Here’s the way Russians see the unfairness of their position in the world.
Russia beat Germany in the war. Russia saved humanity from German Nazism. But today if you go anywhere in the world, people look at you completely differently if you say “I’m German” and “I’m Russian”. Way before the war, all you heard if you said “I’m Russian” was “Ah! Bandits and whores. Which one is you?” You save the world from Nazism but nobody cares because you are, for ever and ever, a bandit and a whore. When somebody says, “I have a Russian girlfriend”, everybody immediately thinks “Bought himself a mail order bride”. Nobody thinks that when somebody says, “I have a German (British, French, Canadian) girlfriend”.
I know how it feels because Ukrainians also have “whores and bandits” rolled out at us on a regular basis. Or had until February 2022. You probably have no idea with what childish joy people inform one that one must be a whore or a bandit in a wide variety of contexts. A couple of years ago, I was giving a talk at a local public library iny capacity as professor and department chair. A woman gets up during the Q&A session and announces brightly that she knows some women from my “part of the world”, and they are all prostitutes in mink coats. You think a professor from Germany gets such comments?
And, I mean, it’s not like people are wrong. We do have a massive problem with banditry and whoredom. Everybody assumes that a Russian (or Ukrainian) wife was bought from a catalogue because she probably was.
Of course, I’m Ukrainian, so I have an easy out from this. It’s not our fault, I say. We were conquered by Russia and they made us into this. Once we are free from them, we will be different, better, and the world will know us for other achievements than organized crime and lack of morals.
What do Russians say? Whom do they blame? Leaving aside the bandits and the whores, whom do they blame for the crimes of Stalinism, for the loss of the Cold War, and now for the current war? How do they explain this all to themselves in a way that they’ll be able to live with?
For now, all they came up with is “evil West is doing this to us on purpose”. We are seeing right now where that belief system leads. But what’s the alternative? It’s a serious question, and I have no answer to it.
Clarissa's Blog 
I must have lead a sheltered life. The only mail-order bride I ever met was from… Guatemala? She was nice. Husband was no catch, and we felt kind of bad for her. Meanwhile, my one Russian friend is a retired herbalist whom I respect, and whenever people talk about dating Russian women, I bite my tongue and don’t ask if they like expensive sushi. This is literally the only stereotype I’ve ever been exposed to about Russian women, because my grumpy Ukrainian ex-boss used to hilariously gripe about going on dates with Russian women, and them all wanting to go out for expensive sushi. He did not like sushi and felt persecuted about it.
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“He did not like sushi and felt persecuted about it”
Ukrainians really don’t like it when someone messes around with their meals….
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Preach, brother!
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Mind, that didn’t keep him from taking Russian ladies out for sushi. He suffered through it somehow.
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OK, now I really want sushi which is probably a terrible idea in this extreme heat.
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In theoretical physics and mathematics, Soviet-era researchers enjoyed a formidable reputation and are credited with several important discoveries in mid 20th century — fueled by a long string of stellar physicists such as Landau, Abrikosov, Bogolyubov, Fock, Grinzburg, Zel’dovich, to name only a few.
In fact, in my field of theoretical physics until a decade ago, any student trained at MIPT (Moscow Instt of Physics and Technology) or for that matter any institute that trains them along the lines of the famous “Landau Theoretical Minimum” — a comprehensive and rigorous evaluation based on a ten-volume series of topics in theoretical physics — would have been considered pure gold as a potential PhD advisee by professors in almost any university around the world.
It’s very very disappointing to see the slow demise of this scholarly tradition in physics/maths and science in general, leading up to the current state of dysfunction in Russia.
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I agree with this. I grew up in the US but as a child was always proud of my ex-soviet (not exactly Russian, but the distinction didn’t matter to me when I was growing up) heritage because of Russian achievements in math and science. This is a bit embarrassing now but was probably healthier than most alternatives that were available to immigrant children.
Sadly, I no longer feel this pride because working with Russian immigrants, even highly intelligent and educated ones, has not been a productive or positive experience with me. Yes, those people are intelligent, and they could contribute so much if they changed their attitude just a bit….but I can’t make them do that. And since I have no accent and an ethnically ambiguous last name, I hide my heritage.
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Why is it people are always so quick to categorize others but are too lazy or disinterested to actually make any kind of effort to learn more (or anything at all) about that other person?
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Russia never really developed an industrial economy. They mostly conquered one during the war, especially East Germany where guilt over Nazism would be strongest and defeating the Nazis could be used to justify their rule.
This would explain why loss of their colonies was more devastating than other colonial powers because they lost most of their industrial base and don’t know how to regain it beyond reconquest.
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—for the loss of the Cold War, and now for the current war?
that I can answer – they blame Gorbachev. And will blame him for losing this war too (because his actions ultimately led to Ukraine acquiring independence). They believe if not for Gorbi, the Empire would still be intact and a great superpower.
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“they blame Gorbachev”
Stupid fuckers…. he gave them the chance of a lifetime and they blew it because they couldn’t stop stealing from each other and then licking the boots of a dictator….
I wasn’t russophobic before (I honestly didn’t think much about russia) but I am a white hot burning flame of hatred for ordinary russians who miss the USSR and/or support anything russia has done since 2014….
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And the evil West. It’s always the fault of the West. Maybe Gorbie was an American spy.
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