having replaced Ben Ali as the country’s powerbroker. The old guard hopes that tweaking the system, granting more civil and political rights, will suffice for it to hold on to power. If this gambit succeeds, the seeming revolution of mid-January will end up as a mere coup d’état. This scenario could be repeated elsewhere, especially in Egypt, where soldiers have dominated the government since 1952 and intend to maintain their power against the Muslim Brethren they have suppressed since 1954. Strongman Hosni Mubarak’s appointment of Omar Suleiman terminates the Mubarak family’s dynastic pretensions and raises the prospect of Mr. Mubarak resigning in favor of direct military rule. More broadly, I bet on the more-continuity-than-change model that has emerged so far in Tunisia. Heavy-handed rule will lighten somewhat in Egypt and elsewhere but the militaries will remain the ultimate powerbrokers. U.S. policy: The U.S. government has a vital role helping Middle Eastern states transit from tyranny to political participation without Islamists hijacking the process. George W. Bush had the right idea in 2003 in calling for democracy but he ruined this effort by demanding instant results. Barack Obama initially reverted to the failed old policy of making nice with tyrants; now he is myopically siding with the Islamists against Mr. Mubarak. He should emulate Bush but do a better job, understanding that democratization is a decades-long process that requires the inculcation of counter-intuitive ideas about elections, freedom of speech, and the rule of law.
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The USSR is indeed a world leader in mining minerals. Their mining industry leads in the production of coal, oil, gas, wood and peat. This alone can support the entire nation. However, it has also surpassed any production of any nation in terms of iron ores, manganese, chromate, and other metals tht are needed by other industries. It also mines the greatest volume of silver, platinum, gold and diamonds. The deposit of diamonds and gold even exceed the ones coming from South Africa.
Its other sources of power are record holders as well. Its hydro-electric power plant comprises 12 percent of the world’s hydroelectric power source. The Volga at Volgograd turns 22 turbines that have a power output of about 11.5 billion kilowatt hours.
The country has also been blessed with a wide area of arable land. It is estimated to have 550 million acres of cultivable land. This is a hundred million acres more than what is available in the United States. The biggest problem though is converting the digits into farm produce. All the adversaries hinder the country from producing enough food to feed even its own people. Most of the supplies they get are all imported from nearby nations including the United States.
The factors that deter their agriculture success are many. Weather, water supply, and distance are terrible adversaries. To better their chances at success, the government took matters into their hands. Cooperatives and state-run farms were established. Dams and irrigation systems were improved to redirect river waters into the areas that are highly arable. The government also encouraged other agricultural activities like its fur industry.
The agricultural efforts though have harmed the local ecosystem. The 13 years of dam construction met resistance from the citizens. They have observed the pollutive effects of industries spilling chemicals into rivers that were once teeming with sturgeon fishes and unique crustaceans. Leonid Leonov, a revered writer said, “Baikal is not only a priceless basin of living water but also a part of our souls.” The food scarcity of USSR still continues. Whatever the future holds for this mineral giant, may it be for the good of the hungry stomach of its people.
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Are You Ready?
An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness
Cover of Are You Ready publication
Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness (IS-22) is FEMA’s most comprehensive source on individual, family, and community preparedness. The guide has been revised, updated, and enhanced in August 2004 to provide the public with the most current and up-to-date disaster preparedness information available.
Are You Ready? provides a step-by-step approach to disaster preparedness by walking the reader through how to get informed about local emergency plans, how to identify hazards that affect their local area, and how to develop and maintain an emergency communications plan and disaster supplies kit. Other topics covered include evacuation, emergency public shelters, animals in disaster, and information specific to people with disabilities.
Are You Ready? also provides in-depth information on specific hazards including what to do before, during, and after each hazard type. The following hazards are covered: Floods, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Thunderstorms and Lightning, Winter Storms and Extreme Cold, Extreme Heat, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Landslide and Debris Flows (Mudslide), Tsunamis, Fires, Wildfires, Hazardous Materials Incidents, Household Chemical Emergencies, Nuclear Power Plant, and Terrorism (including Explosion, Biological, Chemical, Nuclear, and Radiological hazards).
Are You Ready?, also available in Spanish, can be used in a variety of ways including as a read-through or reference guide. The guide can also be used as a study manual guide with credit awarded for successful completion and a 75 percent score on a final exam. Questions about the exam should be directed to the FEMA Independent Study Program by calling 1-800-238-3358 or by going to training.fema.gov/is.
Also available is the Are You Ready? Facilitator Guide (IS-22FG). The Facilitator Guide is a tool for those interested in delivering Are You Ready? content in a small group or classroom setting. The Facilitator Guide is an easy to use manual that has instruction modules for adults, older children, and younger children. A resource CD is packaged with the Facilitator Guide that contains customizable presentation materials, sample training plans, and other disaster preparedness education resources.
Copies of Are You Ready? and the Facilitator Guide are available through the FEMA publications warehouse (1.800.480.2520). For large quantities, your organization may reprint the publication. Please visit our reprint page for more information.
For more publications on disaster preparedness, visit the Community and Family Preparedness webpage.
FEMA RELEASES “Getting Ready For Disaster” DVD
With the upcoming hurricane season on the horizon, killer tornados and wildfires in the Midwest and south and California floods breaking levies, FEMA announces the release of a new citizen preparedness DVD titled, “Getting Ready For Disaster- One Family’s Experience”. The DVD guides viewers through important steps of disaster preparedness and is a welcome addition to FEMA’s preparedness materials.
* Introduction (Windows Media 6.3MB)
* Get Informed (Windows Media 4.7MB)
* Make a Plan (Windows Media 7.0MB)
* Disaster Supplies Kit (Windows Media 5.6MB)
* People with Disabilities (Windows Media 3.8MB)
* Food and Water (Windows Media 5.8MB)
* Helping Children Cope (Windows Media 5.8MB)
* Get Involved (Windows Media 7.0MB)
A transcript of the videos has been provided for those that are unable to view these files.
Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness
* Are You Ready Full Document (PDF 21MB)
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Sequestration and offsets
An offset can be produced either by preventing GHG production or by sequestering carbon. Projects that prevent GHG production prevent emissions that would have occurred otherwise. An example would be building a wind or solar power generation system to replace a coal fired electrical plant.
Carbon sequestration means trapping or removing GHG from the atmosphere. There are two ways to sequester carbon: geological sequestration — basically storage of carbon dioxide deep underground; and biological or terrestrial sequestration — the net removal of GHG from the atmosphere by plants and micro-organisms and its storage in vegetative biomass (biological) and in soils (terrestrial).
Things get complicated
It is really important to prevent leakage in cap and trade systems until they systemic reach becomes global. For example, it’s possible for companies to reduce their emission by outsourcing high-emission production to another country or region that is outside the system.
A key problem with emission prevention projects is additionality. For example, someone needs to determine whether a wind power system would have been built anyway even without the investment derived from selling carbon offset credits.
Sequestration projects need to produce measurable results and have some degree of permanence. Protocols or rules need to be developed for every type of offset scheme and application region; landfill gas schemes that work in the tropics may not work in the arctic. Reliable, independent auditors need to validate each project before it starts and verify each result.
Value
There are enormous opportunities for good with offset systems. Many biological sequestration projects involve changes to land use, agriculture, or forestry practices. These could slow or reverse habitat destruction activities such as cutting of rainforest or drainage of wetland.
Also, by effective use of tools like the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), it’s possible to transfer some real wealth and sustainability to developing nations instead of the more expensive alternative of reducing emission or buying credits at home.
However, sufficient value has to be given to these schemes to make them more attractive than the destructive alternatives. Protocols need to be develop to address all of the issues of additionality, measurement, permanence, validation, and verification for each type of offset. Working out these mechanisms is the subject of much study and a hot topic of much international debate right now.
Offset Providers
There are a lot of companies out there offering offsets. Some are a lot like snake oil salesman — you really don’t know what you are getting.
The Manitoba Government, along with Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and the Canadian Climate Exchange has created the Green Registry (http://www.greenregistry.org/) for buying and selling offsets.CSA involvement assures users that the carbon offsets traded are real. Offsets are validated and verified, and each tonne of carbon is serialized. So, once it is sold, it is only sold once. Right now the Manitoba registry is voluntary.
In the near future, the registry will likely be involved in Manitoba’s commitment to the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). Beyond the WCI, it looks likely that North American or global emission trading schemes will be coming. Systems like these will likely require emitters of 25 or even 10 kilotonnes (KT) to report and trade emissions. As an example, the Health Sciences Centre generates 23 KT per year.
However, all of this validation and verification of carbon credits costs money — thousands of dollars per project. So, it doesn’t make sense for municipalities with small landfills, or for individuals farmers to worry too much about trying to make money with cap and trade.
What’s the good of it?
Cap and trade has been valuable in the past. It was first used successfully on a global scale in the battle to shrink the “hole in the ozone.” After 1990, a cap and trade policy got industry to dramatically and quickly reduce the production of ozone-depleting chemicals.
But the ozone problem involved a relatively limited number of companies dealing with the manufacturing of specific chemicals. Greenhouse gases are much more pervasive, come from many more sources, and reducing them is much more complicated. The truth is, cap and trade, emission offsetting, and carbon sequestration can’t achieve our goal alone.
The real danger is over-reliance on any of these. If we treat them as magic bullets and let them do it for us, we will delay the emission reductions that each and every one of us must make. We need to massively reduce our greenhouse gas emissions right now. Otherwise, we may be damaging the planet so badly that it will not be able to feed all of our children.
If we don’t ensure complicated mechanisms like these are just parts of a much broader, more intense and complete system, we may have a lot explaining to do our grandkids before we go.
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