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----------------- - 1737 - Santa Rosa and the Ukraine in 1987
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- In 1987 people from Sonoma joined hands with citizens of Kanev in the Ukraine with a goal of peace and lasting friendship. Sister-cities were formed.
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- December 13, 1987 the Press Democrat newspaper ran a USSR portrait. Six days of special reporting on the Soviet Union with its 100 cultures and over 2,000 years of invasions, oppression, revolutions , literature and arts.
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- The clock was ticking on Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987. The USSR had some major problems with the long run of communism. But, let’s start with history, back to 1000 B.C. when Crimmerians were farmers along the shores of the Black Sea. 700 B.C. the Seythian horsemen overran the farmers.
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----------------- 388 A.D. Kiev was the capital of the first Russian state
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----------------- 988 Vladimer the ruler declares Byzantine Christianity the official religion.
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------------------1240 Mongols conquer Kiev and have 200 years of control.
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---------------- 1555 Ivan the Terrible rules.
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---------------- 1682 Peter the Great makes St Petersburg the capital, later became Leningrad.
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---------------- 1762 Catherine the Great
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---------------- 1812 Napoleon invades Russia. 600,000 French troops invade and 570,000 die or are captured.
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---------------- 1867 Russia sells Alaska to US for $7 million.
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---------------- 1903 Lenin leads the Bolsheviks.
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--------------- 1914 Germany declares war on Russia. Rasputin is assassinated.
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--------------- 1917 Lenin rules from Leningrad.
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----------------1921 Josef Stalin leads the USSR.
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-----------------1928 The government wipes out all private business. 20 million citizens are sent to labor camps.
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---------------- 1939 Hitler and Stalin divide up Poland. WWI Germany invades and 20 million Russians are killed.
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---------------- 1949 The Iron Curtain and the Cold War.
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---------------- 1950 Stalin dies, Khrushchev rules.
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----------------- 1957 Russia launches Sputnik I.
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-----------------1962 John F Kennedy orders naval blockade of Cuba to remove Russian missiles.
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---------------- 1972 Nixon signs Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT).
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------------------1979 Soviet Union invades Afghanistan.
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---------------- 1982 Mikhail Gorbachev is leader.
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-----------------1986 Gorbachev starts “ glasnost” openness and freedoms with the West.
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---------------- 1987 Gorbachev meets Ronald Reagan. This starts the beginning of the Press Democrat 6 article series on the lives in Russia at the time.
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- 1987 Russia was an anxious nation with hopes for reform. A crisis of political infighting and rampant inefficiency of the communist system dominate the economy. They can put men in space, but, can not put food on the table.
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- In 25 years the gap separating Soviet and US GDP jumped from $1 trillion to $2 trillion. Despite free medical care infant mortality rates were 3 times the US. Consumers wait years to buy a car. Russia became a monolithic burearachy geared to perpetuate the system. There is no unemployment for doing nothing and getting paid.
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- After WWII Russia focused on military might. Every town has a war memorial.
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- Comparing education achievements with the US:
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--------------------USSR ---------------US
-------------------12.7% ---------------25.3% --------- get college degrees
--------------------2.0 ------------------21.4 ----------- get some college
-------------------58.6 ------------------38.2 ----------- get high school degrees
-------------------26.8 -------------------9.6 ----------- get some high school
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- There were 50 million people in Ukraine. Soviet Christianity was practiced by mostly the old and the women.
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- The Communist Party is responsible for policy making. The National Government carries out the policy. There is shared control of the army.
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- For Georgians wine grapes are something sacred. Gorbachev identifies chronic nationwide alcoholism as a key obstacle to economic recovery. The average family spends 33% of their income to alcohol.
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---------------------- World’s wine production:
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---------------------- France --------------- 22.8%
---------------------- Italy ------------------- 20.8
---------------------- USSR ---------------- 11.2
---------------------- Spain ----------------- 10.3
---------------------- California ------------- 5.2
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------------------Employment compared to the US:
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----------------------------------- USSR ------------ US
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------------- Agriculture ------ 19.4% ------------ 3 %
------------- Industry ----------- 38 --------------- 27
------------- Service ------------ 42.6 ------------- 70
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- Perestroika is Gorbachev’s economic reform program:
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------------------ Trade Unions for the working class created this:
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-------------------------------------------------------------USSR --------------- US
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---------- Days lost to illness each year ------------- 10.5 ----------------- 4.6
---------- Government worker to population ------ 1 in 15 ------------- 1 in 15
---------- Average monthly wage -------------------- $320 --------------- $1,486
---------- Cost of cheap car in months pay ----------- 22 ------------------- 4.4
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- Kanev, Ukraine and Sonoma are “sister cities”, seeing it important for people at the grass roots levels get to know each other.
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- Richmond, Indiana and Serpukhov, 70 miles south of Moscow become sister-cities.
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- People-to-people and face-to-face for world peace. Citizen diplomacy.
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- Gerkascy, Ukraine to be sister-city with Santa Rosa, California.
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- All this was the picture in December, 1987. How would this compare to what it is today? How far have we come? I will send this to the Press Democrat. Maybe they can look into their archives and write an up date, 28 years later.
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------------- Tuesday, February 10, 2015 -----
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