The Russians have an explanation for this. Apparently they are delighted with it (below link, unfortunately material in Polish).
And that they are wrong is brilliantly demonstrated by Poland. Reborn in 1918 from three partitions, it had not badly developed lands administered by Germany, the Habsburg-ruled territories, despite the reputation of being extremely backward, were quickly catching up with the Austrian centre. The hardest thing to say something good about was the territories ruled by Russia.
> "Wherever the Russians go, the first thing they do is build".
Well, they arrived in Prague in 1968 and what did they build?
To me, that is a total absurdity. Every empire expands -- I wrote here about Poland and the partitions. Galicia or Greater Poland may have been extremely backward and poor areas of Austria or Germany, but the government policy and economy of those areas invested heavily in them. (It's altogether amazing to read Joseph II's descriptions during his visit to conquered Poland -- he wants profits from the country, so he knows he has to invest in it, because big taxes come from the wealth of the inhabitants).
How does Russia compare against this background? From the Polish perspective: worse roads, worse industry, illiteracy, blocking civil society and civic education. In some cases political blocking, because the insecure and overhanging part of the country did not deserve a modern industry of military importance. (Generally: modern industry Russia tried to confine to its centre. The rest was treated classically colonialistically. Well, even "in the colonies" it wasn't always Russian investment -- the Donbas grew up on British investment...)
> "in the original Russian countryside, after 50 years of constant assistance to the brotherly Soviet nations, there was not even a tenth of these blessings of civilisation"
I know you are from Slovakia, but I don't know what age. Because, you see, this text reminds me of Poland and 1980. In the shops the availability of meat worsened, and people in the city were saying that it was because all the chickens were being sent to Moscow, for food for the guests of the Olympics. Well, the poor always look for the fault of poverty elsewhere.
Regarding Russia, I hear an unusually high number of bad things about it -- visiting friends say they liked St Petersburg, despite the social contrasts; Moscow was disappointing, and one should stay away from the countryside in general. And all this about a statistically prosperous country. By the way, some say the same about Ukraine and Poland -- in 1990, the wealth was very similar. Now Poland is relatively wealthy, and although I am one of those who complain about the poverty of the poorest part of its citizens, I cannot honestly fail to admit that it is relatively equal. Here and the poor villages have money. In the case of Ukraine it has been different, even if Ukraine has been trying to chase Europe for several years.
> "The US is a competent educator!"
During the period of transition, my now-wife, then a student, went on the holiday of a lifetime -- she broke out of Poland where communism was collapsing for a holiday in Greece. She marvelled at the state of the roads and the country, and the Greeks kept saying -- "you let the Americans in and they will build you roads and give you money". They were not saying this from propaganda, but from how they perceived their own experience of the country, on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
In Poland, such an investor is not the USA (well, it is the USA) -- in Poland, but also in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, or Romania, etc., we have help from the EU. We build roads, we help to invest in industry.
I sometimes read criticisms of American or Western aid. That it thinks too little about the welfare of people on the ground, that it is influenced by racial prejudice.... This is often true, but if you can criticise the form of aid, it means that the aid itself exists.
So, where is this world that the Russians spoke about?
I don't have time and patience to watch youtube videos, but someone actually said "Wherever the Russians go, the first thing they do is build"? That's just stupid. Of course that when you conquer a colony, you have to build a fortress. And a governors mansion. And a prison. And the church for the garrison. Maybe a military road to connect one fortress with another. That's all Russia builds for the enslaved territories.
European Union builds schools, hospitals, university faculties and swimming pools.
The original letter-explaining how it is unpedagogical the excessive kindness Russia shows to others-was to be written by a Russian from one of the Baltic States. Andromeda (my link from YT) summarised this letter without comment -- in Polish ears it sounds, simply, ridiculous.
Seriously, I'd say it's more nuanced all the same -- the USSR, however, somehow drawing on the achievements of Marxist thought, built hospitals, or schools. But overall, Russia's achievements in this regard, compared to its imperialist competitors, come off very badly.
The first question I usually ask are the sources. On youtube, there are almost never given. The talking heads just talk, providing some data out of nowhere. Many people seem to fall for that, including probably our respectable guest, Formosa. I just want to know "but where is that data coming from". It's easier when you read, because there SHOULD be some references or quoted literature section. I try to scatter links in my substack here and there, and also mark the sources of my screenshots/photos.
If someone simply says "Wherever the Russians go, the first thing they do is build" and does not back it up by a comprehensive list of the buildings Russians built in Latvia, it does not even deserve polemics. It's good only for flushing it down the toilet (thank God we're not in glubinka).
Andromeda is 'on our side'. She cites this letter as testimony to the Russian self-image. I think it is relevant in this sense, even without the footnotes (possibly with a footnote about the collected likes and forwards).
The Internet. It always amazes me. Just record a video saying that Covid was an inside job, World Trade center was flat and Earth is in controlled demolition. And people gonna believe it without even asking for sources.
it's opinion. A lot of newspaper editorials is not much better.
The value of it is not because it is sourced or author is respected expert in the field, but because people believe it so it fits some existing preconception inside (probably) russian psyche.
So it doesn't really prove russia builds - but it shows russian want to believe they are builders, which fits what I remember from polish jokes - USSR and Poland agreed on new trade contract - PL will send 100 train cars with coal and USSR will send 100 train cars of shoes - to resole.
And it fit the story that soviet propaganda explained any issue with supply with "we have to help our socialist brothers from other countries"
About WTC wan't it proven that theory of compromise is true?
I don't identify as pro-Russian, but I know some people who are. When we talk about politics, their answer to the question "What do you like about Russia?" usually goes something like this: "Russia is one of the few powerful nations that dares to stand up to US imperialism. For my part, I certainly like the fact that they hosted Snowned.
Some of the people I know studied Russian philology or something and lived in Russia for varying lengths of time. And it seems that they quite enjoyed living there (granted, in big cities, not in "glubinka") until early 2022.
Your description of Russia as a hellhole doesn't sound very convincing, especially if we're talking about Russia before 2022. Or maybe you just have higher standards than I do?
Sure, Western Europe probably has the highest standard of living in the world, so from that perspective any other place might seem shitty in comparison (and there are certainly a lot of shittier places in the world than Russia when it comes to standard of living). My personal idea of the world's "average standard" would be Thailand. A lot of Scandinavians move there when they retire (it's the third most popular retirement destination after Spain and the US), which means that even though it's far from perfect, it's a good enough country for many Europeans to live in. Is Russia really a hellhole, or is it just, let's say, an "average standard" country, or even a little higher?
Incidentally, in many Asian countries (including advanced nations such as Japan), people simply don't like toilet bowls and think it's healthier and more hygienic to use squat toilets. It makes sense: you can do your business without touching anything. Treating toilet bowls as a measure of civilisation is completely wrong. Europeans and Asians have different customs and that's all there is to it.
With a Norwegian pension, you are a rich person in Thailand (probably in Poland, too). So you don't live the life of an average Thai person. I try to avoid the question of "what is the best place to be rich" (because I'm not, you're not, why do we care?). The fact that Russian oligarchs tend to live somewhere else seems to indicate that this is not a good place even for the rich.
Just ask your friends the students what they enjoyed in particular. They will probably answer something like "partying all night". I doubt if they'll say "I enjoyed this particular food" or "it was fun to ride my bike by the extensive and well maintained network of bike trails".
Are you sure the extensive use of outhouses does not count as a measure of civilisation?
You are mixing Norwegian pensioners with oligarchs in a strange way. Sure, Norwegian pensioners can be considered rich pretty much anywhere outside Western Europe, but it's at most the "local middle-class IT guy" kind of rich, not the oligarch kind of rich.
And most of things mentioned in your post apply to them: they don't have a jet, so even with a good car, they still have to use the existing road infrastructure, they don't have a private chef, so cleanliness of toilets in local restaurants is a concern for them, and the local authorities surely won't build plumbing with drinkable water just for them. And out of over 100 non-western countries, Norwegians seem to particularly like to settle in Thailand, so my understanding is that all these things, even if worse than in Europe, are still "good enough" there. That's why I'm suggesting this country for comparison: a cheap non-Western country that is still far from being a hellhole.
So my question is: was the life in pre-2022 Moscow worse than life in Bangkok? I'm asking because in order to be able to call it a hell, it would have to be a lot worse.
Norwegian (or Swedish) are very bad example cause these are societies full of people with relatively a lot of money and relatively low expectations of comfort their money should provide. There are probably no other nations like this. So this proves nothing. I personally would never like to live in Thailand (I could live in Japan or Korea though)
As a person who spent half of his life in Sweden I feel I need to explain it a bit more. Beware of sommarstuga, pure swedish phenomenon, totally unrelated to how much money you have. I even have impression that these more wealthy ones on purpose keep their stugas more rural and without any conveniences. In other words: many Swedes would feel quite relaxed in glubinka standards - but of course only provided swedish ambulance and swedish hospital (and supermarket etc) is the same 5 minutes away as is in their Ostergotland forest. And forest is the same clean and healthy. And water. And... (start to feel what I mean already?)
Also, at least the Norwegians, they are used to fixing things on their own. It's not uncommon for a middle-class Norwegian to make big home improvements on their own, because the labour costs are eye-watering (it cost my landlord 5,000 NOK to replace an old toilet seat & flush). My workmate in a big tech corp spent a few weeks in *December* digging a big hole in the ground to replace something in the house foundation. Even a Polish middle-class IT guy would at that point say "screw this, I'm going to hire Jozek and Gieniek to dig that hole for me". But Norwegians are going to put in the sweat.
You are right, I shouldn't confuse a billionaire with a humble millionaire. The thing is, I never was in Thailand, let alone in Thailand with the Norwegian pensioner credit card. My opinion of what is it to be a Norwegian in Thailand is based mostly on Jo Nesbo novels, so I don't qualify for discussion.
However, even being a mere millionaire guarantees you that you can simply order tanks of drinkable water and even pay people to deliver it to your millionaire mansion. For me, a simple thousandonaire, it's a problem - to pay for every single sip whenever I'm thirsty. And I'm kinda glad it's complimentary in EU.
I'd rather step out of the diggression about Thailand, because two things are certain. Thailand will never be like EU. Ukraine will never be like Thailand. For us in Eastern Europe there are generally just two options - Russia or EU. We don't have the middle ground for neutrality, let alone for turining into Asia or Africa.
Why your Norwegian pensioners don't move to Moscow? Isn't that the answer to your question? If Moscow was comparable to Bangkok, shouldn't there be something like 50:50 split (OK, I'll be generous - 90:10)? Where is the Norwegian expat community in St Petersburg (outside, of course, of the party-all-night university dormitory)?
There was a swedish crime series on Swedish tv few years ago called "Moscow Noir", I don't know if it is on Netflix or anywhere, maybe it is, I think it run originally on TV4. It was just about such "young businessmen" who thought that doing business in Russia is exactly the same as everywhere else - ok, maybe with a little bit less law abiding, but they were fine with that. It was fiction but very realistic. Hint: not many of them survived alive until the last episode. And no, these are not stereotypes.
Millionaire? The average Norwegian pension is EUR 2,000 per month gross, and the differences between those who get a lot and those who get a little are not huge. Sure, that's enough to have a middle-class standard of living in Thailand, but come on, that's not living like a millionaire.
Your view of Norwegian pensioners seems to be based more on stereotypes than facts. Now I'm wondering if this is also the case with your writing about Russia, especially as this post is thinner on sources than previous ones.
It seems to me that the problem with Moscow for potential expats is that it's expensive, cold and far from the sea. I bet if it were cheaper and a few thousand kilometres further south, but otherwise maintained Russian standards, it would be a very popular destination.
Oh, if Moscow is too cold and expensive, why not retire to Sochi instead, the pearl of the Caucasian Riviera, located in the rich Krasnoiar country...? It's got nice beaches and pleasant sub-tropical climate, just like Thailand, you know...
Well, perhaps because running water -- if it runs -- is brown:
Or perhaps because of the communal outhouse in the Akatsy District (wonder if Norwegian pensioners could actually grasp the whole concept of communal outhouse at all, by the way...) was removed during the preparations for the 2014 Olympic Games and haven't been rebuild since then:
Or perhaps it's got something to do with over one million of diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases in Russia, with more than two million suspected...? And in case you asked why such discrepancy -- huh, dunno, but surely the number of doctors per capita and the average distance that Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov has to travel to his nearest healthcare facility, not to mention the world-class quality of services provided (with no slightest sign of any corruption whatsoever!) by such facilities -- has nothing to do with it... That, of course, is not to say that Norwegian pensioners would confuse their retirement with sex tourism, but that whole healthcare thing seems to me as a wee little bit of a concern for retirees...
Or perhaps because of the homicide rate...? You know, like close to 11 thousands murders annually in Russia, compared to 1,7 thousand in Thailand...
I think Norwegian pensioner can be compared to a person owning a million-someting investment portfolio and living only from the dividend. The Government Pension Fund of Norway is an envy to the whole world. The fund is worth over a trillion, there is slightly below million pensioners, so that makes over a million per pensioner.
The consensus is that if you're going to retire on the state pension only, you're going to struggle. Average pension in 2022 was 269500 NOK (https://www.nav.no/no/nav-og-samfunn/statistikk/pensjon-statistikk/alderspensjon). In Norway you pay income tax on pension income, so you get about 16,000 NOK per month net. If you don't own your home when you retire (with mortgage paid off), you're screwed.
As for the food, things like pelmeni are definitely enjoyed by foreigners, and you are wrong about them being Ruthenian. Even the very name pelmeni comes from Siberian languages, so the Russian expansion to those regions was key in bringing them to the rest of the Slavic world.
Moreover, Slavic dumplings, including Russian pelmeni, Ukrainian varenyky and Polish pierogi are likely to have originally come from China (see jiaozi), and the territories of Central Asia and Russia were important linking chains.
dishes do not spread along the shortest line on the map, but along cultural contacts - which at the time went way more south and pierogi probably got to Poland from China through Italy.
I'm not sure "russians ALSO have a variant of one of most popular dish in the world and people like them for familiarity" is as good flex as you seem to think it is.
russia stands up to US imperialism with their own imperialism.
Also Iraq or South America is not a real face of US imperialism - it's trade, economy, dollar and culture. That means in Central Europe US could build its empire by simply being good guys and helping us to be free and democratic and selling us newest Hollywood productions.
russia has only military, nukes and hydrocarbons it can't build empire by being good guys except bribing the local elites, so the blackmail and force it is.
Being able to compare military imperialism of russia and economic imperialism of USA, I definitely prefer being willing periphery of US empire than coerced periphery of russian one.
It is fascinating you claim you are not pro-russian and talk about Snowden, who indeed committed a crime (even if justifiable and should be protected by whistleblower) and faces jail in US as a reason to praise russia, that allowed him to stay as long as he is useful tool for ru propaganda and you forgot how many dissidents run away to the west, US included and found shelter there or what happened to critics of russia that didn't flee like Anna Politkovskaya and many others
You missed the point talking about "average standard" - if you have western money and go to places where everything is cheap, you will live comfortably. But would you prefer to be born, raised and educated in Thailand with Thailand salary over Sweden or Norway?
Last summer I went for vacation in Tunisia and I was very comfortable. I wouldn't be so comfortable, if I was paid what locals were paid.
The same with your friends who studied in Moscow. I don't think their monthly budget was similar to average russian student. And students, generally, like every place they went, because they had fun there.
Your point about toilets cannot be serious. Asians have choice between european style and squat toilet and choose the one they believe is healthier.
russians without indoor toilet choose the outside toilet not because they think it is healthier but because it is.
If they believed outside toilets are better, they wouldn't be stealing toilets from Ukraine.
Russia and US imperialism... Well, a complex subject.
Because on the one hand, I am reminded of Snyder explaining the Americans: "we think little of Russia, but Russia thinks a lot of us". In the sense: Russia builds its sense of value on the image of a superpower, a global counterweight to the US. Which is ridiculous, in fact, but deeply imprinted.
I must admit that I used to think that a more even distribution of 'imperial power' in the world, a decentralisation of the 'world police' would be a good thing, because no one currently controls the 'world policeman'. But this war in Ukraine has made me realise that the most "world policemen" want to become mafiosi and criminals. Whatever I may say badly about the US, I would have to say a lot more badly about its competitors to control the world.
PS.
I sometimes watch Russian propaganda films. And the film with the story of the father who volunteers to go to the front because they treat him badly in the company, and for the money his daughter gets an iphone thanks to that, I found particularly sad....
"Whatever I may say badly about the US, I would have to say a lot more badly about its competitors to control the world."
Fully agree. And this is because whatever the US do sooner or later will come under scrutiny of media, watchdogs, US authorities itself or - in the worst case - historians. Cannot say the same about Russia or China.
Does the fact that two-thirds of rural households in Russia have no access to indoor toilets not convince you that it is not a great place to live?
Thailand (which is comparable to Russia in terms of median wealth per adult) at least has a warm climate and lots of nice beaches. That makes a lot of difference.
"For my part, I certainly like the fact that they hosted Snowned."
They're not hosting him, they're keeping him as a pet to produce soft pro-Russian propaganda as required. He's in a hopeless situation now. He's a Russian citizen, liable to military draft. Either he does what he's told, or it's "in vece del fandango una marcia per il fango".
Fandango is “a Spanish or Spanish-American dance in triple time that is usually performed by a man and a woman to the accompaniment of guitar and castanets” (Merriam-Webster-Webster)
Snowden is, indeed, in a very compromised situation.
I don’t know what the Russians are doing with him. I just figure, if I were them (which I am glad I am not), I’d be working to defeat any end-to-end encryption Snowden maintains on his electronic communications, by taking over his phone (with Pegasus) and in whatever other way.
I don’t think he can say, he will only submit to US law when US law becomes more fair. US law needs to adapt, evolve, and grow fairer, but, that has to come after a resolution, whatever the resolution of things might be.
Personally, I am less than thrilled over the U.S. maintaining these huge troves of secret information, for example in databases. Some of those secrets, we all really need to know about.
I’m old enough to remember when the Pentagon Papers came out. It’s supposed to have been a hugely important development; but, it seems like since that time, secrecy in the US government may have increased exponentially.
Data dumpers are supposed to be our heroes.
Meanwhile: While Snowden has been free to move about in Moscow, and has had a kid already, Reality Winner did some hard time.
Russia wouldn't organise an operation to let HER escape, would it.
As for Snowden, the only decent thing for him would be to shut up and not make statements about the war, NATO, US politics, freedom of the press, etc. He doesn't have the standing for it as a protege of a genocidal dictatorship.
I'm afraid Thailand is not a good example. This country is known for much higher sanitary standards and health care than other countries on similar development level. This is both effect and a cause of being very tourist oriented. I've learnt that when I was doing research on "which exotic place is safe to travel with a toddler".
Hmm, do the Scandinavians moving to Thailand live as typical Thais do? In the same areas, with the same development level, etc?
Or do they perhaps tend to live in very specific areas, which have a far higher quality of life standard, because they are used to servicing foreign tourists and retirees, who require a significantly better standard of life?
Furthermore, is Thailand really at a similar level as Russia? For example, according to Our World in Data, in Russia 89.39% of citizens have access to sanitation. In Thailand it's 99.97% That's quite a significant difference. So even according to your 'average standard' Russia is quite, quite far behind.
Good point: most of 'Pro-Russians' do not really know the object of their affection. It is however interesting what really pushes them into arms of Vladimir Vladimirovich: is it positive stereotype of Russia, or rather negative stereotype of the enemies of Russia, particularly US?
Those maimed by the positive stereotype usually end pathetically, like Gerard Depardieu (Zhora Depardeev) who moved to RF to waive French taxes, and now says that Mr. Putin is ivil after all, or continue pathetically, like Steven Seagal and few other individuals that you have mentioned in previous posts. But after all, positive stereotypes tend to die out faster then negative.
What is really worrying, negative feelings against US in the global South/3rd world will always drive new sympathizers towards Kremlin. I wonder how many readers you may find in India or English speaking African countries, but believe not too many. And I would not dare to think about Latinosphere, where Pope comes from (worthy topic for an another post, I hope). There is strong pro-Russian sentiment in Latin America, and I am afraid they do not care whether Russians live in dugouts or igloos, ride zhigulis or white bears, as what counts is that they stand against Estados Unidos.
It works both ways, in our part of Europe we tend to see US mainly as the "Liberator from the communists" and imperialist US is less visible for us.
But the problem with tankie mindset is, if "america bad" is your whole foreign policy take you end up liking states just because they are anti USA. Like russia, North Korea, Iran, taliban and ISIS.
And you make think this grouping is biased to make russia look bad, the same like every right wing politician is called hitler on the internet. The point is it isn't.
Recently there was report from Royal United Services Institute
but to sum up in short: russians expected that to control Ukraine they need to liquidate or arrest leaders, punish others and get 8% of Ukrainians to cooperate and on controlled territories this is what they were doing. Torture chambers and equipment use there was too standardized to be individual initiative. It was planned.
West can't fathom such bestiality, so they ascribe such news as individual cruelty or pro-Ukrainian propaganda. Also they can't admit it, because if they admit it's true, they are responsible to do more.
And we spent entire childhood learning how such regimes operate when going to war and how russia was trying to control us and others. We were expecting such cruelty. And for that we were called hysterical russophobes.
At least during the height of the Cold War (or, Cold War I perhaps), US policy was of "Communism anywhere everywhere anyhow bad", and, "you end up liking states just because they are anti" Communism.
Thank you for the helpful links!!
From where I am (in US), voices of those in eastern Europe (or wherever you are, mtg) who object to Russian Imperialism may be harder to hear than some others.
Am hoping it is not "all Americans' fault" when people there do see things that way.
> voices of those in eastern Europe [...] may be harder to hear than some others
That has been my feeling too.
That is why, over the course of last year, I pretty much gave up on the "US left", or whatever of it I can experience via the Internet anyway. While I don't question their judgment or choices in standing up to the internal problems of the US, and still find that commendable, I have lost hope for any meaningful form of international solidarity on their part. And the latter, mind, has been a prerequisite to call oneself a leftist from the very beginnings of the movement.
The same, although to a varying degree, is unfortunately true also about the Western European left. I find it increasingly hard, for instance, to follow the insights of Yanis Varoufakis (OK, a honorary Westerner, but nevermind), given what a hopeless vatnik he has proven to be. As one of the common people, I tend to laugh at him rather than along with him nowadays (if you catch my drift).
The situation of Greece, with their economic meltdown, has been much concerning. Must look for updates on this, though, as have heard no news of Greece -- perhaps for years, now.
Our saying, "no news is good news," may not always hold true.
From what I have seen Varoufakis on Ukraine has opted for leadership in the EU by Finland or the Baltic States (as experts on the 'east'), which realistically translates into very pro-Ukrainian positions.
Nevertheless, DiEM25, where he has (used to have?) a lot of clout, will probably, following their position on Ukraine, remain laughing stock to me. A pity, really.
"we spent entire childhood learning how such regimes operate"
True, and it is full package again now. They commit atrocities, as Soviets did, and same as Soviets they pretend to act in the name of peace. There was congress of "Mouvement International Rusophile" (MIR) in Moscow two weeks ago. MIR is of course a reference to the Russian word meaning "peace". So - again, as Orwell put it - "war is peace".
Sorry to dust off this old discussion, but I wanted to add something. Perhaps my comparison with Thailand was too controversial, but surely it would be fair to judge Ukraine by the standards set out in this article. And wouldn't the conclusion be that "living in (pre-war) Ukraine is hell"?
"What is it that you particularly like about Ukraine? Ever been there? Planning to relocate? Do you drive a Ukrainian vehicle? Do you use a Ukrainian laptop or smartphone? Do you wear Ukrainian clothes? Is that an UkraineWatch on our wrist? When you binge TV series, do you watch Ukrflix on a Ukrainian TV set, sitting on a sofa made by the world famous furniture company, UKRKEA?"
Ukrainians are also very keen to get foreign passports, and similar things can be said about Ukrainian oligarchs and the resource curse (chernozem and coal in eastern Ukraine).
As for tap water: when I was in Lviv in the early 2000s, it wasn't a question of whether the tap water was drinkable (it obviously wasn't), but if it was available at all (which was from 6am to 9am and from 6pm to 9pm for most of the city's inhabitants). AFAIK the availability of water is better now, but it's still undrinkable, as your map shows.
And when I drove through Karpaty, the dirt roads leading to some popular destinations were only slightly better than the one in the picture, and I wouldn't be surprised if they looked very similar after heavy rains.
You say that Ukrainians "are improving their quality of life. It has already started". Where can we see this?
Can you elaborate on that? What is it that makes Lviv so much better than it used to be? I haven't been there for a long time, but what I've heard from Ukrainians is that countries like Slovakia and Poland have made enormous progress in terms of infrastructure and so on, while Ukraine has stayed where it was.
Their progress is obviously not as huge as the EU members - but they definitely improved a lot. New airport terminal, new restaurants (full of local people! they can apply for a special card giving them a generous discount), old buildings restored to their original beauty (secession in Lviv is second only to Vienna!), etc. I believe once they get in EU, they will catch up, like we did 20 yrs ago.
In the last 20 years, Russia has also built new airport terminals (e.g. in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg) or completely renovated them (e.g. in Novosibirsk). Popular destinations such as St. Petersburg and Moscow certainly had better tourist infrastructure in 2021 than in 2001. I don't see much difference between Ukraine and Russia in this respect.
Wow. This really addresses the bigotry of low expectations and the dehumanising cultural relativism many westerners presume. Keep it up.
The Russians have an explanation for this. Apparently they are delighted with it (below link, unfortunately material in Polish).
And that they are wrong is brilliantly demonstrated by Poland. Reborn in 1918 from three partitions, it had not badly developed lands administered by Germany, the Habsburg-ruled territories, despite the reputation of being extremely backward, were quickly catching up with the Austrian centre. The hardest thing to say something good about was the territories ruled by Russia.
--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iVanY2hr7I&ab_channel=Andromeda
Some time ago I got this link from a pro-Russian friend: https://pikabu-ru.translate.goog/story/pochemu_anglosaksonskiy_mir_prityagatelnee_russkogo_9542726?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=no&_x_tr_pto=wapp Is it the text referred to in your video?
I'd be very interested in a more detailed answer to this text.
A more accurate answer?
> "Wherever the Russians go, the first thing they do is build".
Well, they arrived in Prague in 1968 and what did they build?
To me, that is a total absurdity. Every empire expands -- I wrote here about Poland and the partitions. Galicia or Greater Poland may have been extremely backward and poor areas of Austria or Germany, but the government policy and economy of those areas invested heavily in them. (It's altogether amazing to read Joseph II's descriptions during his visit to conquered Poland -- he wants profits from the country, so he knows he has to invest in it, because big taxes come from the wealth of the inhabitants).
How does Russia compare against this background? From the Polish perspective: worse roads, worse industry, illiteracy, blocking civil society and civic education. In some cases political blocking, because the insecure and overhanging part of the country did not deserve a modern industry of military importance. (Generally: modern industry Russia tried to confine to its centre. The rest was treated classically colonialistically. Well, even "in the colonies" it wasn't always Russian investment -- the Donbas grew up on British investment...)
> "in the original Russian countryside, after 50 years of constant assistance to the brotherly Soviet nations, there was not even a tenth of these blessings of civilisation"
I know you are from Slovakia, but I don't know what age. Because, you see, this text reminds me of Poland and 1980. In the shops the availability of meat worsened, and people in the city were saying that it was because all the chickens were being sent to Moscow, for food for the guests of the Olympics. Well, the poor always look for the fault of poverty elsewhere.
Regarding Russia, I hear an unusually high number of bad things about it -- visiting friends say they liked St Petersburg, despite the social contrasts; Moscow was disappointing, and one should stay away from the countryside in general. And all this about a statistically prosperous country. By the way, some say the same about Ukraine and Poland -- in 1990, the wealth was very similar. Now Poland is relatively wealthy, and although I am one of those who complain about the poverty of the poorest part of its citizens, I cannot honestly fail to admit that it is relatively equal. Here and the poor villages have money. In the case of Ukraine it has been different, even if Ukraine has been trying to chase Europe for several years.
> "The US is a competent educator!"
During the period of transition, my now-wife, then a student, went on the holiday of a lifetime -- she broke out of Poland where communism was collapsing for a holiday in Greece. She marvelled at the state of the roads and the country, and the Greeks kept saying -- "you let the Americans in and they will build you roads and give you money". They were not saying this from propaganda, but from how they perceived their own experience of the country, on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
In Poland, such an investor is not the USA (well, it is the USA) -- in Poland, but also in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, or Romania, etc., we have help from the EU. We build roads, we help to invest in industry.
I sometimes read criticisms of American or Western aid. That it thinks too little about the welfare of people on the ground, that it is influenced by racial prejudice.... This is often true, but if you can criticise the form of aid, it means that the aid itself exists.
So, where is this world that the Russians spoke about?
PS.
I forget -- yes, this is exatly the "explanation" I refered to. Word for word.
I don't have time and patience to watch youtube videos, but someone actually said "Wherever the Russians go, the first thing they do is build"? That's just stupid. Of course that when you conquer a colony, you have to build a fortress. And a governors mansion. And a prison. And the church for the garrison. Maybe a military road to connect one fortress with another. That's all Russia builds for the enslaved territories.
European Union builds schools, hospitals, university faculties and swimming pools.
The original letter-explaining how it is unpedagogical the excessive kindness Russia shows to others-was to be written by a Russian from one of the Baltic States. Andromeda (my link from YT) summarised this letter without comment -- in Polish ears it sounds, simply, ridiculous.
Seriously, I'd say it's more nuanced all the same -- the USSR, however, somehow drawing on the achievements of Marxist thought, built hospitals, or schools. But overall, Russia's achievements in this regard, compared to its imperialist competitors, come off very badly.
The first question I usually ask are the sources. On youtube, there are almost never given. The talking heads just talk, providing some data out of nowhere. Many people seem to fall for that, including probably our respectable guest, Formosa. I just want to know "but where is that data coming from". It's easier when you read, because there SHOULD be some references or quoted literature section. I try to scatter links in my substack here and there, and also mark the sources of my screenshots/photos.
If someone simply says "Wherever the Russians go, the first thing they do is build" and does not back it up by a comprehensive list of the buildings Russians built in Latvia, it does not even deserve polemics. It's good only for flushing it down the toilet (thank God we're not in glubinka).
Andromeda is 'on our side'. She cites this letter as testimony to the Russian self-image. I think it is relevant in this sense, even without the footnotes (possibly with a footnote about the collected likes and forwards).
Formosa provided you with the link to the translation of the same material in written form, original is here
https://pikabu.ru/story/pochemu_anglosaksonskiy_mir_prityagatelnee_russkogo_9542726
it's some random persons opinion on russian equivalent of reddit so no much sources.
The Internet. It always amazes me. Just record a video saying that Covid was an inside job, World Trade center was flat and Earth is in controlled demolition. And people gonna believe it without even asking for sources.
it's opinion. A lot of newspaper editorials is not much better.
The value of it is not because it is sourced or author is respected expert in the field, but because people believe it so it fits some existing preconception inside (probably) russian psyche.
So it doesn't really prove russia builds - but it shows russian want to believe they are builders, which fits what I remember from polish jokes - USSR and Poland agreed on new trade contract - PL will send 100 train cars with coal and USSR will send 100 train cars of shoes - to resole.
And it fit the story that soviet propaganda explained any issue with supply with "we have to help our socialist brothers from other countries"
About WTC wan't it proven that theory of compromise is true?
https://xkcd.com/690/
I don't identify as pro-Russian, but I know some people who are. When we talk about politics, their answer to the question "What do you like about Russia?" usually goes something like this: "Russia is one of the few powerful nations that dares to stand up to US imperialism. For my part, I certainly like the fact that they hosted Snowned.
Some of the people I know studied Russian philology or something and lived in Russia for varying lengths of time. And it seems that they quite enjoyed living there (granted, in big cities, not in "glubinka") until early 2022.
Your description of Russia as a hellhole doesn't sound very convincing, especially if we're talking about Russia before 2022. Or maybe you just have higher standards than I do?
Sure, Western Europe probably has the highest standard of living in the world, so from that perspective any other place might seem shitty in comparison (and there are certainly a lot of shittier places in the world than Russia when it comes to standard of living). My personal idea of the world's "average standard" would be Thailand. A lot of Scandinavians move there when they retire (it's the third most popular retirement destination after Spain and the US), which means that even though it's far from perfect, it's a good enough country for many Europeans to live in. Is Russia really a hellhole, or is it just, let's say, an "average standard" country, or even a little higher?
Incidentally, in many Asian countries (including advanced nations such as Japan), people simply don't like toilet bowls and think it's healthier and more hygienic to use squat toilets. It makes sense: you can do your business without touching anything. Treating toilet bowls as a measure of civilisation is completely wrong. Europeans and Asians have different customs and that's all there is to it.
Squatting to pee or poop becomes more difficult for folks as their joints wear out. JSYK.
With a Norwegian pension, you are a rich person in Thailand (probably in Poland, too). So you don't live the life of an average Thai person. I try to avoid the question of "what is the best place to be rich" (because I'm not, you're not, why do we care?). The fact that Russian oligarchs tend to live somewhere else seems to indicate that this is not a good place even for the rich.
Just ask your friends the students what they enjoyed in particular. They will probably answer something like "partying all night". I doubt if they'll say "I enjoyed this particular food" or "it was fun to ride my bike by the extensive and well maintained network of bike trails".
Are you sure the extensive use of outhouses does not count as a measure of civilisation?
You are mixing Norwegian pensioners with oligarchs in a strange way. Sure, Norwegian pensioners can be considered rich pretty much anywhere outside Western Europe, but it's at most the "local middle-class IT guy" kind of rich, not the oligarch kind of rich.
And most of things mentioned in your post apply to them: they don't have a jet, so even with a good car, they still have to use the existing road infrastructure, they don't have a private chef, so cleanliness of toilets in local restaurants is a concern for them, and the local authorities surely won't build plumbing with drinkable water just for them. And out of over 100 non-western countries, Norwegians seem to particularly like to settle in Thailand, so my understanding is that all these things, even if worse than in Europe, are still "good enough" there. That's why I'm suggesting this country for comparison: a cheap non-Western country that is still far from being a hellhole.
So my question is: was the life in pre-2022 Moscow worse than life in Bangkok? I'm asking because in order to be able to call it a hell, it would have to be a lot worse.
Norwegian (or Swedish) are very bad example cause these are societies full of people with relatively a lot of money and relatively low expectations of comfort their money should provide. There are probably no other nations like this. So this proves nothing. I personally would never like to live in Thailand (I could live in Japan or Korea though)
As a person who spent half of his life in Sweden I feel I need to explain it a bit more. Beware of sommarstuga, pure swedish phenomenon, totally unrelated to how much money you have. I even have impression that these more wealthy ones on purpose keep their stugas more rural and without any conveniences. In other words: many Swedes would feel quite relaxed in glubinka standards - but of course only provided swedish ambulance and swedish hospital (and supermarket etc) is the same 5 minutes away as is in their Ostergotland forest. And forest is the same clean and healthy. And water. And... (start to feel what I mean already?)
https://www.beeswedish.com/what-to-expect-from-a-swedish-sommarstuga/
Also, at least the Norwegians, they are used to fixing things on their own. It's not uncommon for a middle-class Norwegian to make big home improvements on their own, because the labour costs are eye-watering (it cost my landlord 5,000 NOK to replace an old toilet seat & flush). My workmate in a big tech corp spent a few weeks in *December* digging a big hole in the ground to replace something in the house foundation. Even a Polish middle-class IT guy would at that point say "screw this, I'm going to hire Jozek and Gieniek to dig that hole for me". But Norwegians are going to put in the sweat.
You are right, I shouldn't confuse a billionaire with a humble millionaire. The thing is, I never was in Thailand, let alone in Thailand with the Norwegian pensioner credit card. My opinion of what is it to be a Norwegian in Thailand is based mostly on Jo Nesbo novels, so I don't qualify for discussion.
However, even being a mere millionaire guarantees you that you can simply order tanks of drinkable water and even pay people to deliver it to your millionaire mansion. For me, a simple thousandonaire, it's a problem - to pay for every single sip whenever I'm thirsty. And I'm kinda glad it's complimentary in EU.
I'd rather step out of the diggression about Thailand, because two things are certain. Thailand will never be like EU. Ukraine will never be like Thailand. For us in Eastern Europe there are generally just two options - Russia or EU. We don't have the middle ground for neutrality, let alone for turining into Asia or Africa.
Why your Norwegian pensioners don't move to Moscow? Isn't that the answer to your question? If Moscow was comparable to Bangkok, shouldn't there be something like 50:50 split (OK, I'll be generous - 90:10)? Where is the Norwegian expat community in St Petersburg (outside, of course, of the party-all-night university dormitory)?
There was a swedish crime series on Swedish tv few years ago called "Moscow Noir", I don't know if it is on Netflix or anywhere, maybe it is, I think it run originally on TV4. It was just about such "young businessmen" who thought that doing business in Russia is exactly the same as everywhere else - ok, maybe with a little bit less law abiding, but they were fine with that. It was fiction but very realistic. Hint: not many of them survived alive until the last episode. And no, these are not stereotypes.
Millionaire? The average Norwegian pension is EUR 2,000 per month gross, and the differences between those who get a lot and those who get a little are not huge. Sure, that's enough to have a middle-class standard of living in Thailand, but come on, that's not living like a millionaire.
Your view of Norwegian pensioners seems to be based more on stereotypes than facts. Now I'm wondering if this is also the case with your writing about Russia, especially as this post is thinner on sources than previous ones.
It seems to me that the problem with Moscow for potential expats is that it's expensive, cold and far from the sea. I bet if it were cheaper and a few thousand kilometres further south, but otherwise maintained Russian standards, it would be a very popular destination.
Oh, if Moscow is too cold and expensive, why not retire to Sochi instead, the pearl of the Caucasian Riviera, located in the rich Krasnoiar country...? It's got nice beaches and pleasant sub-tropical climate, just like Thailand, you know...
Well, perhaps because running water -- if it runs -- is brown:
https://www.safetycompany.com/safetyblog/dont-drink-the-water-in-sochi-russia/
Or perhaps because of the communal outhouse in the Akatsy District (wonder if Norwegian pensioners could actually grasp the whole concept of communal outhouse at all, by the way...) was removed during the preparations for the 2014 Olympic Games and haven't been rebuild since then:
https://www.businessinsider.com/a-crumbling-sochi-hides-behind-olympic-facades-2014-1?r=US&IR=T
Or perhaps it's got something to do with over one million of diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases in Russia, with more than two million suspected...? And in case you asked why such discrepancy -- huh, dunno, but surely the number of doctors per capita and the average distance that Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov has to travel to his nearest healthcare facility, not to mention the world-class quality of services provided (with no slightest sign of any corruption whatsoever!) by such facilities -- has nothing to do with it... That, of course, is not to say that Norwegian pensioners would confuse their retirement with sex tourism, but that whole healthcare thing seems to me as a wee little bit of a concern for retirees...
Or perhaps because of the homicide rate...? You know, like close to 11 thousands murders annually in Russia, compared to 1,7 thousand in Thailand...
And so on, and so on...
I think Norwegian pensioner can be compared to a person owning a million-someting investment portfolio and living only from the dividend. The Government Pension Fund of Norway is an envy to the whole world. The fund is worth over a trillion, there is slightly below million pensioners, so that makes over a million per pensioner.
I live in Norway.
The consensus is that if you're going to retire on the state pension only, you're going to struggle. Average pension in 2022 was 269500 NOK (https://www.nav.no/no/nav-og-samfunn/statistikk/pensjon-statistikk/alderspensjon). In Norway you pay income tax on pension income, so you get about 16,000 NOK per month net. If you don't own your home when you retire (with mortgage paid off), you're screwed.
As for the food, things like pelmeni are definitely enjoyed by foreigners, and you are wrong about them being Ruthenian. Even the very name pelmeni comes from Siberian languages, so the Russian expansion to those regions was key in bringing them to the rest of the Slavic world.
Moreover, Slavic dumplings, including Russian pelmeni, Ukrainian varenyky and Polish pierogi are likely to have originally come from China (see jiaozi), and the territories of Central Asia and Russia were important linking chains.
Hamburgers are not American. They are German! Even the very name comes from Hamburg!
dishes do not spread along the shortest line on the map, but along cultural contacts - which at the time went way more south and pierogi probably got to Poland from China through Italy.
I'm not sure "russians ALSO have a variant of one of most popular dish in the world and people like them for familiarity" is as good flex as you seem to think it is.
Actually, dumplings most likely spread to Poland along the shortest route during Mongol conquests.
shorturl.at/luAJZ
russia stands up to US imperialism with their own imperialism.
Also Iraq or South America is not a real face of US imperialism - it's trade, economy, dollar and culture. That means in Central Europe US could build its empire by simply being good guys and helping us to be free and democratic and selling us newest Hollywood productions.
russia has only military, nukes and hydrocarbons it can't build empire by being good guys except bribing the local elites, so the blackmail and force it is.
Being able to compare military imperialism of russia and economic imperialism of USA, I definitely prefer being willing periphery of US empire than coerced periphery of russian one.
It is fascinating you claim you are not pro-russian and talk about Snowden, who indeed committed a crime (even if justifiable and should be protected by whistleblower) and faces jail in US as a reason to praise russia, that allowed him to stay as long as he is useful tool for ru propaganda and you forgot how many dissidents run away to the west, US included and found shelter there or what happened to critics of russia that didn't flee like Anna Politkovskaya and many others
https://news.sky.com/story/the-putin-critics-who-have-been-assassinated-10369350#
You missed the point talking about "average standard" - if you have western money and go to places where everything is cheap, you will live comfortably. But would you prefer to be born, raised and educated in Thailand with Thailand salary over Sweden or Norway?
Last summer I went for vacation in Tunisia and I was very comfortable. I wouldn't be so comfortable, if I was paid what locals were paid.
The same with your friends who studied in Moscow. I don't think their monthly budget was similar to average russian student. And students, generally, like every place they went, because they had fun there.
Your point about toilets cannot be serious. Asians have choice between european style and squat toilet and choose the one they believe is healthier.
russians without indoor toilet choose the outside toilet not because they think it is healthier but because it is.
If they believed outside toilets are better, they wouldn't be stealing toilets from Ukraine.
Russia and US imperialism... Well, a complex subject.
Because on the one hand, I am reminded of Snyder explaining the Americans: "we think little of Russia, but Russia thinks a lot of us". In the sense: Russia builds its sense of value on the image of a superpower, a global counterweight to the US. Which is ridiculous, in fact, but deeply imprinted.
I must admit that I used to think that a more even distribution of 'imperial power' in the world, a decentralisation of the 'world police' would be a good thing, because no one currently controls the 'world policeman'. But this war in Ukraine has made me realise that the most "world policemen" want to become mafiosi and criminals. Whatever I may say badly about the US, I would have to say a lot more badly about its competitors to control the world.
PS.
I sometimes watch Russian propaganda films. And the film with the story of the father who volunteers to go to the front because they treat him badly in the company, and for the money his daughter gets an iphone thanks to that, I found particularly sad....
"Whatever I may say badly about the US, I would have to say a lot more badly about its competitors to control the world."
Fully agree. And this is because whatever the US do sooner or later will come under scrutiny of media, watchdogs, US authorities itself or - in the worst case - historians. Cannot say the same about Russia or China.
Does the fact that two-thirds of rural households in Russia have no access to indoor toilets not convince you that it is not a great place to live?
Thailand (which is comparable to Russia in terms of median wealth per adult) at least has a warm climate and lots of nice beaches. That makes a lot of difference.
"For my part, I certainly like the fact that they hosted Snowned."
They're not hosting him, they're keeping him as a pet to produce soft pro-Russian propaganda as required. He's in a hopeless situation now. He's a Russian citizen, liable to military draft. Either he does what he's told, or it's "in vece del fandango una marcia per il fango".
Wow!! The Italian saying challenges my ignorance.
“ Instead of the fandango a march for the mud."
Fandango is “a Spanish or Spanish-American dance in triple time that is usually performed by a man and a woman to the accompaniment of guitar and castanets” (Merriam-Webster-Webster)
Snowden is, indeed, in a very compromised situation.
I don’t know what the Russians are doing with him. I just figure, if I were them (which I am glad I am not), I’d be working to defeat any end-to-end encryption Snowden maintains on his electronic communications, by taking over his phone (with Pegasus) and in whatever other way.
I don’t think he can say, he will only submit to US law when US law becomes more fair. US law needs to adapt, evolve, and grow fairer, but, that has to come after a resolution, whatever the resolution of things might be.
Personally, I am less than thrilled over the U.S. maintaining these huge troves of secret information, for example in databases. Some of those secrets, we all really need to know about.
I’m old enough to remember when the Pentagon Papers came out. It’s supposed to have been a hugely important development; but, it seems like since that time, secrecy in the US government may have increased exponentially.
Data dumpers are supposed to be our heroes.
Meanwhile: While Snowden has been free to move about in Moscow, and has had a kid already, Reality Winner did some hard time.
Russia wouldn't organise an operation to let HER escape, would it.
As for Snowden, the only decent thing for him would be to shut up and not make statements about the war, NATO, US politics, freedom of the press, etc. He doesn't have the standing for it as a protege of a genocidal dictatorship.
I'm sure, if Reality Winner had tried to fly to Ecuador via Moscow, Russia would have gladly offered asylum.
I'm afraid Thailand is not a good example. This country is known for much higher sanitary standards and health care than other countries on similar development level. This is both effect and a cause of being very tourist oriented. I've learnt that when I was doing research on "which exotic place is safe to travel with a toddler".
Hmm, do the Scandinavians moving to Thailand live as typical Thais do? In the same areas, with the same development level, etc?
Or do they perhaps tend to live in very specific areas, which have a far higher quality of life standard, because they are used to servicing foreign tourists and retirees, who require a significantly better standard of life?
Furthermore, is Thailand really at a similar level as Russia? For example, according to Our World in Data, in Russia 89.39% of citizens have access to sanitation. In Thailand it's 99.97% That's quite a significant difference. So even according to your 'average standard' Russia is quite, quite far behind.
All of this is very helpful.
Thank you for it!
Good point: most of 'Pro-Russians' do not really know the object of their affection. It is however interesting what really pushes them into arms of Vladimir Vladimirovich: is it positive stereotype of Russia, or rather negative stereotype of the enemies of Russia, particularly US?
Those maimed by the positive stereotype usually end pathetically, like Gerard Depardieu (Zhora Depardeev) who moved to RF to waive French taxes, and now says that Mr. Putin is ivil after all, or continue pathetically, like Steven Seagal and few other individuals that you have mentioned in previous posts. But after all, positive stereotypes tend to die out faster then negative.
What is really worrying, negative feelings against US in the global South/3rd world will always drive new sympathizers towards Kremlin. I wonder how many readers you may find in India or English speaking African countries, but believe not too many. And I would not dare to think about Latinosphere, where Pope comes from (worthy topic for an another post, I hope). There is strong pro-Russian sentiment in Latin America, and I am afraid they do not care whether Russians live in dugouts or igloos, ride zhigulis or white bears, as what counts is that they stand against Estados Unidos.
Interesting post, Marco. Appreciating it.
It works both ways, in our part of Europe we tend to see US mainly as the "Liberator from the communists" and imperialist US is less visible for us.
But the problem with tankie mindset is, if "america bad" is your whole foreign policy take you end up liking states just because they are anti USA. Like russia, North Korea, Iran, taliban and ISIS.
And you make think this grouping is biased to make russia look bad, the same like every right wing politician is called hitler on the internet. The point is it isn't.
Recently there was report from Royal United Services Institute
https://t.co/gVu7s4ekAQ
if you like twitter and want brief rundown, you can try this thread
https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1641114102524268544
but to sum up in short: russians expected that to control Ukraine they need to liquidate or arrest leaders, punish others and get 8% of Ukrainians to cooperate and on controlled territories this is what they were doing. Torture chambers and equipment use there was too standardized to be individual initiative. It was planned.
West can't fathom such bestiality, so they ascribe such news as individual cruelty or pro-Ukrainian propaganda. Also they can't admit it, because if they admit it's true, they are responsible to do more.
And we spent entire childhood learning how such regimes operate when going to war and how russia was trying to control us and others. We were expecting such cruelty. And for that we were called hysterical russophobes.
It does work both ways.
At least during the height of the Cold War (or, Cold War I perhaps), US policy was of "Communism anywhere everywhere anyhow bad", and, "you end up liking states just because they are anti" Communism.
Thank you for the helpful links!!
From where I am (in US), voices of those in eastern Europe (or wherever you are, mtg) who object to Russian Imperialism may be harder to hear than some others.
Am hoping it is not "all Americans' fault" when people there do see things that way.
> voices of those in eastern Europe [...] may be harder to hear than some others
That has been my feeling too.
That is why, over the course of last year, I pretty much gave up on the "US left", or whatever of it I can experience via the Internet anyway. While I don't question their judgment or choices in standing up to the internal problems of the US, and still find that commendable, I have lost hope for any meaningful form of international solidarity on their part. And the latter, mind, has been a prerequisite to call oneself a leftist from the very beginnings of the movement.
The same, although to a varying degree, is unfortunately true also about the Western European left. I find it increasingly hard, for instance, to follow the insights of Yanis Varoufakis (OK, a honorary Westerner, but nevermind), given what a hopeless vatnik he has proven to be. As one of the common people, I tend to laugh at him rather than along with him nowadays (if you catch my drift).
"Vatnik"!! https://www.rbth.com/history/334704-vatnik-popular-clothing-ussr
Of Yanis Varoufakis, I would have to study.
The situation of Greece, with their economic meltdown, has been much concerning. Must look for updates on this, though, as have heard no news of Greece -- perhaps for years, now.
Our saying, "no news is good news," may not always hold true.
From what I have seen Varoufakis on Ukraine has opted for leadership in the EU by Finland or the Baltic States (as experts on the 'east'), which realistically translates into very pro-Ukrainian positions.
OK, I would stand corrected then. Good on him.
Nevertheless, DiEM25, where he has (used to have?) a lot of clout, will probably, following their position on Ukraine, remain laughing stock to me. A pity, really.
Varoufakis in his home environment behaves a bit differently, though.
https://freedomnews.org.uk/2023/03/10/russian-and-ukrainian-activists-silenced-at-mera25-event/
"we spent entire childhood learning how such regimes operate"
True, and it is full package again now. They commit atrocities, as Soviets did, and same as Soviets they pretend to act in the name of peace. There was congress of "Mouvement International Rusophile" (MIR) in Moscow two weeks ago. MIR is of course a reference to the Russian word meaning "peace". So - again, as Orwell put it - "war is peace".
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/16/italian-princess-conspiracy-theorists-and-steven-seagal-meet-russias-friends-overseas
And obviously it's a double entendre - in Russian it means also "the world". Be very afraid of Russians saying "all we want is mir".
Sorry to dust off this old discussion, but I wanted to add something. Perhaps my comparison with Thailand was too controversial, but surely it would be fair to judge Ukraine by the standards set out in this article. And wouldn't the conclusion be that "living in (pre-war) Ukraine is hell"?
"What is it that you particularly like about Ukraine? Ever been there? Planning to relocate? Do you drive a Ukrainian vehicle? Do you use a Ukrainian laptop or smartphone? Do you wear Ukrainian clothes? Is that an UkraineWatch on our wrist? When you binge TV series, do you watch Ukrflix on a Ukrainian TV set, sitting on a sofa made by the world famous furniture company, UKRKEA?"
Ukrainians are also very keen to get foreign passports, and similar things can be said about Ukrainian oligarchs and the resource curse (chernozem and coal in eastern Ukraine).
As for tap water: when I was in Lviv in the early 2000s, it wasn't a question of whether the tap water was drinkable (it obviously wasn't), but if it was available at all (which was from 6am to 9am and from 6pm to 9pm for most of the city's inhabitants). AFAIK the availability of water is better now, but it's still undrinkable, as your map shows.
And when I drove through Karpaty, the dirt roads leading to some popular destinations were only slightly better than the one in the picture, and I wouldn't be surprised if they looked very similar after heavy rains.
You say that Ukrainians "are improving their quality of life. It has already started". Where can we see this?
"Where can we see this?" - in the same Lviv, for instance. The difference between their early 2000's and the current state is amazing.
Can you elaborate on that? What is it that makes Lviv so much better than it used to be? I haven't been there for a long time, but what I've heard from Ukrainians is that countries like Slovakia and Poland have made enormous progress in terms of infrastructure and so on, while Ukraine has stayed where it was.
One particular example I've heard a lot about is roads. We have built hundreds of kilometres of motorways, while the only real motorway in Ukraine seems to be the 14 kilometres between Kyiv and Boryspil airport. https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%B2%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B3%D1%96%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C#%D0%90%D0%B2%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B3%D1%96%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%96_%D0%B2_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D1%96
Their progress is obviously not as huge as the EU members - but they definitely improved a lot. New airport terminal, new restaurants (full of local people! they can apply for a special card giving them a generous discount), old buildings restored to their original beauty (secession in Lviv is second only to Vienna!), etc. I believe once they get in EU, they will catch up, like we did 20 yrs ago.
In the last 20 years, Russia has also built new airport terminals (e.g. in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg) or completely renovated them (e.g. in Novosibirsk). Popular destinations such as St. Petersburg and Moscow certainly had better tourist infrastructure in 2021 than in 2001. I don't see much difference between Ukraine and Russia in this respect.
Considering that Russia's GDP was 2,5 times that of Ukraine, and you don't see much difference between them, isn't that food for thought?
GDP is completely irrelevant to whether a place is "hell" or not.
"Sure, we have undrinkable tap water and dirt roads, but we also have a low GDP, so it's perfectly fine!"
All I can say is that you either don't like to dine out or in some strange way you enjoy what Russia has to offer in this respect.