Q1: Is Russia a better place to live than the USA?
—(Please read below article first. I really love #8 — LESS FAGOTRY!! hahaha!)
Q2: Is there any country that is better to live than the USA?
[Note: Define “better” as you see fit; prettier, LESS diverse, less warlike government, etc.]
============================================ =
Me?
Q1: I’m not sure Russia is better. But, easily just as good.
Q2: Yes. Hallstatt, Austria — Manarola, Italy — Some Island, Somewhere — Montreal — Patagonia
================================================ =
10 Ways Life in Russia Is Better Than in America
For one thing its cities are more technologically advanced. Yes really, they are.
It has now been exactly a year since I returned to Russia.
One of the questions I get asked the most from Russians and foreigners alike is whether I enjoy living here, or whether I am disappointed. My answer is that it fell within my “range of expectations”. I like to think that this is a function of my perception of Russia prior to 2017 having been reasonably accurate, and considering I was blogging as “Da Russophile” on Russia matters until 2014, that’s pretty much an accolade
. In my experience, the typical response of visiting foreigners and expats to life in Russia is one of pleasant surprise, no wonder since Russia might as well be “Equatorial Guinea with hackers” so far as the Western media today is concerned. However, I banally didn’t have anything to be particularly surprised about, pleasantly or otherwise.
First, the good points – where Russia performs better than the United States.
Train station in Saint-Petersburg.
1. Everything’s So Cheap
I don’t have the foggiest how Moscow ever acquired its reputation as one of the world’s most expensive cities. Probably idiots and Intellectuals Yet Idiots dumb enough to buy the $5 bottled water at Sheremetyevo Airport before taking one of the shady, overpriced Caucasian gypsy cabs down to their five star hotels in central Moscow.
In reality, food, rent, utilities, property, hotels, travel, restaurants, museums, transport, healthcare, and education are all far cheaper than in major cities in the United States.
The basic staples – carbs, meat, eggs, vegetables, seafood, most alcohol – are all approximately twice cheaper. Boneless, skinless cuts of turkey are less than 300 rubles ($5)/kg at my local market, which is run by Armenians. Wild salmon, at 500 rubles ($9)/kg are actually cheaper than farmed salmon from Norway, though in another of Russia’s strange inversions, farmed salmon is more prestigious, unlike in the West. It is actually easier to list expensive exceptions. Vodka is still somewhat cheaper than in the United States, but only by a factor of perhaps 1.5x, instead of more like 10x some fifteen years ago; this is a good thing.
The Big Mac, a classic item international price comparisons, costs 130 rubles in the Moscow suburbs, which is twice cheaper than in Britain and the USA. A similar relationship holds as you move to more upscale restaurants, at least after you adjust for the requirement to pay tips in the USA.
For obvious reasons, anything that’s imported is similar to US/EU prices. To the extent this affects me, that’s only Tabasco sauce and some Indian spices. Prices are also comparable for domestically produced Russian wines, whose quality has been improving by leaps and bounds even in the one year that I’ve been here, helped along by sanctions and my personal demand. Probably the single item that I miss most due to the sanctions is feta cheese; there is an East European equivalent called brynza, but it’s not really comparable. Otherwise, local Russian producers have developed competitive alternatives to many popular West European cheeses, at least to the extent that I, a non-connoisseur, am unable to distinguish them from European imports (the local blue-veined cheeses I have found to be especially impressive). Unless you really can’t do without your little Gorgonzola and your little Gruyère and your particular brand of prosciutto, you should be just fine here.
Property and rent are both approximately thrice cheaper in Moscow than in comparable locales in London. However, in one of the few positive aspects of the post-Soviet privatizations, almost 90% of Russians own their own homes.
Most utilities are so cheap that they might as well be free. In the past year, I paid $8 (500R) per month for 72Mbps Internet versus $80 for 15Mbps downloads and 5Mbps uploads with Comcast in California, and $45 for 10Mbps downloads and 0.5Mbps (!) uploads in London. Similar numbers with mobile plans, and what’s better, unlike in the United States, there are no multi-year contracts which are next to impossible to get out of. In both cases, Russian prices are held down by vigorous competition, whereas in the United States many ISPs have de facto monopolies over any particular region. This might surprise some people, but much of Russia’s information infrastructure is more modern than in the USA – for instance, one click money transfers with national state-owned banking giant Sberbank have long been standard, whereas I received an email from Wells Fargo announcing this as a new functionality just a few months ago.
Road and rail transport is approximately 5x cheaper. A 100km rail journey from Moscow to Kolomna or Volokolamsk on an elektrichka costs no more than $5 (300R); in the UK, a similar journey from London to Portsmouth will cost at least £25. I paid about $75 for a high speed Sapsan to go from Moscow to Saint-Petersburg, though I could have gotten there for as cheap as $25 on platskart shared accommodation. In contrast, my American round-trip cost me $700 with Amtrak– and I sat the entire route (not something I would have the stamina for nowadays). In Saint-Petersburg, there were several three star hotels in the center offering accommodations for as low as $50 a night; a similar location in Washington D.C. would have set me back by at least $200 a night.
It’s not exactly a secret that the astronomical cost of American healthcare and higher education is the stuff of horror stories in Europe, and Russia is no exception. $4,500 endoscopies are very much an #OnlyInAmerica type of thing, even if you use private healthcare in Russia. One of my acquaintances did a one year Master’s program in International Relations at LSE last year, which cost $50,000; one year on a PhD program that you can do at one institution of the Academy of Sciences can cost $1,000, if not entirely free. Vets are also far cheaper. For instance, one of my acquaintances found a stray puppy several months ago, which required complex spinal work to fix her hind legs; this ended up costing an incredible $200.
The converse of all this is, of course, that Russian salaries are 4-5x lower than in the US. Adjusting for twice lower prices, the average Russian lives 2x poorer than the average American, and this gap is much larger for healthcare professionals and researchers. For example, while $10,000 per month is common for American anesthesiologists, his Russian equivalent would be lucky to take home $1,000.
On the other hand, this is paradise for anyone with a dollar-denominated income stream.
Rural field.
2. Better Food
One possible cause of the massive rise in American obesity in the past generation is that the nutrients to calories of American crops has plummeted due to commercialized agriculture and the infiltration of corn and soy into every conceivable category of foodstuff. Russia is only at the start of this process, so the food you can buy at the local markets here tends to be organic and grass fed by default – and without the associated markup that you get in the West.
Speaking of the local markets, although it has much declined relative to the 1990s and the Soviet period, every so often you still meet a trader willing to barter and haggle. Although time-consuming, I would argue that it is also more “authentic” to the human experience; bargaining at local markets has long been an integral part of post-agricultural life, and perhaps many moderns miss it, as attested to by the inclusion of this mechanism in almost every video game RPG.
Apart from being healthier, many common foods are simply “better” than their equivalents in the West. Perhaps the two most striking examples are cucumbers and watermelons. The most common (and cheapest) cucumbers are small, prickly things, which are far less watery than the long, smooth ones you will encounter in a standard American or British supermarket. The watermelons of the Caspian region are bigger and far sweeter than the slurpy spheres that are standard in the West.
Russian cuisine doesn’t have a reputation for being exactly healthy. But it depends on what parts of it you adopt, really. Like the French, there is a culture of eating animals “from head to tail” in Russia, so it is easy to find organ meats and bones for making broth at the markets. I would also note the popularity of aspics here, which is known as kholodets; it is the paleo/ketogenic to the max. In my opinion, Russia also has some of the world’s best soups – my personal favorite is sorrel soup. All this shows up in waistlines – there are almost no obese young women.
In some categories, the variety on offer is substandard to what you can expect in the West – cheeses, spices, and wines are the obvious ones. In others, it is better – pickles come to mind, in both variety and quality (pickles in Russia are genuinely fermented, instead of being bathed in vinegar). Even though I live in a “prole” area of Moscow, my local tea shop has about thirty sorts of Chinese teas on sale, some of them remarkably rare, but all of them at rather reasonable prices. In London, you’d probably have to go to something like the venerable Algerian Coffee Store to find a similar Chinese tea collection.
Knyazich restaurant, Kolomna.
3. Nicer Service
Yes, you read that right. Shop assistants and waiters now tend to be at least as, if not more, courteous than their equivalents in the United States. Contra Matt Forney’s experience in Eastern Europe, I find that the stereotype of sullen sovok service is about as outdated as the hammer and sickle. Nor does this just apply to Moscow. Russia’s regional cities have also been rediscovering that the stale Soviet stolovaya had been preceded by service a la russe in Tsarist times.
One partial and amusing exception: Georgian restaurants, especially those with a long pedigree for supposed “excellence.” My theory is that in the USSR, Georgian cuisine was considered to be the most exotic cuisine accessible, at least to people outside the high nomenklatura, so those establishments continued to be patronized by Soviet people, with their less demanding requirements. Since people with the Soviet mentality primarily went to restaurants to network and to show off how rich they are, as opposed to just having a good time, you tend to get much less enjoyment for the ruble at those places.
The variety of restaurants one can choose from is almost as great as in the great Western metropolises. You don’t have near the same variety in Chinese and especially Indian restaurants that countries with huge diasporas from those two countries can boast, but those are substituted for by Central Asian and Caucasian cuisine. I am not a fan of Caucasian cuisine: Georgian cuisine is too pretentious, while Dagestani/Chechen cuisine is possibly the most primitive on the planet – their signature dish is dough and meat boiled in water, which I suppose is “honest” but hardly something to go out of your way for. However, I have gained considerable respect for Uzbek food (the Uryuk chain is recommended).
However, the center of Moscow has been crafted into an SWPL paradise, so there is no shortage of cuisines from American-style burger joints with craft beers and lettuce leaf burgers (no, really) to Vietnamese pho bars (I especially like the Viet Cafe chain).
Finally, unlike most of Europe – Moscow is a 24/7 city, like America. Most supermarkets and restaurants are open late into the night, or 24/7. Life here is convenient. Only major restriction: Shops can’t sell booze past 11pm.
Moscow Metro in 2033.
4. Public Transport
Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, and all the cities with around one million people have well-developed metro systems. Contrast this with the US, where the concept of “public transport” – at least outside the north-eastern seaboard, the Bay Area, and Seattle – is pretty much non-existent.
In fairness, the Moscow Metro closes at 1am (Saint-Petersburg at 12pm), whereas the New York subway works 24 hours a day – if with frequent stoppages. However, Moscow’s reputation for having the most aesthetic metro system in the world is well-deserved, even though I have a soft spot for Chicago’s old-style wooden platforms and Washington D.C.’s bunker-like concrete grottoes.
One problem in the old days was that Moscow’s metro stations were far apart, especially once you head out into the suburbs. But this is no longer relevant with the rise of the ride-sharing revolution. It is now trivial to get an Uber (or more frequently a Yandex Taxi) ride on the cheap to any part of Moscow.
“Afroshop” near my other ghetto apartment. Still an exception, not the rule. But for how long?
5. Still Recognizably European
Many Russians complain about the flood of Central Asian Gastarbeiters. However, even Moscow – which remains about 85% Slavic, even adjusting for unofficial residents – feels like a veritable Whitopia after spending time in Latino-majority California and Londonistan. Moreover, Uzbeks and Tajiks are far preferable to many minorities in the West, such as US Blacks with their absurd crime rates, or the sea of black niqabs that you encounter in many areas of London.
Meanwhile, vast swathes of provincial Russia – including its central demographic heartlands – are as uniformly Slavic as the countries of Visegrad Europe. Even if they have their own, rather serious problems, such as poverty, corruption, and alcoholism. If you happen to value the quality of being amongst one’s own, then Russia does better than virtually any other white country outside Poland, Czechia, and the Baltics. Moscow is the last and only megacity in the world where Europeans remain a solid majority.
I don’t know if this will last. All major political factions in 1960′s Germany also expected their Gastarbeiters to eventually go home – didn’t work out like that. And there is as yet demographically tiny but nonetheless ideologically distinct and high IQ cluster of pro-”tolerance” and sundry “anti-racist” characters shilling for open borders. And they have a ready audience amongst Moscow’s blue-haired yuppies. I give it 15 years.
Lake by our dacha.
6. The Outdoors
About 50% of Muscovites own a dacha outside the city, including people of modest means. This is much rarer in the United States and Western Europe, where only the upper-middle class has such opportunities.
Personally I don’t have much interest in this – the Internet is too slow, and there are too many biting insects – but people less autistic than myself will likely appreciate this.
Typical Moscow sleeper suburb.
7. Freedoms
This might surprise people who associate Russia with reams of red tape, but while there’s no shortage of that, there are also any number of domains with few or no regulations.
Getting almost any drug is a simple matter of going down to the pharmacy and checking up if they have it in stock; if not, they can usually order it. While you need doctor’s prescriptions for some of the most elementary drugs in the United States, in Russia that is the exception, not the rule. They are also typically generic and cost much less than their equivalents in the United States, though there are far more counterfeits. Ergo for contact lenses – you just state your specifications and they order them; no eye tests required. Setting up a trading account is also much easier. Instead of filling out countless forms promising that yes, you do indeed have 5 years intimate experience with collateralized debt obligations, in Russia it’s pay to play. If you can bring money to the table, you’re good to go.
In effect, with the notable exception of gun rights, there is much less of the “nanny state” and more of what American conservatives call “personal responsibility” in Russia.
Russia is one of the world’s great pirate havens. No Internet provider is ever going to send you angry cease and desist letters for torrenting Game of Thrones. It is theoretically possible, but you can count the number of such cases on the fingers of your hand. (However, business-scale piracy has been cracked down upon and is much less prevalent than it was back in 2010). It is therefore no surprise that the world’s largest depositories of pirated books and scientific articles are Russian enterprises. The only things that most Russians don’t massively pirate is video games. Steam prices are 3-4x lower in the Eurasia region, making GabeN’s offerings even more of a cornucopia.
This freewheeling world, a legacy of the 1990s – a heaven for the intelligent and far-sighted, a potential hell for the duller and lower future time orientated (I have second-hand knowledge of some people who lost their apartments on currency speculation) – is being slowly but steadily constrained by more and more laws and regulations. The world is not long for the old Russia of limitless parking opportunities and playgrounds not yet despoiled by tomes of health and safety regulations. More worryingly, whereas the Russian Internet was genuinely free as little as half a decade ago, censorship on grounds of “extremism” is accelerating at an exponential pace. Even so, at least for now, many aspects of life are surprisingly freer and more accessible than in the putative “Free World.”
8. Less Faggotry
Did that trigger you, snowflake?
Nobody in Russia cares, LOL.
Even though I don’t particularly care for hardcore homophobia, I consider the right to call things and people you don’t like “gay” as one of the most important freedoms there are. Happened all the time at school, but since I graduated in 2006, liberal faggots have all but criminalized this. Russia remains free of this cultural totalitarianism; here, you can still call a spade a spade and a gender non-fluid helicopterkin a faggot (пидор) without any particular worries for your professional career and social status.
I don’t think this will last so enjoy (or suffer) it while you still can.
Zaryadye Park, Moscow.
9. Intellectual Ferment
Most of Russia is one large West Virginia so far as this goes. However, Moscow and to a lesser extent SPB are glaring and indeed cardinal exceptions.
Many new startups, including in exciting new fields like machine learning, quantified self, personal genomics. The city is buzzing with entrepreneurial energy.
Specific personal example: Back in the Bay Area, I liked involving myself in the futurist/transhumanist community. I can’t say that Moscow can compete with it, but it’s probably no worse than London in this respect, the foremost West European H+ cluster. There’s a LessWrong meetup group, a “techno-commercial” transhumanist group (Russia 2045), and an active community of radical life extension advocates, which overlaps into the cliodynamics community (the daughter of the guy who runs Kriorus, Russia’s Alcor, is also a cliodynamicist).
Even the nationalists are more interesting, more intellectual than their American or West European equivalents, as I observed in Saint-Petersburg. I suspect this is a function of Eastern Europe being less advanced on the path of Cultural Marxist rot, thanks to Communism effectively “freezing” social attitudes; the human capital hasn’t yet been fully monopolized by neoliberalism.txt. There is no real equivalent to the intellectual caliber of Sputnik and Pogrom in the United States.
As in Eastern Europe, my impression is that the historical recreation movement – perhaps as an implicit stand of white identity as any – is if anything stronger in Russia than in the United States.
Dmitry Chistoprudov: Cloudy Moscow 7.
10. More Technologically Advanced
On coming to the Bay Area, the technological heart of the United States, tech writer Alina Tolmacheva struggled to hide her disappointment: “No flying hoverboards, food isn’t delivered by drones, and parking fees are paid with coins, whereas in Moscow everyone had long since switched to mobile apps.”
This is somewhat tongue in cheek, but the general point stands.
As she further points out, monopolies dominate transport, banking, telephones, and the Internet. The Caltrain from San Francisco Airport to Mountain View takes 1.5 hours. The highest building is 12 storeys of concrete in the style of Le Corbusier. “Rent is paid with checks. It is necessary to take a piece of paper, fill in the details, and send it by mail. The owner then goes to a bank branch and cashes it out. Technology older than VHS and cassette players.” In Moscow, even aged grandmothers have been collecting rent money through mobile apps for years.
Contactless payments are not yet prevalent in Moscow, like they are in London. But this is a minor issue. On the other hand, the Moscow Metro has already had free WiFi for several years, which is now in the last stages of becoming integrated into the wider Moscow transport system, including buses and trams. This is hugely convenient, since many commuters spend around an hour traveling in the Metro on working days. Neither London, nor BART in the SF Bay Area, nor any other American underground system that I know of has gotten round to installing free WiFI.
Moscow is more developed as a “technopolis” than any other major city in the Anglosphere.
Addendum
If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy my comprehensive comparison of life in Russia, America and the United Kingdom that I wrote in 2011:http://akarlin.com/tag/national-comparisons/ .
Source: The Unz Review
======================================================== =
OTHER PRETTY PLACES TO LIVE
Hallstatt, Austria
Manarola, Italy
Some Island, Somewhere
Montreal
Patagonia
I can’t answer your first question as I haven’t been to Russia.
I reckon Switzerland would be good, though expensive. Also perhaps Croatia or Slovenia.
How difficult is it for non-Russian speakers to get by in Russia? It looks a tough language to learn.
I don’t live there either.
But, I wonder if Russia has a Dept of Education, Food and Dug Administration, dozens of spy agencies, … in other words, government goons ruling literally every aspect of a person’s life. I mean, around 18% of the US workforce works for federal/state/local government. One in five of your fellow Americans involved in your shit. Stunning.
That’s why I’m guessing Russia is at least as good as ‘murika.
Oh, and they don’t imprison their citizens at the rate found in the USA, which as a percentage of population is the highest in the world.
To be accurate, the US has 724 per 100,000 of population imprisoned where Russia has 581 per 100,000 of population in prison.
Please note the US has more than twice the population of Russia AND lots of kneegrows. With only 143 MILLION in population and few kneegrows in Russia, I would say their numbers are quite high for their demographics.
Spin. Spin. Spin.
To all Newbies, Lurkers, and Noobs …. my good friend BL is not a fan of Russia, and will always look at the negatives. He is the anti-Stucky.
Those are official numbers, just reporting the facts. You are interested in the facts……right?
You are free to debate the accuracy. But you won’t because THOSE are the facts.
Facts can be spun. Which you do nonstop. You have no credibility about anything pertaining Russia.
Like your Muslim BULLSHIT.
Russia has about a 12% Muslim population …. at that percentage virtually a disaster for every other host nation in the world. But, not Russia.
So, bite me. Spin that.
The UNZ Review is a Russian mouthpiece. Did you expect them to spin in any other direction Stucky?
BTW- 13% and growing to at least 16% in the next decade. And that will be a problem at the rate whites are dying there. Just a fact.
Note to noobs- Stucky believes any propaganda blathered over the interwebs by RT, Sputnik, UNZ Review etc. Facts are facts and propaganda is what it is.
Stucky, here’s Part 2: “10 Ways Life in America is Better Than in Russia.”
And bureaucratic red tape is one of them.
http://www.unz.com/akarlin/10-ways-usa-better-than-russia/
Thanks!!! I was wondering where part 2 was.
Part two is also GREAT!
BL said Unz is just a Russian mouthpiece. Wrong, again!
I wasn’t here trying to get people to move to Russia, lol. Too many folks still have a Soviet era view of Russia as a shithole … people like BL …. and Part I clearly shows it is not. While Part 2 clearly show it CAN be! lol
It’s always about balance. More often than not the answers lie between the two extremes. Again, thanks for posting it.
ONE HUNDRED… Kiss my frozen truck towing hinder!
I know you are busy, but had to let you know I’m back in the saddle again. Having reminded myself and my husband why one should NOT invite guests for the holidays, even though it is fun.
It is exhausting. And you have to keep your dirty laundry and weirdo friends hidden in the closet.
I was in Moscow a couple of years ago and very few people spoke English. It would be very difficult in Russia if you only spoke English. Is Russia a better place to live than the US? From what I experienced, no, and I was in some of the better areas of Russia. I will tell you this, the Russian people are tough and real, unlike the US which is soft and filled with social fantasies.
Curious, if you know, do the Russians still impose residency permits in their cities (at least the larger ones, I don’t know how it was in the small ones)?
I do not know
Yes, but not in the way you think.
In the old days, you needed a permit to live in the city.
These days, you need to have a place to live, which conveys the permit.
Subtle but vast difference.
In my younger days, I had a HOT, very attractive, Ukrainian girl friend.
I live in one of the worlds best kept secret countries: South Africa. For almost all of the above Russian reasons.
Our public transport is not as good but fuck that, most use their own transport. Driving cars where no one gives a fuck about emission cheats on the ECU. We still have cleaner air…
Our weather is about as perfect as it gets and we all, at minimum, speak the Queens English. Most speak at least 3 languages.
Our banking is state of the art, you can do everything banking-related online.
The whole place is a little anarchic, and for the most part you can pretty much do as you fucking well like – the cops are thin on the ground and courteous.
Our malls put most of the world’s malls to shame – so there.
Our food is still real food, not that shit served up in the US.
Most of us live in brick and mortar houses – no match sticks needed or double glazing/insulation needed.
YEAH YEAH I know – it’s a shit hole you say!!! Sure, it might a shit hole to you, only a better one than the one you’re currently living in.
I’m under the impression, from opinions I’ve read here and elsewhere, that these days it is dangerous to be a White Person in SA. For example, whites pretty much must live in guarded-gated communities.
Is that true?
Logically you know this ‘dangerous to be white’ thing to be untrue. There are millions of whites living in SA. Do all of them go out with 3 bodyguards in tow? No, nobody fucking does, or ever has, with the exception of politicos or some local (black!) movie stars.
Before ’94, obviously whites lived in their areas, and blacks in the ‘townships’ and ‘locations’ – apartheid remember. Since ’94 blacks have started to live where ever they wanted to, if they could afford to pay for the accommodation, rates, taxes etc. No whites were evicted, or harassed etc. Since then, the social, economic and race dynamics have obviously changed. Some areas became black, some mixed.
Ok, let’s face it, blacks are a kleptomanic lot. So a lot of previously white areas were fenced off and got access controls, to keep out the ‘have-nots’ from well, stealing. Electric fencing atop walls sorted that problem out for the most part. All pretty little picket fences a la USA Hollywood movie it is not, never was.
But here’s the thing see, in the intervening 25 years or so, since the end of apartheid, quite a number of blacks have done quite well for themselves, have acquired all the shit that goes with living like whites. You, know, 65″ TV’s, fancy cars, iphones and so on.
SO where do these wealthy blacks go to live? Guess where? In the fenced off previously all white areas. Why? To stop their long fingered brethren from stealing their newly acquired shit! Since ’94 SA had a mega building boom, esp. between 2000 and 2009/10. Tens of thousands of townhouse units in walled off complexes were built, to house all the upwardly mobile blacks moving out of the previously black townships. Small one bed, 2 bed, 3 bed units people could afford. These complexes are safe,secure, have swimming pools, ‘club houses’ etc. The same shit the whites have, still have. So this ‘whites only gated communities’ is sheer MSM rhetoric, lies and bullshit iow. If you’ve got the wherewithal, you can move where ever you fucking well want. In the complex I live in, (50 units) there are several well to do blacks, chinese, whites, singles, marrieds, old, young. Does it have a guard? Sure. But when I bought here it did not, nor did it require one.
I’m really swamped with shit today.
Had some time to scan through the comments.
Just decided to stop by to acknowledge your very nice response. Much appreciated … I learned stuff.
The big secret about SA is the agricultural implosion forthcoming just like Zimbabwe; and for the same reasons.
The genocide of white farmers in rural SA… fact or fiction?
My money is on the former.
You sold me on “thin women!” This aging cold warrior is agog at how the inversion in freedoms has occurred. I’ve traveled extensively the past decade, and each time returning back to the drudgery of NoCal, Texas or Florida made me miss the wilds of Indonesia, the simple joys of Riga, or the mega cities of the Near and Far East. When you add in the gynocentric castration of The West, I realize it is time for Captain “America,” to become Captain “.”
Your right about that, it’s time for you to drop the America portion of your name, dickless. Your a disgrace! You would sell out America for some skinny Russian babes? That’s called treason. Captain Dickless sounds like a more fitting moniker.
Better check that field for the bones of nazi soldiers before purchasing it.
10 Ways Life in Russia Is NOT Better Than in America:
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Have you ever posted something that wasn’t fully retarded? It’s a serious question.
[img
[/img]
I don’t believe it was a “serious question”, but I am willing to debate all 10 of your points if you want. Also, if you really believe the Bill of Rights has been so voided, why are you staying? I guarantee you & Stucky have not carefully looked at the Russian legal system. It would be an understatement to say emigrating there would be out of the frying pan and into the fire. Many things I’ve seen posted on TBP and elsewhere could result in imprisonent under The Criminal Code Of The Russian Federation Article 213, Hooliganism.
“you really believe the Bill of Rights has been so voided, why are you staying? ”
I have a long term contract with Jim Quinn regarding my services here on TBP. He refused to release me.
—————–
“Many things I’ve seen posted on TBP and elsewhere could result in imprisonent under The Criminal Code Of The Russian Federation Article 213, Hooliganism.,”
When we moved out of our house last year, I left too many trash bags along the sidewalk for too long. We got a NASTY letter from the township threatening large fines … and JAIL for damaging the environment.
Every new law enacted provides more fines and jail, on top of THOUSANDS which already exist.
American law jails more people for more reasons than any nation ever.
Open your eyes, you snowflake maroon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgOuvkW60xk
Magic words, mang. All kinds of mantras out there. Bill of rights – check’s in the mail…kiters flying kites.
Improvement↔degradation, lifetime (single) employment↔gigs, rootedness↔rolling stone\surfing…everything moves & the stuff that doesn’t, can’t, won’t moves too, but in place, is eroded by everything else that does. Get tied to a spot too long\long enough, for whatever reason\s, & the movement will carve a grand canyon in you.
The pearl-shaped world’s the oyster, or you are…well, some of both. But life is short, energy ebbs – or maybe never flows (cash is energy, too) – & bivalves are conservative creatures, or need to narrate the conservatism imposed, cogdis defense mech style. “This oyster bed here’s the most exceptional in the world!”
The best place\s are those that minimize the prospect of being dug up, pried open, your pearl stolen, & your flesh slurped. Those places move. It’s a game, revolving around prisoners dilemma, & that’s reality. Inefficient, convoluted, non-linear reality. Scal(lo)pers & gun moll(usk)s everywhere.
People, people who read people, themselves 1st & foremost, are the luckiest people, in the whirld…lol
Kudos to you, Herr Austrian, for recognizing that our inherent rights, enumerated in the Bill of Rights, are under fierce attack. Foolish and wicked men, under the influence of the truly evil ones who lurk in the shadows, may pass laws that attempt to cancel those rights. Despite all their vain efforts, the immutable laws of The Creator remain in effect.
Our rights have always been under attack, and always will be. We can be starved, beaten, imprisoned, or killed. None of that will make our rights nonexistent. The only real danger is when our enemies have educated us to believe what they want us to believe; when our vision of reality is what our enemies want us to see and believe.
You know damn well that not ONE of those things means a god damn thing to the worthless parasites and criminals that infest our local, state, and federal governments. And sadly, they don’t mean a god damn thing to about 75% (or more) of the population thanks to 12 years of government monopoly indoctrination at the gulag of day prisons passing as schools.
Hallelujah!! Br’er Rabbit has left the dark side and is joined the forces striving for individual liberty! Br’er Rabbit recognizes and celebrates the Bill of Rights. Alleluia, Alleluia.
Since Brother Rabbit is a highly intelligent, well schooled citizen, he most probably also recognizes the Central Government does not grant rights to citizens in the Bill of Rights, but only recognizes rights already existing. By simple logical analysis, one can deduce natural rights possessed inherently by any living being. Beings that self-aware and capable of reasoning naturally possess other rights.
I have lived both in Moscow and Miami. When checking into my apartment in upscale coconut grove Florida it was explained that if I went up the road into town and turned right it was a black no go area and highly dangerous with a likelihood of being shot. In Moscow I always felt very safe with a highly disciplined and visible police service. In terms of personal freedom Moscow won hands down in most bars in Florida I was asked for ID despite being over 40 it was explained to me that it was a legal requirement which it was not. Although I speak Russian a very high proportion of people also spoke English where as in Florida in many cases it was expected of me to speak Spanish. One glaring example is when I tried to contact a girlfriend on Miami airport customer service speakers the employee did not have a full grasp of English despite being in a customer service position at an American airport. Finally if you are expensively dressed in Moscow you are treated with great respect in Miami you are a mark with a great likelihood of attack or mugging. Finally in Moscow bars and clubs the women are well groomed slim athletic beautiful well mannered and dress very well. The majority of the women I met in Florida were obese with very little care for their appearance. Moscow wins hands down
Interesting … and these first hand accounts are greatly appreciated!
What do you make of rocky racoon’s post above that few people in Moscow speak English.
FWIW, Ms Freud spent three weeks in Moscow … work related, some Psychologist exchange program. She said English speakers were everywhere … but, again, she wasn’t there as a tourist, and dealt mostly with professionals.
Drudge today ….. Israel is offering $3500 to each of its 38,000 illegal kneegrow African immigrants to go back to Africa by March, or face jail.
Shall we now add Israel as a better place to live than America?
http://news.trust.org/item/20180103115805-egc1s
To life, White Israel, to life, l’chaim !!
Sounds good to me…..
One good policy does not make up for everything else.
But, when do we adopt that one policy?
There is no such thing as a nigger jew. Sammy Davis Jr. was for shits and giggles only. Preferred Jews are fair haired and clear skinned. Brunettes are allowed too.
Not interested in converting to the Pharisaic version of Judaism. Much prefer the version I practice as a follower of Yeshua ben Yakob.
In Israel, if you are display signs that you do not adhere to Pharisaic Judaism, the Hasidim will hawk up a big loogie and spit on you. Ain’t taking bets on what weird microorganisms live in their saliva. If you beat the living shit out of them in response, don’t know whose side the local police will take.
Pharisaic/Hasidim – Yeshua ben Yakob
Is this like sunni shia in any way?
The adherents of Shiat Ali ( Shia) would understand what I mean if I said that I am Shiat Essa.
The Roman Catholic Church is more like the Shia branch of Islam than are those whe seek to return to following Yeshua. Some among the Sunni have accused the Shia of being influenced by medieval Catholicism as evidenced by some of the more flamboyant practices seen in their great public festivals. For example, public flagellation or the public display of images.
Q1: Is Russia a better place to live than the USA?
After scanning that interesting article, the author’s experience and other referenced sources suggest
that it is just as good, perhaps better. I’ve never been, so can’t speak from experience.
Old perceptions die hard. Nicaragua comes to mind.
I’d love to hear from any expats currently living there.
Q2: Is there any country that is better to live than the USA?
I believe there are quite a few, but can’t speak from experience of extended living anywhere else.
I’ve visited France, Germany, Canada, and spots around the Caribbean.
The America First champions default to “then leave, if you find it so objectionable to stay here.
I can appreciate Casey’s take: The idea of America is long gone.
The U.S. has morphed into a nanny state, even with what freedoms still remain.
[Note: Define “better” as you see fit; prettier, LESS diverse, less warlike government, etc.]
The 10 reasons why Russia is better is a good start.
Cheaper, quality food from nutrient rich soil, (salute to soups!), nicer service (efficiency & courtesy sorely lacking w/ most public servers here), good public transport (buses only in my shithole).
Most places I think have scenic natural settings aplenty; no complaint in the U.S. here, with plenty of
affordable 2nd cottages. Re: Freedoms and Less Faggotry, what’s not to love about those 2?
Rural Argentina expats’ report would be interesting to me, if Casey’s for the rich is to be believed.
Way out of reach for me, but lower cost alternatives might be interesting. Regarding Russian intellect and technological savvy, I like to think most reasonably modern countries and cultures have a decent supply of those. With the average American using TV as their most widely used poor resource for information and entertainment, I think we’d probably score lower on average than many other cultures. High speed internet is available I think almost universally, excepting the 3rd world places.
Year round climate is another priority consideration for me, even though the change of seasons has been appreciated. But as I’ve gotten older, the colder temps are starting to be an irritation.
That nixes Canada for me, (Montreal reminded me of France, where the older gals still dress attractively in skirts and heels, instead of sweats and Nike’s. Impression of Germany from 18 years ago: Clean, and courteous people, but I suspect that’s change considerably. Canada has changed a bit, too, since I began regularly visiting 25 years ago. That said, I’ve yet to see some appealing locations there still.
I could get used to living on the cheap somewhere economical in the Caribbean, I think, with year round temps in the 70’s,80’s, or even 90’s. But, there’s them damn hurricanes. Argentina reportedly has 70 degree temps during the day, but the nights chill out, while still being comfortably cool.
Any place not looking for wars and with less government intrusion is a big plus.
============================================
Final thoughts: That picture of Hallstatt is beautiful and would make a nice screen saver. Would love to spend a month or two tooling around there and other European gems with such rich long histories of their past existence that have brought forth their current conditions. Almost makes me wish to be 25 and have a shackle free means to just go on an extended adventure exploring such destinations.
There’s a whole ‘nuther world out there, and I should have took to seeing more of it. Hindsight: 20/20
As it stands, I have too many anchors weighing my ass down to pull up stakes and plant roots elsewhere. For now, at least. In a few years, who knows? Fun to daydream and lay future plans.
It sounds like things are getting better in Vladland. I was impressed by a comment I read years ago: Russia, where anything is possible but nothing is permitted.
I can only dream about moving to a better place and it is enjoyable to do so. In college I lived with a first generation Ruskie from St. Petersburg, Florida-his family immigrated , AND a man who was profiled by the FBI because he had taken Russian in college. I bet that is in my file.
Other than that and my bud Putin singing On Blueberry Hill for me, I cannot add much to this conversation, as interested as I am.
If a country isn’t armed well enough to defend itself against the terrorist US government and its military, then no matter how free, prosperous, liberty-minded, etc. it is…..it will NOT BE ALLOWED to last. Russia at least has a fighting chance if they can maintain a freedom-oriented direction. Sadly, nearly a century of communist/socialist brainwashing and the destruction of entrepreneurial spirit at every level, has had a huge impact on the population. Of course here in the US, the government monopoly schools, rampant socialism/progressivism supported by both major political parties, and non-stop anti-capitalist propaganda by the mainstream media has done a similar job.
The Russians and Uzbeks I’ve known who have made it to the US were all very bright, fit and attractive. I always assumed the stupid/ugly ones never made it across the ocean. They worked hard and partied even harder. Probably their biggest sin was that most, but not all, smoked like freight trains in social settings. They certainly didn’t have the sexual hangups/baggage that most Western women do. One was even considering starting a dating service – she said that I could give her a description of my ideal woman, and she would tell me precisely where to go in Russia to find exactly that type.
I studied Russian for a while and I thought their slang was hilarious. It’s obvious their different socio-economic style colored their language. THere was a term, which I would have to so do some serious searching for again, for when you are banging your girlfriend doggie style with her head poking out the apartment door so she could look down the hallway to make sure the coast was clear. In a country where many live in multi-generational family apartments, that’s a thing!
Gilly, here in America we call it Damn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead.
Q1: Is Russia a better place to live than the USA?
A1: I think so. Even though Mother Russia is ethnically diverse they have somehow crafted a history and shared identity which us folks here in North America, thanks to Post Modernism, will now never have.
Q2: Is there any country that is better to live than the USA?
A2: Leaving aside the Hapless Twat running the place, Canada is a better place to live. At least certain parts… That said, the extent of my experience in USA is one trip to Pittsburgh and a drive thru New England on way home from Ontario.
But come on..
Montreal… a nice place to visit. Maybe it was when the Habs didn’t suck and before they shipped their best prospect, A Russian no less, to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Now all I have to look forward to is aboot 20 years with nkit rubbing it in….
[img
[/img]
The only good news is that the Habs won’t be forced to retire another Jersey..
On a serious note though. Will there even be a need for this question after the existential crisis that is soon to come to the West. Russia has already gone thru its turning. They have made it and still have liveable cities. Not looking so good the us.. The big Shitties of West are barely liveable as it is. Odds are that when the welfare and EBT ends folks won’t have time to worry about WiFi on the subway when they make their break and escape from New York..
[img
[/img]
or Die Klapperschlange if so inclined..
Robbie, Mikhail is coming to visit you tomorrow night after Drouin paid us a visit last Thursday. FM’s Leafs have to be shaking their heads after last night’s game, wondering just what do they have to do to get something by The Big Cat Vasilevskiy.
Funny, folks around these parts were saying that the Habs got the better end of the deal when the trade was made. The feeling was that Drouin was an impact player that would be an instant success with the Habs, and that Mikhail probably needed another year of seasoning in the Juniors. We see how that worked out as Sergachev leads all rookie defensemen in points and has more points than Drouin. Go figure.
Speaking of Russians, the Bolts have quite the Russian connection with Vasilevskiy, Sergachev, Namestnikov and Kucherov. That’s All-Star talent. If they and the other bigs like Stamkos, Hedman, Point, and Tyler Johnson remain healthy, the sky seems to be the limit for this hockey club. Additionally, Ryan Callahan returns after a 3.5 week absence this weekend. Watch out. Oh, not rubbing it in mon ami, just very excited after last year’s debacle.
Nkit
With TB’s stock of Ruskies, sounds like Stevie Eyes is making moves like what Jimmie Develano did many years ago with the Russian 5 for Detroit. Non fans didn’t like them much, but they were fun to watch cycling the puck. These days though, quite a bit less talent up there due north of Windsor. Good Luck this year during the grind to grab the cup & hang a banner from the rafters. I’ll be pulling for Steve.
LGR, Vinik is a great owner..a thousand times better than the Rays’ owner.. Yzerman and Cooper are both top shelf. Yzerman gets rid of St. Louis, Bishop, Lecavalier and Drouin and you just feel like it’s a mistake every time, and then you quickly realize that the only mistake is questioning Yzerman.
Yes, Cup fever is going around these parts. We’ll see. Sixty points already and a healthy Stamkos (knock on wood).
(resumes praying to the hockey Gods)
he sez… not rubbing it in mon ami! Geeze kick a man when he is down why don’t ya!
Robbie, having said that Price will probably shut the Bolts out tomorrow. Good luck.
:^)
[img
[/img]
RiNS, if it’s any consolation, I have a lil’ similar feeling about the ace that left los tigres just before the trade deadline…and he arguably was instrumental in helping Houston overcome the hurricane devastation by winning the World Series. AND, he’s the lucky dog who gets to play around with Boom Boom who’s prancing around the beach in a bikini over on the “5 Years Ago Today” thread. Nice .gif(s)
JV’s not a young hot prospect, but a proven winner.
Was happy for him, even as Motown’s beisbol team seems to have only Miggy left. They lost JD Martinez, Verlander, and most recently let go Ian Kinsler. Detroit lost a good GM when they let Dave Dombroski go, and have been sliding more into mediocrity, instead of safely into 2nd base ever since. Take heart. You’re not alone.
Pop the top off another long neck while thinking of what could have been, as I will do.
Damn… finally back from the Tucson Towing Trip and came upon a pack of Hockey-haired Canucks hijacking one of Stucky’s profoundly relevant Questions to ponder while picking lint out of one’s navel.
That is for being mean about my absence while entertaining holiday guests who would think you folks here are more than a little scary.
I thought Stuck was the Klapperschlong.
It does sound German for pulling yer pony..
I’ve been to Russia and the Ukraine a couple times back in the crazy 90s. It was an exciting and bizarre place.
My impressions were
1. They have more freedom than we do. You could drive your car without wearing a seatbelt and nobody cared. You could drive with your kid standing in the front passenger’s footspace looking over the dashboard and nobody cared. They had open air markets where they sold anything to anyone. If you didn’t want to pay full price for entertainment, there were tons of bootlegs on sale out in the open. The law did not appear to be interested in most of what you did. I don’t know if that’s changed, but it probably has.
2. The officials and the cops had no SOP. It’s the wild west, or east. THere was no defined way to do things. The rules were whatever the guy on duty said they were. Today, you can go through airpor security without inspection, tomorrow your bag will be rifled and your Soviet chachkis seized. Bribes and earnest requests for help would work, so did knowing someone respected.
3. There was a lot of organized crime. I had a guy offer to sell me an RPG for 10,000. I had another weasley fuck offer me drugs, women, and anything else I wanted. My hotel stays, I was harassed all night with calls offering whores.
4. They had interesting solutions to making money. I passed by a home-based arcade where you could go into someone’s flat to rent time on an Xbox or Playstation. I saw a lot of people selling all manner of things in the markets ranging from old house fittings and individual unwrapped batteries to collections of American camouflage and militaria.
5. The news was totally bullshit about Russia. In 1998, George Soros demanded Yeltsin devalue the Ruble. This set up a strange conflict for at least a month, maybe two. The news was suddenly full of stories about how Russia was on the verge of collapse, people were starving, there were runs on the banks, and chaos ruled. I was there, so I could see it was all total bullshit. In Moscow, Kursk, Karkov, St. Pete, etc there were no food shortages, the fields were full of wheat (being harvested by hand BTW), the roadside markets were full of food sold for kopeks, and the stores and banks were full. BBC, CNN, NYTimes, International Herald Tribune, Manchester Guardiean, etc all reported nearly identical word-for-word articles about the chaos in Russia. All fucking bullshit. Then, Yeltsin went on TV to state he would never devalue the Ruble and that was when all Russia knew it was about to happen for real. And it did. The very next day. Even then, the US propaganda didn’t stop. At 6am Moscow time, I was up and getting ready to leave. Already, CNN and BBC were crowing about the devaluation being fact. They didn’t have an actual number until about noon my time. The currency change only appeared where I was 6 hours later, when I watched the #s start climbing at the exchange shops. To this day, I believe Soros orchestrated all that negative and totally false news coverage. I don’t know if it would work today with so many citizen journalists. Russia, in my opinion, has never had a fair shake from our media.
6. The food was really good. Very cheap. Unlike here, you can survive in Russia on very little money if you are willing to cook for yourself. Russian dishes are pretty good. My personal tastes are different, so I didn’t like the air-dried fish jerky or the cold gelatin or creamed fish dishes. I love their borscht and pelmenie. There’s nothing like Kvass on a hot day. And their beer is pretty good.
7. Public safety was a bit lacking. The tourist/expat English paper explained the risks of radiation, bad food and water, occasional power outages and water outages. Women shouldn’t wear heels, it advised, because cracked and broken sidewalks could snap an ankle. I took over a radiation survey meter to check my produce and I found a watermelon with some hot contamination on it. Russia was not a handrails and wheelchair ramps kind of place, but I welcomed the freedom of not having everything bubblewrapped and padded for my protection. You had to keep on your toes. For instance, once I got a bottle of Oberone beer and it had broken glass in the bottom. You just had to drink around the sharp bits. That lack of safety is a bit scary, though, since you don’t know what you might be getting exposed to. Radiation, polluted water, polluted air, leaking chemicals from Soviet-era facilities and the legacy of Stalinist industrialization and agricultural operations. They didn’t really have any sensitivity to ecology and conservation for the last century, so these days there are a lot of bad things lurking there. Take a survey meter and your Berkey filter or drink bottled water. In the 90s, Russian stores sold personal rad meters for concerned citizens and they were even given as gifts. I don’t know if that has changed. Oh, UXOs are still a problem, too. While touring Volgograd, I idly kicked a dirt clod, only to have an intact 60mm mortar round pop up out of the ground with it. That was a bit of a scare! Apparently, a few people are blown up every year.
I can’t help adding the Russians seem cold and dark and morose, but once you’re accepted as a friend, they’re very nice and warm people. They can turn a couple beers, some bread and cheese, and a guitar into a great party in no time. I’ve had some great dinners with folks over there. What blew my mind at the time was how curious they were to know why we were intent on killing all of them. They all told me they had no problems with us and couldn’t understand why we hated them so much. I had to explain, no, we had all been told they were dead-set on killing all of us. I couldn’t find a real problem with most of the Russians I met, aside from the dirtbags and con artists, but we got those, too. As far as I could tell, if we had had a chance to meet the Russians personally, we would have found a lot of common ground. And them the same with us. They’re also very generous people. They’ll practically give you the shirt off their back if you’re a friend.
As far as I’m concerned I like the Russians. I like the Ukrainians, too. I wouldn’t mind living there too much as long as I could have a good job and reasonable assurances of safety from the mafia, bad water, bad food, and bad air. It’s been 20 years since I was there, so I am sure things are better than they were. I wouldn’t mind going back again. I forget who wrote the article a couple years ago, but there was a great article explaining how Putin was in a unique position to attract American patriots to Russia because (then Obama’s) America was essentially their enemy. The govt is/was decidedly anti-Christian, anti-family values, and even anti-American , leaving patriotic God-fearing family men with no home, while Russia could claim to be the last bastion of Western Christendom against the rising tide of communism and terd world islamic savagery. These days, P0land and Hungary can also make that claim. I love seeing Poland and Hungary telling the EU to fuck off.
Another fine Gilbert post.
Let’s all send him $50 so he can revisit and give us a current update.
Oh, to answer- Idon’t knwo if Russia better. 2A is my big bar to living in another country.
If you dont’ care about 2A, the CIA factbook is a good guide to who is better. According to them a few years ago, Andorra is the best country to live in in the world.
Highest education, lowest poverty, best per capita wealth, etc.
We (American) lived in Russia for 5 years from 2003 – 2008, none of us spoke a word of Russian before we arrived.
By the time we left, 2 of us could squeak by with some pretty terrible Russian, but enough to live.
Russia is a difficult place. The people have suffered 100 years of revolution, purges, 2 world wars, and 80 years of communism. It has been very hard on them and to survive, they have become hard people. You have to understand that to deal with the culture. It ain’t America.
But we loved it. We left because we had to by contract, not because we wanted to. I would have stayed forever. Once you learn how to survive there it can be a fabulous place. And the country itself is staggeringly beautiful.
We have often discussed among ourselves that it is the Russian government itself that promotes the frozen, empty, harsh image of Russia to keep people out; if more people knew what a beautiful place much of it is, it would be overrun with immigrants. They don’t want immigrants.
Per the article the cost of everything is cheaper in Russia. Not so much if you consider the HUGE gap in income. Average monthly slary in US $3,200 while in Russia $700 (which I believe is a little lower overall and MUCH lower for the 85% of Russians living outside of the 3 larger cities):
Great place to move if you love fresh produce and musloids:
Ruissa will only get better as long as men like Putin are in charge.From what I have read they do keep alot of would be immigrants out.Very few blacks or Africans which is good.Putin also knows the score with the Jews in Ruissa.He is not naive about their murderous history in Ruissa.
Imagine 500,000 musloids on the streets of your city on prayer blankets……that’s one half million of those F*****s greeted personally by Vlad.
50% own a dacha outside the city in Russia (article). Vast majority are like run down storage sheds but, OK. If you would really want that type house (?) on 1/10 acre of land. You could buy one for 2-5K but you could get a nicer shed at Home Depot for the price.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhYEUf1j61g
Whatever.
Here’s what I know. Reviewers here who have actually lived/visited Russia don’t agree with your bullshit. Ms Freud doesn’t agree with your bullshit. The Russians I personally know here in America and in Russia (do you remember I have relatives in Russia from my father’s side?) don’t agree with your bullshit.
Therefore, I have no fucks to give regarding your bullshit pictures, videos, and other neocon propaganda.
Have a nice day, and no fucken borscht for you!
Note to noobs- This is what happens when Stucky has no ammo to counter my argument. He dismisses me with no soup. LOL
Don’t believe the actual videos of real places and people in Russia, trust Stucky….right.
Q: Which two cities are pictured below?
[img
[/img]
[img
[/img]
A: They are both street scenes of NYC.
—-
Folks, does that help you see what BL is doing? If he’s pro-something, he will post pro-pics or vids. If he’s anti-something, he’ll post anti pics.
No objectivity. Just spin spin spin. This is how credibility is lost. Pray for him to get better, before it’s too late.
I picked out no pictures, the stats quoted in my posts are accurate. I did not make the videos and some came from RT with one from Stratfor so your finger pointing is lame.
MOSCOW is not the example of all of Russia. Russia has basically three larger cities that they have elevated to our standards. ONLY 15% of the population lives in those cities, the other 85% live in poverty.
Stucky, $500 to $700 per month does not buy the American dream life when they are paying as much or more for thing as we do here in America where we have five times the monthly average salary. You can’t make that fact go away.
Moscow is VERY expensive, rents are high, food costs more but the residents are paid more than other Russians. A three week trip to Moscow will not give you any idea of life outside of that city and I doubt Mrs. F and all of your naysayers spent time in the country towns which is the LARGEST part of the population. And that’s Da Truff…..
“Stucky, $500 to $700 per month does not buy the American dream life …”
The American dream life is a nightmare. You see, that’s the problem with your Russia-phobia — you see everything from the context of comparing it to America. You think the Russian populace gives a fuck about living up to the “American dream life” … whatever that is anyway.
You say Moscow is “VERY” expensive. The author gives evidence it is not. You’ve never even been there. The author lives there. Let’s see, who shall I believe?
The “miserable” life of a Russian making $700/mo …. owns a second home, a dacha, where it’s peaceful and quiet … no property taxes … grow whatever the fuck you want without needing government permission, on good soil and non GMO seeds …. where you can suck the milk right out of a cows tit, or sell it that way …. freedom.
HORRIBLE!!!!!
[img
[/img]
Cows do not have tits, they have an udder with teats.
I’m trying to help you get to 100.
“Cows do not have tits, they have an udder with teats.” —— El Coyote
I was talking about Maggie.
Just when you thought it was safe to talk trash on your own post.
Gotta story for you. I have been entertaining my old friend from AF glory days as red ropes, aka queens of the triangle, eh EC? (At tech school, the student section of the dormitory section was called the triangle… don’t know about Canuckistan, Illinois.)
I took my high-tech semi-connected friend to meet my local high class horse-ranch owning real estate brokering friend and we disturbed her and her 76-year-old boyfriend in the middle of a quickie on New Year’s Eve. My friend and I, aged 56 now, were very impressed. You should be too.
(BTW, the friend we disturbed has my doe Beatrix Potter in her barn with the horses. I will be taking Scrapper over to visit her there so he can see how his “uptown” gal lives. My red rope friend owns one of Beatrix’s daughters, a lovely 12 lb bunny named Felicity.)
I know this has nothing to do with Russia, but I didn’t want to get into the pissing contest so soon after settling down from driving all over the place to show visitors lovely parks and scenes they may never see again. We do have a few nice parks and geologic formations that are interesting out here in Podunk. This is the Elephant Rocks in South Central Missouri. Is really close via twisty-turny backroads to my home, but we took them the long way via state highways maintained by MODOT, which appears to be one of the state’s largest employers. The roads are pretty good here, I have to say. But, Mussolini made the trains run on schedule, they say.
I have a picture of she and I in front of one of those biggest boulders, but the days of ME climbing up there are behind me a good ten to fifteen years. I have not downloaded all the pictures and to be honest, I may not get to it for a while.
My mother’s family were true hillbillies and each year, we would visit them all at reunions where all the, ahem, Cuzins, could play together in the cow pasture and swim down at the creek. We would go on grand outings to the Elephant Rocks and I’m sure I have photos of myself and other kids on some of those rocks in crazy precarious positions that would get our parents arrested for neglect now. Could I climb some of those rocks now that I’ve been walking for almost a year now? I could do it if I had to, but unless there’s a bear charging me and I don’t have a loaded weapon, I am NOT climbing those rocks at my age and beyond.
However, the trails are well maintained and there are a lot of resting places along the way. It was brisk walking on the top of the highest parts of the park, but since there were almost no other visitors on New Year’s Eve, we had a private tour of the park.
https://mostateparks.com/park/elephant-rocks-state-park
I read the book “The Long Walk Home” about a small band of Polish soldiers captured and sent to Siberia at the initial resistance to Soviet control during the first battles of World War II. They managed to escape and walked through Mongolia and across the Himalayas to wend their way to India.
Where they rejoined their fighting units upon regaining some weight. The story is fascinating just for the sense of sheer determination that kept them walking.
However, I mention it to say that some of the people and creatures they saw inhabiting the really unexplored regions of those mountainous regions of Russia are intriguing to think about. Titillating, you might say. And available through Walmart!
https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Long-Walk-The-True-Story-of-a-Trek-to-Freedom/14175731?=SMT&visitor_id=ZSJvuoTvZ7ZkC4CgnMNYfQ
And, just to remind you that I’m always watching and now that this is close to one hundred, I expect other glory hogs to be ready to snatch the prize.
https://www.trumanlibrary.org/dbq/res/cia/TrumanCIA_LongTelegram.pdf
I like Truman less and less these days. He was a real Policy Wonker wasn’t he?
The reality is that it is usually a few acres or more. Remember that Russia stretches from Europe to Japan and has quite a small population there is plenty of empty land. The old folks keep chickens and they bottle fruit, make pickles jams and other preserves. All Russian homes have food storage areas. They store food in jars hence no need for freezers, the heating and hot water is cheap and communal. The percentage of people owning their own home plus dacha is very high. You can live very cheaply some home brew vodka a few pickles home baked bread it’s not a bad life.
A dacha that BL does not want you to see … it would spoil his narrative
[img
[/img]
Um….each of those sheds are separate dachas on a tiny amount of land. That is fine if that is what you like. It is always healthy to work out on the land.
The larger dacha is not something the average family would own, more like the level of a politician’s country dacha. My narrative remains unspoiled.
It doesn’t matter what your dacha looks like. It matters that you have a plot of land to grow your own produce. In the Red Days, private plots took up 5% or less of the land, but produced 95% of the food. To this day, Russians have dachas to relax and supplement their food needs. They know chaos is always just around the corner. My spouse has a lot of stories about growing up under Communism and how they dealt with it. A big part was having a big garden. My in-laws live in an apartment which also has a garden plot for each tenant to use. They grow a variety of things on their plot. Everyone also goes fruit and berry picking in the woods and everyone there knows how to ID edible mushrooms. I’ve been mushroom picking there and it’s not as scary as it might sound.
Dmitri Orlov has written and spoken about how Russia fared better through their collapse than America will precisely because Russians have their little garden plots and grow food, preserve it, and prepare for tough times. Americans generally don’t garden and don’t have the experience or even the opportunity to grow on their own plots, although I was pleasantly surprised to see some communal plots in lower NYC when I visited. That was remarkable.
In the mid 80’s worked with a guy from the Jemez Tribe, when I was in New Mexico. He said he heard about the Great Depression in School. Asked his mother. She said, “The depression was just for white people. On the reservation, we lived exactly the same before, during, and after.”
My interpretation: rural area, grew all their veggies in gardens, hunted for meat, made their clothes from wool they sheared off sheep. Probably brewed their own beer.
Got my own garden for about 3 years now, about 50’x50′, on the empty lot I bought next to my house. When the “90’s Russian Style” collapse happens here, should have made enough progress to be able to feed myself and mine. Maybe grow tobacco and brew beer to trade.
Question for Stucky, and truthful answer please: How do your parents feel about Russia?
I know your parents are from old soviet bloc countries, just wondering. Would they like to live in Russia/their home countries if they were younger/able?
Their view have changed greatly from the time they were in Russian prison camps. I’ll just stick to the now. Briefly.
They love the Russian people. They hate the Russian government (like you, they still have a Cold War age outlook). Dad especially hates Putin.
If they were younger? I don’t know. I do know that in the here and now that they regret having come here … not because of what America was, but what it has become. Both say from time to time — and I am NOT making this up — that the shit this government does reminds them of living under Nazi Germany, and in some cases even worse.
(Politically they have voted for; — Goldwater, George Wallace, Reagan, Ross Perot, and Ron Paul (twice). Really. They deeply loathe both Dems and Repukes (except for Reagan) … and have unkind words to say about Trump.)
Sounds like you have the perfect parents….Goldwater, Reagan, Ron Paul (twice). You are very lucky to have them.
Austria is so beautiful, too bad they had to flee the Nazis. Nobody promised us we would go through life without challenges. God bless them for all they have endured.
They left Austria in 1957 … long after the Nazis went kaput. They left for other reasons (personal reasons which I’d rather not rehash.)
One difference between Russia and most (perhaps all) Western governments: The Russian government is not actively hostile to the welfare of the Russian people.
It seems inescapably obvious that the Western governments genuinely hate their respective populations. This is the only way the conduct of the Western governments, toward their own people, makes any sense at all.
This makes it sound like Russia might be a decent retirement option for those who are not Russo-phobic. Not sure if I have the drive for that – but if Q can’t fix things here, Poland might be a thought.
It’s impossible to retire there (believe me, I’ve looked into it.) And you absolutely cannot survive and function in Russia if you don’t speak Russian, they don’t suffer fools gladly.
Russia offers no pensioner’s visa. Work visas and temporary/permanent residency visas are almost impossible to qualify for, even if you’re a foreigner married to a Russian.
As an American the best you can do right now under current Russian visa laws, is to get the three year Russian tourist visa and make a border run once every year. So far I don’t know anyone who has gotten a second 3-year visa to continue that strategy; the US/Russia just negotiated the 3-year tourist visa about 4 years ago.
Russia does not make it easy for foreigners to stay there.
Wish the U.S. would “not make it easy for foreigners to stay here.”
Babuszkas for Stella, and a shot for Stosh. Whip up some golabki, sauerkraut or noodles with mushrooms, some beef barley, or potato dill soup, or czarnina for the adventurous. Pass the pierogi. You want fresh or smoked kielbasa? Bit of herring? Pickled or creamed? Kruscziki for dessert, unless it’s the day before Lent starts, or Ash Wednesday. Then they would offer paczki. Comfort food. Leave a chair open for any guest that comes knocking. They’ll take no zlotys, as they are a hard-working generous people, but allowing some dark leeches to storm in demanding consideration? Won’t happen. Nazdrowja.
I love Poland. They’re the nicest people in the world. And their food is terrific. Nobody eats better than the Poles. Nothing like going to a Polish wedding and getting filled with Kielbasa and Kabanos and drinking Bimber hooch.
Well, I have never been to Russia. But, I’ve been to Oklahoma.
People tell me I was born there, but I really don’t remember.
What does it matter?
I’m back…… we got the car off the lot and towed it here, where we will figure out how to get it sold for parts or fixed.
Glad you are back Mags! It’s always something, is it not?
Always. I just helped Nick take it off the tow dolly so he can take that back to UHaul. My ass is frozen.
How about a nice essay on the recovery of this distressed vehicle HSF style?
Robert (QSLV)
99 or 100???
Q1: I would move to Russia if it wasn’t so cold. And I have an 86-year-old mother I won’t leave.
Q2: Except for Russia, don’t know of a place better than the U.S. I like the state I live in.
As an aside, Stucky, found this article for you.
Doctors confirm: Turmeric cures cancer in English patient.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5230201/Pensioner-used-turmeric-fight-blood-cancer.html
Vixen, did you catch the new comment posted today on “It’s About to Break” thread, which originated on 12-22-17? It’s interesting, but can only guess as to what some of it means. Was a comment by a poster named Qanate, with a date & time stamp of 1-3-18 at 4:50 pm. The crumbs seem to be on the heels of the back & forth about Baron. Take a look see, and see if you can shed some light. Then, too, it might not be worth the time.
I’ll try to get a look at that. Thanks.
I have used turmeric a bit when I make balms/salves/butters for various skin issues people ask me about. For ingesting to help cleanse and bolster the immunization of the blood, don’t forget the cinnamon. Last year Nick came home with one of those on the borderline test results for blood sugar level. The cinnamon is really easy to add to most things. I’ve got it in my coffee this a.m.
(I do not claim any medical ability, but a lot of the essential oils people are buying really can be made at home with quality herb.)