DancingPengu

Why do you think the KGB didn't try to repatriate or kill you after you defected? The BBC article seems to imply that they just gave up on you after you told them you weren't going back.

Do you miss any Soviet products? Like a favorite shampoo or bread?

Do you think that the KGB could have actually gotten to you if they found out you didn't have AIDS?

Also, do you ever feel nostalgic for the cold war era? I've known a number of Canadians and Americans who seem oddly fond of that era given that everyone thought nuclear doom was just a button away. (Something to do with having the whole country being united against the Soviets from what I gathered, never quite understood it)

I don't like how Reddit only allows me to upvote this once.

I couldn't agree more! My favorite grocery store bakes a wide variety of Slavic style bread in house, mostly sourdough ryes, and I can't get enough of them!

I asked a Russian coworker once why vodka is served so cold and he said it's so you don't have to taste it.

You said that your handlers were primarily concerned with the appearance of success rather than actually delivering material results. That sentiment pops up a lot in interviews with former Communist bureaucrats. Did the KGB (and perhaps by extension, the rest of the USSR gov) actually believe that communism would work?

What do you think when some politicians here call any attempt at wealth redistribution 'communism'?