I'm Russian – ask me a question. Be it about Russia or a personal one.

classic troll ^^^

Those who wished to do so were no better than Bolsheviks. They were very alike to what we've seen in 90s: oligarchs that wanted to convert their financial power into political one and for whom the Tsar as a supreme sovereign was an obstacle.
As i see it, Nikolas II's main faulty was his upbringing. He was the first Russian Tsar that had no connection with his people. He was raised in the remote palace of Gatchina, to where his father Alexander III retreated for security after Alexander II was murdered.

Even more than some foreign assets, the fact that Lenin granted independence to Finland in just few days after the October Revolution. Only logical explanation to such amazing speed of decision making is that there was an agreement beforehand.

ISIS sure started as a fake. But it doesn't mean it couldn't reborn into real threat.

Duh. And well-known one at that.

We make both a broth from bones and a vegetarian staravertsya recepie,
never tried mayonnaise but will)

Hopefully he is in power as long as the majority would like.

And considering the mob that call themselves leaders,
he doesn't seem to be doing all that bad, that is plainly evident
regardless of the shill.

I saw them.
You are SO hot!!!
I actually didn't expect that.

Well, thanks.

Partly because of this thread and partly because of some others I've been in, I'm now writing a series of short articles on the structure of power in Russia. For now there's three articles planned. Here's the first one:

Legitimacy a la Russe
- or “why Russian ruler can’t abdicate as easily?”

From the times immemorial (namely – at least since Ivan IV “the Terrible” – or, more precisely – “the Redoubtable” if you correctly translate his nickname) all the power in Russia was in the hands of supreme sovereign. Unlike European feudalism, there were no “inalienable rights” of feudals or of the Church: all the people of the realm were essentially equal before him. If some lord fell into disgrace, he was often stripped of his titles with a wave of a hand regardless of how much power he commanded. The other side of the coin was that every commoner could speak directly to the Tsar...
Read the rest here: [link to klou.tt]

BTW, I coincidentally stumbled upon statistics that support my point here: [link to colonelcassad.livejournal.com]

How many litres of pure alcohol was bought per person since 2000: [link to f5.s.qip.ru] (note that it's an average)
And here's the structure of sales (in 10 000 000 of litres): [link to f5.s.qip.ru] (yellow - beer; purple - champaign, green - wine; red - cognac; gray - vodka).

Last Edited by Tamonten on 08/07/2015 06:17 AM

what russians think of israel??

also how you see israeli russians?
(22% of israeli population are from USSR)

including me
my parents came here in 1990 after USSR broke
i was raised on russian values and culture
watch cheburshaka in tv and talking russian at home


how you see us in israel(like i said we make 22% of israel)

"Tam na chetvert' byvshiy nash narod", huh? :)

You can imagine from me quoting Solovyov in my signature that I have no negative emotions towards Jews. I have some Jewish friends (though, with Russian citizenship) and even one relative (mother's uncle, if I'm not mistaken) that married Jewish woman and moved to Israel (he died in several years though). I can't remember any of my friends saying that they had any problems here. Maybe except for finding Kosher food sometimes.

Well... I dare say, most of Russian population doesn't really care about Israel at all. It's just another state, not a big, but quite prosperous one in everyone's view.
There's some bitterness towards "former Russians" though. "They abandoned our country when we were troubled the most", but it is quite minor. The radical antisemites (or "anti-Zionists") like you can sometimes encounter here is a rarity.

Classical claims of this particular group includes classical "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", the role of ethnic Jews in Revolution and first Soviet government, and, of course, a typical envy towards wealthy Jews.
My own opinion on the matter of different Jewish conspiracies is that even if some group (be it bankers, Bolsheviks or some other group) plotted or performed some crime or otherwise caused someone harm, it's not right to call the plot "Jewish" even if all of them were Jews. It creates the false reverse logical connection, automatically making all Jews somehow a part to this deed.
It's alike to what happens to Islam now: the combination of words "Muslim Terrorists" is said so frequently, that the collective unconscious automatically reverses it into "Terrorist Muslims", painting all of the Islam black, though the fault lies in a meager part of them.

That's my justification, though I think that most of the Russian population shares my view, though unconsciously.

Also, here's a video you should watch if you didn't yet:

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

Last Edited by Tamonten on 08/07/2015 06:06 PM

how does it feel to live in the most American and free nation on earth at the present time? don't drop the ball Russians, America is dead with treason now, the world needs a freedom leader, run with it

Excellent content)))

Russia is not America, never was.

But Russia again, not the Soviet Union,

Like a breath of fresh air)

Well, yeah. We are following our own path.
But, yes - Americans and Russians are both fundamentally human, so, if you are creating humane and just society, there ought to be some similarities.

Using Christian terms, modern US has fallen into a sin of Pride: "we are the very best, we are unique, we are indispensable". It started with projecting their power across the globe which was of no concern to the people inside US, but then, after feeling the taste of power, US government started to use same tactics against their own citizens.
Actually, what American citizens are starting to feel from their government for the last decade or so - is exactly the same feeling most of the globe's inhabitants were experiencing for at the very least 30 years now.

Thanks OP, for a very interesting thread, and very insightful remarks.

5 stars.

I studied in Russia back in the nineties and want to go back there again. Best years of my life spent there.

briefly checked 2 pages
nice answers
not a shill ;)


P.S. Hello from Khimki

Have you read any Dostoevsky? If so for the parts that don't translate well into English would they translate well into other languages?

How long does it take you to field strip a ak-47?

You'd be amazed if you'd come to Russia now. Many things changed, most of them - for the best.
For starters, it's much better with the public order now and with overall quality of life.

My regards from the village near Sholkovo. :)

Well... not really. They tried to force me in the final years of school, but failed miserably. I've read several scenes of "Crime and punishment" though and know the plot of several of his novels.

Rather than the parts that don't translate, there are two aspects which are unavoidable in every fictional translation (as opposed to scientific one):
1. Cultural differences.
2. Artistic adaptation.

First one is quite simple: if we are talking about "Crime and punishment" as an example than even for me it was difficult in school to perceive the atmosphere of 19th century St. Petersburg with it's heavy atmosphere and problems. It requires either heavy commenting or fundamental knowledge of this period and geographical peculiarities of the region.
But the really important thing here is the second aspect. When translator adapt the novel to another language, his main priority if always to make the text readable and, preferably, enjoyable. Which with classical Russian literature is not always the case with the original one. Dostoyevskiy's novels are a very heavy depressive reading.

Actually, in my opinion the secret of the unusual popularity of "heavy literature" authors like Dostoyevskiy and Leo Tolstoy outside of Russia lies in the talent of translators. I even envy those who've read those books in translation a bit, because it allowed them to enjoy the plot development without diving into Dostoyevskiy's schizophrenia and Tolstoy's excessively heavy style.
IMO, the true masters of Russian literature are Pushkin, Gogol and Bulgakov. Their books definitely lose more in translation than they gain.

Haven't got a clue.
But I can provide you with a link: [link to klou.tt]

I was not military trained for a number of reasons:
I haven't had a primary military training in school.
My college haven't had a military education too.
And, well, I'm "partially fit" for military service - meaning that I will be summoned only in the case of declared war.

BTW, even if I didn't receive the training, for my major (Oriental history) and minors (Japanese and English languages) the usual military profession is "military interpreter". So in the unlikeable case of big declared war I will be probably helping in interrogations or something.

Last Edited by Tamonten on 08/11/2015 03:54 AM

Have you ever been to Goa?

Hm, no.

I've been (in chronological order) to:
Seychelles, Canarias, Britain (twice, both times to different summer schools), Finland, Tunis, Cyprus (7 times at all), Thailand and Japan. All except for the last 3 countries - during 90s, making my memories quite vague.

Bump, because I'd like to know more about Russia. :)

Well, then ask me a question. :)
It's difficult to come up with some random facts...

For now, I post a video as one such random fact:

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

A part of "Day of Russia" concert on June 12th.
"Polovitzian dances" - one of the songs strongly associated with Russia. It's from Borodin's opera "Prince Igor".
Fun fact is that choosing Ossetian singer to perform it was not some coincidence. It's a song of Polovitzian (nomad) captives - and from the lyrics it's quite clear that they are not from central Rus, but from some mountain region. But still the song is among the best representing Russian musical tradition.

Is it true that many people park in the middle of the street and drive on sidewalks in Moscow? This is what I've seen on the youtube.