Originally posted by Boroda:
For me - there are two ways to survive it. Run away like Miko2d, or just enjoy my guarantied ration as an Academy of science employee.
I will not comment on the rest of ignorant statements in your post - every single one of them completely at odds with reality
But as for "running away" I want to clarify a few points.
1. Last time I checked, not just me, but my whole country - all 60+ million ukrainians run away from your glorious union and guaranteed rations. Of course we must all be fashists, like those Lithuanians and other defectors.
2. I "ran away" before socialism crumbled, before any econmoic troubles in russia were even suspected, before information about the west was freely available in Soviet Union.
Many well-wishing people were pitying me for exposing myself to the dangers of capitalism when I had everything guaranteed.
I left powerfull, stable country where I could have had everything guaranteed in order to live in a country where nobody owed me anything and I had to rely on my own abilities and wit to achieve anything. If US did not accept me, I would have moved to any other communist-free country, rich or poor.
I did run a risk that while my case was processed the international relations would change, I would get denied exit by some commissar and my family would have to stay with "traitor" stamp and never holding a job better then a street sweeper like my friend's family did for a decade.
You want to talk concern about the future? Tell me how many children are you planning to have? What does your system guarantee when it comes to affording as many children as your wife can bear, accessible medical technology, being able to raise and educate them all?
Because most of my friends who stayed in your guaranteed paradise are lucky to have a single child and can hardly afford even that.
So whose future are your concerned about? Have you seen population numbers of your country? Why does it seem to me that it is simply dying out for the lack of procreation?
You have to have a future in order show concern about it and not seem like a liar, but I guess the comissars were always busy arranging somebody else's futures.
I am sure you would want me there with you on your guaranteed ration working for you overlords who declared themselves "democratic" for now.
I bet you would find me usefull back in my T72 bringing back all those lithuanians, ukrainians, poles, muslims and other strays from your great empire, like they had us do it to afganis in the 80s in T-55s.
Come to think of it, those defencive Stinger interceptor missiles proved extremely usefull to afganis then - more usefull then treaties with the peacefull Soviet Union.
You would not know democracy if it bit you on the ass.
Guess what - in my life un USA and my travels in Europe I see much more of your leaders then you do. How come they all have real estate here and send their children here for education, their families for medical treatment? How come they are not happy with their guaranteed rations?
Americans did something to gain their freedom over two hundred years ago and have been working on that ever since.
I did something to gain my freedom dozen years ago.
What did you do?
You think you got your freedon handed down to you by Mikhail Gorbachev, as if a freedom could ever be handed down. Or rather it can be handed down or at leasr relinkuished by unwilling souvereign, but can never be passed that way. As anything else handed down to russian people - whether by it's own rulers or by foreign aid, it got intercepted and appropriated by interpreneural crooks who are before most even realised what they were offered.
We called the feudal system we had "communism" and then "socialism". Now you call semi-feudal system you have "democracy" and decry it's failure.
Arguing ABM treaties and missle shields with you is as pointless as it was discussing Spanish Inheritance treaties with a french serf or a spanish peon in middle ages. You will do as your superiors decide.
I am a man who can think and make a decision. Whether I stayed or left, if it ever came to blows, I would have fought on the side of US rather then Russia. Go ahead, call me a traitor.
miko