Russia can be quite a dangerous place sometimes, but I never think about it.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Russia is tough. The history, the land, the people - brutal.
The way I understand it, the Russians are sort of a combination of evil and incompetence... sort of like the Post Office with tanks.
I think the soft underbelly of Russia is - what's driving their ability to be aggressive is their energy. If you take the energy out of their economy, Russia is not so strong.
Stalin's policies pushed the world into the Cold War. Putin has the potential to be equally as dangerous.
The great drama of Russian history has been between its state and society. Put simply, Russia has always had too much state and not enough society.
Russia itself is an extremely complex country, and sometimes I feel like all of that comes back to haunt me. I can see why so many Russian writers were so tortured.
Much that we read of Russia is imagination and desire only.
I don't feel any connection to Russia.
From the country with limited hope to grow your own business and express your own personality, Russia has become the land of significant opportunity.
Of course, I know everything that happens in Russia. But even at the most dangerous moment or the most negative moment now, it's still 10 times better than what it was in the communist state.