Putin: Biggest catastrophe?

[Elena Gapova]

I don't think Putin is well read in post-Soviet mationalism research, of
course, but here's a similar thought expressed even before Lukashanka said
it:

“The collapse of the Soviet Union meant for millions liberation from a
regime that created the Gulag archipelago…; for millions more it meant the
possibility to associate and interact freely throughout the globe; for still
millions more it meant a catastrophic disruption of working life, of social
security and of status in a new society they could hardly understand…” -
Laitin, David, "Nationalism and Language: a Post-Soviet perspective."  The
State of the Nation. Ernest Gellner and the Theory of Nationalism (Hohn A.
Hall ed.), Cambridge University Press, 1998, p.135.

e.g.


-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Benjamin Rifkin
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 8:04 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Putin: Biggest catastrophe?


For those who can’t read the Cyrillic (it was garbled in my e-mail message
and my program does read unicode), here it is in unicode and transliteration
following:

Прежде всего, следует признать, что крушение Советского Союза было
крупнейшей геополитической катастрофой века. Для российского же народа оно
стало настоящей драмой. Десятки миллионов наших сограждан и
соотечественников оказались за пределами российской территории. Эпидемия
распада, к тому же, перекинулась на саму Россию.

Prezhde vsego, sleduet priznat’, chto krushenie Sovetskogo Soiuza blo
krupneishei geopoliticheskoi katastrofoi veka.  Dlia rossiiskogo zhe naroda
ono stalo nastoiashchei dramoi.  Desiatki millionov nashikh sograzhdan I
sootechestvennikov okazalis’ za predelami rossiiskoi territorii.  Epidemiia
raspada, k tomu zhe, perekinulas’ na samu Rossiiu.

>
With best wishes to all,

Ben Rifkin

*************
Benjamin Rifkin
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Professor and Chair, Slavic Dept.
1432 Van Hise, 1220 Linden Dr.
Madison, WI 53706 USA
(608) 262-1623; Fax (608) 265-2814
http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/slavic

Director, Title VI Center for Russia, E. Europe & Central Asia (CREECA)
210 Ingraham Hall, 1550 Observatory Dr.
Madison, WI 53706 USA
(608) 262-3379; Fax (608) 890-0267
http://www.wisc.edu/creeca






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