BARACUTEY CUBANO

Rusia modifica la historia: Nuevo Libro de Texto. WSJ Julio 6 2007
Espeluznante texto de manuales para maestros autorizados por el Kremlin. Putin sobre el historia y los textos: " La sociedad tiene papilla en la cabeza y los maestros tambien. Para el nuevo curso nuestros maestros de historia y estudios sociales tendran nuevos manuales y ayudas visuales. Pronto se prepararan textos para los alumnos" Citas del manual traducidas al ingles por el WSJ: In the very citadels of modern democracy in countries with the longest and most stable democratic tradition (the U.S. and Britain primarily) there is a threat of a 'new totalitarianism.' This is based not on the use of direct force (as was the case with Hitler's Germany) but on modern soft informational technologies that affect the masses, impose global control over them, and create pre-programmed reactions."
"You can find more and more facts pointing to the collapse of democracies. More and more often elections resemble the sale of goods. We should not forget that Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany through completely democratic means."
"In essence entry into the club of democratic nations involves surrendering part of your national sovereignty to the U.S."

"The development of the global political process will depend on Russia's decision on where to send its oil and gas. It's enough to deprive a rival of energy for development -- in the geopolitical battle, such an act could be a defining moment."
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Russia's Changing History:
The Rhetoric and the Reality
July 6, 2007


Two new manuals for Russia's history teachers that retell the events of the last six decades are expected to form the basis for new school textbooks. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave one of the manuals a presidential boost last month, inviting its author along with a number of historians and teachers to his residence to talk history.
Below, see excerpts from his comments that day and also excerpts from one of the new books, as translated by The Wall Street Journal. (See related article.)
The Rhetoric
Mr. Putin met teachers, academics, and officials on June 21 to talk about how history should be taught. Below, excerpts from his comments.
"All states and peoples have had their ups and downs through history. We must not allow others to impose a feeling of guilt on us. We should each first look to ourselves."
"Regarding the problematic pages in our history, yes, we do have them, as does any state. We have fewer such pages than do some countries, and they are less terrible than in some countries. In any event, we have never used nuclear weapons against civilians, and we have never dumped chemicals on thousands of kilometers of land or dropped more bombs on a tiny country than were dropped during the entire Second World War, as was the case in Vietnam. We have not had such bleak pages as was the case of Nazism, for example."
"There are practically no textbooks that deeply and objectively reflect the very latest events in the history of our motherland."
"There are no general standards and at times people simply have porridge in their heads [a Russian expression meaning indicating one is confused]. Society has got porridge in its head, and teachers have porridge in their heads, too!"
"Toward the new school year, our history and social studies teachers will get new teaching aids and manuals. Soon textbooks of the same level will be prepared for pupils themselves."
"Far from all publishers take a responsible attitude when it comes to the contents of textbooks. Of course publishing houses should become more responsible. The state, through the relevant ministry, headed by [Education Minister] Andrei Alexandrovich Fursenko, should play a greater role in this respect."
"I'm talking principally about educational standards, not about the standardization of thought. I'm not saying we need to 'groom' everyone according to a single standard as it used to be at one point when a single ideology dominated. Of course different points of view about social problems and governmental development can and should be set out in textbooks. But educational standards of quality should be upheld."
"If certain positions, approaches, and evaluations are presented in textbooks, an alternative point of view should also be offered."
"It [the process] will help us find our bearings in the world and will inspire a feeling of pride for our country among our citizens, and especially young citizens, for we have something to be proud about."
Source: Official Kremlin transcript
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The Reality
Two new manuals for Russian history teachers will form the basis for new school textbooks. Below, selected excerpts. (Parentheses stand as in the original.)
On Democracy:
"In the very citadels of modern democracy in countries with the longest and most stable democratic tradition (the U.S. and Britain primarily) there is a threat of a 'new totalitarianism.' This is based not on the use of direct force (as was the case with Hitler's Germany) but on modern soft informational technologies that affect the masses, impose global control over them, and create pre-programmed reactions."
"You can find more and more facts pointing to the collapse of democracies. More and more often elections resemble the sale of goods. We should not forget that Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany through completely democratic means."
"In essence entry into the club of democratic nations involves surrendering part of your national sovereignty to the U.S."
"Russia has proved those critics and skeptics wrong who considered that an authoritarian form of government and political thought was its inevitable political fate. The democratic political culture that has formed in Russia over many centuries has become the main instrument of its rebirth and its rise."
On U.S. Foreign Policy:
"The dominance of the West is at its weakest and most fragile for centuries. The West is facing both external and internal threats. We're talking about China, India, and Brazil. These countries are becoming independent centers of power."
"From the beginning of the 1990s in international politics, the U.S. tried to realize a global empire. The basic political principle underpinning any empire is divide and rule. Therefore one of the U.S. strategies was to isolate Russia from all the other former Soviet republics."
"Multiculturalism turned out to be recognition of the fact that America can no longer integrate into a single unit or unite into a nation of 'whites,' 'blacks' (they are called 'African Americans' in the language of political correctness), 'Latinos' ('Latin Americans') and others. Some politicians and sociologists consider that this process will lead to domestic weakness and the final collapse of the U.S. and that, in their opinion, will be 'the death of the West.' "
"Unlike the U.S., Russia does not thrust its values on the rest of the world and does not try to lay claim to the role of 'global adjudicator' for political and economic problems."
"The development of the global political process will depend on Russia's decision on where to send its oil and gas. It's enough to deprive a rival of energy for development -- in the geopolitical battle, such an act could be a defining moment."
"The main strategic task of the U.S. is to widen its political influence under the slogan of monitoring observance of political rights and freedoms. [But] if a regime in a country pledges its political loyalty [to the U.S.] all complaints about the level of democratic freedom are dropped though in reality the situation could be really bad."
"The main tactical task of the U.S. is to seize control of the main existing and future sources of energy, mainly oil and gas."
"Victory in the Cold War was a cruel joke for the U.S. They were sure of their ability to set single rules for all countries. However the world turned out not to be ready for total submission to one government."
On the War on Terror:
"Western countries' demand for cheap labor forces them to open their doors to immigrants, including those from Arab countries, which makes their battle with Islamist terror almost pointless."
Source: "Social Studies. The Global World in the Twenty First Century," a manual for history teachers in the last year of high school edited by Leonid Polyakov.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118365539945558187.html
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