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Love the descriptive. We have some history to do with Russia, as we do with France and America and China. Some of the videos might require VPN to access:
I visited Russia only twice, to see my brother Danny (30 years my senior, different mom) and his family, 2002 and 2019 - two completely different countries in many ways. Changes not as dramatic as in China but two different era certainly.
St Petersburg is very nice, but the 8-12-degrees Celsius with wind and rain in August 2019 was challenging
My son, then 8, asked me, "dada, why did Hitler and Napoleon think they were going to win against the Russians?" :0)))) I thought the question hilariously observant.
But, yes, <<The common Russian element.. the saying goes, "a grand facade, an empty courtyard". To fully realize that quote, one should visit. >> the facades certainly were grand.
Re <<The Russian infrastructure is old & broken.. very unlike what exists in today's China (Angela Merkel understands the fragility of Russia & keeps the lifeline going.. gas exports to Europe).>>
A Russian bank here in HK, controlled by Gazprom, clears all gas trades to all Europe as well as China. Russia will not run out of gas anytime soon. That Siberia of theirs is something else. Clear how they might turn the economy on positive tracking, unclear they can do so, but also clear that they shall try.
Re <<food>> I found the food horrid 2002 and fantabulous 2019. My brother (now 90) and niece keep a place in the country and in Moscow proper. They are fine, and certainly healthy.
Re <<maybe he is good for the stability of Russia. They need it there.>>
... Same suspicion. Yeltsin was not the way to go. Gorby too weak. Met his lieutenant (head of Gorby foundation) on 2019 trip and dialogued for 3+ hours all-in, mostly about Russian history for the last 1,500 years, for the benefit of self and the two kids, to understand. I do not know how my wife fixed up the gathering. She is a magician.
Re <<... Russians exited Afghanistan>> that was fortunate. Watched the movie about Russian tank in Afghanistan ... they were not going to win
The complete movie available on AppleTV.
Re <<stupid us, we jumped back in.>> Yes, that was puzzling about Team USA, and for 20 years, a trillion dollars. Nothing to show for the effort.
Now we watch and see what others can help to do. Should be instructional. Unclear trajectory. The people deserve better than now.
Re <<Stalin's Bolsheviks>> ... revolutions are very extremely brutal. Sometimes something good comes out of the mess, other times not. Either case they tend to be jarring for the many, existential for some, and self-repeating, like clockwork. The inevitability of it repeating is disconcerting. Vaccination impossible, because variants arise.
Something just made me think of gold, the eternal constant.
Re <<Montenegro earlier this year>> ... the place is supposed to be quaint and beautiful, from pics and articles.
