SUBJECT: RUSSIANS MINE UFO MOTHERLODE FILE: UFO929 The following is taken from UFO Magazine Vol. 5, No. 1, 1990, page 30. ............................................................................... Sociologist's Viewpoint SOVIETS MINE UFO MOTHERLODE By Mark Rodeghier Althought the outcome is unknown, the existence of Tass' apparently uncen- sored UFO report tells us about Soviet society today. Vladimir Rubtsov, a Soviet sociologist who has followed the UFO problem for many years, recently told me how GLASNOST is penetrating all levels of Soviet life, including fringe subjects. Well before the Voronezh incident, he actually predicted how we in the West would be hearing more about such topics as bigfoot in the USSR. Rubtsov's prediction was confirmed by the Tass report, much sooner than is common in the social sciences. Soviet citizens have been seeing and reporting UFOs for many years. Felix Zigel has written extensively on UFO sightingsin the USSR, and his work docu- ents hundreds of sightings. The Soviet government has funded at least two studies on the UFO phenomenon-one of which is printed in translation by CUFOS- and several local civilian UFO investigative groups are active in the USSR. An international meeting of ufologists in Moscow is planned for 1990s. That UFO incidents take place in Russia should come as no surprise. Official Soviet media, however, have normally refrained from publishing UFO reports in- ternally, let alone send such reports to the West. The exception, as James Oberg has noted ad nauseum, is when a secret rocket launch is seen by thou- sands of people and has to be camouflaged as something-anything-else. The UFO phenomenon serves as the most convenient cover story. Such a "UFO" sighting is placed prominently in the press. UFO reports have been censored, but in this their fate is not unique. Many things unsavory to the ruling Politburo haven't been reported in the Soviet press, such as natural and manmade disasters, food riots and acts of political dissent. The Soviet UFO report thus tells us much more about current Soviet policies and the status of GLASNOST than it does about ongoing UFO activity in the USSR. And it is not likely that the Soviets are using the report as a means to dis- tract their citizens from the many problems presently plaguing the country. Anyone who believes that UFO reports can actually take people's minds off their problems has been standing in the grocery line reading the National Enquirer for too long. Other oddities besides UFOs attract the attention of the Soviets, including faith healing and TV psychics. I expect the expalnation for why the Soviet media disseminated the sighting report is fairly straightforward: the children reported it, the journalists are not restricted from printing it, and the Soviet press believed the story would be of interest to the West. And as with Rubtsov's surmise, the Soviet journalists were correct, as evidenced by the massive media attention and, among other things, this forum itself. Sociologist and ufologist Mark Rodeghier is scientific director of the Center for UFO Studies in Chicago, IL. ********************************************** * THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo * **********************************************