Word: sovietism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...secularists have been reinforced by the immigration to Israel in the past decade of more than 800,000 people from the former Soviet Union, the vast majority of whom are nonreligious. Today two-thirds of Israelis define themselves as secular. Included within the religious third are 10% of the general population who belong to the ultra-Orthodox, or haredim (literally "those who fear"), distinguished by the black hats and robes worn...
However, Rehman poorly chooses United Nations resolutions as a basis for his morality. Through the early 1990s, the United Nations and many of subordinate bodies were frequently a mouthpiece for the policy of the Soviet Union, spoken through its numerous client states in the Third World. Hence, the resolutions passed during that time period, while perhaps reflective of the realpolitik of the Cold War, certainly represent no morality except that of the immoral Soviet state...
...question that has ignited a tense struggle in the region and beyond. The coastal states of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan gained their independence when the Soviet empire collapsed. All three want to exploit the riches under their sea without interference from Russia and Iran, the two other states that rim the Caspian. As major oil and gas producers, Russia and Iran are not overjoyed at their neighbors' good fortune...
...carrier, the one the oilmen call the main export pipeline, to run westward from the Caspian to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, on the Mediterranean, because Turkey is a NATO ally. The U.S. does not entirely trust Russia, which resents the arrival of foreign influence in what were Soviet republics. To Washington, the Islamist regime in Iran looks even less friendly. "The last thing we need," says a White House aide, "is to rely on the Persian Gulf as the main access for more...
...Iranians don't rely just on logic to press their case. They cite treaties with the Soviet Union dating back to 1921 and 1940 that declare the sea a common lake between the two countries. Tehran is willing to negotiate a new agreement but demands veto rights over any aspect it doesn't like. If Iran's interests are not taken into account, says Ardebili, it will deal with what it considers illegal activities in the Caspian by using "constructive--and possibly destructive" countermeasures...