CAN RUSSIANS AND AMERICANS EVER "BE FRIENDS"...?
ACTUALLY, THE CULTURAL AND SOCIAL SIMILARITIES BETWEEN RUSSIANS AND AMERICANS ARE AMAZING...!
HERE ARE A FEW...
1. BOTH ARE "CONTINENTAL NATIONS"...HOLDING VAST AREAS OF LAND...WITH ABORIGINAL NATIONS IN THE INTERIOR...AND THUS BOTH ARE "MULTI-CULTURAL" --UNLIKE MOST OF EUROPE
2. BOTH WERE CULTURALLY "LOOKED DOWN ON" BY EUROPEANS...AS "NOT QUITE GOOD ENOUGH."
3. BOTH ARE ON THE "FRINGE OF THE OLD WORLD." THE US IS ACROSS THE ATLANTIC... RUSSIA ON THE FAR EDGES OF EUROPE.
4. BOTH ARE DIVIDED BY A KEY MOUNTAIN RANGE... THE ROCKIES IN THE US...IN RUSSIA THE URALS SEPERATE EUROPE FROM ASIA.
5. BOTH HAVE A DEEP CULTURAL HERITAGE IN "THE FORESTS"...WOOD AND WOOD WORKING WERE IMPORTANT TO EARLY RUSSIA ...AND EARLY AMERICA... EARLY AMERICANS LIVED IN LOG CABINS...RUSSIANS LIVE IN LOG CABINS CALLED "IZBAS"...AND BUILT AMAZING ORTHODOX CHURCHES ENTIRELY OF WOOD.
6. BOTH HAVE A VAST "GRASSY PLAIN"...IN THE US...THE GREAT PLAINS...IN RUSSIA THE TREELESS GRASSY "STEPPE" THAT GOES FROM THE CARPATHIANS TO MONGOLIA!
7. BOTH ADMIRED EUROPEAN CULTURE IN THEIR EARLY DAYS... AMERICANS LOOKED TO EUROPLE FOR CULTURE IN THE 19TH CENTURY...AND RUSSIANS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO "ACT EUROPEAN" SINCE PETER THE GREAT BUILT SAINT PETERSBURG IN 1703...
8. BOTH CONSIDER THEMSELVES TO BE RELIGIOUSLY SPECIAL AND UNIQUE... AMERICA WAS FOUNDED BY PERSONS SEEKING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM...AND RUSSIA WAS THE SOLE DEFENDER OF "ORTHODOXY" AFTER THE FALL OF BYZANTIUM...SUPPOSEDLY MAKING RUSSIA THE "THIRD ROME."
9. BOTH ABOLISHED THEIR "SLAVE SYSTEM" IN THE 1860'S... THE AMERICAN SLAVES WERE FREED AFTER THE CIVIL WAR...THE RUSSIAN "SERFS" WERE "UNBOUND" FROM THE LAND IN 1861...
10. BOTH WERE SUPERPOWERS IN THE 20TH CENTURY...
I COULD GO ON AND ON...
AMERICANS AND RUSSIANS ARE "INFORMAL" PEOPLE...THEY LIKE TO DRINK AND BAR-B-QUE...AND HUNT...! RUSSIANS ARE VERY MUCH OUTDOORS TYPES. RUSSIANS ARE VERY "FAMILY" ORIENTED...WITH SEVERAL GENERATIONS LIVING TOGETHER OR NEAR BY.
THE TYPICAL RUSSIAN "ACTS MORE LIKE" AN AMERICAN THAN A BRIT, ITALIAN OR FRENCH PERSON....
SECRETLY, RUSSIANS LIKE BRITAIN BETTER THAN FRANCE AND GERMANY...BUT FRANCE AND GERMANY BOTH INVADED RUSSIA! THE RUSSIAN INTELLIGENTSIA WOULD LOOK TO ENGLAND FOR "MODELS" OF GOVERNMENT TO COPY...EVEN IF THEY WENT TO ITALY FOR ART AND ARCHITECTS..
AND THE DIFFERENCES...?
WELL...THE RUSSIAN CZARS WERE VERY AUTOCRATIC...BUT MOST WERE "NICE ABOUT IT"...IF YOU DIDN'T CHALLENGE THEM DIRECTLY...AND THEIR IMPERIAL WARS WERE NEVER ENDING FROM ABOUT 1400 TO 1917...
ALSO AMERICANS HAVE NO EXPERIENCE WITH OLD ARISTOCRACIES...WHICH WERE HORRIBLE... RELICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES.
RUSSIANS HAD COMMUNISM AND STALINISM...AS A "GREAT ECONOMIC EXPERIMENT" IN THE 20TH CENTURY..WHICH FAILED MISERABLY...BUT RUSSIANS ARE A VERY NAIVE PEOPLE...A BIT SHYER THAN AMERICANS...AND THEY TEND TO BE GULLIBLE (AS WITH THEIR CONSTANT "NEWS" ABOUT "UFOS")...THEY TEND BLINDLY TO BELIEVE THEIR ELITES...NOT UNLIKE THE RED STATE REDNECKS IN THE US RECENTLY...
INDEED, A GOOD TITLE FOR A HISTORY OF THE 20TH CENTURY WOULD BE :
"HOW WE GOT THE HABSBERGS AND ROMANOVS OFF OUR BACK...!!"
MORE LATER...
