Author: d.bulaev

I watched the press briefing yesterday noon. The U.N press briefing on October 14th. The briefing addressed a variety of topics ranging from Climate to Israel, to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. There were a few issues that stood out to me as important that I noted. The first was the huge health crisis in Libya regarding covid-19. The numbers were insane regarding the 44,985 cases and 656 deaths, and how the number of functioning health care facilities has dropped by 38%. It was just a stark contrast when hearing about how covid is running rampant in a country like Libya, where the response may be dampened because of low capacity and resources, compared to hearing covid news in U.S where the issues are stemming from the constant politicization of the virus and the ineptitude of its leaders. The second issue for me was the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We know that Azerbaijan attacked an autonomous state where many Armenians live but it was interesting to see how these attacks caused a burden on healthcare and how covid cases went up as a direct result. I didn’t know that the U.N had issued a global ceasefire, but when secretary-general said “as long as humans keep fighting humans, the only winner will be covid-19”, really resonated with me and that statement seems to hold true across all nations at the moment. The last thing that I thought was really important was during the questions and answers segment at the end. There was a question posed to Mr. Bays regarding an offer by Putin to vaccinate the U.N staff. The response said that discussions are ongoing but stressed the importance of any vaccines being cleared by the World Health Organization. This was crazy to me because I was unaware of Putin’s offer to the U.N but am following events in Russia, and while I know that Russia has made developments on the vaccine, I’m not sure if its been tested enough to be released to the U.N or anyone for that matter.

I attended the online session called “Mobile Photography: Make Your Portraits Pop” which was presented by Aundre Larrow in parternship with Adobe. Aundre Larrow is mainly a photographer (and sometimes a videographer) but I’d very much call him a visual artist. He was born in Jamaica and grew up in South Florida but is currently Brooklyn-based.  He is currently an Adobe Creative Resident hence why this event was sponsored by them. Prior to the event, it was listed in the details that we would have to download the app, Adobe LightRoom on our phones as that would be what we’d be learning through during. The Adobe partnership was quite apparent during the whole event as we used the LightRoom app and Aundre Larrow shared his tonal presets with us, as well as his color mixes. I mean this part of the session was clearly to promote the app and his presets within the app, but that’s not to discredit this portion, he shared many tips on angles, moodboards, and even though it was through the Adobe LightRoom app, his vision and approach was interesting to see. After the LightRoom portion there was some post edit discussion regarding photoshop. Using LightRoom was fun and it was interactive, but I wouldn’t say that was my main take away from the event. I signed up for it because visual media resonates with me as I love taking photos and also have been editing using Adobe programs since I was 12. What I really took away from this event was Aundre’s attitude and his approach towards photographing people. He talked about how photographing people was an honor to him and described how he strives to make every photo “honest” and how he tries to capture the distinct value of each human being and their story; this really resonated with me as I too believe in the value of every human beings story. Even though this was clearly a “self-plug” in a way, Larrow’s vision and his approach towards photographing people is simply brilliant.

Dear Dean P. Baquet

In our modern day, we have a president in office who has a relationship with Russia that is frankly too close for comfort. There have many allegations of Russian collusion with varying degrees of evidence. The NYTimes has covered this whole debacle in great detail over the years of Trump’s presidency, and especially now since its campaign/election season. As a Russian-American, and an aspiring freelance journalist, I’d like to go in depth regarding this whole Russia America relationship. While Trump and Russia seem like an odd combination, the love for Right-Wing Conservatives is very much loud and open among the Russian community. My goal in this proposed article (that I think would greatly compliment your previous coverage surrounding Russia) is to explore and explain the mind of the average Russian-American that’s in favor of Right-Wing Conservatism, and more specifically Trump. It’s no secret that Russian-Americans have always supported the Right, however, in this piece I shall explain the who, what, where, and why of the situation, and hope to shed some light as to the driving motivations of Russian-Americans when it comes to supporting the Right.

Lede: Trump has a friendly relationship with Russia, specifically Putin, much more friendly than any U.S president has had in history. While most Americans see this as dangerous, Russian-Americans seem to love the fact that their favorite U.S leader and political party is friends with their home country’s leader.

Nut Graff: In the context of our current presidency, as well as today’s political climate, the relationship between the U.S and Russia hasn’t been as important and as timely since the Cold War. With news of Russian collusion, it is arguably more important than ever to completely understand the relationship between the two countries and their people. Contrary to what has always been depicted pop culture, Russians, more specifically Russian-Americans, have always supported Conservative Right-Wing politics and its leaders.

I’d love to hear what you think about my story idea, as I think its a topic that needs to be addressed in our modern day in order to fully understand certain undertones present in our current political climate. Let me know what you think, and I look forward to hearing back from you!

Sincerely,

Daniel Bulaev

Country/corresponding immigrant community: Russia/Russian community

How many live in the US? In the tristate area? How many in the home country? According to the Institute of Modern Russia in 2011, the Russian American population is estimated to be 3.13 million. The New York Tri-State area has a population of 1.6 million Russian-Americans and 600,000 of them live in New York City. Russia 2020 population is estimated at 145,934,462 people at mid year according to UN data.

In the tristate area, where do they live?  Brighton Beach, Brooklyn continues to be the most important demographic and cultural center for the Russian American experience. However, as Russian Americans have climbed in socioeconomic status, the diaspora from Russia and other former Soviet-bloc states has moved toward more affluent parts of the New York metropolitan area, notably Bergen County, New Jersey.

What jobs do a significant percentage of them have? Many Russian immigrants work in the tech industry. A large percentage of them also work in Business-related fields. Also many Russian-Americans work in the healthcare industry as well as pharma.

Why did they come? When? Facing religious persecution and poverty, millions of Russians immigrated to the United States at the turn of the 20th century. Widespread poverty and starvation cast a shadow over Russia during the late 1800s. … Unlike immigrants from other countries, few returned to Russia—America had become their homeland.

What are some major organizations/advocacy groups/resources in this community? Embassy of Russian Federation, Congress of Russian Americans, The Russian American Federation, The Russian Orthodox Church

Do they have local media house/s? If so, list them. RT TV, RT America, Sputnik

List/link the major media houses in the home country.

Sputnik, Russia-1, Gazeta

How strong are relationships with the home country? How significant are remittances to the home country’s economy? Relationships with the home country are varied depending on a individuals political views. As many interviews have shown that a large amount of Russian-Americans came to the U.S with the intention of “never looking back”. However, all Russian-Americans place an importance on family and values, and either try to bring their family here to the U.S or send money back/bring money back to the home country. Remittances however, are not very significant to the home country’s overall economy.

In the homeland what is the GDP per capita? Where does that rank in the world? What are the major industries? 11,288.87 USD (2018)

GDP rank	11th (nominal, 2019) 5th (PPP, 2020)

Russia relies on energy revenues to drive most of its growth. Russia has an abundance of oil, natural gas and precious metals, which make up a major share of Russia’s exports. As of 2012, the oil-and-gas sector accounted for 16% of GDP, 52% of federal budget revenues and over 70% of total exports.Russia is considered an “energy superpower”. It has the world’s largest proven natural gas reserves and is the largest exporter of natural gas. It is also the second-largest exporter of petroleum. Russia also has a significantly large Arms Industry.

What is the system of government? When did this system come into place? Was there a colonial power? (Or was it the colonial power?) Russia has a Federal semi-presidential constitutional republic. Russia is a colonial empire but persistently denies this.

Name of the NY consul general. How long has he/she been in the role?

Igor Leonidovich Golubovskiy

He has been in the role since 2017, when former consulate Sergei K. Ovsiannikov suspiciously died.

Give three potential story ideas. (Doesn’t need to be a fully fleshed-out pitch yet, but should be well thought-out.)

1. Why do so many Russian-Americans support U.S right-wing conservatives?
2. How has covid-19 affected the Russian-American community here in NY?
3. As the case of Russian-American collusion develops, what do Russian-Americans think about it? How does Russia seemingly maintain control over the minds of people that don’t reside there?