Chapter 16

Section 1

1. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, state-run farms have been modified for the new market economy, Russian industries have been selling parts of their companies to other parts of the world, private car ownership doubled, cellular phone service has doubled, and telecommunications has increased greatly as well.

2. Russia is focused upon becoming a full partner in global community by expanding trade and building international relationships with the Pacific Economic Cooperation and the World Trade Organization.

Creative Writing: In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev and his successor, Boris Yeltsin, made a transition into a market economy by encouraging privatization and foreign investment. By letting small businesses start and grow, and allowing a turn towards investing in technology, Russia eventually got out of its economic turmoil.

Section 2

1. The World Banks's Sustainable Forestry Pilot Project helps Russia manage its forests, along with several civilians, who also make movements against things like the mining operation in Kamchatka.

2. In Russia's future, they country will have to see the affects of their supertrawlers, which kill millions of fish annually, and the possible oil spills from the large pipelines the build.

Creative Writing: During 1949 and 1987, the Soviet Union was exposed to over six hundred nuclear explosions. One fire, in Chernobyl, was exposed to a fire in the nuclear reactor of their town. This fire had 400 times the amount of radioactivity as post-nuclear bomb Hiroshima and swept over Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and several other countries, causing millions of people to be exposed to lethal amounts of radioations.

Chapter 15

Section 1

1. After the fall of the USSR in 1991, people are able to explore their faiths and traditions and express them, because during the time of the Soviet Union, people were encouraged to take up atheism and not practice their former religions.

2. Russia's major ethnic groups include the Slavs, the Caucasians, and the Turks.

Creative Writing: The practices of post-Soviet Russia have improved greatly compared to the limited action allowed in the USSR. Now that our schooling is more free, we are able to take classes to learn of our heritage and our history as Russians, rather that simply focus on math and science. We can now also take our expressive ideas and use them for our future in arts, now that the Soviet government is no longer limits our art to glorifying the government. As you can see, our country, now, is able to show its true opinions, making this era the better one for Russia.

Section 2

1. The ancestors of the ancient Russians were the Slavs.

2. The causes of the breakup of the USSR include the weakened economy, disagreements between the wages of the workers and the luxuries that their leaders enjoyed, and the conflict that the Soviet Union had with the US.

Creative Writing: During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and America had a virtual "race" as to who could make the best nuclear weapon and were trying to control other countries by their influences of communism and capitalism, respectively. Both of these countries wanted to uses these questionably real weapons as a threat towards the countries that did not follow them. As these countries continually tried to make better weapons, Russia found themselves steadily losing funds that were going to this as well as other causes. With their economy in shambles, the USSR broke apart into several independent countries.

Chapter 14

Section 1.

1. The land area of Russia is 6.6 million square miles.

2. Russia's natural resources are fossil fuels, such as petroleum and coal, and minerals such as nickel, aluminum, gemstones, and platinum-group metals.

Creative Writing: While Russia is one of the major producers of fossil fuels and minerals in the world, many people may not care what else may lie in its soil. Russian land holds about one fifth of the worlds forests and thus is second only to the Amazon in terms of how much oxygen is released back into the atmosphere. In addition to the amounts of oxygen that the forests put back, they also create a home for millions of living creatures, from single-celled bacteria to woodland creatures. For not only the good of these creatures, but for the good of humanity, the Russian forests must be preserved.

Section 2.

1. Russia's major climate region include steppe, humid continental, subarctic, and tundra.

2. In the tundra, only small plants, such as moss, shrubs, and algae can survive. Softwood timber and other coniferous trees are the major vegetation supported in the subarctic region. In the humid continental regions, there are grasslands, several crops, like wheat and sunflowers, and coniferous-deciduous forests. The steppe climate allows sunflowers, mint, and beans to flourish.

Creative Writing: I have marched with my brothers, sometimes running, in order to try to enter a burning house so that I might find some scraps of food. The moral of my superiors is fading just as quickly as the rest of the men as they see their men fall into the snow from starvation, freezing, and exhaustion. We lose a man with every step towards the fleeing Russians and yet, I have not seen a frozen Russian, most likely due to the fact that they are much more prepared and have adapted to the inhospitable freezing wasteland. While I may not be able to see a few meters in front of me, the outcome of the war is quite clear: not one third of the men will ever see the border of Russia again.