Recently, Quatrarius made me think of how's Russia perceived around the world (by the way, thanks for the ELI5: US politics, dude!). For years, I've been raised to think that the US is Russia's enemy, that the States are secretly planning some sort of defence fence around Russia's European border using the anti-missile bases, that the US nudges the world community to punish Russia for "lawful" (question mark) annexation of "our territory anyway"...
Now that I put it like that, it sounds silly in the light of European and North American hubskiers expressing their surprise at such reactions from the big country, as well as some other surprised remarks I've glanced over in the recent years. Which got me thinking: what do people actually think of Russia? Rarely, if ever, have I seen properly vocalized reactions. The best I've got so far is "Russia? Oh, cool. Is it chilly there?" (shakes head).
So please, tell me all about what you think of Russia: the good, the bad and the ugly; political, economical, cultural or personal. Be as blunt as you have to: you're not going to offend me.
Disappointment, summarises the feeling. A country so full of unique perspectives, amazing engineers, thoughtful writers, hasn't made the huge positive impact on the world I think we in Europe all hoped for when the soviet order started to collapse. Instead it has crept back into itself and reverted to a statist controlled Orwellian bloc. I have watched several hours of RT here in Europe out of curiosity and the double-speak and message control in many of the controversial stories is chilling as well as the total lack of mainstream press critique of government. I think the core of it is Russia's leadership sees international diplomacy as a zero-sum game, rather than forums to find win-win solutions.
I can easily see where the "thoughtful writers" impression came from, but what about those two? What kinds of perspective do you see coming from Russia? I can only presume that you mean the space travelling possibilities when you talk about the engineers - is there anything else of note in the field of Russian engineering? What did you hope for? What was the general sentiment about Russia around that time? I'm still in quite a bit of disbelief about the dystopian state of Russia that I've noticed a few years ago. "It can't be that bad", I thought when I wrote a post about it in one of the Russian social networks, "There must be something good". And, sure, there is: water, food, heating (not everywhere, but hey), sewage system, public transportation, education... But, the more I hear about Russia, the less I think of the country, perspectives-wise. Someone in the thread told me about Russia dealing with North Korea, of all places; I never heard of it, and it shocked me to learn this. Do you have any example you can explain to me in simple terms? I'm not up to the par regarding politics but would like to learn of the course of the country I was born in.A country so full of unique perspectives, amazing engineers
hasn't made the huge positive impact on the world I think we in Europe all hoped for when the soviet order started to collapse
Instead it has crept back into itself and reverted to a statist controlled Orwellian bloc
I think the core of it is Russia's leadership sees international diplomacy as a zero-sum game, rather than forums to find win-win solutions.
These make me want to investigate. Thanks for mentioning! Sounds entirely plausible. Such talks have stopped in Russia as well. Peculiar. I wanted to joke about Russia wanting to be - or appear - stronk, but I'm not sure what could possibly cause such a stance. I agree with your opinion; it is embarrassing to see such way of events.If I'm not mistaken Russian institutions solved some of the more pressing problems in fiberoptics.
What other country would circumvent price of high-octane fuel for helicopters and small planes to re-make engines to run on naphtha!
Most of the media here and in Germany portrayed it as "We will not talk, because we don't want to talk. Mind your own business.".
People without such idea assume that Russia denied it at first and changing decision at any point in the future would make it look weak. Which is, pardon me, utter bullshit stance as far as any other country is concerned.
I'm probably not your typical American, having lived in Eastern Europe and the Balkans within a decade of the Wall coming down... My European Perspective: Russia was like a huge, well-fed, black bear. You knew it was over there, in the woods somewhere, and that at any time it could come show up on your front porch, or walk into your kitchen, and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it. It probably wasn't going to eat you or kill you, but life would be VERY complicated if a 1500 pound black bear decided to sit in your kitchen. You would work around it, but also know that at any moment it would, without provocation or need, take a swipe at you, or bite you, and kill you. And it would not even notice you'd died. Then it might wander away to leave your corpse to the flies and the ants. My American Perspective: Eventually I moved back to my homeland - the west coast of the USA - and have lived here for about 10 years now. Russia today is comically inept, and lost in a Tzarist fantasy land of Empire and Expansion. The utter hubris and totally ridiculous annexation of land from a sovereign country is ... so sad. It just makes me shake my head sadly and want to pet Putin on the head and say, "You silly, silly man. This is not the 19th century. You can't just walk into another country and cut bits off any more. Those of us who live in the real world understand that the borders on the map made their last major changes at the end of WWII, and that's just the way it is." Eventually Russia will have to give back the Crimea, and Dagestan, and Chechnya, and and and and... hang on, you guys have been annexing a LOT of territory recently, haven't you? Is it really worth it to be put on the worldwide Shit List? Does Putin realize the only reason the lunatics (Assad, North Korea, etc) are the only ones that want to do business with him, is because he's got this weird Tzarist/Imperialist view of the world that makes the rest of us look at him as unstable and dangerous? Why does he want to associate with the stupid kids in class that sit in the back of the room and eat paste? The rest of us are advancing, living in the 21st century, and moving forward. Why is Russia so enamored of these broken failures, and propping them up? What a waste of time and energy. The Non-Government Part of Russia: The interesting thing for me is that few of the Russians I know (who are almost all outside of Russia at this point) feel that Putin and the Russian government have anything to do with "the real Russia". They tend to shake their heads at Putin and look forward to the day when someone takes office who doesn't need to swing his dick around in public to feel important. Another Gorbachev, let's say. But then... isn't this true for most countries? We don't identify with our government... but we measure all other countries by their governments. A weird dichotomy, for sure. P.S. - Yeah, I know the tactical reasons for Russia needing a naval base on the Crimea. Still, making up some silly story about "liberating ethic Russians" is total horseshit, and everyone in the world knows it. But nobody is gonna throw troops against Putin. Because Putin is nuts enough to push The Button. We'll just wait until Putin is dead/ousted, and the following purge kills off 93% of the people in office, and then we'll deal with the new government and come up with some sort of Kaliningrad-like solution to the problem.
How eloquently put. Clearly, I'm not up for the news, so let me ask you a few questions: You mention North Korea as among the only ones wanting to deal with Putin. What's that about? I haven't heard of any sort of Russia-NK relationship going on. It sounds so outlandish to me to even consider that the world's realest dystopia has anything to do with Russia. I didn't know Chechnya was Russia's territory now, either. I knew of Dagestan, I knew of Crimea (obviously), but Chechnya I thought was still another country that the Russian troops used to fight within. Who is on that list? North Korea, I presume, but who else? What are the main social, technological and/or cultural differences between "you" (who is that, by the way?) and Russia that you can note? Is that a random number, or are you basing it on some sort of real-life info (like the amount of the real oppositionist members of the government or something)? Thank you for sharing your perspective. This has been... depressing, but enlightening.Is it really worth it to be put on the worldwide Shit List?
The rest of us are advancing, living in the 21st century, and moving forward
and the following purge kills off 93% of the people in office
Russia provided NK with the technology and expertise to build their first nuclear reactors in the 1950's, and the relationship has been on-going since then - with some very tough times around Yeltsin - continuing through the Sochi Olympics and today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea%E2%80%93Russia_relations Despite NK being a black-listed pariah for every other country in the world, Russia decides to continue to do business with NK. As far as Chechnya goes, the Russian army flattened Grozny, and have been camped out in the capital since 1999, basically claiming ownership of the country. So Chechnya is now in a "rebellion" instead of in a "war". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechen%E2%80%93Russian_conflict#Chechen_Wars Who is on that list? North Korea, I presume, but who else? I'm thinking of not a literal "List of Bad Guys" list. More of a colloquial, "Why do these few countries keep doing things to jack up the world for the rest of us?" kind of list. It happens like this; A whole coalition of countries comes to an agreement of the logical way to deal with some issue, and you can always be sure that Russia, North Korea, China (sometimes), and some small African nation will vote against the plan. That's what I mean by "shit list"... the countries who routinely mess things up, just because they can. Not because they have an actual point to make, or clear alternative course of action proposed. Just because they want to be pig-headed. What are the main social, technological and/or cultural differences between "you" (who is that, by the way?) and Russia that you can note? By "the rest of us" I mean the group of first world nations. Russia is a puzzlement because they are the last shining example of people who can get things into space, reliably, regularly, and for a reasonable price. But in nearly every other regard, Russia's products are just terrible quality. Cars, military tech, any tech at all really, planes, national air carriers, trains, buses, etc. Why is it that a country that has such a reliable and effective space program cannot create a basic car? Why is it that a country with some amazing higher education institutions, and some of the most brilliant minds in history, can't LEAD in some world-changing sector? Why do Russian minds find more success outside of Russia than they do inside? (Just rhetorical questions here...) Is that a random number, or are you basing it on some sort of real-life info (like the amount of the real oppositionist members of the government or something)? I just am referencing the Stalist purges of history. But, if you look back on changes in the Kremlin over the last 30 years, what generally happens is that a charismatic leader leaves office for some reason, and a HUGE number of people are suddenly out of work at the Kremlin, and a whole new group of people - "friends" of the new leader - are suddenly filling those seats. The government in Russia seems to me to be run more on cronyism than on any sort of formal rules. So when one leader goes, there is a huge amount of turnover and turmoil as the new leader kicks out a bunch of people he doesn't like, and brings in his cousins and nephews and other cronies. You are very welcome! But I think there is nothing here to be depressed by. Look at is this way: Why am I frustrated with Russia? Because I think it is capable of SO MUCH MORE! To me, Russia is this amazing bundle of potential that keeps tripping over its own shoelaces. But tying shoes is EASY once you know how. And at some point Russia is going to get it's shoes tied right, and it is going to be a POWERHOUSE of innovation and progress on par with America and China and Europe. You've got the resources. You've got the brains. You've got the pride. You clearly have the technical prowess to keep up with anybody. All that holds Russia back is Russia sabotaging itself with self-defeating exceptionalism. It seems that Russia's only view of itself is in opposition to somebody else. Once Russia figures out that it doesn't need to use anybody else's measuring stick, I think Russia will be an AMAZING asset to the world... rather than the grumpy anti-social kid sitting in the corner glowering at everyone else having so much fun. You mention North Korea as among the only ones wanting to deal with Putin. What's that about?
> Is it really worth it to be put on the worldwide Shit List?
>The rest of us are advancing, living in the 21st century, and moving forward
> and the following purge kills off 93% of the people in office
> Thank you for sharing your perspective. This has been... depressing, but enlightening.
That is of utmost surprise to me, and it's terrible. We don't see anything about it on the news - not a single word. What about the US? The country won the space race - wouldn't they still be a shining example of space travel and engineering? That is a good non-rhetorical question, as well. My uneducated theory is that the USSR has put so much effort into overcoming the US in the space race that all of the engineering efforts were put into it, which may have left other industries weakened. Now that space travel is almost the only thing Russia excels at, people don't want to let go of it to not lose face even more. Our car manufacturing is basically an artifact from the USSR and hasn't been improved upon much since. It's depressing to realize in just how big of a pit the country's in, but - I see your point. There's great potential here, certainly, and we better start working on it if we want our country to regain it's superpower status. My small contribution is making our faculty - the Foreign Languages - let us pick any language to learn as our second foreign (right now, the choice is assigned to the whole group, and there's a definite schism among the groups that have to pick). Hopefully, I will succeed and we shall enjoy the benefits of free will in a university still led by the Soviet-minded people. If not, there will be a small rebellion: let us remind them of the point of higher education. Why do you say that? The Soviet Union lost the Cold War exactly because it didn't have the technology to keep up with the West. Can you elaborate on that? Again, thank you for sharing. Your point of view is invaluable in understanding Russia.Russia provided NK with the technology and expertise to build their first nuclear reactors in the 1950's, and the relationship has been on-going since then
Russia is a puzzlement because they are the last shining example of people who can get things into space, reliably, regularly, and for a reasonable price.
Why is it that a country that has such a reliable and effective space program cannot create a basic car?
But I think there is nothing here to be depressed by.
You clearly have the technical prowess to keep up with anybody.
Russia sabotaging itself with self-defeating exceptionalism
What about the US? The country won the space race - wouldn't they still be a shining example of space travel and engineering? Well, the US used to have a space program. But a bunch of short-sighted dickwads ended that. Russia is the only reason the International Space Station is still flying. There is nobody who can get equipment to/from the ISS except Russia. (Except SpaceX, who docked the Dragon with the ISS last year. And, in fact, a high school friend of mine is the PILOT of the Dragon!! Woo!!) The future of the US space program is firmly in the hands of the private sector. Real space is only 200 miles away, but goddamn it's hard to get there! But the Russians? They go there ALL THE FUCKING TIME. No other nation does that. Be proud. That is a good non-rhetorical question, as well. My uneducated theory is that the USSR has put so much effort into overcoming the US in the space race that all of the engineering efforts were put into it, which may have left other industries weakened. Actually, I think the answer is pretty easy. I used to work at NASA, and one of the departments I worked with was specifically tasked with taking the innovations that NASA had developed, and giving them to companies in the private sector to commercialize. NASA is publicly funded with our tax dollars. So the public wants to see the stuff NASA invents released to the public in useful ways. Here are a bunch of examples. This may the be core problem with Russia's space program... is there is no concerted effort to move that technology to the private sector. Because you guys have all the skills and knowledge... but just aren't transferring it well to others. In the big scope of things, that is a small problem to solve. So that's part of why I think Russia has so much untapped potential. That's true. But all of that knowledge and skill resides in people's heads. And those people need to be able to find capital, start a business, and find a market for the products they make with their good ideas. And that's a tough thing to find in Russia today, while it is easy to find in the US. Why do you say that? The Soviet Union lost the Cold War exactly because it didn't have the technology to keep up with the West. Not as I understand it. We basically bankrupted you. We didn't win due to superior technical prowess, we won because you ran out of money first. (But it was very close.) Can you elaborate on that? It's what I was saying before, about Russia always taking sides with international pariah states, instead of working hand-in-hand with the first world nations to try and make the entire world a better place. Russia always seems to feel like they need to partner up with the underdog, the international bad guy. And that definitely makes it hard for anyone to work with Russia in any other context - business, trade, etc. Take Syria, for example. Everyone got together and agreed that Assad is a total asshole douchewaffle, who runs a psychotic regime of repression, torture, and hate. Then ISIS shows up, and says that they are creating the second coming of a Muslim caliphate by drawing the western powers into a ground war in their "holy land", as prophesied in their scriptures. And they go on a crusade of horror and torture to try and draw the wester powers into a ground war. So the world's powers get together and say, "We're not gonna fall for that. We can starve them out. We can cut off their oil, money, food, etc, and lay an economic siege. They will eventually wither away." So everyone gets on board, and ISIS continues to do stupid shit to try and provoke these nations to put boots on the ground, but everybody stands firm. ISIS wavers. They almost fall apart at the seams. They are within about 3 months of falling apart and dying in isolation. Then Russia breaks ranks with the rest of the world and goes full-out war on Syria. Thereby reinforcing ISIS's basic premise, driving up their recruitment to all time highs, and starting the next Afghanistan. Not only do they empower ISIS by fulfilling ISIS's every wish, Russia also decides to be a real dick about it, and enthusiastically support the psychotic despot Assad!! So not only are they happy to completely fuck the world into a global world war in the middle east, they decide to back the absolute worst human being on the planet... a guy who can't even get support inside his own country!! THAT is the "Russian exceptionalism" I am talking about. Thank YOU man!! This is very interesting for me, as well. Your viewpoint as a regular person inside of Russia looking out, is fascinating for me. > Russia is a puzzlement because they are the last shining example of people who can get things into space, reliably, regularly, and for a reasonable price.
> Why is it that a country that has such a reliable and effective space program cannot create a basic car?
My uneducated theory is that the USSR has put so much effort into overcoming the US in the space race that all of the engineering efforts were put into it, which may have left other industries weakened.
> You clearly have the technical prowess to keep up with anybody.
> Russia sabotaging itself with self-defeating exceptionalism
Again, thank you for sharing. Your point of view is invaluable in understanding Russia.
Thank you for sharing such an enlightening point of view, and apologies for taking so long to reply. Speaking of Russian exceptionalism... I recently read an open letter to Brazil from Mark Manson, a blogger who's spent four years there, being from the US himself. In that letter, he outlines the cause and effect of a screwed and skewed mentality that drives the country's problems. What struck me is how it almost precisely corresponds with what I've been seeing inside Russia. We don't have all the problems Brazil has and vice versa, but the underlying cause - human selfishness being acceptable on the cultural level - is spot-on towards Russia as much as it may be towards Brazil (with the culture of which I'm not familiar in any good way). If you're interested in what it looks like, read the letter and imagine men and women much paler with less Sun over their heads.
I've been talking to this Russian guy in the Hostel and he has a pretty interesting theory. He says foreign relations and expectations of Russia would be better if only Russians looked more different than Europeans (like asian or black or something). His theory is that people don't realize how different Russian culture is from european and that people tend to forget because Russians are white. Expectations are thus set differently and people are less sensitive to cultural difference which just paints the Russians as being "crazy"instead of different. He rambled quite a lot about Russia, he has some interesting perspectives. You talk about Tsarist ideals but he compared Russia to Byzantine. You're either a slave, manager or slave owner in Russia. Which honestly s not too far off the truth considering Russia was the only place to enslave their own people (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom_in_Russia) less than 150 years ago.
In a book by Thomas Mann ( The magic mountain ) the narrator become obsessed with a woman. The narrator keep on talking on how she has those Russian eyes and features. I think it's something somewhat Asian looking: Slightly slanting black eyes. A friend of mine of Russian ascend has them. On other side of thing, I kind of feel the US has that type of male with wide solid jaws that seems so prevalent in US compares to the rest of the world. The average of people face by country might prove me wrong.
Nonsense. Why are Germans and the French considered so vastly different, then? They're both white people, but their culture is obviously and vastly different to anyone, even the most uneducated. People of France have baguette, people of German have Pretzeln; France has wine, Germany (and the mostly-German, culturally, countries) has beer; France has relaxed attitude towards work while Germans are workaholics. I mean, even if we go by solely stereotypes, it doesn't make any sense, - so maybe it's Russia, after all, that is to blame.He says foreign relations and expectations of Russia would be better if only Russians looked more different than Europeans (like asian or black or something)
Are they? I think you'd be hard-pressed to get someone from Malaysia to think of big differences. Go back a few hundred years (about 1200), and they're the same people! Those things you listed, I could list them for every Bundesland, there's always a difference, but those differences are minuscule in comparison to Russia, a country that has a very different history and origins. While France and Germany have always been in close contact with each other, it wasn't until maybe the 17th century that western europe really became aware of Russia as something to deal with. Then there's the fact that the early conflicts were mainly against the khanates of the steppe, culminating in the Golden Horde's rule, which lasted about 300 years. At that time, Germany and France were mainly occupied with infighting (in the case of proto-Germany) or the fight against muslims. The two countries are inextricably linked in their history. Just look at how the frech and german kings circled each other in the matter of the Italian city states. And that thread winds through, Russia just dealt with very different things historically (up until the Napoleonic wars). And history forms culture. And common history fosters an understanding you don't have with completely new aquaintances.Why are Germans and the French considered so vastly different, then?
Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume every culture to be different, therefore? If the "white West" sees within themselves the difference (do dare call a US person not so different from a German), why stop there for Russia specifically? I'd argue that it's Russia's appearance that makes other countries turn away and not investigate further. Like that kid in your class whom no one talks to because he's "weird". And wouldn't it be even more reasonable to assume such a vast difference for a country with such a different history? No, I'm not buying the physical appearance argument.Those things you listed, I could list them for every Bundesland, there's always a difference, but those differences are minuscule in comparison to Russia, a country that has a very different history and origins.
I wonder where in Russia he is from? It makes a BIG difference. The "Russians" we Westerners think of are from the Russia where the vast majority of Russians live: a rough triangle with points at St Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev. Go further south or east and "Russians" are VERY different, physically, mentally, and culturally. The Byzantine nature of the Russian southeast through the length of the Silk Road is readily apparent, even today. But the look/culture/style of those "Russians" are not what we Westerners would consider "Russian" at all.
Berobijian from what I heard was ussrs attempt the exile Jews to Siberia more diplomatically than sending them to the gulag. One of my grandfather had "Jew" as his nationallity in his passport (he was born in ukraine) and I remember getting into countless debates about the question back in high school. Here in Canada you can be Israeli, being a Jew is not a nationality . Brings back some memories... I don't really know where I was going with this comment anymore
My parents grew up in Russia - actually, the USSR (Kazakhstan und Usbekistan, respectively). My family had been living in and around that area since about 1800! Probably needless to say, shit got bad during and after WWII (yay gulag) and eventually they emigrated to Germany, where my parents met. I don't have any relatives in Russia, and I'm the second kid in my wider family that was actually born here. But while you wouldn't ever be able to tell from the outside, our culture is still heavily influenced by that time. So I've always been interested in seeing the country's trajectory. I've always been impressed by Russia's ability to remake itself. From Peter the Great's titanic efforts to modernize the country over how the country came to span two continents to the october revolution and then the dissolution of the union, it seems that few countries have the penchant for abrupt change Russia has. Modern Russia? I don't like it (polictically). From the outside it looks like the fights Russia fights are superfluous are best. For a country that's already wrecked by so much ethnic unrest, inviting some more by annexing minority regions seems like a really stupid thing to do. For a time, a few years ago when Putin just got into power, things were starting to look up. The country became more open, our relations were better. We could've been such great friends! But now Russia is boogeyman #1 for europe again (ecept refugees maybe). And what have they gained? An economy that never really was that great to begin with that's really suffering now? A democracy in name only? I don't know, maybe Putin just can't stand being irrelevant - but they way things are going now, he'd doing his best to make Russia just that. I'm disappointed, because after all that really hard work that went into reforming (politically&economically) post-USSR is being squandered. I'm sad that people seem to choose promises of "stability" over freedom every time, but that's not something unique to Russia at all. But like I said before, Russia can change drastically in a short time, so I'll wait and see. I wouldn't count the Russian people out just yet. I like the country itself, and its people. For my money, Moscow has the most awesome churches, and the Hermitage is my favourite museum in the world (if not for that fucking queue). The Russians I know are all very awesome, and they don't like any of this shit more than I do, but I have to ask myself if that's just selection bias.
I've been wondering about this. On one hand, there are these astonishing changes, and on the other, we're sitting in a pit of inner unrest while remaining stoically calm on the outside, coping with all the crap we're put through without taking action. How come? It's not like we don't have examples of such changes - you've listed plenty of the major ones. I used to think that it's so because life is crap enough to complain about (low wages, high prices, low culture, bad job market situation etc.) but not crap enough to inspire doing something about it (people aren't killed or abused regularly, wages are livable, air polution we don't have much info about to do something with, so on), but now I'm not sure about this. I'm not an educated politician or sociologist, so this is me stabbing in the dark. In-country, as well. I remember seeing our newly-repaired yard (in Russia, five-storey houses often share a yard much bigger than what a single house in the US has) and wondering that, for all the complaining, we've got some good going our way from the government. The yard was a mess beforehand - terribly-broken roads (google "дороги в россии" and go to the images section), overall chaotic layout, no zone for children - and has become a well-done area where the above-mentioned traits are reversed. Yay, United Russia! (which is the main political party in the country, claiming to have supported the work) Since then - only seemingly incremental changes, as far as I know. Thank you for sharing your point of view! I wonder if you have any other kind of perspective to share about Russia. I presume that you've been over, considering your negative experience with the Hermitage queue. How did it feel? Why did you come to Russia, if you don't me asking?I've always been impressed by Russia's ability to remake itself. From Peter the Great's titanic efforts to modernize the country over how the country came to span two continents to the october revolution and then the dissolution of the union, it seems that few countries have the penchant for abrupt change Russia has.
For a time, a few years ago when Putin just got into power, things were starting to look up.
When does discontent spill over into open revolution? It depends. Certainly there's a lot of historical examples to look at, but one factor is always an inciting event: something that sets people off. It can be something small that spreads into bigger events (like a produce vendor setting himself on fire), to the dismissal of a minister. And usually the situation is far more dire than today's Russia. For all our bitching in this thread, things aren't that bad yet. The Hermitage's queue - it's funny, it symbolizes a lot about russia for me, actually. People line up there in the morning and then sell the queue position to tour groups. They make quite a lot of money that way, but everyone else gets screwed! And since so many people do that, an d nobody really feels responsible, it just keeps happening. Wanna know how my family got in? My father just pretended to be part of a tour group that had bribed one of the guards, and then fetched us. I'm still not quite sure how the fuck that worked :P The museum was worth it though! I loved being in Russia though (we went to Moscow and St. Petersburg). We were just there as tourists, and to visit our friends. I'm a bit of a subway nerd and I still like Moscow's the most (those soviet-era stations are incredibly beautiful!). I actually spent one day with a group of older students - it was really fun trying to communicate with them (I was, what, 16? And could understand Russian ok, but not really speak it).
I think all the Russians I've ever met were mathematicians or computer programmers, so I probably have a skewed perception, but much like most of the people I know here, they are not well represented by Russian politics. I've heard a ton of great music out of Russia the last 10 years or so, but I get the impression none of it has a larger audience there than it would here.
That's some great stuff you've linked to. Thanks for sharing. Such music isn't popular in Russia, it's true, but it's not to say it doesn't have its small following. Just last month, I met a girl whose brother played in a band with a similar tone to their music, and they held a concert in a local private library.
I've never really had anything against Russia, when I think about it, I just think about a giant, snowy country where those giant, powerful bears are.
I read somewhere that Russian society ,when the wall came down, held 19th century ideals but had to face 21st century norms. It seems to me like a country that is living in the past on some aspects (civil rights, standards of living) while also being an important player in modern geopolitics.
It's an interesting way of putting it. Russia's truly lagging way behind on issues that seem to me, a liberally-minded person who took in a disproportionate amount of US culture, to have an obvious and easy solution. Homosexuals? Who gives a shit whom you want to have sex with? Why should it matter to anyone but the person in question? And yet, I get to hear "Well, they'll teach [the kids] something or something..." ("А то научат ещё [детей] чему..."). And so on. Sometimes, it's just ridiculous, but seeing how views were used to be dictated by the very conservative kind of people in charge for so long (let alone the whole history of absolutism), one would wonder how would such people be capable of thinking critically well enough to prosper socially. What makes Russia an important player? Is it solely the nuclear arsenal?when the wall came down, held 19th century ideals but had to face 21st century norms
while also being an important player in modern geopolitics.
Hahahaha no. It's at rank 119 /168 in transparency's corruption index. That's institutionalized corruption. And that doesn't even mention oligarchs.Russia's government is corrupt, but not nearly as corrupt as many other governments.
I see russia as kind of a "child with a suicide vest" at this point. It was powerful some years ago, and has the remnants of that power, in it's nuclear arsenal, but thanks to socialism, heavy dictatorships/putin, and other factors, it's done little but rely on oil exports, and doesn't have any sort of substantial economy or influence in the world. I see the attempted attacks on Ukraine and other places as little more than an out of place power grab by a nation that isn't willing to accept that it is a third rate player on the world stage. I don't see Russia as evil, wrong, or anything like that, and I'm quite a fan of the old soviet union ideals of focus on science and atheism (although not a fan of their actual attempts at "science" and "atheism"). I see Russia as silly, backwards, and filled with propaganda encouraging hatred and strife against the "evil capitalist US". Not to say that the US doesn't do the exact same thing, sometimes, but thanks to culture here those attitudes about "Evil soviets!" have pretty much disappeared. I see Russia as a nation still stuck in the cold war, unable to adapt and shift to the changing economic, cultural, and social trends.
As I Russian (currently in the process of obtaining my Canadian citizenship), I feel much the same way. There isn't a lot I can add to what you just said, but regarding your last paragraph, I would just like to expand on the fact that the "propaganda encouraging hatred and strife" against US and the West in general is not so much a remnant of the Cold War, but rather a viewpoint that goes back centuries at this point. Perhaps it goes even as far as the religious split between Rome and Constantinople, with the clash of ideologies forever leaving an imprint on the Russian national psyche and damaging any sort of a possibility of a level-headed dialogue between Russia and its Catholic/Protestant neighbours. Don't get me wrong, it isn't about religion anymore, the underlying reasons for the conflict change and shift as time goes on. However, the split between the two sides is still (from the Russian side at least, I do not see as much antagonism towards Russia in the West as towards the West in Russia) largely about "spirit", with a lot of my friends who are still living there criticizing my appreciation of my new home as a love affair with the "soulless, capitalist, fake culture of the United States of America". Ugh. Russia is not evil. It's wrong at times, and it's not the place that I'd like to live in anymore, but it's not evil. It's just a nation that has been stuck with, on one hand, a sense of superiority to the outside world, and, on the other hand, with a dire economic situation and with a great amount of the intellectual elite leaving all throughout the 20th century. I don't see a bright future for the Russian Federation for a long while, and the current attempts to sugarcoat this sad truth by the media and the government are just that, sad. Sad and deceitful.
Alright. I am woefully ignorant on the finer things in Russia. That said, I probably am representative of some of younger America and their thoughts so here it goes. Putin Putin fighting bears Cold Vodka The most amazing dashcam videos Snow / Ice Vodka Men who are so manly they redefine the definition of men Not a big fan of America Sick architecture though And epic, real serious literature Too expensive for us to leave the airport on our layover ($500/person for the day! :O) Lack of regard for smoking rules (no smoking in Sheremetyevo but people smoked anyways) Snowden Fucking massive country. 90% crazy empty "bad" land which is why they are still trying to take over other land that is better. May be related to "Men who are so manly they redefine the definition of men" Putin always gets what he wants The cold war was a thing......but I skipped that part of history apparently. "That 70s Show" filled me in on that gap. Gah. So ignorant. I'm going to go read a book or something.
Well, you aren't... that much off. The dashcam part made me chuckle: I still remember some of the featured videos, like a tank rolling onto the drive, or the Chelyabinsk meteorite shining across the sky. Putin didn't fight bears: if folklore is anything to go by, he rode them. In truth, he did help capturing and weighing a polar bear once; there were news about the thing. This much is... semi-disputable. You see, it's the government who have fangs aimed at the US: younger people, like myself, enjoy American culture and sometimes even strive to move there (like my friend who did Work & Travel USA two years ago and wanted to stay there so much he almost took up an offer to fake-marry a girl to get the green card). We see how much better the US' quality of living is and how more appealing people seem to be, and we desire that in a country where we stoically don't care if things suck and people smiling on the street is a rare sight. What's that about? Even back in the day $500 was around 15k RUB - many Russians' monthly pay! Now it's around 38k RUB. What can you possibly need this kind of money for? Presuming you were in one of the Moscow airports - only this can explain such terrible pricing. Even if you're eating out and being generally expensive at that, you can easily survive on 3k. I don't even... I recommend Vladimir Pozner's Parting with Illusions. He's basically a French-American stuck in the USSR for most of his life.Not a big fan of America
Too expensive for us to leave the airport on our layover ($500/person for the day! :O)
I'm going to go read a book or something.
The 500$ comment might've been in relation to the Russian Visa policy, which is nuts. Not US nuts, but almost.
Yeah. In order to leave the airport, the visa would have been $500/person. That was for super short amount of time too. There are other options that were more. The flight to Budapest via Russian was don't $349, to give that some perspective.