Comments on: Visiting Lenin’s tomb: Just in time for Halloween!

By: เสื้อผ้าแฟชั่น

เสื้อผ้าแฟชั่น — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:07:06 +0000

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By: เสื้อผ้าแฟชั่น

เสื้อผ้าแฟชั่น — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 02:54:36 +0000

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By: Tourism Guide

Tourism Guide — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:11:05 +0000

Kudos from one brainiac to another.

By: DenzelWgow

DenzelWgow — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:03:04 +0000

Hey , Happy late Haloween(: !!

By: Jane Stillwater

Jane Stillwater — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:08:12 +0000

If you are a writer, Russia is a real treasure-trove of stories. And if you are a historian, you could go blind reading up on all its interesting history. And The New Yorker apparently just did a two-part story on Siberia that I need to track down. One could spend a lifetime finding things out about Russia. But Google research is just about as far as I am going to go. Right now I just want to sit back and enjoy the experience.

I hope that you get to go to Russia too.

By: karlsie

karlsie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:50:45 +0000

I meant to say self help in my previous comment, not self-hope. Astra, i agree. Russia is a very misunderstood country. I blame it on the Cold War. Instead of the super-powers creating bridges of communication and mutual understanding, each society became a closed one, filled with fears and superstition about the other side; the enemy. A balance could have been drawn between free enterprise and socialistic endeavors. Instead, a line was drawn and it became a contest. This is not the democratic process but a win-lose mentality. The sad part is, when you set yourself up as a conquistador, you are setting yourself up for eventual conquest. You still lose.

By: Astra Navigo

Astra Navigo — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:56:28 +0000

Russia is on my list of Places To Go Before I Die; I’ve studied it; my father lived there as a military attache; it’s one of the most significant countries on the planet – and one of the most misunderstood.

Jane, thanks for the post! Count on my coming back to read more!

By: karlsie

karlsie — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:40:28 +0000

Grainne, you need to read Dostoyevski’s book of short stories, “Poor People”, then Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”, if you wish Russian literature to sing to you. While i was in Mexico, i was able to subscribe to a Russian woman’s magazine. It was the best woman’s magazine i had ever read. Not one page was devoted to movie stars, models, make up, newest get skinny diet and fashion, although each week they featured a pattern in the middle for sewing your own clothes, with a how-to for making adjustments and putting it together. The magazine was mainly devoted to women in the sciences; biology, physics, astronomy or environmental studies, women in medicine, with self-hope for natural health, and women in music and arts. The last page was always devoted to hand crafts and exhibited the stunning displays of one of Russia’s numerous and highly skilled crafts women. It was a magazine that exalted woman’s intelligence instead of insulting it.

There is much we could learn about Russia. I’m glad Jane has taken her time to share with us. We have more of her Russian adventure coming up!

By: grainnerhuad

grainnerhuad — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:35:13 +0000

The smiles, I did not know this before, that they had to learn to smile like Americans. I don’t know much beyond surface historical facts about Russian culture, it is an enigma to me. I have no Russian in my family line, I always made that my excuse for not feeling comfortable in Russian literature, it didn’t sing to me, I felt off balance. But maybe that’s because I don’t know enough. Thanks for this, it piqued my interest.

By: karlsie

karlsie — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:36:08 +0000

Russians are a difficult people to understand unless you step back three paces and weigh in their entire political history. I think the only time period more difficult to assemble than World War II is the turn of the twentieth century. It symbolizes the end of the era for kings and czars and a shifting of power to more industrialized government. Lenin played the dynamics of conquest and rule, but his imprint as the proletariat leader is really a bit small. Stalin was the one who radically changed the face of their Communist government to total dictatorship, with secret service police, informers and spies terrorizing the people into submission. Kruschev slowly opened toward more democratic policies in his many negotiations at the table with the US and NATO countries. As Russia became more democratic in its resolution, it also became more Capitalistic. The ruble was unable to stand against the then, very strong dollar, and it fell.

Russia villifies its past so it can move on. The czars failed them. Communism failed them. Capitalism failed them. Because they are a resilient people, they’ll find something new; something that works for them, at least for awhile.