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Downsides living in Russia:
1. One living in Russia needs to know Russian language, as well as understanding and accepting the complicated Russian culture. Which is as far from the Western culture as a Muslim ones.
2. Russians are 1/2 Asian, both genetically and mentally, therefore they strive more towards this chiefly Asian authoritarianism and shun individuality or individual freedoms. For example, in many Russian school your kids will be forced to wear uniform, or otherwise be scolded for being too individualistic.
3. As an American you are accustomed to the guilt culture, but in more Asiatic countries, like Russia, they have the shame culture. In the Guilt Culture people have the concept of criminal guilt and of formal laws. In the Shame Culture, they are more about fitting in with the stereotypes and avoid being ashamed for breaking the unspoken laws. Same way Russians don't really respect the formal laws, and frequently use bribery at every level. Russian police can just stop you without any reason and expect you to pay a bribe. Especially if you have darker skin (i.e. came out of Middle East). If you dislike this informality and want to lead honest life, paying your taxes and expecting the government respect your freedoms, then Russia is not for you.
4. Russian Government taxes are draconian, non-progressive, and usually not stated openly and honestly, but hidden in various ways. That is the general Russian government's trend of being dishonest and trying to trick Russians into serving it. Most Russians still manage to avoid them, like a smart fly navigating through an intricate spider's web.
5. Conscription. Every Russian male must serve in the army. This one can be avoided using bribery, but you must still know how and whom to bribe.
6. Russia has this prison culture, where it is considered cool and manly to serve a prison time. Russian Chanson music is very popular in Russia and is similar to American Gangsta rap, praising the felons of all sorts. Even if you've served a sentence in a nice American prison, you wont be feeling at home in Russia, since Russian prisons are much harsher. In fact just 80% of convicts survive long enough to see the actual labour camp barracks. Most die non-convicted while their case being processing, or during the transportation (done by railroad) to the Siberian labour camp, called "Zona" or "Kolonia" in Russian. If you've survived all this and got alive, then you're real "muzhik", otherwise you're a "petukh" (widely used slang word for a passive homosexual, denoting a weak man). Due to the Gulag system, Russian culture cannot be decoupled from the prison culture. Russia has record number of cops, inmates and prison guards among world's countries.
7. The remaining Russian culture is concerned with the Russian army. It is a bit less tough than Zona, but still not a cakewalk. You need to know what is "dembel", what is "rotniy", what is “disbat” and what is "prapor". Otherwise common Russian men wont understand you and you wont understand them, when they ask you about your dembel.
8. Free education or medicine. These are nominally "free", since Russia is still socialist (just like USSR was), but you don't want to be anywhere near them, since they are either useless or outright harmful. You’ve probably seen the photos of Russian hospitals and clinics - these are the places designed to help weak people die as quickly as possible. In fact Russians prefer "samolechenie", since they are that afraid of physicians and don’t trust them. Nobody in his sane mind will ever visit the free dentist in Russia either. Same with university education, which wont hold the water. In fact, a few years ago they still taught DOS Turbo Pascal to software engineers at MSU (Moscow State University). That MSU has bad reputation ever since USSR, when they began persecuting Jewish and generally non-Russian students, also re-discovering such concepts as "aryan mathematics" and accusing Jews of having "kike math". The guy who organized persecutions, Viktor Sadovnichi, is currently the chief of MSU. That is why most Russian Jews and other talented scientists were so eager to escape Russia after the fall of Iron Curtain. Some ran even to countries like Brazil and Mexico - anywhere was better than in Russia.
9. Woman and gay rights are non-existent. A woman is expected to behave like a commodity and be abiding wife. Otherwise she will have financial difficulties, since Russian companies have strong bias against employing women. Russian law officially allows a light beating of your wife. So don’t expect Russian women to be nice and cheerful, or be good employees at your business - they are not expected to. If you're openly gay/transgender then good f…g luck finding any job or education. Recently a famous Russian transgender blogger, Vladimir Fomin, was found dead (rumors say he was killed by FSB). That Fomin actually tried passing numerous job interview while wearing a skirt. Everywhere he got a lot of problems, beating and police getting called. He was also expelled from the local university for the sole reason of wearing a skirt.
Russia can be a cool place for a tough guy who needs new difficult challenges, who has already ascended Everest and visited the North Pole. But Russia is a bit too cool (cold?) for anyone else. Especially if you're gay or a transgender person. If you want it "Easy" - stay in the West, but if you want "IM FRIGGIN READY FOR ANYTHING!" difficulty - welcome to Russia.
1. One living in Russia needs to know Russian language, as well as understanding and accepting the complicated Russian culture. Which is as far from the Western culture as a Muslim ones.
2. Russians are 1/2 Asian, both genetically and mentally, therefore they strive more towards this chiefly Asian authoritarianism and shun individuality or individual freedoms. For example, in many Russian school your kids will be forced to wear uniform, or otherwise be scolded for being too individualistic.
3. As an American you are accustomed to the guilt culture, but in more Asiatic countries, like Russia, they have the shame culture. In the Guilt Culture people have the concept of criminal guilt and of formal laws. In the Shame Culture, they are more about fitting in with the stereotypes and avoid being ashamed for breaking the unspoken laws. Same way Russians don't really respect the formal laws, and frequently use bribery at every level. Russian police can just stop you without any reason and expect you to pay a bribe. Especially if you have darker skin (i.e. came out of Middle East). If you dislike this informality and want to lead honest life, paying your taxes and expecting the government respect your freedoms, then Russia is not for you.
4. Russian Government taxes are draconian, non-progressive, and usually not stated openly and honestly, but hidden in various ways. That is the general Russian government's trend of being dishonest and trying to trick Russians into serving it. Most Russians still manage to avoid them, like a smart fly navigating through an intricate spider's web.
5. Conscription. Every Russian male must serve in the army. This one can be avoided using bribery, but you must still know how and whom to bribe.
6. Russia has this prison culture, where it is considered cool and manly to serve a prison time. Russian Chanson music is very popular in Russia and is similar to American Gangsta rap, praising the felons of all sorts. Even if you've served a sentence in a nice American prison, you wont be feeling at home in Russia, since Russian prisons are much harsher. In fact just 80% of convicts survive long enough to see the actual labour camp barracks. Most die non-convicted while their case being processing, or during the transportation (done by railroad) to the Siberian labour camp, called "Zona" or "Kolonia" in Russian. If you've survived all this and got alive, then you're real "muzhik", otherwise you're a "petukh" (widely used slang word for a passive homosexual, denoting a weak man). Due to the Gulag system, Russian culture cannot be decoupled from the prison culture. Russia has record number of cops, inmates and prison guards among world's countries.
7. The remaining Russian culture is concerned with the Russian army. It is a bit less tough than Zona, but still not a cakewalk. You need to know what is "dembel", what is "rotniy", what is “disbat” and what is "prapor". Otherwise common Russian men wont understand you and you wont understand them, when they ask you about your dembel.
8. Free education or medicine. These are nominally "free", since Russia is still socialist (just like USSR was), but you don't want to be anywhere near them, since they are either useless or outright harmful. You’ve probably seen the photos of Russian hospitals and clinics - these are the places designed to help weak people die as quickly as possible. In fact Russians prefer "samolechenie", since they are that afraid of physicians and don’t trust them. Nobody in his sane mind will ever visit the free dentist in Russia either. Same with university education, which wont hold the water. In fact, a few years ago they still taught DOS Turbo Pascal to software engineers at MSU (Moscow State University). That MSU has bad reputation ever since USSR, when they began persecuting Jewish and generally non-Russian students, also re-discovering such concepts as "aryan mathematics" and accusing Jews of having "kike math". The guy who organized persecutions, Viktor Sadovnichi, is currently the chief of MSU. That is why most Russian Jews and other talented scientists were so eager to escape Russia after the fall of Iron Curtain. Some ran even to countries like Brazil and Mexico - anywhere was better than in Russia.
9. Woman and gay rights are non-existent. A woman is expected to behave like a commodity and be abiding wife. Otherwise she will have financial difficulties, since Russian companies have strong bias against employing women. Russian law officially allows a light beating of your wife. So don’t expect Russian women to be nice and cheerful, or be good employees at your business - they are not expected to. If you're openly gay/transgender then good f…g luck finding any job or education. Recently a famous Russian transgender blogger, Vladimir Fomin, was found dead (rumors say he was killed by FSB). That Fomin actually tried passing numerous job interview while wearing a skirt. Everywhere he got a lot of problems, beating and police getting called. He was also expelled from the local university for the sole reason of wearing a skirt.
Russia can be a cool place for a tough guy who needs new difficult challenges, who has already ascended Everest and visited the North Pole. But Russia is a bit too cool (cold?) for anyone else. Especially if you're gay or a transgender person. If you want it "Easy" - stay in the West, but if you want "IM FRIGGIN READY FOR ANYTHING!" difficulty - welcome to Russia.
