Originally published January 12 2015
Rural, self-reliant gardeners remain unfazed by Russia's economic collapse
by Daniel Barker
(NaturalNews) Over a short period, Russia has descended into a deep economic crisis. Sanctions imposed by the West over Putin's role in the ongoing Ukraine civil war have contributed to the free fall of the ruble. Its value has dropped more than 50 percent against the dollar, and the price of oil has also plummeted, sending Russia's petroleum-dependent economy into a tailspin.
This now quite serious recession has triggered a panic among many Russian citizens, who have withdrawn their savings to trade increasingly worthless rubles for dollars and euros. This run on the nation's banks has served to deepen the crisis, forcing a massive bank bailout on the part of the Kremlin.
Meanwhile, as much of the country is gripped by the legitimate fear that things will only grow worse, millions of Russians who live in rural villages or on small farms tend to regard the recent economic collapse with little concern.
Russia is a huge country, with much of its population scattered across a largely empty landscape where modern conveniences such as electricity and running water are often simply not available. Many Russian villagers grow their own food, and thus are completely unaffected by events in Moscow, or the rest of the world for that matter.
The inhabitants of rural Russian villages are a hardy lot -- people who have learned through experience that self-reliance is the key to survival.
Russian citizens have lived through more struggles than many of us would care to imagine. The first and second World Wars were devastating, and life under communism was no cakewalk either. Millions of Russians died of starvation and exposure to the cold during the tumultuous 20th century, not to mention those who perished in battles.
As a result, the Russian people have developed a survival instinct that should serve as a lesson to those in the West, particularly in America, where most of the citizenry is too young to remember the Great Depression -- the only serious domestic crisis this country has endured in the past hundred years.
And, as Joshua Krause points out in a recent article published by ReadyNutrition.com, almost any prepper will tell you that your chances of survival are much greater when the SHTF if you live in a rural setting, as opposed to an urban area.
Krause says:
The high population density of urban areas makes them hotbeds of ethnic and cultural animosity, poverty, crime, and stifling regulation. Cities are fairly easy for police and soldiers to lock down compared to the countryside, and are known to face food, water, and energy shortages during a disaster.
Krause's article contains excerpts from news stories in which some Russian villagers are interviewed. Most are skeptical about Putin and the Russian government, but few seem worried.
As one of the villagers put it:
We survived the fall of the USSR, and the crisis of 1998. This isn't the first time, and things will work out.
It may not seem practical for many people to pack up and head for the hills, but the truth remains that if and when our society collapses -- whether due to economics, war or some cataclysmic natural event -- those who live in rural areas will have the best chance of survival.
That's one of the reasons why so many Americans are leaving the cities behind and relocating to rural areas. But survival isn't the only motivating factor, of course. Life away from the concrete jungle offers many advantages, in terms of physical and mental health, along with the increased chances of surviving whatever our increasingly uncertain future may hold.
Source:
http://readynutrition.com
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