Hey Folks!
I'll be heading out in just a little bit, I finally got through the longggg security line at Logan. The TSA was having a bad day it seems, people weren't cooperating and they were all very on edge. I'm thankful that we left when we did, the line just about tripled in length while I was in it. In the car on the drive in I started experiencing that sort of panic-excitement knot in your stomach - the kind that comes with the jitters that you can't really shake. It doesn't really mix well with long lines or rush hour traffic, but it is so nice to be finally going!! Honestly, it's a bit unreal.
As I'm about to leave, I thought I would leave some Russia related internet resources for you to chew on.
First, a note on Russian-American relations. Though the Cold War for many people my age is something that is generally accepted to have ended before our conscious memories begin, relations between the two governments remain pretty chilly. Russia and America tend to disagree a lot in terms of UN policy, the meeting between President Obama and now-president-again Putin would be called "stilted" at best. Currently, Congress is debating whether or not to repeal Cold War era trade santions in the wake of a recent Russian crackdown on anti-Putin protests. Russians in general tend to be very critical of the US government. In the major Moscow newspaper Pravda, both opinion articles on 9/11 were supporting conspiracy theories. Though this is certainly a product of it being in the "opinion" section which in general does tend towards such things and I don't think that the majority of Russians hold to such theories, I think it fits with the distrust that Russians have of the American government and the distaste that they have for America's military involvement worldwide. The opinions about Americans themselves though are quite different. Obviously there are stereotypes, none that differ very much from those held by the rest of Europe, but in my experience and as many other travelers or Russians will attest to, Americans are regarded with a certain amount of interest and Russians are always ready to make friends.
Second, I want to mention some things happening in the field of environmental conservation. In a not too surprising article, Putin admitted that most of his televised communion with the wilderness was staged. Putin has developed a very rugged image which he has successfully maintained for many years. A few years ago he began to throw his support behind certain environmental protections plans, mostly ones that involved big, fierce, stunning cats (e.g. save the tigers, save the snow leopards etc) and all of which involve him doing something quite daring to win the countries heart. In my opinion, I am not really sure why it should cause such a stir that these things were staged. Of course they were! And frankly, I appreciate that he took the time to do it. While Putin may not be consistant in his support of environmental protection, he does have a significant amount of influence in the efforts of Russian agencies and additionally efforts in countries like Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. I appreciate what he has done here.
Thirdly, I have a responsibility to a friend to mention the flash flood that recently wiped out her home town in southern Russia close to Georgia. L----'s home town of Krymsk lies downriver of a large dam. Record rainfall in early July put a lot of pressure on the dam, more than it ultimately was able to hold. Officials were aware that a breach of the dam was almost certain, however very minimal efforts were made to alert those who lived below the dam, and as a result when the dam broke and the large wave of tsunami size swept through the city at 4am, residents were taken completely by surprise and more than 150 people were killed. The failure of the Russian government to notify the citizens and the following lack luster disaster relief efforts brought a lot of scorn from the populace. I mentioned earlier that Russians are very critical of the American government. This pales in comparison with their criticism of their own country. Pictures of Krymsk can be seen here.
And finally, I just want to leave you all with a photo collection that I thoroughly enjoyed of Russia more than 100 years ago.
That is all for now, and should everything go as planned, I will be sending you all pictures from Puschchino in my next post. До свидания!
