Rebecca’s Reviews > Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia > Status Update

"The last time Russia was Russia was 1917. The Soviet identity was in many ways an artificial construct, but it existed for a long while, and by the time it collapsed, who knew what Russia was or what being Russian meant?"

Gambling illegal in 2008... many underground places to gamble, though

"Chelyabinsk with its military plants and Soviet industry was a dead zone for the Church."

"Russia cannot be known by the mind / Nor measured by the common mile: / Her status is unique, without kind — / Russia can only be believed in." - Fyodor Tyutchev

"Some have argued that the mystical nature of Orthodox belief, combined with its rigid hierarchy and long alliance with an all-powerful state, helped shape a backward, subservient population."

"It comes from out history, from hundreds of years when people were afraid. It's in our blood. We are always waiting for something bad. If something good happens, we are sure something bad will follow. You can't believe in something good in our country. It's only when we go abroad that we relax and see another side."

VKontakte (Russian version of Facebook)

"Russian officials were slow to address the issues of drug use and HIV. Experts here now estimate at least 1/100 Chelyabinsk residents is infected. This is more than twice the national average, which in turn is now twice that of the USA. And HIV infection rates continue to grow, with the Urals and Siberia at the top of the list."

HIV-positive prisoners were known derisively as "chocolates."

"Tatiana says he was 'needy' and sought out older boys whose esteem he desired. By fourteen, he was in one of the all-too-prevalent gangs, extorting from stores, providing 'protection' and stealing... 'All the values [Tatiana] had grown up with—the Communist Youth League, conformity, and the value of education—were eclipsed by quick money, lure of luxury, and rampant crime."