Russia’s Orphans as Commodity and Bargaining Chip



When Sting released his song “The Russians” in 1985, I thought the chorus was one of the most asinine things I’d ever heard on the radio (and keep in mind that this was during the reign of Duran Duran): “I hope the Russians love their children, too.” Yes, it was a rhetorical gesture to remind us of what was at stake in the event of a global nuclear war, but really: did anyone think the Russians hated their children? Or that in a millennium of existence as a culture, they still hadn’t made up their minds?

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