[War_ooc] Russia 2013-2014

[Vampi Digitalwytch]

Russian Federation

Head of State: President Anastasia Malevich, MD (Fair Russia)
Head of Government: Prime Minister Yuri Federova (Liberal Democratic
Party of Russia)

Population: 140,041,247

GDP [PPP] = $3.025 trillion

Unemployment Rate: 6.2%

Economic Growth: 6%

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Political Landscape: The current administration is cautious for the
most part, still
dealing with the bad memories of Putin's heavy handed to the point of
old soviet cracking down on the protests and riots that erupted as the
recession worsened.  When elections ran, it was highly eventful with
gratuitous mudslinging and tabloid bickering to where The united
Russia party got tarnished with such tawdry tactics, allowing minority
parties to gain a significant foothold in the Duma and allowed for a
coalition government to form.

Ever regarded as a mess of one kind or another in
light of the failures of Communism and Democracy, Mother Russia was
due for another sweeping change in light of how hard hit the country
was with the most recent recession and the then administration's
actions towards dealing with the crisis, this time, turning to the
Church for stability and structure.

While no clergy has held a political office as of yet, the closest
coming being the current president having been the daughter of a
popular priest, they do have some input into legislative matters, and
they are consulted in issues, the Communists are not pleased but it
does make things more palatable, especially the tough times and
issues.

So far things have been working out, but no one's holding thier breath.

President Malevich prior to her politics career had been a doctor and
only entered politics to help improve things further for the medical
field, and tabloids have reported a past romantic relationship between
her and the current Prime Minister, but official and unoffical word is
that things ended when they were nominated for their parties for
higher position.


Economics:  The latest recession was just as brutal as the post Soviet
one in the 1990s and the wakeup call that regardless of how matters
were handled prior, enough was enough.  The current president's rather
clinical approach has grabbed things by the bootstraps and refocusing
towards clearing out the old ways of doing things.

While manufacturing industries still flourish, there has been an even
greater push towards the high tech industries, and those countries
that were formerly under soviet control do receive cost breaks when
dealing with Russian owned companies.

In addition the gap between the rich and poor is still there, with up
and coming Russians living lifestyles of luxury while people starve.
While not to the degree it has been in decades past, it is still
present.


Social Issues: Still dealing with the ghosts of the past, the current
administration is trying to finally lay to rest as much as possible to
the satisfaction of all parties for everyone to move on to better
things.

In the pattern of out with the old, there has been an almost brutal
crackdown on the issues of Drugs with penalties equal to Thailand's.
Criticisms of this policy has been met with the opinion that 'one
excises cancer, not encourages it'.  Equally, much funds have been
allocated for alcoholics treatment and rehabilitation which has seen
some success with the drop of a reported 52% of deaths related to a
current 38%.  The Militias have been strengthened and given teeth in
their ability to make arrests and bring drug dealers to trial, though
with their deaths all but assured many dealers are fighting it out
with the police

Heart disease is still the major cause of mortality rates even with
the current president's push for promoting exercise and healthy
dietary habits.  Anti-smoking policies have proven failures
(especially with the president failing her most recent attempt to
quit) and there has been research put towards development of a
'healthy cigarette' Not much progress has been made but they continue
to work, if nothing else for future generations.

There has been progress made towards human rights reform, though the
Islamic community still reports mistreatment and protests from them
have been ignored by the government.

Defense: The military reforms originally put through by Defense
Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov are still undergoing even with the gripes
of the 'old guard' though many former complainants have quieted with
the current improvements on efficiency. Mandatory military service of
at least 2 years is still in place, the brutality in the Russian
training regimen has been lessened somewhat with emphasis being
placed on leadership and character building.

The Class system of conscription with 4th class soldiers being given
the dirty work while first class soldiers are exempt has been
tightened up, but there are still issues ongoing.

The reforms and streamlining of the officer corps does not make the
government friends with higher ranking officers being forced to retire
to make way for younger blood or to have their positions streamlined
or in some cases eliminated even with incentives given to civilian
business to hire former officers.

The naval modernization initiative begins, older hulls are being
decommissioned and sold for scrap.

Foreign Relations: Figured as likely going to be a work in progress
for many years to come.  Most of the focus tends to be more on fixing
problems at home to be an example for the rest of the world.

Relations with the former Baltic states continue to be troublesome,
along with Eastern Europe mostly remembering the days of the iron
curtain and the crackdowns.

Old schisms between the Orthodox church and the Vatican have welled up
and while on the surface polite, the tension's as thick as borscht.

Timeline:
2010:January New Russia Coalition government formed,
2010: March Russian Army reforms begin, pay of soldiers increased
2010: May: Drug crackdown begins, first wave of dealers rounded up and
executed after show trials
2011: Russian Navy modernization begins
2012: health initiatives begin with exercise encouraged at all levels
and crackdowns on binge drinking.

-- 
--I know there are no lifeguards in the gene pool, but damn, there
ought to be at least a few sharks in the water.