Ask me anything about the Soviet Union/ Former Soviet States

[Baron Von PWN]

Why did the Russians decide to help Iran with its nuclear reactors back in the day (1980s?)?

Was this to counterbalance the US' power within the region? Do you think that this was a defensive or offensive move?

As far as I know that never happened. At least I've never heard of Soviet help to the Iranian Nuclear program. Looking it up on Wikipedia article on the Iranian nuclear program brings no mention of it, and my google search hasn't turned anything up. I did find a bunch of articles on a former Soviet scientists working with the Iranians.

If you have better info on it please share. However it would really surprise me if the Soviets had shared that kind of stuff with a place as politically unreliable as Iran.


The Russian's have helped them finish their reactor as recently as 2011 though. Part of that would have just been money, modern Russia is a pretty mercurial place. However Russia could also have been buying Iranian compliance, a sort of don't f*ck around in our back yard type deal. I suspect the Iranians would be able to exert some pull or perhaps offer intelligence on Islamic terrorist activities in the north Caucasus.

The recent bombing of Israelie embacies is interesting as well, one was set off in Georgia, not know as hotbed of Islamic terror, but not a friend of Russia...

That is just wild speculation though.

[Baron Von PWN]

are you american? what do you feel would have happened if ussr had not had the economic problems of the 1980s? would we still be in cold war?

just have interest in the view from america

Canadian as a look under my location would have revealed. The USSR's economic problems were not a isolated event from the 1980's but rather the result of years of economic policy. I think what caused the collapse of the Soviet Union was political and not economic. Had Gorbachev not loosened political control while also releasing economic control I believe we would still have a Soviet Union.

If the Soviet Union held on and kept to Economic reform for a number of years, I think we would have seen an end of the cold war, with both Superpowers intact. I also believe this would have been a preferable outcome.

[2dimes]

What's the most rural and or isolated place you've been there. Is it more difficult for a foriegner to go off the beaten path or pretty much the same?

I remember a social studies teacher we had telling us stories of her trip there. She was with her mom and saw the huge line up to get something and went to ask people what they were lined up for. They didn't know, they just got in line and would find out when they got to the front if there was anything left by then. Does that still happen?

[the carpet man]

i did not look

is it not true that by starting some fairly radical economic reform he gave a signal to eastern bloc countries etc. that reform was okay? there was opposition even before glasnost, but it had achieved very little. theonly big difference being poland, and here it is notable not just for the high level of political resistance pre-glasnost (e.g. solidary and undergroun literature) but for the fact this came after economic reforms in the late 70s-80s (which might have made those like solidarity feel stronger in showing desire for change)

personally i think they key was his military strategy (no longer telling countries he would prop up their regimes with soviet tanks). no one would upsurge before this because they would just be shot. but after this they felt safe to show their discontent as a mass and the party leaders felt unsafe to try and squash people (except ceausescu, but he was crazy).

[Baron Von PWN]

What's the most rural and or isolated place you've been there. Is it more difficult for a foriegner to go off the beaten path or pretty much the same?

I remember a social studies teacher we had telling us stories of her trip there. She was with her mom and saw the huge line up to get something and went to ask people what they were lined up for. They didn't know, they just got in line and would find out when they got to the front if there was anything left by then. Does that still happen?

Nijhnii Novgorod. Which isn't rural or all that isolated. My travels in Russia were limited to St.petersburg and Nijhnii Novgorod.

I've heard stories like that as well. As far as I know this no longer happens. Goods are much more available and stores aren't faced with the same supply problems as before.

is it not true that by starting some fairly radical economic reform he gave a signal to eastern bloc countries etc. that reform was okay? there was opposition even before glasnost, but it had achieved very little. theonly big difference being poland, and here it is notable not just for the high level of political resistance pre-glasnost (e.g. solidary and undergroun literature) but for the fact this came after economic reforms in the late 70s-80s (which might have made those like solidarity feel stronger in showing desire for change)

personally i think they key was his military strategy (no longer telling countries he would prop up their regimes with soviet tanks). no one would upsurge before this because they would just be shot. but after this they felt safe to show their discontent as a mass and the party leaders felt unsafe to try and squash people (except ceausescu, but he was crazy).

True economic reforms began under Grobachev. There may have been some reforms in the Satelite states see Hungarian "Goulash Communism". What gave the Satellite states the signal was Gorbachev saying "you're on your own". He basically said the Soviet Union would no longer interfere in their affairs.

So yeah what you're saying is all correct. In an indirect way Gorbachev's refusal to prop up the satellites was a signal to domestic dissidents as well.

[BigBallinStalin]

Why did the Russians decide to help Iran with its nuclear reactors back in the day (1980s?)?

Was this to counterbalance the US' power within the region? Do you think that this was a defensive or offensive move?

As far as I know that never happened. At least I've never heard of Soviet help to the Iranian Nuclear program. Looking it up on Wikipedia article on the Iranian nuclear program brings no mention of it, and my google search hasn't turned anything up. I did find a bunch of articles on a former Soviet scientists working with the Iranians.

If you have better info on it please share. However it would really surprise me if the Soviets had shared that kind of stuff with a place as politically unreliable as Iran.

1990–2002

From the beginning of 1990s, Russia formed a joint research organization with Iran called Persepolis which provided Iran with Russian nuclear experts, and technical information. Five Russian institutions, including the Russian Federal Space Agency helped Tehran to improve its missiles. The exchange of technical information with Iran was personally approved by the SVR director Trubnikov.[60] President Boris Yeltsin had a "two track policy" offering commercial nuclear technology to Iran and discussing the issues with Washington.[61]

In 1990, Iran began to look outwards towards new partners for its nuclear program; however, due to a radically different political climate and punitive U.S. economic sanctions, few candidates existed.

In 1991, an agreement was found for the French-Iranian disagreement since 1979 (see Post Revolution, 1979–1989): France refunded more than 1.6 billion dollars. Iran remained shareholder of Eurodif via Sofidif, a Franco-Iranian consortium shareholder to 25% of Eurodif. However, Iran refrained from asking for the produced uranium.[62][63]

In 1992, following media allegations about undeclared nuclear activities in Iran, Iran invited IAEA inspectors to the country and permitted those inspectors to visit all the sites and facilities they asked to see. Director General Blix reported that all activities observed were consistent with the peaceful use of atomic energy.[64][65] The IAEA visits included undeclared facilities and Iran's nascent uranium mining project at Saghand. In the same year, Argentine officials disclosed that their country had canceled a sale to Iran of civilian nuclear equipment worth $18 million, under US pressure.[66]

In 1995, Iran signed a contract with Russia to resume work on the partially complete Bushehr plant,[67] installing into the existing Bushehr I building a 915 MWe VVER-1000 pressurized water reactor, with completion expected in 2009. There are no current plans to complete the Bushehr II reactor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_program_of_Iran#Post-revolution.2C_1979.E2.80.931989


I swore I heard about this before reading the wiki on it, but I can't remember what the source was.

The Russian's have helped them finish their reactor as recently as 2011 though. Part of that would have just been money, modern Russia is a pretty mercurial place. However Russia could also have been buying Iranian compliance, a sort of don't f*ck around in our back yard type deal. I suspect the Iranians would be able to exert some pull or perhaps offer intelligence on Islamic terrorist activities in the north Caucasus.

The recent bombing of Israelie embacies is interesting as well, one was set off in Georgia, not know as hotbed of Islamic terror, but not a friend of Russia...

That is just wild speculation though.

I don't see why the Russians would want to provoke the Israelis that bad.

Iran could've been involved; they have a strong incentive to isolate Israeli influence nearby.

[2dimes]

Are you planning to head back? I'm pretty interested in scoping the far east.

Summer trip for sure, giant bugs don't cause me any concern but winter's just not my bag baby. Going with a huge Ann Coulter fan that can speak the language a bit would make things easier, like finding a vehicle of some sort to use. Telling the local полиция what a couple of Canucks are up to driving around the middle of absolutely now where checking out airports and such. If we made enough local contacts it could turn into a tourist business. On the flying end of things I'm learning private flights are highly discouraged too far in. Starting some sort of tour operation might be the only way to explore the place by air.

[Baron Von PWN]

Why did the Russians decide to help Iran with its nuclear reactors back in the day (1980s?)?

Was this to counterbalance the US' power within the region? Do you think that this was a defensive or offensive move?

As far as I know that never happened. At least I've never heard of Soviet help to the Iranian Nuclear program. Looking it up on Wikipedia article on the Iranian nuclear program brings no mention of it, and my google search hasn't turned anything up. I did find a bunch of articles on a former Soviet scientists working with the Iranians.

If you have better info on it please share. However it would really surprise me if the Soviets had shared that kind of stuff with a place as politically unreliable as Iran.

1990–2002

From the beginning of 1990s, Russia formed a joint research organization with Iran called Persepolis which provided Iran with Russian nuclear experts, and technical information. Five Russian institutions, including the Russian Federal Space Agency helped Tehran to improve its missiles. The exchange of technical information with Iran was personally approved by the SVR director Trubnikov.[60] President Boris Yeltsin had a "two track policy" offering commercial nuclear technology to Iran and discussing the issues with Washington.[61]

In 1990, Iran began to look outwards towards new partners for its nuclear program; however, due to a radically different political climate and punitive U.S. economic sanctions, few candidates existed.

In 1991, an agreement was found for the French-Iranian disagreement since 1979 (see Post Revolution, 1979–1989): France refunded more than 1.6 billion dollars. Iran remained shareholder of Eurodif via Sofidif, a Franco-Iranian consortium shareholder to 25% of Eurodif. However, Iran refrained from asking for the produced uranium.[62][63]

In 1992, following media allegations about undeclared nuclear activities in Iran, Iran invited IAEA inspectors to the country and permitted those inspectors to visit all the sites and facilities they asked to see. Director General Blix reported that all activities observed were consistent with the peaceful use of atomic energy.[64][65] The IAEA visits included undeclared facilities and Iran's nascent uranium mining project at Saghand. In the same year, Argentine officials disclosed that their country had canceled a sale to Iran of civilian nuclear equipment worth $18 million, under US pressure.[66]

In 1995, Iran signed a contract with Russia to resume work on the partially complete Bushehr plant,[67] installing into the existing Bushehr I building a 915 MWe VVER-1000 pressurized water reactor, with completion expected in 2009. There are no current plans to complete the Bushehr II reactor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_program_of_Iran#Post-revolution.2C_1979.E2.80.931989


I swore I heard about this before reading the wiki on it, but I can't remember what the source was.

The Russian's have helped them finish their reactor as recently as 2011 though. Part of that would have just been money, modern Russia is a pretty mercurial place. However Russia could also have been buying Iranian compliance, a sort of don't f*ck around in our back yard type deal. I suspect the Iranians would be able to exert some pull or perhaps offer intelligence on Islamic terrorist activities in the north Caucasus.

The recent bombing of Israelie embacies is interesting as well, one was set off in Georgia, not know as hotbed of Islamic terror, but not a friend of Russia...

That is just wild speculation though.

I don't see why the Russians would want to provoke the Israelis that bad.

Iran could've been involved; they have a strong incentive to isolate Israeli influence nearby.

Right there was Russian co-operation but the Soviets weren't involved. I'd never heard of the Soviets working with the Iranians though the Russian federation has for some time. Why would Russia get involved? Especially in the 90's Russia was flat broke. So I suspect that was the biggest incentive, the Iranians were willing to pay for Nuclear expertise and Russia was willing to be paid for it.

Russia is also keen to have international pull. If its known that Russia has influence in Iran that means the US can try and talk to Iran through Russia. The Russians have tried to do this with other sketchy places like North Korea. By keeping communication open with dodgy places Russia can use that influence as leverage, both on the rest of the world but also on the dodgy places.

[Baron Von PWN]

Are you planning to head back? I'm pretty interested in scoping the far east.

Summer trip for sure, giant bugs don't cause me any concern but winter's just not my bag baby. Going with a huge Ann Coulter fan that can speak the language a bit would make things easier, like finding a vehicle of some sort to use. Telling the local полиция what a couple of Canucks are up to driving around the middle of absolutely now where checking out airports and such. If we made enough local contacts it could turn into a tourist business. On the flying end of things I'm learning private flights are highly discouraged too far in. Starting some sort of tour operation might be the only way to explore the place by air.

I'm actually heading to the Republic of Georgia on Sunday to teach english for a few months. If it works out I hope to use the experience to go teach in Russia.

I would think your bigger concern would be swarms rather than size. What have you found out about their ariports? I'd imagine they have allot of exclusive contracts that sort of thing.

[2dimes]

Are all the issues in Georgia resolved? You didn't finish school did you? I'm guessing you're on break.

If you're not aware of the size thing you have not been up north here much, I've seen some pretty tough dudes get spooked by the killer june bug. Giant moths even cause consern for some.

The problem isn't the airports themselves it's government. You can't get the clearance to fly most places there unless you have a commercial reason like moving the plane through to another place.

[Baron Von PWN]

Are all the issues in Georgia resolved? You didn't finish school did you? I'm guessing you're on break.

If you're not aware of the size thing you have not been up north here much, I've seen some pretty tough dudes get spooked by the killer june bug. Giant moths even cause consern for some.

The problem isn't the airports themselves it's government. You can't get the clearance to fly most places there unless you have a commercial reason like moving the plane through to another place.

Not really. The two break away republics remain de-facto independent and worse for Georgia are officially recognised as states by Russia. However there is little danger of the war restarting. I am done school for the time being. I might eventually go back for my masters.

[2dimes]

So you're fairly sure Georgia's stable? You should have made a brag post about grad, unless you did and I just missed it. Congrats.

[Baron Von PWN]

So you're fairly sure Georgia's stable? You should have made a brag post about grad, unless you did and I just missed it. Congrats.

Thanks!

The two break away republics have been de facto independent since the Georgian civil war after the break up of the Soviet Union. So really the war didn't change allot other than for Russia to trounce the Georgian military and recognise the break away republics as states.
Situation hasn't changed since 2006 so should be good.

[2dimes]

Are you going to be near the coast and is the Black Sea the sort of place a guy can do some swimsuit spotting and fishing? Or maybe just hang out and eat some fresh seafood? Will you be able to drive around. It looks like one of those countries where a guy could see the whole thing by car if there's enough freedom to do so.

[Baron Von PWN]

Are you going to be near the coast and is the Black Sea the sort of place a guy can do some swimsuit spotting and fishing? Or maybe just hang out and eat some fresh seafood? Will you be able to drive around. It looks like one of those countries where a guy could see the whole thing by car if there's enough freedom to do so.

My contract actually prohibits me from operating any motor vehicles while there. No idea why but there you have it. I actually don't find out where I will be placed until after I go through my orientation in Georgia. So I could be placed anywhere from the capital to a little mountain village. Certainly I'll be able to make weekend trips just about anywhere in the country, it isin't a very big place.

[tkr4lf]

Are you going to be near the coast and is the Black Sea the sort of place a guy can do some swimsuit spotting and fishing? Or maybe just hang out and eat some fresh seafood? Will you be able to drive around. It looks like one of those countries where a guy could see the whole thing by car if there's enough freedom to do so.

My contract actually prohibits me from operating any motor vehicles while there. No idea why but there you have it. I actually don't find out where I will be placed until after I go through my orientation in Georgia. So I could be placed anywhere from the capital to a little mountain village. Certainly I'll be able to make weekend trips just about anywhere in the country, it isin't a very big place.

That sounds awesome. Congrats BVP.

[2dimes]

Hopfully you'll have good internet access and can make an, "Ask about Georgia." thread.

[BigBallinStalin]

How accurate is this video about Russians?

[Baron Von PWN]

How accurate is this video about Russians?

SO acurate I thought it was a documentary.

though in reality the style of dancing and dress the "Russian dancing men" are wearing is more attune to cossack culture. Which could be Ukrainian or Russian, though is more closely associated with ukraine.

[2dimes]

What's going on in Georgia? Have you gone to one of those national parks? How many men have you danced with? Discribe in detail your best meal so far.

[notyou2]

Are there yaks?

[Dukasaur]

Sorry if this has already been asked.

Do you suppose the Sino-Soviet split had any practical consequences for the Soviet state, or was it mainly posturing and symbolic crap?

[Baron Von PWN]

What's going on in Georgia? Have you gone to one of those national parks? How many men have you danced with? Discribe in detail your best meal so far.

In general? or with me?

In general, Georgian news has been making a big deal about a US state department release saying the abkhaz government may be involved in drug trafficking.

Also the current government seems pretty pro-western. My job is the result of a national project to get a native english speaker in every classroom. English is now a mandatory subject. They are eager to trade with the west and seem to be removing bariers in that direction (it seems like most western citizens don't need a visa to travel here).

For me I've just started teaching. It's going ok, but I feel pretty awkward in the classroom. This may be complicated by the fact that I'm co-teaching with a Georgian teacher, and I'm unsure when to step in. Also she know's her lesson plans by heart since she's been doing it so long, so I'm sortof left in the dark when it comes to lesson planing.

I haven;t made it to any national parks yet, but I plan on visiting some.

I went to a dance club during my orientation week and this dude grabed me and started dancing with me saying "It's ok I'm not a pederast!". That is apparently what they call homosexuals here.

Best meal is a toss up between

Adjaran khachapuri (that's an egg on top of melty cheese stuff inside of some bread)

and khinkali ( Dumplings with a variety of fillings, though traditionally with minced meat and herbs, you are supposed to bite a hole in the dumpling and suck out the juices before eating)

[Baron Von PWN]

Are there yaks?

Haven't seen any. Plenty of cows, pigs, chickens and stray dogs though!

[Baron Von PWN]

Sorry if this has already been asked.

Do you suppose the Sino-Soviet split had any practical consequences for the Soviet state, or was it mainly posturing and symbolic crap?

In terms of domestic affairs it had little practical impact, except perhaps contributing to Krushchev's fall.

The big impact was international and in the course of the Cold War. The split was a significant image problem for the Soviet Union and its claim to representing global communism. It showed that the Soviet Union was only the head of those countries in which it had a strong military presence. This harmed their attempts at swaying other client states and created a competitor in asia.

The Soviets now had to worry about Chinese influence as well as American. It also meant China was free to throw its weight behind the USA when it saw fit as well. A pretty big headache for the politburo that. The split also resulted in a number of border skirmishes with China and presented the possible problem of war between two communist states.

TL;DR

The split was a big Ideological as well as Realpolitic problem for the Soviet Union internationally. As it resulted in the two working at cross purposed from each other.