The Nationality Problem—Round II

Extract

If the eight months since the August coup have shown us nothing else, it is that the “nationalities problem” not only will survive the death of the Soviet Union but may well intensify. For Russia in particular the past year has witnessed what might be called the “The Nationality Problem—Round II” whereby many of the same pressures that brought down the Soviet Union are now mounting within the Russian Federation (or simply, “Russia”—the delegates at the recent Congress of Peoples’ Deputies were unable to settle on a single name). There are many ironies about all this, but let me just cite a few.