Россия, страна возможностей

One of my favorite stories growing up was called The Little Engine that Could. If I remember right it was all about this little train that had to try to make it up a bunch of hills and it kept saying “I think I can, I think I can, etc.” Anyway, on my last night in St. Petersburg I went with two of my friends from the English Discussion Club to a little Vareniki place (little assorted sweet cheese variations wrapped in ravioli). On our way back, amidst the construction I noticed a big billboard for the Bank of Russia that I was to see all over Moscow, it said, "Россия, страна возможностей," or literally, “Russia, the country that can” or probably better translated as, "Russia, the land of opportunity."

I think that phrase aptly sums up my impressions of Russia. I’ve complained to no end about the construction going on in St. Petersburg, and on a larger scale in Moscow, so I’m not going to do that again. The biggest frustration I had with Russia was that there is so much potential, but they are unable to capitalize on it. A few examples:

1. Beautiful architecture but off the beaten path, xenophobic graffiti (one said "Achtung Juden").
2. Great food, but parasitic water.
3. Beer on every street corner, but rampant public drunkenness.
4. A wealth of natural resources, but disregard for the environment.
   

I was having a conversation with one of my colleagues at the Embassy about some of these… I wondered, why not just have a fine for littering? Beyond the problem of enforcement, it would seem that the corrupt policemen would welcome new reasons to fine people. Take the beautiful canals, the Neva, 90% of the beaches in the Gulf of Finland—all unswimmable because of the industrial waste. But his point was that it’s ingrained in their mindset. Maybe it’s a Soviet legacy, but I tend to think the country should be smart enough to simply assign a price to clean air, clean water, basically any public good by fining people (or firms). Additionally, most Russian homes I’ve been in have all been immaculately kept, it’s just the public goods (the rivers, the common courtyards, the sidewalks, etc.) that are the problem.

One other thing that bothered me about the country was the public drunkenness. My colleague also mentioned that he’s seen a marked decrease in the amount of alcohol Russians drink now compared to a decade ago. Whereas before an evening would start off with five or more shots of Vodka, now only one (if any) is the norm. The simple availablility of non-alcoholic beer in restaurants in the last decade is another example of this trend, and I think that’s a good sign of progress. In the mean time, with the country's male life expectancy at 59, they are kicking themselves in the economic foot.

Russia has a wealth of natural resources, (and I’m not just talking about oil and natural gas), smart people, and money to spend. As other academics much smarter than I will point out, establishing strong and just institutions that are free and fair ought to be a priority. Also, this week the Economist pointed out that three in four senior officials in the Russian government roots with the KGB, and I am positive that's undermining transparency and media freedom in the country.

From my and Westerners point of view I perceive that as a problem, but the question is: Do Russians? Most economic indicators are no worse or even better than before Putin took office. With oil revenues high and expected to remain that way, with Putin's tight control over who his successor will be, and with no regional governors being appointed by the Kremlin, democracy remains in its infancy. It's therefore easy to understand why, when I asked the older generations (like my host mother) what she thought of Putin, the answers were usually positive.

That said, this rant on Russia should in no way discourage you from visiting the country, appreciating the culture, and savoring the delicious food that's made its way to America. I only hope that someday the country can capitalize on the inherent strengths it has at its disposal.

HOME!

After 36 hours of travel, I'm home! My flight was delayed on Air France out of St. Petersburg, so I missed my connection in Paris. As I weighed the costs and benefitst of Air France putting me up in a hotel in Paris compared to getting home, I chose the latter. There was no way I wanted to spend any more time in St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport either, that's for sure, since my midnight choices there were either Cmetana (sour cream) flavored potato chips and my favorite Nevskoe beer, or more sweets at a little cafe. I'm just glad to be home and I look forward to posting the rest of my posts I've had time to write while waiting in the airport in the next day or so.

Moscow: 2 Days as a Tourist, 3 days as a Бизнесмен (Biznessman)

After a nice night of sleeping on a futon only to be wakened by my friend’s crying baby (rest of the family, Mike, Katya, and Max are pictured immediately below), I left to go try my luck to see Lenin’s Mausoleum.
There was of course a demonstration going on near the Kremlin, but I got into the line just in time. Lenin was pretty freaky. He’s just lying there, and his hands have been laying for so long on his black straight jacket that they’ve left these little white cloudy imprints on the suit. There were about 6 guards in the room and the security was pretty high. For the first time I was forced to pay the foreigner rate for a bag check since you’re not allowed to bring anything into the Mausoleum with you.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the three separate buildings of the Pushkin Museum of Art: The Dutch collection, French and other European, and the private collections. I loved the private collections museum of course because it was almost all Russian art. I took some pictures which I’ll post at a link below. I then walked along the Arbat (open-air market) and successfully bargained for two Ohio State Buckeyes (2002 and 2006) Matryushkas, only to realize I didn’t have enough cash to buy them. Sucks to be the people I wanted to buy them for since I didn’t make it back there. You might have to settle for chocolate (or Vodka shots). I had some wonderful Italian Food for dinner and got to bed pretty late.

My days of “work” in this city were not too pleasurable. After a full day of meetings I wrote up my notes and tried to get as much sleep as I could. We accomplished a lot, and I have a wealth of new information and contacts to bring back to work, but let’s just say my suit is a crumpled, dirty, smelly mess. Business meetings in Russia are pretty convivial. Most people we met were very casual, and all had a requisite secretary to offer us Chai (Tea) or Coffee. At the investment banks we of course had Evian (retailing for about 8 dollars at a restaurant). One of them even had a cigar room, but we were unfortunately not invited to partake.

Trying to take the metro in this city is pretty easy. The trains come pretty quickly, but it is just hot. To complicate matters yesterday, there were peat fires in the northern part of the city that created an entire layer of smog and gave people respiration problems. One of their weather agencies actually encouraged people (especially children) to stay inside, and in 2002 about 600 people died over the course of the summer from the smoke. That’s why Russians have their Dachas.

I will post some pictures of mine from Moscow at this link soon.

Here they are.

Trip to Moscow

After a hearty midnight meal of kasha and broiled potatoes, I boarded my overnight train to Moscow. I was in a nice "Coupee" for the overnight train down and I surprisingly slept just fine. We got in at around 10 AM and I went immediately to my friend of a friend's parent's house up near the university. An old man with no shirt on answered. Valentin introduced himself and then took me to meet his wife, a very nice Jewish grandmother-like lady. She promptly fed me, and I couldn't say anything to keep her from serving me a nice, hearty Russian breakfast of sardines, tomatoes, eggs, and cucumbers. Yum! Mike, my friend Dan's friend came to pick me up later in the day after I went all around the Kremlin. In tourist mode, I dutifully stood in long lines, avoided other ones, and tried to see as much of the main sites that I could with the small time I had.

Today (Sunday) after a nice sleep at Mike's house, I saw one corpse (Lenin), two Ferraris, and all three buildings of the Pushkin museum. I also saw the beautiful Synagogue here, and I will post pictures of it all when I finish working. This city is really amazing. It's very much like New York, but with the spansiveness of LA. There are tons of what they call "New Russians" that have endless money to spend on food and luxury items. The reconstruction that's taking place here is similar to what's going on in St. Pete but the size of it all, is just eye-opening.

I don't know how much time I'll have to post over the next couple days but I hope to catch up when I get back home.