Posted by Cyrill

I still hope he missed the head )

While I agree with what you said Ger, let’s not pile up on Russia alone. (And I am not saying you are). This is not a Russian phenomenon. I think most if not every culture at some point goes through this same exact state of mentality. Yes, the amount of garbage in the streets and in stairwells of apartment buildings is shocking but it is of the same nature with people emptying night pots into the streets in 18th century Edinburgh.

This and outright – almost hostile – disregard for anyone that is outside of your “circle” were the two major shocks for me when I visited Russia for the first time after 15 years of absence. I can’t find any other explanations but to attribute it to ? clannish mentality anachronism amplified by the 70 years of deprivation from any sense of responsibility for what’s yours.

To be sure, things are changing. Private ownership begins to bring responsibility as well as expanding the narrow boundaries of clannishness to eventually (I hope sooner then later) flow over them into the “treat all others like you would like to be treated yourself” mentality. This shows up first in the private service and retail sectors. When everyone is a potential client, clannish mentality breaks or fades.

Some people begin to wave others pass in traffic and dirty stairwells get cleaned when buildings get privatized.

I suspect it would have been even faster and better if it had not been for Putin and his populistic and fake charge against oligarchs. BABs and Khodorkovskys are no different from robber barons of the old US. But everything in Russia is amplified, including speed. Khodorkovsky was already beginning to reinvest back through his college for example. In less then a decade after his riches.

Unfortunately for Russia, Putin turned the clock back towards more monopolism, bigger government and bigger dependence on it while replacing real capitalist oligarchs with thieving bureaucrats. And this type only invests in themselves.

This is absolutely correct. Russians do not care about the state of the country internally as long as it appears powerful. Or rather if a Russian is fed and has any sort of bearable lifestyle he is happy and f*** the rest of the country. Russia has undoubtedly one of the poorest developed senses of social justice in Europe, if not the poorest. This is shown in microscosm by appartment buildings all over the country. Inside the appartments will be clean, full of books and homely. Outside, its the jungle, and what happens outside Russians write off as ”Eto Rossiya” or some other such flippant nonsense.
But the most important thing is that Russia is looking good on the world stage. I’ll put it this way; remember the crash in Germany four or five years ago that killed around 200 people from Ufa, the mid air-collision? Russians, quite rightly, were livid about it, but crucially, a foreigner was involved -the Swiss air-traffic controller. Then came Dubrovka. Was anybody angry about the people who died afterwards cos of shite medical care, doctors not warned? Not at all. That was different. That was a Russian fuck-up, not a western one. Was Putin hauled before an public enquiry to explain what happened there or at Beslan? No way. What was the difference between the Russian government and the Swiss air controller? Both were handling tough situations. Both fucked up. People were killed. Was the Swiss man really more culpable? Surely its Putin’s job to ensure public safety, same as it was the job of the Swiss man. I’m waiting for a cacaphony of indignation; save your breath; I’ve heard it all before and am not impressed. If Russia wants to be a G8 nation, then maybe it should start to act like one.

Anyway, I’m starting to sound like LR, apologies. The bottom line is that Russia would be far better employed sorting out its wretched internal problems than throwing shapes at the west.

Thanks Tim for explaining to us our national idea. Such a wise man you are.

Looks like Tim had nailed it right on the head.

Thanks Tim for explaining to us our national idea. Such a wise man you are.
Now I better understand why Miliband is doing so stupid )

This is sadly true: most Russians would gladly go hungry and without running water if it means they can tell themselves that they are a strong country and they can thumb their nose at the west. If this is what Russians want their priorities to be, then that is their choice and I’m fine with it.

What I find odd is that the Russians who complain about the state of affairs on the ground, i.e. there being no running water, intermittent electricity, shortage of consumer goods at reasonable prices, etc. are the same Russians who think it’s a great idea for Gazprom to forcibly appropriate large chunks of foreign investment and make grandstanding speeches about pointing nuclear missiles at Europe.

As I’ve said before, I find it frustrating the way Russians are often incapable of connecting the state of affairs on the ground with the manner in which they are governed. Very few Russians realise that the reason they see old women climbing hills in the snow carrying buckets of water, the reason they get stopped by dodgy police and made to cough up a bribe, the reason they are not able to travel to Moscow to seek better work is because their leaders have their priorities all wrong.

I hadn’t seen the bit about the British police getting suspicious when the wannabe assassin tried to buy a gun.

If true, I think we can rule out any serious FSB or Russian government involvement.