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Social, Political and Cultural Processes in Contemporary Russia: Armenian Russian relations from the perspective of spacio-temporal understanding of Gravity

Law which we have been in the habit of calling Gravity exists on account of Matter’s having been irradiated, at its origin, atomically, into a limited sphere of Space, from one, individual, unconditional, irrelative, and absolute Particle Proper, by the sole process in which it was possible to satisfy, at the same time, the two conditions, irradiation, and generally-equable distribution throughout the sphere — that is to say, by a force varying in direct proportion with the squares of the distances between the irradiated atoms, respectively, and the Particular centre of Irradiation.

Edgar Alan Poe, 1848

Different theories argue that regionalism is driven by geographic proximity and the level of interdependence. Among many explanations, two main directions of thought are highlighted in modern day discourse aiming at the provision of some kind of explanation to these processes. The essentialist approach argues that states do have a core of economic, security interests, as well as cultural and religious conceptual commonalities that drive the regionalization. In this case, the stress is placed on economic and security issues above all the other concerns. In my presentation, when trying to link it with the conceptual framework of gravity, I called it the Newtonian understanding of regionalization. On the other hand, the constructivist approach is more of a relativistic statement that stresses the importance of concepts. It argues that a religion is a social-political construct, it is a conglomerate of mental imageries, particularly concepts, metaphors and practices, which drive the system. Interestingly enough, geography and interests here are no key players. That challenges the long standing understanding of regional processes, particularly from the perspective of realist theories of International Relations that make interests and the balancing power paramount characters of state foreign policies.

Regionalism from the Perspective of Newtonian Gravity

Geography plays a dominant role in those economies that are of primeval or industrial type. In these economies the multiplier effect is tied up to the industrial cycle of agriculture or other more advanced goods and services that are being produced. Thus, for instance, economies of third world countries and the ones of post-soviet type do display these

Nvard V. Manasian, YSLU [email protected]

characteristics and have rather discrete velocities in terms of reproduction.

Therefore, the forces of gravity that these economies create are directly correlated to the mass created by the production cycle and inversely related to their proximity to the markets. The economies with large volumes of raw materials and more effective industrial cycles create a bigger mass and become more attractive markets, given that the necessary infrastructure is in place. When looking at Russia, one can say that given its abundance of raw materials and higher velocities of reproduction, it attracts the economies of the region with a growing power. However, in these types of economies, as the multiplier effect is directly affected by the industrial cycle, the need for higher velocities of information transmission is not a policy matter; it is quite satisfactory to the needs of that economy. This ties the velocity of information transfer to lower sped limits, which we can symbolically call “horsepower” speed levels. If one had to retrospectively look at the collapse of Soviet Union, it could be observed that USSR does not exist in relative universe, it still has strong ties and actually functions in Newtonian terms, i. e. horsepower driven universe. In post-Soviet space geography and the structure of economies of neighboring countries continues to reproduce themselves and create gravitational fields that can be explained by Newtonian physics. Nevertheless, it is not fully Newtonian and concurrent processes place additional pressure on those systems, at times being at cross-roads with the current logic of regionalization.

Constructivism or Relative Regionalism

In the age of dominion of information and communication that was made possible with the advance of new technologies and the Internet, geography ceases to exist. This poses new paradigm for policy makers, when thinking about regional processes and security issues.

The velocity of communication becomes worth examining. Previously, the information that was tied up to the actual production cycle of commodities had no need to reach the limit of the speed of light. It was being transferred though other means, that could travel in space with the velocity no greater than horsepower or in some cases the speed of sound. Internet made possible to trade and to communicate at the speed of light. This also meant that the communicating parties had to first of all be able to understand each other, making symbols such as letters, thus, language very important, but it also added a new variable that gave to both parties relatively higher levels of independence. This was the demand of concepts that were deemed interesting. If one of the parties though that the other party could not suggest anything that could be actual, thus,


appealing, it could then chose not to consume the communication tread, in a way “turning off” the light by not consuming that particular information package. Let’s consider a simple example of reading Russian articles. If “A” person does not think that the content of Russian articles provides high levels of actual though defining information, then that person “turns off” the light and the velocity of that information tread equals zero, even though it is on the Internet and its velocity has the potential of reaching the speed of light. Now, let’s consider Einstein’s equation of body mass. If the denominator of the Internet article is constant and it equals to the speed of light, the numerator is defined by the act of person “A” depending on his/her will to read or not read it. If not read, the velocity equals to zero. Finally, multiply this by the number of consumers, then, it will be obvious that in the age of Globalised production and consumption, the fact of not consuming whatever has traveled the universe at the speed of light cold bring its relative mass to the constant mass levels defined by the production cycle only. Then, Russia still having vast resources would find itself in a parallel universe not seen by the rest of the world that has chosen to “turn off” the light and nullify the possibility of communication. The only way for it to be seen, is to project actual concepts that could drive the communication process at the speed of light.

Parallel Universes of Regionalism

In Einstein’s theory of relativity gravity is not defined by the actual mass of the body, but the light that is emitted, which creates a gravitational field creating curvatures that make ne body to rotate around another one. This spacio-temporal field actually is defined by the intensity of light traveling the universe and contributing to limitless possible combinations of fields. Instead of the masses being attracted, it is their relative mass, i. e. their multiplier effect in terms of images projected that ensures the existence of gravity and drives the regionalization processes irrespective of their geographical proximity. In the light of digital reality, where images count more than realities, where most of the times people base their understand on what media resources project, where book is no longer the dominant mode of information transfer, regionalism can be defined as the level of conceptual or value system based interdependence and quantity and speed of transfer of the images that together make the meaningful bytes of information, given that these bytes are requested and needed at the other end of that very communication.


Who reins the World? Cultivation of value based dependence

According to 2008 data of ITU the world ICT industry and market leaders with some minor exceptions are all exclusively of European decent.

Western economies that are based on market relations do not develop any product or service that has failed market record. This means that the leading European economies are creating technologies that are demanded not only in their domestic, regional, but also global markets. ICT production is not only tied to the development of the relevant infrastructure and devices, it also means that a relevant content is being created, thus, emitted covering different users. Then, who are the main consumers?

The same ITU data suggests that unlike ICT industry giants, such as Sweden, Norway, UK, the consumers come from all over the world, and that number is growing. It is interesting to state, that the growth rate has skyrocketed, particularly in the developing world.

In 2010, three fourth of 3G mobile cellular subscriptions are attributed to the developing part of the planet. Unlike ICT goods and services requiring appropriate content generation, cellular


subscriptions are not linked to the necessity of content creation at the same propensity levels. This means that content, i. e. imagery and concepts are being delivered by the European part of the world and are being consumed by the rest of it. The light emitted from this part of the world creates gravitational forces around Europe that later on translate into the higher demand for learning languages of these countries, migrating to this part of the world and look up to the education provided by this value system. Here one has to mention that the US in its ideological and cultural aspect is nothing less than a European satellite. In all of the above stated, Russia has yet to be seen. Thus, in terms of relative regionalism it does not play a major role and al the aspirations of the people of post-Soviet bloc go to the states, economies, but most of all concepts and culture of Western Europe. In one word, people want to think European thoughts and they want to have a European lifestyle. Russia needs to rethink itself and its foreign policy, particularly the cultural aspects of it.

Rethinking Language Policy: Language not an end, but a mere tool of communication

When glancing at the language map of the US, one notices comparable levels of presence of Hebrew and Russian as means of communication. Nevertheless, it is not a secret that the number one lobby with much of its grip on Washington belongs to Jewish community. Knowing the language or utilizing it without creating relevant text for internal consumption does not guarantee a sizeable impact on cultural processes, such as politics. It requires relevant and value driven action translated into a format of text.


Unlike Russian linguistic presence and its balance with another politically influential group, Armenians living in California are nowhere near their Spanish speaking compatriots. Nevertheless, compared to Mexicans that constitute the majority of Latinos in California, Armenians have managed to influence the state politics, as well as exerting power at sub cultural level. All this, along with other factors, suggests that linguistic presence and language as a tool is not enough and serves no purpose, if it is not translated into relevant, thus, demanded content.

Some Recommendations or “Как быть?”

Post Soviet area is undergoing major change, some aspects of it are more obvious, the others are rather tacit, thus, more defining in terms of long-term configuration of the gravitational field that would predetermine the future of this region. Having been attracted to the European concepts of human rights and liberal ideas, countries of the region through the drive of their citizens have found themselves under the communication irradiated from Europe. Although, the elites of these countries have been somehow able to manage the balancing of power with Russia, the time is up for these groups, since the citizens of the respective countries are being gradually socialized into another value system that will no longer tolerate coerced politics. This said, it means that if all remains the same, Russia will have to exert to power politics and intervention into the internal


affairs of its neighbors at escalating rates that will further vilify it in the eyes of the people and make it politically counterproductive. It will (a) shorten the lifespan of those elites that are perceived as allies of Russia, (b) it will be more expensive to finance such campaigns in these respective countries, (c) it will further drive the association of the people with the European value system, fully discrediting Russia as a modern state in the minds of the people of the region. That will further accelerate the degradation of already retreating Russian language, as it will not be deemed necessary to learn a language, which does not satisfy all the aspects of human life, but most of all does not give conceptual and moral satisfaction. Therefore, there is a dire need to undertake urgent actions in order for this not t happen. Here are some of the recommendations to be considered by both states, presented in the same way as it was done on the PowerPoint slides:

No. ARMENIA RUSSIAN FEDERATION

1 Revisit and reevaluate the past Revisit and reevaluate the past

2 Modernization of the economy Modernization of the economy

3 Internationalization of higher education Internationalization of higher education

4 Organization of cultural events and informal educational undertakings with the Armenian Diaspora of Russia

Preservation of Armenian identity among those who live in Russia

5 Further development and depth of education of Russian language as a foreign language, not as a mean of instruction, in order to avoid such phenomena as extinction of Russian language and creation of an echo that has no relative body mass

Protection of Educational Rights of Armenians as an ethnic minority

6 Application of experimental education and advanced learning methodologies of Russian language

Creation of Chairs of Armenology in some of the higher education institutions of Russia

7 Joint exchange programs dealing with culture, education and science

Joint exchange programs dealing with culture, education and science


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