Why I left the USSR
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- Опубликовано: 22 май 2024
- As Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine continues, we look at the opportunities Russia failed to take after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
This is a meditation on the collapse of the USSR, why Russia failed to take the opportunity that followed, and where this leaves the world here and now.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 story of how Russia turned against the West
00:25 USSR in the 1980s
02:12 USSR cost of living
04:20 USSR opening up to the West - McDonalds
05:17 the West - first impressions
06:32 Russia in the 1990s
07:16 Putin regime
08:48 What's next and how do we react?
Music:
Feodor Chaliapin, Ochi Chernie
Rachmaninoff Concerto No 2, Richter, Wislocki, Warsaw NPO, 1959
Twenty years ago in Detroit I walked into a dry cleaning shop and a woman was playing some traditional Russian folk music. Her comment was, "I love Russia, it's a beautiful place, but I will never go back because its a horrible place to live."
Thank you for sharing!
That's pretty funny considering the reputation Detroit has (deservedly or not.)
@@londonalicante The "myths" of crime in cities is always over-blown and to some degree true. I lived in Detroit for three years, worked on the East side which was one rough area. I never had problems but yes there were allot more problems than the suburbs
I have online friends that live both in Moscow and St. Petersburg. I’ve suggested on many occasions since February that they should leave there at least until everything goes back to the way it was but they refuse. They tell me that they love Mother Russia too much to leave and I feel inside just like I’m watching that penguin walking away to certain death and there’s nothing I can do.
@@Artorius19631 in the long run I'm sure they'll be fine.
Working in 1990 at a research lab in Germany, we had a Russian scientist who suggested to us (8 or 10 phd students) to make a car trip to Moscow. We first thought it was nuts, but we found ourselves intrigued by the idea of taking a peek behind the iron curtain. Soon after, we found ourselves organizing the trip, dealing with all the crazy paperwork to drive with our cars from Aachen all the way to Moscow. We realized that this was probably just a short period where we would be able to make such a trip before the USSR May be tightening up again. Not that we knew much about the USSR breaking up at the time. We were so busy.
It was an amazing and exhausting experience. We slept on people’s couches and sometimes on the floor, we were able to use some German and English and French to communicate. We had no idea what to expect, but the Russians we met were incredibly curious about us and very generous.
It was the Russia that Vlad is describing so well in his videos. Nearly everything had to be improvised. After 10 days in Moscow and it’s vicinity, 5 of us were invited to drive with one of the guys all the way to Tbilisi in Georgia (where he was from). The others went north to St Petersburg.
Driving was recklessly dangerous. Roads in terrible shape, gas couldn’t be found anywhere unless you had vodka to trade. 100cc of vodka for a tank of gas, plus whatever the price of the gas was, which was cheap. They had actually a little measuring cup for the vodka at some of the gas stations.
Same kind of warm welcome in Georgia. They took us climbing on Mt Elbrus. We spent a couple nights at a youth camp in the mountains, having fun with some of the Russian girls and sitting around campfires at night, drinking too much vodka (from beer bottles, no need to have a cap to close them once open), and singing sad Russian songs (as best as they taught us).
What was so amazing was the fact that the Soviet Union was in color. Not Moscow. Moscow felt like a black and white city with red splotches (red flags).
But the country was just beautiful. I saw pictures that Vlad posted. Just like that. And just like he said, things looked like 30 to 50 years old. There was too much drinking going on, and people had a hard time getting what they needed.
I remember one night around midnight when our host Oleg woke us up and said something like “my friend from the gas station called”. We went with him, and there had been a delivery of gas. We made three trips with a half dozen 20 liter gas cans to his garage, filling up his barrels he had dug in below the floor.
It got even crazier when we headed back to Germany. Going trough Turkey along the Black Sea was the shortest route (1500 miles or so). We tried to leave the USSR in Batumi, but the border was closed. Saddam Hussein had just invaded Kuwait. We got stuck for a few days, but we were eventually able to get out. We stopped at the first gas station in Turkey, and were finally able to fix up everything that had gone wrong with our cars (blown tires, some engine trouble because of the 65 octane gas, finally being able to buy engine oil). Going over the border felt like a Time Machine jumping forward again. And eastern Turkey was not exactly rich. And eve there, when driving through the occasional town, people would invite us spontaneously to a cop of tea, talking about Germany, they had worked there or friends were working there.
A few months later, some of the people we had met on the trip came and visited us, sleeping on our couches, and we showed them around.
One of the best memories I have. Soon after, we learned about civil war breaking out in Georgia. It was horrifying to have just been there and thinking how well the various cultures were able to live with each other in Tbilisi.
I have gone back on many business trips to many countries of the former USSR in the mid to late 90s, most often Moscow. The development of the country was in high gear. It was different and more colorful during every visit. You could also see how many of the people were left out of that. Young people saw a future, older people lost theirs.
So much has changed since then. But what I realized is that while we had so much in common, the description of Vlad’s Russian mentality holds water. He describes the Russia that I got a glimpse into.
Having also gone to Ukraine multiple times during that period, I am just torn up about what’s happening. As people, the Russians and the Ukrainians have so much in common. This reversal to imperial times, the propaganda, the loss of life for no good reason, it’s very disheartening.
Hubert what a stunning, vivid, living description. Thank you so much for sharing. I read your comment just now sitting by a car in the Yorkshire hills. I relate just as well to what you recollect of Georgia - I stayed in the mountains in Georgia as a kid for a couple of months around 1990. Thank you so much for sharing!
@@VladVexler Hi Vlad, thanks for the nice response. It feels good to get back to these memories from over 30 years ago. So much more I could tell about that trip. It was a life time experience. Anyway, all my best wishes.
Thank you for your story. I almost felt I was there :) I'm glad you were able to understand how it really was. Both the good and the bad.
Thank you! Greetings from Georgia ❤️
What a revealing write-up. As an American of age 67, I remember the colapse of the Soviet Union, and the subsequent upheaval in many former satellite countries. I predicted this to myself in my thoughts at the time. My mother was Austrian and I have many family members there, so Europe and related history has always been of great interest to me.
As to the video, I'm torn about what is currently happening, because I remember thinking that the US and the west could have done more to help Russia succeed, and to encourage a more market based economy which might have flourished and become a great economic bastion against the rise of China - whch has NO good intent in the world. I remember all the chest thumping among the American leaders back then, and saying to myself, "this bravado is going to backfire someday. Don't be so proud of the demise of an enemy."
I can't help but think that Putin is the result. An autocrat of both the old Soviet system, and, of the older Imperial system. NATO move east without a shot fired, without even a diplomatic phone call from Europe or the US. If I were a Russian who had experienced the Collapse, that would be a threat of the first order. NATO bombed the Serbs, an ally of Russia, while declaring that it is strictly a defensive alliance when no former Yugo country was in NATO.
I'm no expert here, but there are two sides to this. There's more going on than the fallout of a great power collapsing.
Back in the mid 80's my mother did her first trip to Moscow, a communist party comrade told her to bring some coffee with her to offer as gifts. When she got to the hotel she offered a 500g package to the cleaning maid, who burst out crying over the gift. Mom was surprised by the reaction, but the stay at the hotel was a success and the room was always spotless with tea and cookies.
She figured it was valuable, but we had no idea, until now.
I wonder how much tea costs relative to coffee. In Russian stores in the US, there's always lots of tea.
DUDE, you explained this problem so perfectly. As Russian student and IT-specialist I can confirm everything you said. This bold idiot with just one decision destroyed my entire future and what makes it even worse is that my family still agrees with him, not even bothering to think that they are digging a grave to me. I've tried to discuss the problem with them but all they said is that I'm delusional. Luckily I have friends that on the same boat with me and we help each other to get out of here 😔
I knew a Russian student out of Syktyvkar here in Norway. Sadly he only finished his degree in 2019, so he had not yet worked up the money to leave Russia permanently when the European borders slammed shut in February. Luckily he’s too old to be conscripted anytime soon. I was more worried about my acquintances in Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk, luckily all of them have managed to escape to Europe now. Last fellow out of Donetsk managed to walk across the Estonian border with his wife last month and now live on a farm in Iceland of all places from what I hear.
Man that refugee is soon going to be disappointed. New estonian minister of internal affairs makes very interesting promises which have a certain smell to them. Some phrases are very close to saying enemy of the people.
When the US and Europe kills millions of people and bomb the shit out of any country, they receive no pushback at all. But when other countries do it (Russia) they get sanctioned and blocked from all international trade, with millions of people thrown into poverty and loosing their livelyhoods. How is that Putin fault? Seriously. Here in Latin America you have a good example, Cuba, that hasn't bothered anyone, hasn't bombed any country, hasn't joined any war, and they are still sanctioned in the same way as Russia... just for ideology reasons...
In the US if your country is comitting genocide and war, your livelyhood wouldn't be affected in any way, because their murders are "justified" and "righteous"...
I'm really sorry for you. Hard time ahead, maybe in a decade or two, things will greatly improve. After all, who could imagine in 1985 that U.S.S.R could colapse in few years. Sometimes, things change quickly.
Today, it's for the bad ; maybe tomorrow for the better.
as a Georgian, im also in IT, work as a remote web engineer, making 4000 euroes (im on internship position), (which is decent but nothing that much, considering how much there is you can make in different American companies, sadly they require you to be in office) my 70% of family member live in Russia, and oh boy, when i heared what was the salary of web engineer (react/Laravel) i was shocked. $300. i mean really tallented people i meet those who are perfectly capable of pulling off same thing i do, yet they make $300, when they can make roughly 4000 euroes which today is roughly same as $4000.
I always tell people that it was not Reagan's space war project that brought the Soviet Union down, but the humble VHS player.
On the smuggled and 100-times copied cassettes of Western movies all of us could see that our life behind the iron curtain was, simply put, shit. When we saw Beverly Hills cop, we thought that Axel Foley must be rich to have a car, sneakers and a sports coat. We saw in each grocery store scene the abundance of goods compared to what was available to us. Once people saw the difference in standards of life the game was up - not even the apparatchiks could believe in the system anymore.
NBC broadcast Chuck Norris-marathon and that was it.
I know a guy who traded his Romanian Dacia for a VHS player. That's how sought-after they were on the black market. Now this VHS player is worth nothing, but the old original Dacia would be worth several thousand Euros.
I remember that time quite clearly. It's simply bizarre having had some recent "conversations" with mostly young Americans, prior to Putler's full invasion, who vehemently insisted that all the stories of Soviet and Russian shortages and living conditions were false and entirely made up by "Western Gov't propaganda". It was appalling, not only in its absurdity, but in their delusional certainty, the sheer number of them who believed that, and the undeniable cruelty they inflict by denying and dismissing the suffering of so many millions of people not very long ago.
Tragically, it took the blood of Ukrainian torture victims in this utterly barbaric invasion to shake their attitudes a bit. They aren't the least bit aware that they have been baited and hooked by second and third hand Ruzzian cult propaganda they found on the internet and shared amongst themselves, such is the power of it.
But I digress. I meant to point out that a significant factor in triggering the inevitable Soviet collapse was the devastating and protracted invasion of Afghanistan, and their defeat in that imperialistic venture, which weakened them financially, militarily, and politically. Sort of a one-two punch with your VHS social and cultural impact..
No, it's not true. USSR was fallen apart thanks to former satellite countries - Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia etc. We always know how huge difference between communist countries and Western countries were. We were protesting, we were watching Western films and listening Western music.
USSR wouldn't fall apart if there weren't first free election in Poland in '89; first free elections in Czechoslovakia in '90; falling of Berlin Wall in '89...
USSR wouldn't fall apart if we didn't protest during all communist time, being pacified by Warsaw Pact soldiers...
When you were living your live thinking how good it is, we - people in satellite republics, we were robbed of raw materials, products (USSR settled with transfer rubles, which were non-existent money, while satellite countries were paying real money), we've been shot at and killed in protests every decade, we were. We were fighting the communist regime for almost 50 years. First, when the Red Army stole all the things left behind by the Germans (everything - from the dismantling of German factories to the theft of even cables and railway tracks) and imprisoned the heroes who fought against the Nazis, then all the time when the authorities fired to shot artists, scientists, students, workers, even children. When the Red Army units stood next to our military units all this time - when the soldiers in our units had nothing, but took care of everything as if it were their own, and in the Red Army units they had access to Western goods, which were sometimes bought from the soldiers for huge amounts, and at the same time they were wearing torn uniforms.
Reminds me of a story of a Russian recently arrived in the US and friends taking him to the grocery store - where he was most shocked that there was an entire large aisle devoted only to dog and cat foods.
You are doing a great service to the people of Russia, by helping us westerners understand their plight.
So so kind!!
Not really. He is twisting the facts to build a narrative fitting the western propaganda. Hence, he is just saying what you expect to hear.
I disagree with this statement. People see what they want to see and what people want to see never has anything to do with the truth. If you want to see negative things, you will always find something negative. It's a perception of the author, nothing more. For example, if you come to Africa expecting poverty, corruption and violence. Chances are, you'll find exactly that.
you westerners generally don't understand anything
@@user-yj7um6hv1d without looking at both the good AND the bad, you will never understand the situation.
EVERYTHING you’ve said about everyday life in USSR is the same as it was in Poland at that time - queues, empty shelves, no colour, no freedom, dreaming about a piece of the west in a form of Levi’s jeans which cost a few month salary… Minus the Stalin part - we’ve always made fun of him during almost 50 years of de facto soviet occupation. I think that is why eastern european countries are determined to help Ukraine. We’ve been on both sides of the courtain (on the soviet side - forcefully) and we understand the problem & danger better. I don’t know, just my morning thoughts ;).
its sad when your country cant exploit the global south like the west did and still does
well said
in the Eastern European countries it was much better than in the USSR tho, like people who managed to go abroad to Poland or Czechoslovakia and bring back products from there were considered very lucky 😂
Poland, Yugoslavia , Hungary and Chehoslovakia had more contact with the democratic world and that was a great advantage for them during that harsh times
The smuggled levi's jean that cost a month of salary is a great story of that period,
thanks Poland for Pope Paul and Lech Walesa
I live in an ex Russian sattelite state and the conditions described by Vlad was the same here too. I always though Russia was only cruel to it's sattelite states not to it's own population.
The EU was our salvation. These days I'm only hungry when I'm too lazy to eat.
Only the Capitals of the Soviet Republics were getting the good treatment. Peasant got their passports (internal) only in the mid 70s if I remember correctly. They couldn't just go anywhere they liked. How about police posts around all of the cities leading to the highways? You could be stopped and searched for no reason and had to "check-in" with the police when leaving a city. Btw - that still happens in most places of the former USSR.
@@RA-tg1dp I don't remember those police posts, we didn't have a car. That was a luxury very few people could afford.
I live in New York and your "too lazy to eat" line hit home. Somedays, I just can't bring myself to open the fresh and affordable _1-pound_ box of spring mix salad in my fridge, dump some on a plate, pour dressing on it, and stuff it in my mouth. Too many damn steps.
That is just sad considering that Russia also could've been like that if they swallowed their pride and joined EU.
I can't imagine living like this. As a Swiss I always had the dilemma of having a full fridge but nothing to eat. My grandma grew up in Nazi Germany and she always reminded me how good we have it compared to them and the people my great grandpa saw on the front in Crimea (He was in the Wehrmacht, forcibly conscripted as a way out to not be punished for political dissent). While these tales are very present to me, it doesn't change the fact I have ever experienced true poverty and hunger.
I started high school in 1992 here in Denmark. One of the subjects I chose to study was the Russian language. We were all caught up in optimism and ready to reach out our hands to our Russian brothers and sisters, as they sought to reintegrate into the world.
It was such a huge missed opportunity for Russia, and there was one again in 1999!
@@VladVexler Vlad, when will be the next one? If Putin steps down, other siloviki will take over, the system seems unbreakable. Is it?
And one in 2012 but your people got what they voted for
lol what world the tyrant, fascist racist, Nazi north and their dictators masked as Democratic alliances of NATO? Just know that half the world see Russia from a different lens and the north is not the entirety of the world neither is this guy's perspective on his own country true to it's nature. Heck i sit in my own country and sometimes want to die laughing how stupid the perception of some individuals are. Once you know the world of GEO politics by heart your worldly perspective will change vastly. Half the world considers Russian and it's people to be hero's for ww2 and the operation in Ukraine. So just know that those northern NATO countries and there perspectives do not account for the rest of the 60% of the world populations. I would urge westerners to look at their perspective on the rest of the world and think hard about the bubble you guys have created for yourself, because your are being firstly fooled by MAFIA democratics (dictators of NATO) and secondly you live past the problems of this world without realizing it creating your own fantasy perceptions.
For some reason I have chosen this moment in history to learn the Russian language. It's made so much easier by apps like Duolingo. But as I read your comment I realize that it is not out of a desire to reach out my hands to Russian brothers and sisters, but out of a sense that all of a sudden they are invading even my world, far away in South Africa and they pose an existential threat to me. As such I feel a kind of urgency to understand the nature of the threat with which I am faced which includes watching channels such as this one as well as many others like it and for some reason even to learn the language itself. Last night I asked a Russian speaking Ukrainian whether he preferred the translation хулиган or терроризировать for the word "bully." He chose хулиган. His first language is Ukrainian but is fluent in Russian and it was the language in which he was educated up to University level. I like the connotations of both words for what I was trying to say, but I had chosen "русский хулиган" when referring to certain people on Twitter who had slandered Taira Paevska and called for her execution. I then included the very famous phrase we all know that was used against a certain Russian warship . . . I was happy to have chosen the translation that my scholar friend agreed with, but how sad that this is my motivation to learn and that these are the words that are filling my Russian vocabulary while it is in it's infancy! I am appalled at the whole situation, including at myself but yet, here we are!
I was born in USSR in 1977 and lived there for 17 years. My experience was very similar, and so are my conclusions about modern Russian propaganda and what it's doing to people's minds. I don't recall my parents or myself getting into fights in food lines, but one moment is etched in my memory. I was a sickly child, and many medicines were hard to get. My mom managed to scrounge some medical cream that I needed, bribing someone as people often did, and she accidentally dropped the vial. I remember her crawling on the floor and trying to salvage some of the cream, sobbing.
By the way, while St. Petersburg and Moscow were the Potemkin villages of USSR for foreign tourists, I lived in a lesser republic. We didn't have dental anesthetics for cavities and sometimes even root canals. And of course, we had no toilet paper. Ever. We used free government propaganda newspapers - crumbled their pieces and used them to wipe.
My first burger was in America in 1994 at Burger King. It was a transcendental experience. So was entering an American supermarket. I physically felt my eyes running in opposite directions trying to register the wealth of food around me. It was absolutely surreal.
Yes, this. We are from Pribaltia, so are my parents and grandparents. The fact of seeing all that food for pennies at a cost, that you won't go hungry even if you have the lowest of jobs, that you will even get fat from the amount of poor food - it's insane. Hunger is gone, scarcity is gone, we're free to go anywhere, free to do anything we want, no more worries, no more lying to yourself about communism and it's goals in order to get into a technical school or university - nothing.
"My first burger" dude burger is a shitty food especially at Burger King, not really an achivement to get a burger or Cola/Pepsi )))
@@dvgsun My friend, that may be true to your experience, but clearly not to the people you are replying to. I don’t know if you are trying to be rude, but your comment feels quite insensitive at the very least.
@@dvgsun The variety of fast food in the West has spoiled us to a point were we can call a perfectly adequate burger garbage, just because there is even a better burger just down the street. -Also bite me, BK hater-
@@h8GW exactly, I prefer a burger from a small local cafe than KFC or Mac, though you need to pay a bit more sometimes but the taste is on another level.
Unsubscribed from Jordan Peterson after his video on "civil war in the west", and subscribed to Vlad after seeing his great video. Thank you for your work!
The older generation of my family told me about the constant shortage of all goods and food, as well as their terrible quality. When my grandmother went on a work trip to Moscow from Kyiv, she brought back everything possible: from tangerines for all relatives and colleagues, to boots and fur coats from Czechoslovakia. The other part of my family, who lived in a small town with a dairy, did not taste ice cream until the collapse of the USSR, it was simply not sold there.
For us Ukrainians, the rethinking of the Soviet past happened slowly, but most people have already gotten rid of the myths about "amazing and prosperous" life in the USSR, for us it is now just a period of miserable occupation, same as the Baltic peoples see it.
Unsubscribed from Jordan Peterson and then subscribed to Vlad Vexler. I’m impressed with you. 🙌🏼😎
You made my day with your comment! Peterson to Vlad!
Nice to meet someone open minded, willing to be convinced by arguments.
Unfortunately Russia never went through the same process of rethinking the soviet past. Alarmingly almost 70% of the population hold Stalin in positive regard. It would be equivalent to if 70% of Germans held Hitler in positive regard
Russia fundamentally cannot change without redeeming themselves from communism, figures like Putin will only continue to rise and fall
For someone that is so against communism, it sure sounded like he was parroting Russian propaganda with this whole civil war between woke and non-woke BS. Saying that woke ideology made the west weak and that prompted Russia to invade Ukraine.
😊
The penguin analogy is touching, but I didn’t see it carrying any nukes… Your deep understanding and clear presentation should be mandatory viewing in every government. Well done.
You are very kind!
I visited and worked in Russia extensively in 1999, 2000 and 2001 - from the United States. I was a guest of the Russian government. What I experienced was fascinating. I still consider St Petersburg to be the most beautiful and most interesting place in the world. The Russians I knew were strong, capable, intelligent and well educated. I was surprised by the low wages and standard of living. Over the past 20 years Russia has improved economically and embraced many aspects of the West. Now it seems that Putin and the people of Russia prefer to embrace China. This saddens me because I had hoped to return to St Petersburg - now that won't happen.
There is open hostility from the west towards Russia, Putin, the corrupt oligarchy but Russia didn't choose to turn east. It has been repeatedly rebuffed by the west.
Thank you for sharing how you experienced Russia. 20 years back. In a way, Russia doesn’t get to choose to ally with China. Russia will have the kind of relationship with China that China wants to have.
Well China is better than the west BUT Russia is very weak and they know what China is capable of economically however they got arrogant
@@VladVexler exactly
People of Russia prefer democracy and peace. Putin is not Russia.
I was born in Poland in 1982 while martial law was in place. I emigrated to Canada in 1990 with my parents. Your expression of the experience of comming from a communist east to capitalist west during this period is beautiful yet succinct. I see so much of what shaped me in your words. It is an experience that is unique to me in most of the settings in which I find myself today and hearing you speak of this the way you do makes me feel less lonely.
Vlad I tiled that McDonald’s in 1990 we were sent over from London to Moscow for two weeks. Kent and I lived beer pretty much! Great content in your Vlogs, my friend.
Your a sweet heart Vlad this was epic and touching. My father is a Romanian Holocaust survivor and you and I could be similar in age. He left aft WW2 for the United States. I can’t believe what you experienced the shortages and all. I was in the United States and a happy baby was a chubby baby we had too much selection. I’m glad you got settled and I don’t blame you for not wanting to go back. Putin has a stoole pigeon that continually tells him how bad the west is blah blah blah! The problem the west has with Russia is we don’t like how he treats his neighbors. If we didn’t care that our neighbors robbed, murdered, raped,and bombed we would get along fine. I gave up on Putin the only thing I hope is that he will never be able to attack another country again. They will never financially have the money to rebuild a military he has no conscience nor empathy for humanity. In all my years Russia just never gets it. They are like a broken record that keeps skipping the beat They have the most sanctions and even beat North Korea. I wouldn’t put a past that in 10 years we see Russia breaking apart ! Putin is NATOS best recruiter hey we got Finland and Sweden out of the deal! I just wish the war would stop ✋
Thanks 😊
Im so sorry for your father I hope he got the welcome and home in the US he didn’t get in his country Dr Mike is close my age and he spoke about how antisemítico was again on the rise in the USSR. And now again. I was born in the 80s and I can’t believe any of this insanity
That was a beautiful and accurate comment. Nothing but truth. Sputin has ruined his country for generations to come. And the "peasants" will suffer once again.
Vlad, thank you for sharing your personal story. I too immigrated with my family to America in 1976. Back then, our people called this the land of milk and honey. Your story is necessary. Our stories are how we get to understanding and compassion and hopefully - peace.
Agree deeply with your words about our stories and understanding.
You clearly have a incredible talent for presenting and telling your story! Enjoyed it very much, thank you for sharing your insight!
Thank you!
I was born in 1982 in Poland. Without having a family at the village where we still had a cow and grew own food we would have never survived. I have the exact same memories 🥲 Your video brought some little tear. Lol
My dad took us on the train one day, all packed up and we emigrated to RFN Germany to seek asylum from trying to draft my dad deeper I the army. We slept in the tents in Germany I was 6 and it was some amazing holidays for me. I had my gewing gum and harribo for the first time as well as a banana and an orange. My husband now is American and I'm sometimes telling him the stories he cannot believe it. I will play this video to him so he can picture the empty store shelves.
Get out! We Americans don’t want you here! Go back to Poland! Polish vermin go home!
As someone who has spent their life studying Russia and Putin in particular, I find your channel refreshing and insightful. I develop theories in my own thoughts and then I listen to you and hear one of my thoughts and in that moment, I feel like it's exactly right. Thank you for taking the time to educate, explain and open people's mind.
I’m not sure if this is a false memory, but I remember Khrushchev coming to the US, perhaps the time he pounded his fist at the UN and his embarrassed colleagues had to join in, and he was taken on a tour of an everyday supermarket (in Texas?) and he really thought it was a Potemkin supermarket, a fake show, a kind of Hollywood set built just to deceive him, of every kind of food that was in fact really available to the average American worker. Your description of the Tel Aviv market and its effect on you aroused the memory.
Wow! You described my experience of coming to Canada from Poland in 1985 and going to a grocery story - ‘ a sheer sense of colour’ ! Exactly that! All the oranges, bananas....
Yes Gosia - the colour!!
@@VladVexler funny, that now I miss subdued colours of communistic cities…. The colours of todays North American cities with all those billboards, advertising and all that jazz is too busy and anxiety producing….
Now I can put my grandfathers stories to a better context, thank you for that. He was a trucker who used to do the Leningrad route. He told us stories later on about how he'd prepare for the trips by taking packs of coffee, cigarettes, chewing gum, beer and other everyday stuff with him because everything would work better if you'd give a little something. Of course we all have read about the notorious corruption but this for example illustrates how a pound of coffee could reasonably be exchanged for a tankful of petrol.
In the early 90s, here in Germany, I had a classmate that actually was able to stay in Georgia for a couple of months. I don't remember any exact circumstances or detailsanymore, but I do remember the whole class being fascinated from the stories he told us. He learned a bit Russian, and he was convinced that the Russian language would soon become a world language just as important as the English one. And we were pretty positive about that. Now today, look what an ugly monster 20 years of propaganda have created. How could we be so blind all these years. I was told how my grandpa basically took the Nazi propaganda of his youth with him into his grave. 50 years were not enough for him to accept the truth. Similarily, I fear that 20 years of Russian propaganda will take generations to heal. Even if this war is eventually over, I have little hope for Russia and Europe's security.
Russians are like Americans on crack
Und das Schreckliche dabei ist, dass gefühlt die meisten der Russischsprachigen hier in Deutschland ebenfalls ein Opfer der russischen Propaganda geworden sind. Ich selber spreche Russisch, da ich in Kasachstan geboren bin und es ist schon schrecklich was in den „Russisch-Deutschen“ Kreisen abgeht. Russisches Propaganda ist überall, Tik Tok, RUclips, es werden einander viele propagandistische Videos geschickt. Ich habe versucht mit einpaar Russischsprachigen darüber zu reden aber es war vergebens.
Doch auch bei den deutschen Querdenkern hat sich dieses Gift verbreitet. Wenn man teilweise die Kommentare liest, wird einem schon übel. Meinungsfreiheit muss sein, aber genau das nutzt Russland für seine Zwecke aus. Unser Staat sollte hier die Initiative ergreifen…
@@humanbuilding2597 Auf jeden Fall! Die massenhafte "Verdummung" von Menschen über soziale Medien ist ein extremes soziales Phänomen in allen möglichen Ländern. Richtig gefährlich wird es dann, wenn Staatsoberhäupter diese Gruppen für ihre Machtinteressen ausnutzen. Siehe "Sturm auf das Kapitol" in Washington vor nicht allzulanger Zeit.
I used to work for an German woman here in the US. She mentioned that her grandfather was a Nazi who served in the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front. Apparently he survived the Russian POW camps and made it home.
She said he never stopped being a Nazi, and raised his son (her father) that way. She said her sister wasn’t a Nazi, but never said anything about it being bad, which is why the sister was the favorite of the two.
The woman told me that she was the “black sheep” of the family for coming to America and living in the middle of nowhere, but also that she was the happiest, despite not having her father’s money.
I went to Cuba with about 3000 paper foils, ballpens and some liters of parfumed liquid soap. I gave the soap to an old woman in a market and she reacted like it was a lottery prize. I tried to give the paper foils packet and the ballpens to a regional primary school and after making some calls they rejected it because they weren't allowed to recieve donations. What a crazy system.
it must be so hard, to never be able to go back. especially if you are a literature lover like yourself. Bulgakov's house, Pushkin, Gogol, all the places where these giants once were present... I am sorry for your loss, and that it just a tiny bit of it all.
I love being in Western Europe, and I imagine I would live for a year or two in Russia - if there is ever a post-Putin non authoritarian/totalitarian Russia!! Thank you so much Erik.
And musical greats like Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as well.
Ukraine also lays claim to Bulgakov and Gogol - though they wrote in Russian. The Russian language belongs as much to Ukraine as to Russia - and to many other countries - just as English belongs not only to England but the the US, to India, etc. Kiev's policies toward the Russian language over the years have been very stupid; one might say repressive. None of that, obviously, is an excuse for Putin's invasion and mass killing.
"But even more amazing was the sheer sense of colour that I didn't experience before"
YES! This! Whenever I think of the communist period, yes, there's the lack of goods and such, the fear of speaking your mind, etc.. but the worst thing that hits me is how grey everything was. From the buildings to the clothes and the souls of the people around me.
I still recall the rush of enthusiasm I felt when first seeing shelves stocked with colorful western merchandise (must have been in early 1990, on Romanian tv). At that moment I realized things were truly going to be great. My joy immediately tempered by the drab ladies minding the store candidly declaring to the reporter how they cannot sell anything yet because nobody told them what prices to list.
All this thinking about Russia over the last few months has left me incredibly sad. I consciously and vehemently do not hate Russians (they have always been the first victims of the successive regimes) but I really do hate Russia and its cruel leaders/bullies. How can anyone blame countries on Russia's border for wanting in on the American/Western world? It's far from perfect, but compared to any system Russia has EVER had it is objectively superior - and by a LOT. Russia is not wanted by all the countries on its border. It has nothing to offer them! And how does its leadership take this rejection? About as well as a gorilla in a school playground. With primitive, egotistical, savage and barbaric violence. It honestly makes me wonder how Western Europe ever managed to reach the (comparatively) free and prosperous position it has when Russia's example shows how easy it seems for the ruthless and the murderous to monopolise power, It makes me so angry. And so sad.
It has nothing to offer. Now. But it is only if we can imagine a different Russia that we can effectively mobilise ourselves, in the West, to oppose this one.
"Russia has nothing to offer them"
We can offer them military intervention, that's all we need to offer other countries. Might gives the right, you now. Missile in urkaine goes boom)
Two steps forward, one step back. We have had our revolutions and bloody suppressions in the past as well. Look up how the 'jacquerie' ended. It is a miracle in itself that Europe stopped fighting itself, after being at war with itself for thousands of years without much peace inbetween.
I do feel trade is the answer. It brings wealth, and it urges those in power to not have wars as to not interrupt trade and the flow of wealth. This also dampens longings for more freedom, it keeps people content with their station when they can feed and clothe their families and see chances to gain more wealth still.
Like: why would people go protest these days? They will need to take a day off work, but they could also spend that day at sea with the kids, enjoying games and a cool beer... This in turn makes governments milder, because they know that however they screw up, no matter how much they lie and are basically unfit to manage a shrimp stall, let alone anything more complicated, they will still have nothing to fear. They can waste billions and be back next election. They can come back on each and every promise they made and not be held accountable. They can even let the cabinet 'fall' and stay in place until next elections.
So they know that ANY kind of protest will blow over, eventually, and they will be in the same comfortable place they were before, so why should they even bother with repressing a protest?
And do I care much about it? Well, I do like my fast WiFi, my loaded supermarket, clean tap water, decent hospitals and tarmac for miles... If they screw up, it will cost me, but how much? It's like a recession, taking us back to our income of 2017. You know, when we had it so bad we had to eat uncle Dave....
Should however, our wealth evaporate and our systems collapse, I will take my sword from the attic and explain to them that a revolution is always only three meals away... And after that, they are much more likely to react fierce and harsh to any protest because they are now in a situation where it can cost them their lives.
@@meso8848 I'd think he rather wants russia to remember the Novgorod republic and to model itself after the republican examples in it's history and not only the authoritarian and cruel ones.
@@meso8848 isn't that like a Gorbachev 2.0?
There is nothing more destructive as people who FEEL humiliated. This accounts for every kind of relationshop. At least thats my experience. Unfortunately only "grown up" people realize, that the only one who can humiliate you, are yourself.
Humiliation is more or less a choice. And 50 years of propaganda doesn't help to keep people subjugated
you can be humiliated by violence in your family while you are a child and feel it all your life (a problem of many russian families). Is that yourself too?
@@annalukianova1041 This is a very good objection and shows again how much everything depends on the definition of words. I wouldn't talk about humiliation (feeling), but auf traumatization (fact).
Besides, I am far from pretending that it is easy not to feel humiliated, sonetimes people try pretty hart to humiliate others. That's surely not true for Russia.
My folks both abandoned the USSR, and haven't spoke much about the "old Country", except in a round about way being grateful to be in Canada.
I asked to go visit, was told, you don't want to see how those poor people live.
I wish the best for my relatives there, but also support even more those that choose a better life and want to leave.
"You don't want to see how those poor people live."
That's cold, sounds like there's a lot of trauma there.
@@BernasLL no it wasn't cruel, it was empathy, my mother liver thru it, I still call and speak to some there, my mom has passed away, but I have her phone list, some have left Russia, some the Ukraine since Feb 2022, with no intent on returning, 1 family is now in Canada, with my Cousin on the farm my Grampa came to in 1906, pre WW1, as He knew it was brewing,and took his family as a 22 year old father to escape the coming, he never went to visit, and never spoke bad about the Slavic, but it caused him to be a agnostic, due to Where's God question, but at his funeral our town was at his funeral, his home was the "safe house" before there were places for woman, kids, burnt out families, so he saw something way back then too.
That's why, they spoke that way.
My grandparents and parents also left, but I wouldn't call it "abandoning." Rather they escaped and saved the lives of those who left; they were at first very poor immigrants to Canada-but safe. Of the ones who were not able to escape, there was terrible suffering and death from starvation in gulags and even some executions. What a heartbreaking history so many of our forefathers had in the Russia they called home. It is only lately that I revisit this family history as Putin resurrects that past Russia.
@@ellebelle8515 you are so correct, if one looks at the Dukabor, Mennonite, Hutterite history of why and how they ended up in Canada, it makes one ask, " How long God ?" but we know we all will face our Creator, that's why Matt 25: 31-46 is so relevant to those people who suffered the awful thing they did, and to think in 2022 we still have humans with such a bent toward evil.
But evil won't win, it's hard to sit back and watch the suffering that some societies still dish out on others, thankful I'm not God, I'll let Him be the judge, and do my best to be what is the positive of the above quote.
@@ellebelle8515 where did they settle on arrival to Canada.
There's a phrase for it: Narcissistic Injury. It is visible or known to no-one but the narcissist. But they take revenge on anyone nearby.
Went to Moscow in 1995 on a business trip as an invitee of a Russian agency. Found Moscow drab and Russians very different based on their prospectives of the world. The one person that struck me odd was our escort who confided that he had been a communist member during the Soviet era and longed for the old days of the Soviet Union. Found that to be very odd from my perspective as a member of a western democracy. His perspective was he had what he needed under the Soviet system while now it was a struggle for him to survive. He lost his standing in society and gained nothing from it. He felt things were much better under the Soviet system of governance. One can see why and how Vlad came into power in Russia later that decade and started his march to rebuild the Russian Empire.
It was the same in all ex-communist block. Difference is us satellite states fought tooth and nail to shake those decades off and strikes and protested every time the old guard reared its ugly head.
This poor russians meme is super stale by now, they are and always were tremendous sheeple fighting to keep the dark age alive and kicking. Couple of good writers doesn't mean damn.
Sadly, it is the older generation Russians who long for the old days and remember all the good about Communist USSR rather the hardships. I am one of the older generation thinking that these older Russians, out of fear for themselves and a misplaced nostalgia for the "old Communist days," they deny the youth their futures in a better country.
Bruh i m from romania and one day this year i was in a buss,and an older dude,a bit metal,was verry happy and was singing something and the he told the other old people in the bus that he was a pioneer,its like hitler youth but for comunist countries,all comie country had commie youth,like bruh he was probably singing commie youth anthem or something,i seen theyr "i swear" declaration in a museum,man thise people are verry dangerous.
Irony is in comunism religion was ilegal,but after fall of comunism many comunist members became priests and got into the religion organization,for them its the same thing,and they escaped persecution for theyr involvement in a opresive regime
@@UnipornFrumm My parents were born in Russia following the Bolshevic Revolution, and many were victims of Stalin's atrocities. Therefore, I definitely have a biased perspective against Communism. I am now Canadian, but wished to visit to homeland of my ancestors. Then came Putin's invasion. Instead, I spent nine months in Romania during the Covid period. I love Romania- the beautiful country and the people. I can see that Romanian people my age or even older might be longing for the "old days of Communism" just like all older people like myself miss some of the days of our youth. But, these supporters were likely the ones who benefited somewhat of Ceausescu's regime. At least they were not victims like my family. I met two of these older Romanian supporters of Communism, and I enjoyed visiting with them; they were good people. On the other hand, I also believe that my generation can also be very selfish in their support of the autocracies/regimes that could bring great harm to the future generations of their children and grandchildren.
@@ellebelle8515 it is true,they may not heve been party members or secret police or factory director but they didn't speek against the regime,and they like most got jobs in the new factoryes built and apartments,also comunism promoted nationalism,you will see old people really dislike foreign manufactured stuff,they also hate the eu for tryng to standardize the continent.
However they fail to understand they lived in an economic boom due to a increase of working age people and simply the time period of new tehnologies beeing wide scale implemented not just because of socialism guidance. Its just sad the commies stayed in the government and stole the country to enrich themselves,it didnt became as worse as rusia in terms of freedoms,as there is some good people in gov
I am from Estonia , we have 21% russian population cause Stalin deported in th 50s bunch of estonians into sibria into gulags and latr imported bunch of russians into Estonia and I have to say that I am soooo , sooo disappointd in russian people in my country...ofcourse there ar some that are very intelligent , kind and amazing people who speak Estonian and absolutely hate what Putin is doing but sadly...80% of therussians I have seeen humiliate ukrainians who come to seek hel from Estonia...we have even had situations whre russians attack estonians who help ukrainians , it really makes me oo sad because before this stupid war began things were actually changing and russians in my country started to have more sympathetic view of the west but now they listen to Putins speches again and are angry...again, I can only imagin what happens in Russia
Sad that Estonia can't just deport that imbeciles to Russia so they can experience first hand the glorius rule of putin. One can only dream
Pathetic
Hey my brother/sister, I am from Latvia and it is EXACTLY the same here!
@@Mangarsoburkani same as Slovakia republic but propaganda shake my country in base
@@milanmrlian5228 Ahh feel sorry for you guys! But, yes, here we also have many Putin supporters even among Latvians not just only ethnic Russians who live here.
Anyways, greetings from Latvia! 💓
It's strange how the more the current situation is contextualized, the worse it seems.
A barbarous landgrab is one thing, but a barbarous landgrab driven by ressentiment and paranoia..
This is only political 🙄
But ofc CNN says the truth
@@salahabdalla368 By all means enlighten us with your version of 'truth'. It must be somewhere in the instructions you received I presume?
@@proskub5039 The fact that Ukraine wanted this war and got what it deserved.
@@nikitakuznetsov8446 I didn't imagine one of his peons (if so you are) would ascribe so little agency to the dictator in the Kremlin for his deeds
@@nikitakuznetsov8446 The Russian people desperately yearn for the glory days of the USSR that never were.
Thanks for sharing your story, Vlad. I was born in 1981 in the US and remember seeing on TV the long lines of Moscow citizens in line at the McDonald's. It's strange to think I may have seen you all those years ago. I remember that my teacher made a big deal out of it and we read the newspaper article in class. People were so excited that the Cold War seemed to be thawing. It's sad to see how things have gone....there was so much potential.
Something happened.
Vlad, that was a beautiful moment about the vendors giving you fruit when you were eating grapes from the ground.
Yes!! I was shocked!
I am a former American who moved to northern Europe in 2002 (I was sick of its imperialism) and then Moscow from 2014 to 2020. In many ways it was the greatest time of my life. It certainly was the most interesting. I could write a whole book about it here. If I get started I won't stop. Feb 24 changed everything for me. But... while I was there, I picked up a wife. I am back in northern Europe. She is in Moscow. We used to see each other somewhere once a month. Things are ... more complicated now. She's not happy I am pro-Ukraine. I used to feel Russia was misunderstood. I don't know what to say now. Just sad.
Interesting. Write this book.
Just goes to show how deeply ordinary russians are poisoned. Even when presented with the evidence that they are not the good guys, they will refuse to face it at any cost.
I mean not sure how much marriage there is if it can be broken up by a conflict that is by and large external to both of you.
What a remarkable journey through ‘memory lane’, Vlad! I do appreciate so much your understanding of your own continuity through your experience. I wish we could trace our trajectories with such precision here in the States. All good health to you, my friend. Until we meet again in the comments, Cheers💖!
Thank you so so much; positive wishes back at you always! 💛
Hi Vlad :) You brought back so many memories... My grandfather had a zhigula and my father Moskvich :) I remember those shops for newspapers. The queues were huge. In winter it was very cold with a lots of snow. People dropped pennies but they usually didn't pick them up. When the shop was closed and there were no people, I dug in the snow for money and bought pancakes from the local pastry shop :D
Thank you for sharing!!
thank you for this Vlad, I remember going to Russia in late 80s and compared to Poland it was so grim and people so tired - not that we were doing that well at the time; I moved to the UK in 91 and I'm glad of it, with all its faults good old England is a good fit and one can carve out a decent life here, sending best wishes
Warmest wishes back you Maria - from a baking London rooftop.
England would have far less faults if eastern Europeans stopped bringing their problems here.
@@heybabycometobutthead Externalising our problems again, are we ?
Time for you to look in the mirror & to reflect on what you see in it.
@@JamesC785 Are you qualified to psychoanalyse me?
@@heybabycometobutthead I'm sure that your GP could give you a list of people that could help you understand what you see in your mirror.
Excellent review, healing is needed.
Thank you dear John!!!!
Yep, just take your pills!
Rich and powerful story-telling. Such important themes so well brought to life. Bravo.
Thank you so much Mallen! Means a lot. I edited it while feeling ill the night before. It really needed a couple of more editing passes to make it less jumpy and abrupt. But it had been a month since I uploaded here, so I just went for it! I’m still learning how to balance my limited hours due to health with YouTubing!!
Old joke:
What is a km long and is eating potatoes? A row of Soviets waiting at the butcher shop.
Another one:
A guy walks into the butchery shop and hangs his coat on a meat hook. The butcher is surprised and asks the man what he is doing since this is a butchery shop. The guy is startled and replied: "I'm so sorry, I thought it was a cloakroom, because of all the empty meat hooks!"
I have to say Vlad, you tell a wonderful story and you have a voice to die for 😊
Great insight to cccp. You have so deep and interesting videos and still they are lively and entertaining. Thank you very much ❤️🇺🇦🇪🇺🇺🇸🇬🇧🇨🇦🇫🇮
I haven't seen encounters at the end of the world in a decade, but your reference to it still struck me, a powerful scene and a poignant reference. Great video, I subbed
Welcome! If you ever wish to ask a question just leave it in a new comment. We also have a second channel Vlad Vexler Clips, where I do Q&As and casual conversation!
I have just recently found your channel and all I can say is I'm mesmerized by your ability to communicate. I hear the passion, the history, the intelligence and finally the sadness in your voice. I'm honored to listen to the storytelling you tell.
Hello Vlad, I was born in 1979 in communist Poland and I have very similar memories from childhood. What I remember best from that time was a total contempt of basic human dignity and a total lack of perceiving a person as an individual. I basically meant nothing as a person. The picture of current Russia that you are painting somehow reminds me post-WWI Germany with its resentment and frustration, am I right to see the similarities? Greetings and thank you for the video
Wow, Vlad, your best video yet. Continue your hard work. The world needs philosophers. Thank you. G-d speed, Friend.
So kind!!!
The tragic-comical thing about all this is that if Russia had chosen a liberal democratic path, the country would have been much more powerful and respected today than it ever was under Putin
I'm inclined to believe that it can never be a democratic country.
The citizens do not want the responsibility concomitant with living under such a social contract.
@@threethrushes Yeah, sadly I tend to agree
@@-cj-3729 You mean like Germany? Which is a pathetic little shadow of it's Former self and the little slave of the US, that's not better, if you sell your nation you are worse than any dictator to ever graze the earth
@@threethrushes Someone in 1940s probably: I’m inclined to believe Germany can never be a democratic country. The citizens do not want responsibility concomitant with living under such a social contract.
When Russia was a democracy under Yeltsin the economy collapsed crime rates skyrocketed
It was the worst period in Russia, why the fuck should they change for you?
Vlad, thank you for sharing your story and your thoughtful content with us! 🌞 May you be blessed and well in all of your experiences.
Thank you so much!
HEY! Thankyou very much for sharing your journey my friend🙏👍. Just a great job here man! Well done Bravo! 👏 ♥️
Really excellent talk Vlad, Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure.
Thanks for sharing of your own experience... This tragic societal collapse drove a young genius to deftly and balancedly interrogate everything in life, while nurturing a kind and gentle heart and powerful ethical honesty to gradually move the world...🇷🇺🇮🇱🇬🇧🌍🌌 (And, surely, 'respect for the individual' better than 'individualism' tho.)
Thank you so so much!!
Russia is such a sad nation. So much opportunity, so much potential..all squandered by the corrupt and murderous cowards in the Kremlin. There is no reason that a peaceful Russia that respected borders and other states sovereignty couldn't have thrived (in regards to its people, not the state, as is the current dynamic).
Oh poor russians, always in bondar to the MARTIANS in the Kremlin. Can we stop with this?
There is something which has always held Russia back though, and that’s its geography. It’s a vast, sparsely populated plain comprised of inhospitable to marginal lands in the middle of Eurasia. The climate is terrible, the territory is nearly indefensible, and there’s almost no warm water sea access.
This leads to autocratic governments to maintain centralized order over such a vast territory, which are notoriously prone to corruption. The lack of geographic barriers to invasion leads to expansionist tendencies so that they can reach such barriers beyond their borders, and thus cut the amount of territory needing to be defended to a manageable level.
So yes, it’s a tragic country, but it’s not just because of a few baddies in the government. It’s more that the territory tends to produce authoritarian and imperialistic governments.
@@JohnnyAmerique Surely the European part would be more successful if it was smaller. Perhaps the non-European parts would also be more successful on their own.
We have got to imagine a different Russia. That’s necessary for us, selfishly. To motivate our stand against this one.
@@JohnnyAmerique Greetings from Canada. You are sadly mistaken about geography being Ruzzia's best excuse for its d bag rulers. Try again.
Hearty greetings from southern Australia to you Vlad. Your insight is a joy to share, your wisdom shall grow through us all. I believe history will judge you as one of its Great Educators, thank you again and wishes for your health.
Such a crisp & clear picture you've painted of Russia! & Yes I've personally seen this sense of humiliation expressed by the nicest of Russians.
Yeah me too! I don’t share it at all - one thing I think that’s wrong is that too many Russians don’t know how to actually be proud of positive things in their recent past.
Thank you for sharing your personal story and your insight! You do a great service for all people of the world by doing so
Thank you!!
I am in China and I saw a comment by a Chinese senior fellow in Russian studies. He said Russia has always set the example of what not to do as a country, and it makes all the mistakes for others to see and not to follow.
It's always a pleasure listening to you
Vlad .... Thank you for your insight . It literally makes me cry .
when you talked about the fruit sellers giving you some for free because they saw you picking stray ones off the ground, I felt tears well up. Both out of gladness that people could be so casually kind, and in sadness that there were many millions of children trapped in a way of life where such a thing would never happen to them. Such simple human generosity, and generations deprived of it by shortages and poverty out of their control.
I am a retired nurse, who spent many years doing short term missions across the world. It was wonderful! And I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Siberia! We stopped first in Moscow for 2 days. It was a little scary to be honest. We really didn't know what to expect. The people mostly just stared at us. But those we were visiting were very nice. The plane trip to Siberia was memorable to say the least! When we finally landed, everyone bursted out in song! I asked what they were singing, and was told, it was a hallelujah to God for a safe landing! Lol! I must say the people were very different where we spent most of our 3 weeks. They were friendly and open, and generous. They were just beautiful people! I loved it and them! The weather was perfect @ 70 degrees. But there were heat wave warnings for those days for the regular population. I guess it can get really super cold most of the time! And 70° is really quite warm for them. They have a 90 day window of, what Americans, would consider absolutely beautiful weather. That's when we were there. All of this trip took place in the early 2000's. I wouldn't have missed it for anything!👵😇 God's blessings to you all!
Adding graphics really lifts your videos to an even higher level!
Thank you for creating such great content
His description of his journey sounds so genuine and touching. Great content. Glad I found this channel. I've watch a few of his vids before, but this one earned my sub.
My wife is Russian, our son is learning also the Russian language and culture, next to the German one. But looking in which direction Putin is driving Russia, we more and more often think to teach him another language instead. I mean Russia could have been a prosperous country. If there would be not this nationalistic complexes about something that is already gone and past. And of course a dictator and no control mechanisms, it worked well until this year (before Putin was thought to be an autocratic leader, but rational, now everyone can see that he is an insane person with a lot of ideology in his brain that no one can stop inside Russia).
Well, what is the point not to teach your kid Russian language? The language itself has nothing to the Putin’s crimes in Ukraine. Maybe you also considered an option of prohibiting him speak German language since this is the language Adolf Hitler used to speak?
@@katiedavis5970 It is not the point. Germany is a different country and society now, there was a real denazification after 1945. In Russia something like this will never happen. If it will of course it is a different thing. But let's stay realistic.
We are in a similar situation with me being German and my husband being Russian. The point of teaching our children both languages is, at least for us, not a political or strategic matter. It is about singing the lullabies your grandmother sang you, the stories you read as a child and the way and words with which you experienced love from your own parents. Although our family language is English I am most authentic with my kids when I speak with them in my own language. I think Russians opposing the war find themselfs in an identity crisis and I don't know the solution. We as a family found that donating, helping and housing refugees gives a sense of purpose and moral clarity. Speaking Russian helps tremendously when supporting refugees as many from the East of Ukraine either speak Russian as a first language or the mixture between Russian and Ukrainian. Our kids now additionally learned some Ukrainian.
Keep teaching him Russian. It's a very widespread language, native to a big chunk of Ukraine, most of Belarus, many people in ex-Soviet countries, Israel, US, UK, Australia, and so on. If not on sentimental grounds, knowledge of Russian may turn out as a lucrative skill
Are you ok with Biden, Scholtz, Makron and other european leaders who lead your countries to hell?
Russia will win and prosper.
Such a powerful video Vlad - thank you so much. Your personal story reinforces the first (and only time) I visited Russia. In 1988 I came off a German cruise ship with my Cornish mother and Polish father. My father was a great linguist and was fluent in Russian and German. My mother had learned German in the Thirties partly as she played the piano and was fascinated by German 18th and 19th Century music; and partly because she suspected there would eventually be a war with Germany.
We docked at Leningrad in 1988 and I had learned "spasiba". The man at immigration was probably only a couple of years older than me and he smiled when I said it. On the return trip I encountered the same man, but he made no eye contact when I thanked him, as his boss was standing over him. It was a small but telling insight into the system.
In the streets of the city, as we went through by bus, I too thought it was like going back in time to the 1950s - the cars, the trucks, the drab clothes and the large number of men in uniform. I also noticed how many buildings had scaffolding and that all the scaffolding was poorly cut wood - no steel piping. Then there were the queues - little kiosks were in the streets and if they were open there was always a massive queue, but no indication of what they were selling. We stopped outside a cathedral for a few minutes, a Lada pulled up and two young men tried to sell us tins of "caviar".
The bus driver spoke some German and the Russian guide spoke very poor German and struggled to express himself. When we stopped outside the Winter Palace my Dad made friends with the driver by giving him a packet of Marlborough cigarettes and they shared jokes. Apparently the guide was a Party member and the driver didn't trust him. I got my father to translate for me and asked what the function of the building next to the Winter Palace was. The driver said it was the General Staff Headquarters. I then asked what it had been before the Revolution and got the response the General Staff Headquarters. So I told my Dad to tell him "Nothing changes, does it?" Both my Dad and the driver found this absolutely hilarious.
I knew something of history and felt the irony of being in a German tourist party on a ship crammed with Western luxury in a city besieged by Germans for 900 Days, which still looked so broken and depressing - of course now I know this was Putin's home town which made much of the man he is today.
The shame of the West is after the fall of Communism it should have had a massive economic and (even more important) institutional rescue plan - instead it let anarcho-capitalism flourish and built up a history of anger, theft and resentment.
When Putin is defeated we must show as much love as we can - the Russian people must be allowed to free themselves from the negative mindset. Vlad your work is helping to make that concept a reality. We owe you a great debt. Thank you
Stephen
^^^THIS^^^ EXACTLY! A Marshall Plan for Russia when the Soviet Union collapsed is what we (the US, Europe, the West) should have implemented. Would it have been expensive? Sure. But it still would have proven itself a sound investment over time. Just ask anyone in Europe how such a plan worked for them after WWII.
We may not (collectively) feel so charitable toward Russia after the Ukraine War … but I still think that we should learn from our mistake in the 1990s and offer our help. It will be ever MORE expensive than it would have been in the 1990s, but you can’t quibble about the price if the dividends far outstrip the cost.
And peace? It’s priceless. And it’s worth fighting for, diplomatically, economically, and if necessary, martially. But for the love of all that’s good, please, let us fight for peace with peaceful means, when it can be achieved with far lower human cost than war.
@@taimdala I so agree with you. The West just got lazy after the Cold War. We shall need to make a real effort after the Ukraine War to help Russia find a happy destiny. I worry that the West is so buried in its own narcissism that it may not have the energy however. We need to struggle and hope to make it a reality.
@@kernowpolski in my country, too many people felt that it irresponsible to spend taxpayer dollars abroad on other countries when we had people starving/suffering hardship on our own soil. Enough of our elected politicians agreed with this and would not support any move to give foreign aid. To those people and politicians, I say they are selfish and short-sighted.
To those who feel that we should keep foreign aid dollars to fix the problems we have domestically, I ask: how do they feel about the damage this unjust war has done on economies and the supply chains everywhere? We are paying for their short sighted selfishness now and will continue to pay for years afterward.
Our domestic problems did not get fixed with the money we “saved” by not spending it in foreign aid. The people who were hurting domestically are hurting even MORE now, due to this war and the damage it’s doing globally.
I feel I must qualify my statement above:
There are people who are suffering hardship and even starving in my country. We should do what we can to help them with private, corporate, and government aid.
But due to our political system, not one penny earmarked for foreign aid would have gone to help our fellow countrymen domestically-there are other funded programs for that.
So using the suffering and the starving as a moral goad to ignore or discourage foreign aid is misguided at best and deliberately cynical and cruel at worst.
I am aware that there are people who would not hesitate to throw the suffering and the starving to the wolves if it would suit their personal or political purposes. I just hate the fact that they are numerous enough to affect our policies and bend them to their bidding, rather than serving the public good.
So yes, @kernowpolski, I agree with you! Those of us in the West bear some responsibility for this war, due to too many people in government and commerce planning only for the next fiscal quarter or the next election, and apparently no further.
2nd video that I have watched and I just want to say that you speak so very eloquently. Absolute pleasure to listen to.
I have lived in USSR as exchange student in 70s for a bit less than a year (Petersburg, Moscow, Irkutsk and Omsk) and honestly I found everything well organized and never missed anything. There were some minor shortages or less products available but I never found that anything crucial or indispensable was not available.
Because you are not russian!
We turned from hating goverments to hating the people living under them how sad is that, worst part is that it cannot be undone
great video ! 👏🏻
Very interesting. Great job.
From 1991 to 1995 the number of orphans rose in Russia from around 45,000 to 300,000 due mostly to economic hardship. My parents did some volunteer work with European and American adoption agencies at the time going into Russia to help children to get adopted. They would go into Russia and visit the orphanages to try and arrange the adoptions. They had a Ukrainian woman that would go with them (who of course spoke Russian) and could help them navigate the complex paperwork process. In many cases the orphanage staff would want bribes (goods, money, whatever) before cooperating. Of course there were also various government agencies they had to deal with. The whole orphanage system was completely overwhelmed with children and underfunded at the time so adoptions were encouraged but extremely difficult. My parents would take photos of the kids and mail them back out to prospective adoptive parents. I was looking through my parents photos recently and found copies of some of the kids in the orphanages. I wonder what happened to many of them - especially the older kids. In my mind I can see some of them grown up and now fighting in the battlefields in Ukraine. It saddens me.
My father died in 2012 but always expressed a love for Russia and the people there. My mother is still alive and talks about her many visits to Russia. It is a horrible thing for a country to be in the grip of a dictator like Putin.
Brings back memories. In late 80s I was a student in Slovenia, working for Italian tourist agency so I had many, many trips to Moscow and Petersburg in 87-94 period. And yes, Moscow resembled (outdated and oversized) European city, people looked like us (more tired and absently patient), but in reality, everything was and worked in a totally different way.
Just as a curiosity: with the exception of about 50 oversized restaurants all working from 8PM to midnight, with necessary previous reservation and food ordered in advanced (probably a week before, if not heavily bribed), 11 mio ppl libed in the city and no restaurants, no cafes, nothing.
And, yes, endless queues for whatever they might have had in shops.
Hi Vlad! Thank you so much for making the time for YT while you're working on your book and thesis. Your videos about Russia are some of the most illuminating videos on YT! Thank you so much and please keep going 👏🙏
Really loved hearing about these pieces of history from your own personal experience! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for seeing!
This is fascinating Vlad. I don't think many people who never lived in the USSR understand how difficult it was to access basic groceries. Even at the height of Apartheid (in the 80s, when I grew up), with sanctions etc we never experienced anything remotely like it in South Africa. Poverty was and still is an issue, but if you could afford the items you could certainly get them and they were affordable to a far greater percentage of the population!
Yes you are correct. I was born in the fifties in SA . As long as people had jobs , there was never a shortage of anything, especially food. I have never stood in a queue for any type of food . We were poor growing up , but we had a vegetable garden, chickens ducks even a turkey. The only groceries we had too buy was cooking oil and rice. Even now , with high unemployment, you don't see food queues
I am also South African have family currently in RU and this guy's perspective is not quite true to the countries current form and nature. Just like we can laugh about some individuals here in SA's perspective on SA the same accounts for this guy. He's is also not talking very intuitively about each subject but rather ranting on based facts and past history, thus the depiction on USSR sorrow ERA can not be justified by his minimal use of information since there are many factors internally and externally tied to the sorrow ERA, Also the current Federation was started by a Russian Elite with members of the USSR Era that are already competent to govern with fast knowledge. The Elite was later exiled by his own creation the federation for the murder on foreign journalism. Under this federation the Russian state saw it's first middle class citizen populate since 80's to now.
My sister is currently there in St peters-burg for Russian ballet academics for foreigners very big deal in RU and this week Putin visited them she is bringing me a signed card from him!
@@zameisie7016 interesting, thank you! Nice to hear from a fellow South African taking an interest in these matters!
@@alexiz.7569 Thanks for sharing this. I have a lot of thoughts in response but before I share them, I am curious about something. Do you know anyone in Russia currently who lives outside of Moscow or St Petersburg?
@@justhome4843 Yes I know Russian people living in SA with 2 citizenship and Russian born South African children. The people my sister knows also host the Russian Ballet academies in South Africa as well as get dancers from Russia to perform with them locally.
I had a sibling with a disrupted toe never once where your brain thinks your toe is healed but it's not and then don't want to heal, we took him to a specialized neural doctor in JHB and we ended up at a private institution owned by a Russian doctor this lady's facilitation and practice is all done by herself from her home and it was very professional with a high standard of practice.
Thank you for your insights Vlad. It is very concerning what is happening in Russia nowadays. I have always had an interest in Russian history and culture, ( maternal Grandmother was a Jewish refugee after WW2.). Current situation facing the average Russian citizen saddens me deeply. 🇦🇺
Thank you for sharing your story, your memories, and your insights. I appreciate your openness and ability to think through what you've personally experienced.
I heard about your channel on 1420. I look forward to watching your posts. May God Bless You for helping people to understand.♥️
I remember when we first escaped to the West (from Romania), we were completely shocked at the amount of food available at the first supermarket we went to (in West Germany). My parents thought it was some sort of error and they started putting as much food as they could into the trolley until an employee who had seen the same thing happen before with other new arrivals from the combloc told my parents they don't need to buy so much today,...there will be just as much available tomorrow.
Regarding Russia,..imho, from my point of view, the problem is that communism never truly fell in Russia.
Not truly. Not like it did in Romania where I'm originally from.
People there wanted it to end. And they fought and bled and died in the streets for this cancer of communism to finally end.
Is the work done in Romania?? No, of course not. But it's certainly on the right path.
But Russia??? Communism never truly ended there. I think it's more ingrained in the cultural DNA there. Like a genetic defect. I think it's seen there as a pride thing. Like, they're proud of the power the Soviet union once wielded. The fact it also destroyed it's own people seems almost secondary.
In some ways, communism in Russia just sort of petered out like a silent fart.
Not sure it even petered out. It just changed slightly, for a while. It's now turning back to it's original form.
My point is simply that the perversion of what we see now in Putin's Russia was very uniquely borne out of Sovietism.
Putin himself is ex KGB (he used to run guns to the Baader Meinhof Nazi/communist mix terror group in Dresden).
Until Russia excises EVERY last vestige of it's Soviet communist cancerous past from it's midst, nothing will EVER change there.
Not ever. That's a fact.
You can't leave some cancer behind in the body and then be shocked when the cancer grows and grows out of control.
That's what cancer does. Don't be angry at the cancer, be angry at who thought it would be fine to leave the cancer in the body without consequences.
I remember seeing the news about Romania after the fall of the Soviet Union. As I remember it, the condition of so many people there looked horrific beyond believe for a person living in Western Europe. Maybe I saw more from that country than other Eastern Block Countries at the time. I’m not sure. I also think Romania was probably the country we heard least about before 1989. Regular people in Wester Europe really had no idea what was going on in the eastern block. We kinda thought we knew, but we didn’t know how horribly bad it was. We though it was something like a bit of a downgraded version of our lives. But the more I learn, the more you guys tell us, the more I see how it affected everyday citizens on a daily basis. It must have been devastating. It has made me realize how much in my life, I have been free from all kinds of obstacles and difficulties on daily basis and taken it for granted. Thank you for telling me your story.
@@BubblegumCreepydoll thanks for the reply!
Yes, I have many Russian and Ukrainian (I have family in Ukraine btw) friends here in the West now, and while things were certainly bad in the USSR in terms of lack of freedom and food, things were admittedly even worse in Romania. Our food situation was worse, and even our secret police was more brutal. From what I have managed to gather over the years, Romania was likely among the very worst, if not the worst. East Germany, not surprisingly, had it the easiest. Not that they had it easy, I mean look how many people were willing to risk their lives to escape over the Berlin wall to be free.
Among my Russian friends I am always the guy that remarks, "Wow, you guys had that!!??" when they post photos from the old days in Russia or Ukraine.
However, there is also no doubt that today's North Korea is MUCH worse than anything we had. North Koreans are truly in hell right now and we must keep them in mind.
And of course the up to 3 million people in communist Chinese concentration camps right now. 150,000 of them are murdered every year for their organs.
The totalitarian evil has not ended, and people are still not free.
@@emanuelroth7960 So I guess our first glimpse into Romania after 1989 was correct. It looked more brutal. I honestly have no idea why there are still people in North Korea? It looks to me like they are living on air and many of them are very sick from malnutrition and hosts of diseases. I’m aware of all the other atrocities going on in this world, it bothers me. I can not, not think about it, then I can’t think about it. In a middle of all that’s going on, I sent a link to my man for white bath towels on Amazon and he bought dark blue ones. I threw a bit of a hissy fit over this earlier today, so we just have to buy more towels, that are white. Now I wonder how many people were being murdered or starved while I was being bothered by towels that I’m going to get anyway? It’s hard not to feel shame when you are aware that you feel entitlement to privilege in this world, just because of where I was born and where I live.
I don't think it has nothing to do with communism, but totalitarianism. First they had a monarchy which was like feudalism in medieval Europe, practically totalitarianism. Then they had communism which also was totalitarianism. Now they have fascism which is totalitarianism. Theocrazy is still missing but that a-hole Kirill is indeed a part of nowadays russian dictatorship.
The big question is why those russian sheeps time after time end up to be under such regime. Russian propaganda is not the answer because fascistic propaganda is everywhere but still in the free world people are capable to resist such politics pretty well. They don't allow it to go too far. I know (really know and not just believe) that most of the russians know exactly that they live under dictatorship but there is a few reasons why they just submit and continue as sheeps.
First of all they have rised to be suppressed. They also have that childish culture of bragging and pretending to be a tough boy like some disturbed 15 years old teens have here. As with those teenagers they have a bad self-esteem and that is the only way they can prove them selves something. Of course it seems ridiculous to others but it is still the way how underachiever can lie to him self. It is pretty much a national mentality of Russia. Like with that poor little hooligan in school it's easier to disturb others than educate and develop oneself. At least in the short run but in the end those hooligans end up in the very hard times.
1:20 - wait, what? You knew Yeltsin's grandson?? Apologies if that story is later in the video, but I had to make a note of you casually mentioning that 🤭
That's also how I understand it.
@@larsrons7937 If true, it's rather remarkable, and I wish Vlad said more about it. Perhaps he is saving it for another video 😉
With Vlad's deep wisdom...he probably discussed analytical ethics with Yeltsin's grandparents on Tverskaya Street! 😊
@@zetristan4525 I would not be surprised 🤭
Yes we would often walk around Moscow buying ice cream and lottery tickets!! At that point granddad was already a big up and coming star.
Vlad, I only discovered your channel a few days ago and I absolutely love how well you explain things. The channel is an gem. Your other channel 'Vlad Vexler Chat' is very human and inspirational to me. I'm learning quite a lot. Thank you Vlad, God bless you.
Great video!
Thank you!
I always wondered about that. Both Germany and Japan became liberal democracies
despite their totalitarian past. Russia went the other way.
Their respective Marshall plans made sure of that- and also not being humiliated. Granted, Russia wouldn't accept any U.S. aid following WWII and rejected a lot more than is realized post-Cold War.
Germany was destroyed by bombs to make sure Germans accepted being defeated.
Germany turned out to be better in accepting their history than japan. Japanese students unfortunately still dont learn about the rape of nanking or 731 experiments.
Late 90s I was skiing in Germany and Austria and it was obvious they had very far right views in Austria in the towns we visited. It was like WW2 had never happened down to similar banners hanging from lampposts that you see in old movies. At one point they elected a far right leader but the EU quickly stopped it despite being democratically elected. People asked how could this happen and I think it was Germany was ravaged by land and air. There couldn’t have been a single German unaffected by the consequences but not so much in Austria.
Russia has turned into the very thing it helped destroy bizarrely.
Visited St Petersburg in 1992. It was sad sight to see. Holes in the bridges big enough to kick a toddler thru, no one was smiling. I never forget the district heating coal plant that was black.. not painted black but so much coal dust over decades had been around that the yard and the front of the building were black. Almost got mugged, someone was shot under our hotel window.. and mafia ran the town. It was quite an experience for a poor Finn. In comparison, i was so rich. I used around 40 dollars worth of money in 10 days.. mostly because there was not enough stuff to buy and everything was so cheap.... when you came stocked with western currency, the conversion rates on the street were QUITE good...
Hmm.... looking at the comparison on prices, yeah.. buying vodka for 10 rubles and russian champagne at 15 rubles... The kids we usually bought our booze that trip, no wonder they were patrolling in front of our hotel all day and long into the night, ready to get us anything we wanted They made like 100 rubles a day (minus the cost of the products for them, of course)... Would be nice to know what happened to them, mafia guys chased them away and build a kiosk on our hotel lobby... it was on our last day so we didn't buy anything from them. We also has one taxi driver to escort us around, that was a nice bloke but then again, he made at least one months salary from just us four in couple of days.
this is pure gold, i was moved to the tears, thank you so so much for sharing
I believe the algorithm stumbled me onto your channel around the Gogol video you made. I watched with keen interest and I'm glad I did so.
I really appreciate the context that you are giving to the world.
A college roommate was of Russian blood. He studied the Russian language and eventually managed a couple trips there. This would have been the very early 80's.
He followed advice from others and took extra Levi's jeans and graphic t-shirts with anything in English written on them. He was quite happy with what he could trade them for. Simple UCLA t-shirts were apparently golden tickets.
Thank you Vlad, this is a touching recount of your journey. I remember as a tween seeing these pictures in the newspaper of empty stores in Russia, and I couldn’t figure out why they were open if there was nothing in them? These pictures were a curiosity to me, because I had so many questions that no one could answer. Were there ever any food in these stores? Like maybe in the morning or at some other time? And if so why did I never see pictures of that? Why was anyone working in these empty stores to being with? They always had a desperate looking older women looking at empty shelves in these pictures but I remember also seeing a picture with a younger woman ~40ish behind a counter, she seemed well fed. I never saw any pictures of Russians looking like they were starving, so I could never figure out where the people were getting their food from. I guess I finally got some answers here, thank you.
I grew up in Keflavik, Iceland during the Cold War and there were definitely some people in Iceland, that were sympathetic to communists ideology. For example my grandparents on my dad side were basically Bolsheviks, (it got watered down and forgotten by most of their 12 children) my grandmother observed May 1 until her death and would sing the Internationale in Icelandic. My mother’s side was on the opposite right wing liberal Democratic side, I was on my mom’s side from the start, after all she worked in the PX on the US base and bought me all kinds of wonderful American toys -that you could only dream of as a kid 😢, - and that you could not get in Iceland. I grew up with a political duality, I seem to keep repeating this in my life, at this point, I’m dealing with far right fascist ideology flirting in my house, it’s completely repulsive to my senses. I am wildly individualistic and I passionately hate the idea of Authoritarianism and the whole thing highly insulting. I grew up in a bit of a hybrid socialism but life was pretty good there, although very expensive and still is. My parents bought the most right wing newspaper (which almost everyone read) and the most left wing, which talked a lot about nuclear war scenarios, it scared the living hell out of me, but I would keep scanning the paper for it anyway. It was kind of a strange situation to live on a small island sandwich between these two superpowers and being reminded of it 3 times a day when the AWACS took to the sky, breaking the sound barriers, to look if the Soviet’s were sneaking around. For me the Cold War was in every aspect very cold and very real. I guess when anyone starts threatening the world with nuclear bomb, especially Russia, my childhood anxiety comes to the surface, because in my mind the as a kid “the Soviet Union was something mysterious and really, really bad.” A place where 3 people could not talk on the street and everyone was suspicious of each other and they were all suffering oppressed prison behind the Iron Curtain. It was something you could not trust. It’s the mindset I grew up with.
I remember when Mac Donald’s opened in Russia, it was on the news in the west as a symbol of progress for Russia, I can understand that you were excited about that as a kid, but I thought: Mac Donald’s, hum… is this really how we are presenting freedom to the former Soviet Union? Don’t we have anything better? Because to me Mc Donals is kinda at the bottom of the barrel of what we to offer, but I’m glad you enjoyed your Happy Meal that day 💙
Do you think that your journey as kid made you so passionate about philosophy? Or was it something else? I’m curious about how you got interested in philosophy. I’m reading the Nietzsche’s Gay Science, as you suggested (the title sounds like a literature for psychiatrist, written in the 1950’s - just a really weird title in our times) it’s pretty packed, but Nietzsche certainly has a sense of humor at times so I’m enjoying the first round of reading it. I have a lot of question about Nietzsche’s thinking, he’s incredibly brilliant. Thank you so much for sharing this interesting part of your life with us. It sounds like a fascinating but a difficult journey for a kid. Take care and be well my dear 💙🙌🏼
Yes exactly, I remember going into a butchers shop in Poland in the 80s, not only was there not a single thing to buy there but there were also three people working behind the counter, presumably being paid by the hour to do absolutely nothing for most of the day, there's only so long that can go on for.
@@aniadobosz6381 really, that looked very strange for someone in the west, so I would think about it and try to make sense of it. So my puzzlement about people working in empty stores was real. Thank you for answering my question.
@@BubblegumCreepydoll Keflavik! I got an old book last year, Red Storm Rising, and Keflavik was at the heart of it. The Russians captured it with a lightning strike, breaking the Greenland Iceland UK SOSUS line, allowing their submarines and bombers access to Allied shipping routes and almost strangling Nato troops fighting in Germany.
Those Awacs you saw played a big part as well, and looking at your profile pic makes me think that if the Vigdis from the book looks like you, I can understand why the guy fell for her so fast 😁
@@aniadobosz6381 BTW, there are 11 thousand Polish now living in Iceland. That’s quite a bit for a country of ~330.000. Most of them live in the town that I grew up in and they have carved out a neighborhood there and now have children getting into adulthood that have entirely grown up in Iceland. There are Polish stores there and they are full of goodies. The people in Iceland really like the Polish people. We tried to take in some other nations, many of them gave us some troubles, like drug rings and imported women for forced prostitution rings. In a small country words get around very fast and we sent them away. The Polish stayed. They did none of these things. The Icelandic Immigration authority is not very merciful, if the father (the women are usually subdued in these situations) is involved in some shady business, they go in the middle of the night and to collect his whole family, children, pregnant wives, whatever, doesn’t matter and send them on a plain back to whatever godforsaken place they came from. It seems that Albanians were mostly affected by this abuse, although I’m not entirely sure. I’ve seen heated debates about this online, some people in Iceland think this is a bit harsh, but apparently our immigration policy draws a very clear line about what kind of behavior is morally accepted.
@@sjonnieplayfull5859 It’s a bit amusing for me to hear that someone actually wrote a book about this. Tom Clancy of course, he’s good at tapping into what’s going on and making up stories about it. he writes about possibilities that could in his head happen in geopolitics, because the Russians have wanted that country at least ever since I’ve been alive. But I doubt that will ever happen, because in reality The USA will prioritize protecting Iceland the North Atlantic Ocean, over worrying about the Germans.
Hi Vlad, excellent videos - now I watch 3 hours and I can't stop.
Thank you Vlad. Your work is important and illuminating. Great thanks.
Thank YOU!
A fascinating perspective. I imagine the experience of moving so abruptly from a collapsing empire to a modern western country like Israel was a profound shock.
I wonder had we taken the lesson from history (like how the aftermath of WWI set the stage for Hitler’s rise), and decided to completely lift Russia (and more importantly, Russians) out of poverty, brought them as an economic partner, and allowed Russia to join NATO (which was discussed at the time); that resentment towards the west wouldn’t have existed today, and Russia would have been a proper democracy (or at least a flawed but functioning democracy and not a hybrid regime).
Russia was allowed to submit their application to NATO anytime they wanted
Tokiomi, I believe that you are right. There was a brief window of opportunity in the early 1990's when power transitioned from Gorbachev to Yeltsin, and unfortunately mistakes were made economically, specifically the economic shock therapy caused by the US's economic advisor Larry Summers, coupled with falling oil prices that caused a very severe economic downturn. Corruption internally in Russia, which created instant billionaires, was part of the problem too, but we could have provided better guideposts to the privatization process, and insured that safety nets remained in place and job opportunities existed for all Russian people to help rebuild their country. The recovery and stabilization occured under Putin's watch, buoyed by high oil prices, cementing support for Putin and his gradual accumulation of power. If the opportunity arises again, I'm all in favor of supporting Russia in rebuilding everything, and especially for the Ukrainians who have suffered even more so. The Marshall plan helped rebuild Europe and Japan after the war, and that made a world of difference. 🌍 🌎
@@chuckkottke I would argue that you underestimate corruption. It was so widespread, and it permeated most of the eastern bloc to the marrow. Even now, in eastern countries that many in the west see as "fellow EU members, with the same values", we still go to the doctor with a package of coffee (And I guess after this video, people can understand why coffee was such a prized bribe). This corruption would sabotage any, and I mean any reform the "west" would've tried to do.
This is just a fantasy to think the west could have done anything of the kind.
@@gogudelagaze1585 I guess I did underestimate the level of corruption! My readings suggested multiple factors for the economic reform failures, but it sounds like from what you are telling me was that it was basically mission impossible. Given the problems of endemic corruption, how would you suggest that we proceed from here? Edit: assuming that several decades from now, things return to normal.
Thank you for sharing your memories and making them so vivid for us.
Russia's and Europe's relationship feels like a brutalized tragic lovestory. I remember when Putin held his speech in the Bundestag in 2001 in German. It felt historic, like now, finally Russia and Europe would start this new chapter and be unified like the shared cultural history always seemed to promise.
I was very suspicious of Putin from the Start. I never felt good about him and how he came to power. I knew that Yeltsin was a weak alcoholic and was easily removable. The only Russian leader I ever had a good feeling about was Gorbachev. I truly believe that he wanted to do good things for Russia. I think if he would have been elected in a free election, he might have been able to turn the fate of Russia. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe it’s tied into my 1980’s optimism, which in for me was the best decade to be alive in all of history.
@@BubblegumCreepydoll It was only a few weeks after 9/11, a few months before I got my driver’s license and I wondered if Putin was like the villain or the hero in a James Bond movie, maybe both, and if it needed a possible killer to rule a country like Russia.
The speech was remarkable though and always will be in the German subconscious as „Russias outstretched hand, that nobody took“.
Sadly all pro western, pro human and civil rights, pro liberalism reformers in Russian history seem to be hated by the public.
@@begr_wiedererkennungswert thank you. This is interesting.
I was stupid. I thought the President wouldn't matter much, Russia was a democracy now, politicans would come and go.🤷🏼♀️
@@juliarichter6987 And I was even making jokes in the Spiegel comment section, a few days before invasion, because it seemed so absurd to me that Putin would start a full scale war. Now I think, how could we have been so stupid to not see all the preparations and not take things seriously?
Incredibly informative videos. Well done and thanks.
Thank you
Great vid Vlad! Love it
Thanks!
I would like to add a bit of historical context to why pricing and cost of living was so dire... and that is because the Soviet Union spent in the ball-park of between 15 and 18 percent of it's total GDP on the military. For context, in the 90's, America was spending around 1/3rd of that at 5.6% (and that was at it's peak) just before the USSR broke apart. At most the US spent just shy of 10% in the 60's. While Russia was tipping in at around 20% during the same time-frame. So in a planned economy like the USSR, it makes sense that there would be fewer resources allocated to making butter or coffee or w/e since they were trying to out-pace the US in military tech (and succeeded in some areas) for quite a long time. Not trying to forgive or excuse or do w/e... as I mentioned before, historical context.
Military expansionism doesn’t work in a planned economy
@@qjtvaddict From a historical perspective.. the cold war was stupid. We now understand what mutually assured destruction means and it does not require 2000 missiles... it requires 200. Both the US and Russia had spent trillions upon trillions in waste instead of making their population's lives better... and it shows in both countries to an extent. More Russia obviously overall but being poor in America is probably not much better than being poor in Russia.
USSR was not spending anywhere near 18% gpd on military.
@@konstantinkelekhsaev302 if you have sources that state otherwise I would be really interested in reading them
@@adam346 The New York Times May 31, 1989
"Mr. Gorbachev said military spending this year would be 77.3 billion rubles, equivalent to $128 billion and nearly four times the nominal defense budget. He said the budget had been frozen since 1987.
Leonid I. Abalkin, a top economic adviser to Mr. Gorbachev, said the figure included expenses for manpower, weapons procurement and research, except for some scientific research with a possible military application. He said the figure represented 9 percent of the Soviet gross national product.
That is well below the estimates of Western intelligence agencies and military experts, whose calculations of Soviet military spending range from 12 percent to 20 percent of the gross national product."
I started taking Russian classes in the mid-90s. I was 24 and had just met my cousins from St Petersburg, and became interested in this place now that it had opened up. Ultimately I became very good friends with my Russian teacher, which kept me interested in Russia for maybe 15-20 years. The first time I had contact with her outside of class it was on account of her needing help moving. We were taking trips in her car between her old place and new place. She had this nice ceramic lamp that I did not want rolling around in the trunk, so I put it with me on the floor in the front seat between my legs. I looked over and said, "now if we get into a car wreck, my head is going to slam forward right into this lightbulb." She casually replied, "It’s fine, I have plenty of lightbulbs." I laughed and laughed. It was a brilliant joke. I liked to retell it from time to time.
Except 25 years later, after she died, I came to think that it was not a joke. She was born in 1945 under Stalin, and grew up under Khrushchev, and finally left the USSR under Brezhnev. This woman lived a life of hardship, despite her Moscow U degree. A broken lightbulb might mean hours in line in a Moscow winter storm. And what Russian man would really be worried about a little boo-boo on his forehead. I think her first instinct was to let me know that s broken lightbulb was not going to be a hardship for her.
These days, I feel a little bad about making that into a joke. I do reflect on it when Russians say or do things I find incomprehensible. I read parts of "Dead Souls" and I compare it to the conversation between the protagonist and Sobakevich. Cobakavich argued from his own framework, but from the perspective of the reader, that framework was just crazy. I have had a lot of conversations like that with Russians.
My cousin was a survivor of the siege of Leningrad. When I visited them on my first trip to Russia I brought money to help them. I remember that my cousin’s husband wanted to get a TV. So I gave him the money and he brought back a color TV that got “Seven Channels!” He was very excited about that at the time. I had some leftover Erythromycin I had left with them. When he had an accident and cut off the end of his finger, it got infected and this was the only antibiotic he could get. It may have saved him. I am told the son-in-law stole the money I and my family had left for them. But then someone gasoline poured on the son-in-law and he was set afire due to some criminal endeavor gone wrong. Or so I am told.
Lots of crazy and tragic stories from my cousins from that time. During that trip the various cousins were gathered around the TV. They were wondering if they were going to have to go to war over Crimea. Ultimately Russia came to a deal with Ukraine. I think back on that from time to time. It might be unpopular, but I have thought over the years that Crimea was mostly pro-Russia and an anchor holding Ukraine in the Russian orbit, and if Ukraine had returned Crimea in the 90’s, Ukraine would have been safely aligned with the West before Putin had enough power to contest it, and the world would be in a better place today. But maybe my understanding is incomplete.
I do not think I will ever go back to Russia. Croatia is a much nicer place to visit, and some of my Russian language works there. But thank you for your channel. Your videos bring back some hard memories, but also helps me make sense of them.
You might include one aspect of Russian mentality to this memory: the way life is cheap in Russia. Something like mjasma budjim (only know the spoken version), plenty of meat. She might have made a joke about that Russian way of life.
Reminds me of an old, Soviet era joke. Two Russians of the proletariat are sitting in a dimly lit room, a single candle between them. The first Russian says to his comrade, "What did we use for light before the Revolution?" The second Russian replied, "Electricity".
@@geraldarcuri9307 "Mommy, how did we drink tea before the Revolution?" "Well sweetie, there were two ways to drink tea. The Tzar drank his tea through a hollow cone of sugar, while all other people would gather their family and would drink their tea while they looked at a small lump of sugar, tied to the roof."
"But mommy, why don't we drink tea like that anymore?"
"Well sweetie, because after the Revolution, we don't have any rope either."
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful, dense, account with me and the community here. I’m grateful.
While it may have been caused by the hardships of Soviet era, where the cost of the lightbulb was much greater than the cost of the human life and health, in the end, it was more about living a life not worrying too much about materialistic things, about living a life in the moment. Lightbulb is replaceable, while the good memories, to a degree, aren't, and the improbable health and life issues are neglected because why spend the ride worrying about dying.
Thank you for your comment.
Thank you Vlad, i am very glad i found your channel. I am as well emigrant from Russia, born in 90s emigrated in early 2000s and.. you nailed certain points that can understand people who lived in both worlds.
Just a few days since I "discovered" his channel - but he really fills many of those question marks, gaps, I have as EU (Sweden) "observer" on what is going on.
Vlad makes very much sense in explaining to Europeans about Russia.
Fascinating. Thanks.
Я разговариваю со своими предками, которые родились и всю жизнь прожили в совке/рф. Они рассказывают про какую-то абсолютно другую страну, которой никогда не существовало. Удивительно, как быстро люди забывают, как они становились в очереди за едой зимой в 4 утра, как им приходилось ездить на поезде за мясом до Москвы, за вещами на юг/запад, как приходилось подтирать задницу мятой газетой. Россия - это страна, в которой проиграл не столько здравый смысл, но какой бы то ни было смысл вообще.
Translation of @stx surgeon
"I am talking to my ancestors who were born and lived all their lives in the Soviet Union/Russian Federation. They talk about some completely different country that never existed. It's amazing how quickly people forget how they used to queue up for food at 4 am in winter, how they had to take the train for meat to Moscow, to go south/west for things, how they had to wipe their ass with a crumpled newspaper. Russia is a country in which not so much common sense has lost, but any sense whatsoever."
@@juanitovonbumblepantz7252 it's not that common sense has lost it's battle in Russia, but the meaning itself