ShmoopTube

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Here's your shmoop du jour brought to you by mirrors guaranteed to

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give accurate reflections every time sometimes a little too accurate based on [man staring at himself in a mirror]

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your knowledge in politics in China and Russia which of the following

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conclusions is most accurate and here are potential answers [muttering]

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Okay, we're looking for what best describes China and Russia so let's get a quick

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rundown of the two both countries have had their fair share of change since the [Carson Daly stood with a microphone]

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90s like smashmouth said and we could all use a little change profound lyrics

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like that show that change can at the same time be both good and bad [3 men stood together as Bad,Good and the Ugly labels]

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ahh, smashmouth so much guilty pleasure and wisdom in a single package okay let's

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start with politics up until 91 Russia was the USSR well those [Russia country transforms into a USSR flag]

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once cold socialist-ers reminiscent of Ivan Drago have since been toned down

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a few notches on the intensity scale while Russia is exactly lauded for [men playing limbo wearing USSR logo t-shirts]

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leading the way in democracy there have been strides still it's kind of a

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political limbo between communism and democracy we call Russia democratic but

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it's more like they're floating toward democracy on a communist inner tube due [Russia floating through a democracy river]

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to a seriously lacking multi-party system China has always been communist

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so China keeps it communist while Russia needs to shake things up a bit to keep

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their political love game spicy fill their political philosophies have common [Russia and China stood together]

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ground Russia's pseudo democracy and China's

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communism keeps political pluralism to a minimum not the best thing to have in

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common but you got to start somewhere under Mikhail - the Pres Gorbachev

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communism was officially another style that died in the 80s that's swell [Men protesting to Gorbachev in the street]

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accept that the switcheroo including flushing their economy down the drain

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meanwhile China was yakking it up puffing on their fancy schmancy cigars [Chinese man puffing on a cigar]

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as their economy saw growth it was probably their wise decision to invest

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heavily in the parachute pants market yeah that and semiconductors. Recently

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there's one thing both countries have seen a big rise in social inequality [Contrast in rich and poor housing]

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apparently all those fat cats who profited off their MC Hammer swag aren't

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sharing the wealth now that we have every detail of the

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past twenty-something years of Chinese and Russian history let's review the

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question well start with a) this is tricky they switch it up on it it looks [man wearing a top hat on a stage]

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good but it was Russia that was struggling economically not China going

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back to pres Gorbachev's time in office it was his reforms mixed with a weakened [Gorbachev signing a piece of paper]

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Soviet Union that led to the collapse of socialism nothing to do with

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globalization Gorbachev's economy failed but his political reform succeeded so bye bye

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option B even though Russia and China are both democratic political pluralism

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still isn't a big thing which means that while there is some choice in political [option D scribbled out]

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parties it's minimal so our answer is E Russia and China may have looked in the

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mirror and realized that 90s hairstyles were a bad move but they may need to [man getting a haircut]

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take another look before they start spreading the political party love

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