Disliking Russia

In response to a recent blog on (even) Russia being better than Islam, my dad asked me why I disliked Russia. Was it because I associated it with communism? But wasn’t that incorrect, he continued: communism was what the former USSR was about; but surely not present day Russia?

If that was all he’d asked, my answer would have been simple (and not worth a blog!): no, I don’t dislike present day Russia because of an error in associating it with communism. And that would have been that.

But he also asked: if I dislike Russia because of its muscle flexing, then how is that any different from any other country? That’s when I realize a detailed answer is warranted.

Ask yourself these questions: Is Russia a free country? How does it treat its own citizens? Does it allow freedom of speech and expression? Is dissent and criticism of the government tolerated? Is it democratic? Do common people have any say in who rules?

Or to put it very simply, I ask myself this: would I like to have been born a citizen of Country X? That’s my litmus test question for liking or disliking a country.

The answer to all those questions is why I dislike present day Russia.

I’ll pre-empt the counter-argument that neither India nor Japan nor any Western country is perfect on those questions either; so why single out Russia? True, but would anyone say that the West/India/Japan on the one hand and Russia on the other are even remotely similar in their rating on those questions?

The next counter-argument is probably going to be that I am imposing Western/Indian values of democracy and freedom onto Russia. Didn’t an attempt to impose those values screw up Iraq and much of the Middle East, one could ask?

That’s an excellent point. But note that I agree with that: perhaps democracy and freedom aren’t things that will make things better everywhere on the planet. In fact, that’s why I am always confused about how to feel about China. It would rate as poorly as Russia on most of my questions. But, and this is a critical difference, the average Chinese citizen is getting richer. So the option of having being born a Chinese citizen is not something I would shudder at. I do, however, shudder at the prospect of being born a Russian citizen.

So here’s my short answer as to why I dislike Russia: it’s not because of how it treats outsiders but because of how it treats its own citizens.

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