Why is Russia like it is?

[DaveReading]

I just listened to this first part of a 4 part series on the history of Russia by Misha Glenny on Radio 4 which may be of interest.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001gx4h

Sound like it will be worth a listen.

Glenny is the author of a number of books, including "McMafia" on which the BBC drama of the same name was (very loosely) based. The series was no patch on the book, which is very scary indeed.

[briansnail]

Could listen to this guy for ever.Thanks for the post.Was watching economic shock and Putin. Realised that free markets were so sudden and a shock that Putin was seen as a saviour as Russians struggled with the economy even though they had democracy.
He reversed everything and is now seen as a evil dictator sending young and old Russians to their deaths in his invasion of Ukraine.
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I ride Brompton and a 100% British Vintage

[Sweep]

Has anyone been trudging through the marathon that is Adam Curtis' seemingly endless series of video montages of the recent history of post-Soviet Russia and its relationship with the other members of the erstwhile Soviet union? Apart from the slightly unattractive fact that they have no plot, no dialogue, no easily identifiable theme and little humour other than ironic... they've all been really interesting so far.
They all available on BBC's iPlayer.

thanks again for this simon - am watching first episode.
But before that watched his "the century of the self" - brilliant - made 20 years ago but reminds one of/explains so much in brit political history and society (plus others abroad of course) and also, though it predates, the horrors of so much social media and associated posturing - not this nice place of course

[simonineaston]

I was reminded recently of what Winston Churchill said back in 1939.

I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.

Nothing much changes...

[slowster]

For those who might be interested, the BBC's Steve Rosenberg has started to post his daily video with snippets of that day's reporting in the main Russian newspapers on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@BBCSteveR/videos. Previously he only posted them on Xitter. His Youtube channel includes other material, such as a running series of short videos consisting of his chats with Valentina in his local newspaper kiosk in Moscow.

Another source of insight into Russia is the weekly podcast by Mark Galeotti, 'In Moscow's Shadows' - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i ... 1510124746. This one, for example, is on the role of corruption in the Russian regime - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i ... 0654563040.

[slowster]

I think the article below sums up what Russia is like.

https://theins.press/en/confession/288075

(Regarding the credibility of the article, some information is provided about The Insider and its journalists here - https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-insi ... edibility/)

[Milfred Cubicle]

One of my life's regrests is not getting on a school trip to Communist Russia. I had a very 'red' teacher who proposed a trip. He'd travelled extensively in Russia, and told us not to believe the western media portrayal.
So we decided rather than the usual annual exchange trip to France, we'd save for two years instead and have an epic trip. We took a vote. School trip to
A. Communist Russia
B. Disneyland.

Of course...B was the winner. And the annoying bit, when it came to coughing uo the deposits, nobody bothered.

[Ferrij]

I did have the “pleasure” of visiting in the mid 70’s as a kid and remember it as a god awful place where people were poor and very repressed. Kids begging for sweets etc which they were unable to get other from tourists, citizens waiting in lengthy queues which tourists were escorted past them to the front. The country was grey and bleak in march and people living there had a hard life. In a sense it’s hardly surprising they found liberation a challenge and act the way they do. I guess not all are bad people though

[Sweep]

One of my life's regrests is not getting on a school trip to Communist Russia. I had a very 'red' teacher who proposed a trip. He'd travelled extensively in Russia, and told us not to believe the western media portrayal.
So we decided rather than the usual annual exchange trip to France, we'd save for two years instead and have an epic trip. We took a vote. School trip to
A. Communist Russia
B. Disneyland.

Of course...B was the winner. And the annoying bit, when it came to coughing uo the deposits, nobody bothered.

mm - did your teacher have a somewhat disney view of the place? As a liberal leftie I went to the soviet union on the highly regulated standard Intourist trip. Had few illusions about the place or its working. Also travelled independently in communist eastern europe a fair bit - including an episode outside the Nova Hutta steelworks where I was marched off to the guardhouse while the guards passed my camera around.

[Snoopy]

One just has to look back at Russian history, be it under the Romanov Dynasty, and the Communist period that followed, life has always been considered cheap by the Russian state. Following WW2,with conservative losses of 20 million, Russian citizens have always followed the 'party line'. Its people have never been able to try 'democracy' in any form, albeit for a very short period under Yeltsin. Once gaining power, Putin soon dismantled the Polit Bureau, which had, by and large, ceased to exist under the fall of communism. The Russian Parliament is now just a rubber stamping exercise, with no-one daring to stand up and be counted. Is not the USA under Trump following a similar line, albeit for personal gain? I wonder what the journalist, the late Alistair Cook, would say in his Letter from America? The next 5 years are going to be interesting, and will keep historians busy for years to come.

[Sweep]

///The next 5 years are going to be interesting, and will keep historians busy for years to come.

If we survive for years to come between those two nutjobs.

[Milfred Cubicle]

That may be the case. I think in his case he was saying that western media at that time completely misrepresented Russia, specifically its people. I guess this was the Reagan era; russians were often portrayed as grey, soulless and 'hard' people. His experience was one of their great hospitality and good humour.

Having said that, as a budding leftie myself, he also once took us on a 'field trip' to see the Labour 'battle bus' in our town. He pointed out a fresh-faced young student who he said with assurance 'will be the next Labour Prime Minister'. Yep..a young Tony Blair! Looking at it that way, you may be right in him having a Disney perspective!