Is Russia too big to be one Country?

AMKC · 29-01-2021 12:48pm #1

In my honest opinion I think it is.
I know there is lots of little states in it but not like the USA where they can set there own rules and so on.
If was broke up into to six or so small countries or maybe more maybe 12 it would be better.
So what is other peoples opinion on this?

Smee_Again · 29-01-2021 12:49pm

I think if you keep talking like that you'll be novichoked.

RandomViewer · 29-01-2021 12:54pm

Much smaller than it used to be

biko · 29-01-2021 12:55pm

It is too big because it's really a union like EU.
Many smaller nation swallowed up during the Soviet times (some even before) and now Russia won't let them go to find their own destiny.

Tom Mann Centuria · 29-01-2021 1:00pm

biko wrote: »

It is too big because it's really a union like EU.
Many smaller nation swallowed up during the Soviet times (some even before) and now Russia won't let them go to find their own destiny.

Which smaller nations do you mean from the Soviet era?

29-01-2021 1:02pm

I'm not sure what anyone would do with a gigantic area of inhospitable wilderness.

biko · 29-01-2021 1:08pm

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Which smaller nations do you mean from the Soviet era?

The Soviet Empire was made up of 15 Soviet Republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia (now Belarus), Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgiziya (now Kyrgyzstan), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia (now Moldova), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

But they also invaded Czechoslovakia 1968 for a spell.

Some have their freedom now. Some are still obedient.

Tom Mann Centuria · 29-01-2021 1:12pm

biko wrote: »

The Soviet Empire was made up of 15 Soviet Republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia (now Belarus), Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgiziya (now Kyrgyzstan), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia (now Moldova), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

But they also invaded Czechoslovakia 1968 for a spell.

Some have their freedom now. Some are still obedient.

Oh yeah, appreciate that, but they are no longer part of Russia on a map are they? They're all their own country now, regardless of an overbearing influence.

Quantum Erasure · 29-01-2021 1:13pm

No, Russia is grand. China on the other hand...

retalivity · 29-01-2021 1:15pm

Russia is about 80% empty as well

timmyntc · 29-01-2021 1:18pm

Wait till you see how big Brazil is..

French Toast · 29-01-2021 1:22pm

North Eastern Russia seems to be fairly grim.

ancapailldorcha · 29-01-2021 1:38pm

India's the one that gets me. There had at least been a Russian state for centuries prior to the USSR in the twentieth century that had relentlessly pushed east and conquered the steppe peoples quite easily with firearms. Geopolitics are quite tricky for the Russians given the states the border and their relatively small population relative to the amount of land they have.

India though. The world's biggest democracy, the various cultures, religions, empires and so on that have existed in one subcontinent and now it's a country. I find that truly insane. A similar argument could probably be made about China but there my knowledge is relatively lacking.

Strumms · 29-01-2021 2:46pm

Russia, by landmass, is by far the biggest country on earth.

By population it isn’t.

The US has more then double Russia’s population... Russia’s population is even predicted to slightly decrease. It’s the 9th most populous.

Gatling · 29-01-2021 2:58pm

Quantum Erasure wrote: »

No, Russia is grand. China on the other hand...

The Chinese population in Siberia is growing at a rapid rate and locals are concerned china could do a Putin by sending troops to protect their citizens from persocution ,
Really Weird situation.
Many places outside of the major cities in Russia are still in pre ww2 living conditions ,many have no access to the internet or even TV ,alot are solely reliant on radio stations to know what's going on in Russia ,
There was a documentary crew that visited parts of Russia where electricity ran for a few hours aday , water came from a single hand cranked pump ,and the people have never met a single government official or could even describe Putin ,
It might suit being broken up into smaller sovereign States but most wouldn't be able to run as a state having been solely reliant on the Communist party for everything ,
There would need to be a mass modernisation program to bring them into the present with huge investment from somewhere,

titan18 · 29-01-2021 3:10pm

I think a decent chunk of Russia is uninhabitated. Most of it is in the Western part of the country in the Central (Moscow etc) or the Volga (Novgorod/Kazan etc) and then another large amount around St Petersburg. The Far East and Siberian districts make up a giant amount of land but much smaller population numbers. If you take those two districts out as a separate country, it'd likely collapse. Far East would likely end up being consumed by China

titan18 · 29-01-2021 3:21pm

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

India's the one that gets me. There had at least been a Russian state for centuries prior to the USSR in the twentieth century that had relentlessly pushed east and conquered the steppe peoples quite easily with firearms. Geopolitics are quite tricky for the Russians given the states the border and their relatively small population relative to the amount of land they have.

India though. The world's biggest democracy, the various cultures, religions, empires and so on that have existed in one subcontinent and now it's a country. I find that truly insane. A similar argument could probably be made about China but there my knowledge is relatively lacking.

China has always been pretty large rather than independent states like India used to be. You're going back a long long time before that wasn't predominately united. India, i think is mainly back to the Mughals and then the British but before that were separate much like Italy used to be.

Gregor Samsa · 29-01-2021 3:29pm

biko wrote: »

It is too big because it's really a union like EU.
Many smaller nation swallowed up during the Soviet times (some even before) and now Russia won't let them go to find their own destiny.

So nothing like the EU at all, really, where every country joined voluntarily, can leave if they wish, and still has their own identity.

Lewis_Benson · 29-01-2021 3:36pm

Very strange thread topic for boards. Ie.

titan18 · 29-01-2021 3:55pm

biko wrote: »

It is too big because it's really a union like EU.
Many smaller nation swallowed up during the Soviet times (some even before) and now Russia won't let them go to find their own destiny.

Not really. Russia obviously grew a lot as part of the Soviet Union, but most of what is current Russia has been Russia since the 1500s and 1600s with the Tsardom and the most populous part is dating back further as part of Muscovy. USSR expanded it a lot but most of that terrority (Ukraine etc) is gone from them now and had lost a decent chunk before that after the Soviet revolution in 1918.

Tchaikovsky · 29-01-2021 3:56pm

It's a federation of republics.

biko · 29-01-2021 3:58pm

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Oh yeah, appreciate that, but they are no longer part of Russia on a map are they? They're all their own country now, regardless of an overbearing influence.

Yes, under Boris Jeltzin anyone currently inside Russia was made full part of the federation.

Let's choose one - Tuva.
From 1921 to 1944, Tuva constituted a sovereign, independent, but partially recognized nation, acknowledged only by its neighbours the Soviet Union and Mongolia.
In 1944 it was annexed in the Soviet Union, and in 1992 it signed itself into the Russian Federation.

Stovepipe · 29-01-2021 4:34pm

I'd like a copy of that map in a bigger scale. Where did you get it?

Feisar · 29-01-2021 4:38pm

Gatling wrote: »

The Chinese population in Siberia is growing at a rapid rate and locals are concerned china could do a Putin by sending troops to protect their citizens from persocution ,
Really Weird situation.
Many places outside of the major cities in Russia are still in pre ww2 living conditions ,many have no access to the internet or even TV ,alot are solely reliant on radio stations to know what's going on in Russia ,
There was a documentary crew that visited parts of Russia where electricity ran for a few hours aday , water came from a single hand cranked pump ,and the people have never met a single government official or could even describe Putin ,
It might suit being broken up into smaller sovereign States but most wouldn't be able to run as a state having been solely reliant on the Communist party for everything ,
There would need to be a mass modernisation program to bring them into the present with huge investment from somewhere,

Not sure if I seen that doc but read or seen something similar. You could be living in the middle of Russia but not really connected to Russia in any meaningful way. Far large swaths of it, it doesn't work as a country.

biko · 29-01-2021 4:44pm

Stovepipe wrote: »

I'd like a copy of that map in a bigger scale. Where did you get it?

See the watermark AnnaMap.com
or https://annamap.com/russia/russia-map.jpg

ancapailldorcha · 29-01-2021 4:48pm

Feisar wrote: »

Not sure if I seen that doc but read or seen something similar. You could be living in the middle of Russia but not really connected to Russia in any meaningful way. Far large swaths of it, it doesn't work as a country.

80% of its population is west of the Urals. Any issues which might arise on its Eastern frontier will be difficult to handle for that reason alone, never mind that it has an economy the size of Spain's.

Stovepipe · 29-01-2021 4:51pm

Vast parts of the country have no road or rail network and rely on helicopters, boats or off-road vehicles for access. Road conditions are third-world outside of the main population centres. In all those regional republics, the local Governor is more relevant than Moscow or Putin. The loss of Ukraine and Belarus, to independence, was critical to Russia's ability to feed itself as they had some of the better transport links and the ability to move large quantities of agricultural produce. Kazakhstan was also an important loss, because of it's importance to the space programme, as Russia pays for access to what it used to own. While today's Russians are in many ways better off, there is still a huge strain of endemic poverty and poor living conditions.

bocaman · 29-01-2021 4:54pm

No, the result would be increased poverty and chaos. The east has historically been part of Russia for centuries if the country broke up then it would only open up the way for China.

snotboogie · 29-01-2021 5:00pm

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

India's the one that gets me. There had at least been a Russian state for centuries prior to the USSR in the twentieth century that had relentlessly pushed east and conquered the steppe peoples quite easily with firearms. Geopolitics are quite tricky for the Russians given the states the border and their relatively small population relative to the amount of land they have.

India though. The world's biggest democracy, the various cultures, religions, empires and so on that have existed in one subcontinent and now it's a country. I find that truly insane. A similar argument could probably be made about China but there my knowledge is relatively lacking.

If the CCP ever fell there would be a number of Chinese states that would immediately break off, Tibet and Xinjiang for sure.

Guangdong would make or break the country, if they left to form a Cantonese super state with Hong Kong and Macau (which would have a GDP of about 2.5 trillion USD, putting it on par with India, France and the UK), the other culturally distinct regions like Greater Sichuan, Inner Mongolia and Dongbei would likely follow, effectively breaking up the continent.

Capt'n Midnight · 29-01-2021 7:52pm

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Which smaller nations do you mean from the Soviet era?

Before WWI Russia included Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, most of Poland and a slice of Romania.

Jinglejangle69 · 29-01-2021 7:56pm

What was Hitler thinking.

Is Russia too big to be one Country?

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