The quake that's still shaking the Eastern world

[htpcl]

Zdravstvuyte, moi tovarischi greetings, my comrades! Do you know what date it is today? December 8, 1991. Does it speak anything to you? No? Well... Look at this map.

Comments

[abomvubuso]

One thing I've noticed through all my interactions with Russians, especially when experienced at their own turf rather than abroad: to use such a generalisation, they're deeply spiritual and immensely intelligent, but very traumatised people. I know it's not nice, but one can't help but feel pity. And probably a little awe at their resilience.

Also they've got one of the most beautiful languages ever. Their culture is a treasure really, and probably one of the things that will keep their head above water until they reach better shores. Which they will, sooner or later.

[htpcl]

I admire your faith in people. Separate people probably deserve more faith in them, separately. But taken as a crowd, well... There are some other factors sneaking in.

That's not to say the Russians are doomed. It's to say the road for them will be as painful as it has always been.

"Wild-wild-west style capitalism"

[montecristo]

You're invoking a mythology that never happened, certainly not the way dimestore novels and Hollywood imagined it.

Re: "Wild-wild-west style capitalism"

[htpcl]

I've actually lived in this system, still am. I know exactly what I'm talking about when I'm using that term.

Re: "Wild-wild-west style capitalism"

[luzribeiro]

Well for convenience, and to accommodate the sensitivities of our libertarian friends, let's just call it The Al Capone Style Capitalism.

Re: "Wild-wild-west style capitalism"

[htpcl]

Better yet, Mutro-Baroc.

Mutra = mug. I.e., thug.

Just imagine it happening to the US, okay?

[montecristo]

The thing is, it IS happening to the U.S. People are just as blind to it now as they were when it happened to the Soviet Union.

Re: Just imagine it happening to the US, okay?

[htpcl]

Hey, I'm so glad this write-up has provoked so many thoughts in you! :-D

Re: Just imagine it happening to the US, okay?

[montecristo]

Indeed. Unlike some of the TLDR duffers, I actually read it all and appreciate the effort it took to produce it. Keep up the good work.

Re: Just imagine it happening to the US, okay?

[htpcl]

I put some pictures for the TLDR duffers. No one can ever resist Gorbie's USSR-shaped birth spot!

[luvdovz]

Let's not miss Belarus. Lukashenko may seem eternal there, but he's just Putin's puppy. He could go with a single snap of Putin's fingers and he knows it. But so far they both see more benefits from this symbiotic relationship than disadvantages. But Lukashenko should be aware by now that no-one is irreplaceable. Including Putin, by the way. A nice walk down memory lane, comrade.

[underlankers]

An awesome post. *two thumbs up.*

[htpcl]

You don't wanna play... *sniff*
I was expecting you to blow all historical points to smithereens!

[underlankers]

All the historical points are not only spot-on but they are succintly and aptly stated. If the history's done right I have no nitpicks with it. ^.^

[htpcl]

I guess it helps having lived through it personally, if only in one of the peripheral satellites. But maybe it's better this way. Many Russians today are in total denial about these realities and they prefer to look at their own society through whatever ideological prisms they've willfully imposed upon themselves. But we can't judge them for that - it's too easy to say U R doin it rrong n00b when we're detached from the actual events.