[The Lizard of Oz]

(12-27-2013 05:41 PM)Volk Wrote:  

In Russia when you make a friend, you really make a friend for life, and he will take a bullet for you.

I don't believe this is true -- it's how Russians want to think about themselves but it's not how it really is.

Russians are a sentimental people and when they get drunk or excited they will profess eternal friendship and being ready to take a bullet for their buddy. But when push comes to shove, I think they're as or more likely to betray you as anyone else. If I really had to choose I'd rather bet on an undemonstrative American or English dude to show some decency when it really counts.

It's not for nothing that Russia was able to build a police society in which friends and close relatives routinely spied on and denounced each other, and to do so in relatively short order. While Russia may have more than its share of saints, it also has more than its share of opportunistic scumbags who will plunge a knife in your back at the earliest opportunity and then shed sentimental crocodile tears about it next time they get tipsy. Having a centuries-long history of serfdom and groveling before the despot is not a good way to build national character.

There is no need to romanticize the Russians or their society. The temptation to do so is understandable because it appears to be a counterweight to some of the worst trends in the west. But their problems are worse than ours.