Upon arriving at our Moscow hotel at the outskirts of the capital of the USSR, I had been impressed and thoughtful of the many Asian-featured Russians I observed staying at the same residence.
How could these Korean-looking peoples be Russian?
Do they feel more or less Russian when visiting Moscow?
What of the Chinese- and Mongolian-looking folks? Are they integrated? Do they feel part of the same federation or state?
How about those Muslims from the various Soviet and Russian–Stans? Such as Dagestan? Or Turkmenistan?
Igor assured me, “From our perspective here (in Moscow) so close to Europe, we see ourselves as European. Many of the other Russians, including those in Siberia and Eastwards do not.”
Igor added, “As a matter of fact, we don’t really understand each other.”
Igor went so far as envisioning a rump Russia of sorts in his nation’s future, i.e. where the Western or European Russians split off into their own country.
I challenged Igor, “Certainly, you don’t imagine Russia peacefully giving up on its great gas- and oil reserves in the hinterland of its mammoth land empire, do you?”
Igor nodded but also countered, “In fact, this disillusionment might ultimately be possible because, in a nutshell, we all see the world so differently. That is, we in the West certainly think much differently than those in other corners of the territory of Russia.”
LAST NIGHT OUT IN MOSCOW
On the last two nights of my stay in Moscow, I ventured out into parts of the city on my own.
The first night I ran into some young people in their twenties. They were university students.
One pretty young women said she had studied fashion design and would love to leave Russian and to study fashion while working in Italy. Some of the other students had similar dreams.
None of them seemed to be satisfied with the system and were ready to move West. That is, unless the Western investors and capitalists (and democrats) would decide to move East.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
