Seems to me Russians were miserable the whole time the communists took over in 1917. Stalin was a madman who made Gorbachev look like a saint. Those poor people were brainwashed and treated like crap for over 70 years.
Yep, and lots of them weren't Russians, and didn't want to be part of the USSR anyway...
My brother in Michigan says they really don't get much news about Canada reported in their media, but they knew ALL ABOUT Rob Ford's antics.
The country would collapse anyway and fall apart anyway. Thanks to Gorbachev it was much less bloody than it could have been.
Yes, it must have been very difficult to have to lead a life of normal people and not privileged ones. Poor poor skaters...
They didn't leave because the conditions were bad, they left because they were finally allowed to leave. One of the kicks about being an athlete was being allowed to travel outside the USSR. With the KGB agent on tow, of course.
Good questions. Well, Australian geography was never taught in any US school curriculum I was exposed to. And no news about Brisbane ever came through. This was before the great flood of Queensland a few years ago -- that did come through in the news.
With a Russian men you don't need to prove anything to anyone, either you are strong or independent or smth. You just need to be a Woman, with a capital W. That's sufficient enough in Russia. Unless an uber rich Russian fatso just want a trophy wife, but that's completely different story, it's international phenomenal. (
Some Americans don't even know the names of cities/states in their own country.
Long ago I read a true story in a magazine or newspaper about a woman speaking of her son who had applied for admission to a university. My memory is sketchy on this, but I do remember that her son was born in Santa Clara (California) and went to high school in New Mexico. Someone at the other end assumed that he was a foreign student.
Arizona (I live here) has wildfires every year, so no surprise they remembered that.
Damn. Someone should tell the whole world because we are all under the delusion Moscow and St. Petersburg are Russia.
How devastating.
They are generally don't like them pussies.
I hardly think so. The cliches any given societies has and buys into reflect stereotypes and norms, which in turn reflect the political, ideological and economic organization of those societies.
How devastating.
In other words, don't assert your personhood or autonomy as a woman. Stick to the roles and behaviours that satisfy the meaning of Woman, regardless of whether they are limiting, oppressive, or downright unpleasant. And regardless of whether the Women actually decide what roles they want to assume and are allowed to behave/act in ways that suit them.
It was like that for middle-class suburban women in North America after WWII, in the 50s and 60s. To sum up the situation simply without going into it in too much detail, I'll just say that writer a who wrote about women's lives diagnosed them as having "a problem with no name" and valium was the commonly prescribed as the remedy for that affliction.
Then along came the 70s, and the second wave of feminism, and women's rights and choices were slowly extended. Things are by no means perfect here when it comes to women's equality, but it's certainly better than the 50s and 60s in many ways.
They won't listen. They don't quite see that women would get criticised if they didn't have a job.
RIP
Yes, and then the glorious nineties came and everyone was treated wonderfully and became happy and was not fed any propaganda whatsoever.
Honestly, it often feels like foreigners can't grasp the first thing about Russia and end up resorting to clichés 
I have to STRONGLY disagree with you. But don't have much time to show examples. There is a strong emphasis now in Russian society on "classic family and values". Government provide a "child bearing/mother's fund" which used to be close to $10,000 USD before rate fell. Many talk-shows on main TV channels talk about "Woman's primary function in life is to be Mother and Wife". Big Time Show and business stars (females) talk about their careers but when asked what is their biggest accomplishment in life, compelled to say "Wife and Mother".
..... Except! it is true that in a Free Market Economy (if you can call it in Russia as such) more women had an opportunity to start their own businesses, or to advance professionally because of huge shortage of qualified professionals. As much as Russian men were reluctant to higher a woman over a man for a high position, if the woman could do the job better, the business owners simply COULD NOT afford not to higher the best.
