Posted on 05/10/2006 12:54:42 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin offered couples cash to have more children to halt a dramatic decline in population and called for a stronger army in a key speech on Wednesday in which he shrugged off sharp attacks by Washington.
Putin, defying predictions he would focus on foreign policy, zeroed in on Russia's dwindling population -- an issue with huge implications for the economy -- which is falling by 700,000 people every year.
In his annual speech to the nation, the president, who in July hosts leaders of the G8 group of rich democracies, responded only obliquely to stinging criticism from the White House of his democracy record.
"Not everyone in the world has been able to move on from the stereotypes of bloc thinking and prejudices which are a carry-over from the epoch of global confrontation, though there have been fundamental changes in the world," he said.
U.S.-Russian relations, which have been unusually warm under Putin, hit their coldest moment last week when Vice President Dick Cheney accused Moscow of backsliding on democracy and using its vast energy resources as a tool for "intimidation and blackmail" against its neighbors.
President George W. Bush, who will next meet Putin in St Petersburg in July, followed up by saying in a German newspaper that Russia was giving out "mixed signals" on democracy.
VEILED WARNING
On Iran, Putin again sidestepped open criticism, making only a veiled warning to Washington not to take military action against Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
Putin said Russia stood "unambiguously" for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons in the world.
But, in an apparent reference to the tension between the United States and Iran, he said: "Methods of force rarely give the desired result and often their consequences are even more terrible than the original threat."
Moscow finds itself at odds with the West in the U.N. Security Council over how to respond to Tehran's refusal to end uranium enrichment which can yield fuel for power generation or for nuclear weapons. Iran rejects Western accusations and insists it is interested only in the former.
Putin sets great store by his personal friendship with the U.S. President whose country holds the key to Russia's eventual entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
But Putin said Russia would join the WTO on its own terms and in its own economic interests. He answered U.S. concerns about rampant video, music and software piracy -- but was silent on Washington's demand for foreign banks to be allowed to open branches in Russia rather than subsidiaries.
Russia fears its weak banking system could be wiped out by foreign rivals if it yields on that point.
MORE BABIES PLEASE
His proposal to boost the birthrate is Putin's first real attempt to tackle a catastrophic demographic decline in the world's biggest country.
Describing the issue as contemporary Russia's most acute problem, he told Russian couples he would more than double to 1,500 roubles ($55.39) monthly payouts to families for the first baby and then double that to 3,000 roubles for a second child.
Average wages are below $100 a week.
The trend is driven by low life expectancy, particularly among men, due to poor diet, heavy drinking and smoking.
If it continues, officials say today's population of around 143 million will be down to 100 million by the middle of the century, translating into a weaker workforce and smaller army.
"We are talking about love, about women, about children, about the family," Putin said.
"The problem of low birth rates cannot be resolved without a change in the attitude of our society toward the issue of family and family values," he said.
Deferring to another powerful pillar of the Russian establishment, just a day after the 61st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany by Soviet forces, Putin said Russia needed armed forces capable of responding to modern threats.
"We ... must build our own house, strong and reliable, according to what we see is going on in the world," he said.
He is not on our side but I'll say this much for Putin: He understands the long view of history.
A speech like this from Dubya and CNN would start cycling excerpts of "Triumph of the Will".
Nope. Had he understood "the long view", he wouldn't have created a very public mess-up with gas supply contract to Ukraine - he would understand the strategic, long-term loss from it. What the nomenclaturists understand to perfection is office politics [that's how they got there] and mafiosity [which for them is an extension of office politics], but "the long view of history"???
This is remarkable!
A KGB agent who was active in East Berlin during the Cold War, a nation that put its foot on Chechnya, is advising the rest of us on the use of force? That is remarkable.
If the people of Russia believed in a God, and this silly idea of religion had not been displaced by a man made psuedo religion in disguise named socialism they might have children and see the family in terms other than an institution. If Russia dealt with its corruption, if it offered people more than a Vodka bottle and low wages, people might not be scratching on the doors to get out.
Putin offering money to get the russians to breed more. Its kinda funny, all we would have to do is close the abortion clinics. theres plenty of breeding going on but we kill them before birth.
Maybe he'll establish Hitlerian baby farms.
You're right. Abortion is rampant in Russia.
He talks about low birth rates, etc. but I thought there were lots of children in orphanages in Russia?
I am surprised Clinton did not make the intiative first in America.
If ever there was a country crying out for Catholicism... ;-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.