Posted on 05/04/2016 10:22:49 PM PDT by Trumpinator
Call it the Muscovite version of "manifest destiny." On Monday, President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill that offers every Russian citizen a tract of land in their country's remote Far East.
"All citizens will be entitled to apply for up to hectare of land in the Kamchatka, Primorye, Khabarovsk, Amur, Magadan and Sakhalin regions, the republic of Sakha, or the Jewish and Chukotka autonomous districts," the Moscow Times reports. This is a vast stretch of territory spanning the upper Arctic reaches near Alaska, down to islands off the coast of Japan and deep into the Siberian hinterland.
Those interested in the venture can hold their hectare (about 2.5 acres) free of payment or tax for five years. After that, they would receive titles to their plot provided they have put it to use in the prior years.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The areas of Siberia bordering Mongolia and China are quite remarkably like Mongolia and China, rich in minerals, timber and quite a bit of fossil fuels. All of which China covets. It's going to be the hot spot in Asia in the next decade, in my estimation.
Probably not, since that’s about how much I garden myself.
And even though ours is some of the finest soil on the planet, it’s not enough land to support a family. Not even close.
When we lived in Ussurriysk, north of Vladivostok in 1996, 1997, very little of Primorskiy Territory (Vladivostok, Ussurriysk, that region) was cultivated. Vast untouched grasslands could be viewed by train all the way to the Chinese border at Gredekiva/SuiFenHe). Cross into China and you could see nothing BUT cultivated land, green houses, grain elevators, processing plants, etc.
The Russians had been accustomed for generations with working in military armament factories, which could be seen abandoned along the major roads. The people there had not been farmers; didn't know how to farm. They bought their food from China and South Korea. The Koreans were cultivating a hearty winter rice in Primorskiy. We shopped for our food mainly in Chinese/Korean open markets. The exchange rate in 1997 was 6,000 Rubles to one U.S. Dollar.
Those regions are below the arctic.
They are not all ethnic Chinese. We think of China as this homogeneous people but they are not. In 20 years China may become the domain of dozens of various warlords when the Red Chinese communist dictatorship falls. like it was a 100 years go.
In my thinking, China is not an expansionist land power per say but an influence expanding regime that goes back to when the emperors thought themselves the center of the universe and all nations needed to come to China and kowtow to the emperor. The Chinese burned their fleets after they sent them out to span the known world to awe the barbarians. The Europeans are different - they send fleets and directly occupy or conquer. The Chinese in history did not really do that.
The Aussies are apparently oblivious—dancing right over the edge—drunk with the same delusions that are destroying Europe. They’ll wake up when the Chinese Navy has them surrounded. Maybe. Maybe they won’t even wake up then—such is the nature of delusion!
In my career in oil and gas I have had dealings with Australians and have been able to observe their culture.
They are just a little bit too relaxed for me, and I say that as a person who has laziness as a pivotal part of his mission statement.
It’s an odd quirk of the masses there - apathy/no worries mate/easygoingness as a pivotal part of their culture.
They love to ridicule the U.S.A. But if the U.S.A. were no longer there to protect them, they would be sitting ducks.
I’ve seen those Siberian documentaries
Freeze yourself for 9 months and then covered in skeeters and black flies and horseflies and gnats the other 3
Siberians are hardy off the charts
They know their history.
The entire history of Russia, in five words:
"And then things got worse."
“You’re born naked, hungry, cold and wet, and it’s all downhill from there.”
Have you seen that land? It would take a lifetime and massive support just to farm it.
Well, I guess your experience with Chinese and China is radically different than mine. I lived in China (Shanghai and Guangzhou) for 6 years, been working 30-40% of the year here (I’m here now) for 12 more years, and married a Shanghai gal.
They know there are ethnic differences, but IMHO it’s seen more as what we do in the US - Southern slow folks, Yankee slicksters, etc. But they all consider themselves Chinese and will rally together immediately, even if they are from different provinces and backgrounds.
The Chinese Government of today is radically different than that of the 1200s-1800s. It’s highly expansionist, it wants land - mainly because it wants resources. Witness the shenanigans going on in the South China Sea. The constant skirmishes over water and resources with Vietnam and Laos. The grab for Tibet, the constant erosion of independence of Mongolia. Siberia will be next, first as influence and then as annexation.
The people aren't moving. The government wants them to move.
Russians have always moved to the periphery -- Baltic, Ukraine, Caucasus, Central Asia -- but Siberia and the Far East haven't been that popular: bad climate, too far from what's going on.
Earlier governments -- tsarist or Soviet -- could bind people to the land to maintain settlements in unattractive regions. They can't do that anymore, so the government is trying financial incentives.
I understand many of the Ukrainian Refugees are considering that offer.....thousands went into Russia and have no desire to return to their country.....
You stated..... China is highly expansionist, it wants land - mainly because it wants resources.
I have not studied much about the Resources of China...but why is it so necessary for them to do so......I speak of water and other natural resources....
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.