faceola

Absolutely not :) the propaganda of both sides was over the top.

We were told that people are greedy in the USA, many poor in the country and ill treaded minorities.

The pluses of being in the country were almost everything is free, the minuses were less freedom to choose where one leaves, can't really travel abroad. That might feel claustrophobic for someone who reads international literature. My grandfather was a composer. Traveling and vacations for him were free at the most beautiful resorts for as long as he wanted. There were special places for composers to vacation during summer times where most of them and their families would spend time together. Same was for other artists.

Yes, I was hopping these were lies.

It might be unfair for me to make assumptions of the country under Putin because I left a long time ago and detached my self from Russia. I don’t actively learn about what happens in the country ether. To me it seems that Russia has changed a lot in many way. It became a young capitalist country (reminds of 30’s and 40s in United States as I have seen in older movies). Under the Soviet days there was free education, almost free housing and free health care. Now everything costs a lot of money (I am basing these assumptions on stories of my friends who stayed back). It is difficult to find work. Corruption is a much bigger issue than here. Good liberal education is almost non-existent so problem solving on a global level will remain a struggle.

Similarities are close-mindedness of the people. People are still way less open to accepting diversity than in multicultural nations.