a lot of Eastern Europeans associate the U.S. with freedom and prosperity, that's their attraction to it

they still remember the Soviet Union

Georgians are pretty impressed with Americans

if your choices are gay pride parades and having to live in a neighborhood full of chechens

the sane choice is the former

when I flew in for the first time the clerk at the airport cafe saw my passport and was super excited

@blue falafel yeah I'm more ambivalent about this issue but most Eastern Europeans associate Russia with backwardness and savagery for a reason

yes

I’d imagine if you were under the umbrella of a brutal communist regime for decades you wouldn’t like their remnants either

goes back further than that

it isn't just that, it is that Russia today is kind of a dump

the Russian Empire wasn't a good option either

gigantic multiethnic empire

full of violent criminals

you can even see this today

My take is that Putin is the only good thing about Russia

Putin is the worst thing about Russia

he literally imprisons actual Russian nationalists

in huge numbers

if you compare the portions of Eastern Europe that were under German/Austrian domination versus the ones that were under Russian domination the former are always better off

Yes but didn’t he put the oligarchs in line

no lol

they run amok today

oligarchs put him in power

and the big Jewish one, Abromovich

which basically gave Putin his position

is still a big supporter

Interesting I guess I had it backwards

yeah that's a running theme in FSU politics

one group of oligarchs gets expelled and another one gets in

Russia is just like a poorer America

massive multiethnic republic

everything owned by oligarchs

native people getting fucked, no birthrates

committing suicide

I tried to explain this to Americans who ask why Poland/Hungary don't leave the E.U.

Eastern Euro states can't go it alone, they need allies

and for the past 200 years the main players in Eastern Europe are Germany and Russia

everyone picks Germany if they have a choice

the Germans are obnoxious but they didn't send troops in to rape every woman between the age of 16 and 60 like the Russians did

no Germans just get the Moslems to do it for them