311–320 of 427 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? Cheap flights and booze? I'd like to know in order to avoid such destinations. Drunk Brits on bachelor parties were by far the most annoying tourists in Spain or Greece. I thought my co-nationals were annoying until I encountered drunk Brits.
Is it still a thing? Before covid, even central Europe suffered from the drunk Brit invasion, but nowadays it seems they have moved on.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Since history is a thing? Beside being part of the USSR, part of Moldova has also been in the Russian empire. Also a good portion of the population identifies as Russian.
"History" might be a thing but Moldova has not been part of the USSR for more than 30 years now, and has been part of the Russian Empire for only about a hundred years (after the peace of 1812 and until shortly after the first World War). It was one of the shortest-lived imperial possessions. > Also a good portion of the population identifies as Russian. Said "good portion" is about 4%, according to the latest census…
There are many countries where Russian is spoken as a language and when people identify as "russian" it is mostly the traditions and history. It has nothing to do with geopolitics.
It is language, religion, family values, holidays, food, celebrations, traditions, etc.... This is what is meant by identifying as Russian.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Since what Moldova is Russia? Am I on reddit or 4chan?
Hmmm, you woke up a lot of former Soviet Bloc demons there. Moldova isn't Russia, but has a sizeable Russian-speaking minority concentrated in a generally non-recognized separatist state of Transnistria. This minority is mostly Putin-oriented and despises the West and anything Western-related. Until/unless Russian imperial intents are defeated or collapse on their own, the risk of Russia reabsorbing parts or whole of…
It is language, religion, family values, holidays, food, celebrations, traditions, etc.... This is what is meant by identifying as Russian.
There are people proud to say they have this heritage, it doesn't mean you are a Putin lover and want to recapture the former USSR.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a Russian friend who is adamant that I would really enjoy and have a great time in Russia. IIRC he tells me to go to St Pete more than Moscow. But I cannot imagine doing that as an American. It kind of makes me wonder if he's messing with me but he hates Russia and Putin and I don't know why he would. I feel like I would be so unsafe. I'm a very "American" looking person and I only know a handful of Russian wo…
They won't know you're American until you open your mouth. There is such a wide variety of phenotypes in SPB that people will just assume you are a Russian. Russians these days mostly have friendly excited reactions to foreigners speaking English in public.
Just like I can easily tell if someone is British or Australian (not that they look the same, but easy to discern which is which usually).
An Italian once; "Americans walk confidently in the wrong direction."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
it's about the difference between "was" and "is". Sure, a bunch of states were formally parts of the Russian Empire as well as the USSR. That doesn't mean you can reduce them to "it's just Russia", those lands and peoples had history prior to being invaded and some have been lucky to have had some independence since the fall of the USSR. Considering that there are people out there literally fighting to the death not…
Personally I took that "in russia" like I would with "in europe...insert generalization here". As in Russia the general area, not specifically the country. Similarly we still refer to a good part of the Balkans as ex-Yugoslavia.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hmmm, you woke up a lot of former Soviet Bloc demons there. Moldova isn't Russia, but has a sizeable Russian-speaking minority concentrated in a generally non-recognized separatist state of Transnistria. This minority is mostly Putin-oriented and despises the West and anything Western-related. Until/unless Russian imperial intents are defeated or collapse on their own, the risk of Russia reabsorbing parts or whole of…
There are many countries where Russian is spoken as a language and when people identify as "Russian" it is mostly the traditions and history. It has nothing to do with geopolitics. It is language, religion, family values, holidays, food, celebrations, traditions, etc.... This is what is meant by identifying as Russian. There are people proud to say they have this heritage, it doesn't mean you are a Putin lover and wa…
Complete BS. The only people in Moldova/Romania that identify as Russian are Russians or Putin sympathizers. And this is also true of most other former soviets I've met . No one is "proud" of having been colonized by the USSR. Source: am Moldovan.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a Russian friend who is adamant that I would really enjoy and have a great time in Russia. IIRC he tells me to go to St Pete more than Moscow. But I cannot imagine doing that as an American. It kind of makes me wonder if he's messing with me but he hates Russia and Putin and I don't know why he would. I feel like I would be so unsafe. I'm a very "American" looking person and I only know a handful of Russian wo…
> But I cannot imagine doing that as an American. It kind of makes me wonder if he's messing with me but he hates Russia and Putin and I don't know why he would. I feel like I would be so unsafe. I'm a very "American" looking person and I only know a handful of Russian words. Well, I guess I look more German, blonde/blue eyed. Now I’m imagining a flat with some Russian friends where they take turns throwing darts at…
Someone out enjoying their night with friends doesn't want to constantly have to explain that they're from Russia, where in Russia, no not Moscow, 3 hours from Moscow, no I don't like Putin, no I don't support the war, etc etc over and over to random drunks.
I am glad that most (if not all) of the people we encounter aren't rude and assume he supports Putin/war, etc. That's usually what I expect to come out of someones mouth once they find out he's Russian.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a Russian friend who is adamant that I would really enjoy and have a great time in Russia. IIRC he tells me to go to St Pete more than Moscow. But I cannot imagine doing that as an American. It kind of makes me wonder if he's messing with me but he hates Russia and Putin and I don't know why he would. I feel like I would be so unsafe. I'm a very "American" looking person and I only know a handful of Russian wo…
It's funny but personally I'd feel less safe traveling to the USA. The chance of finding myself in the midst of a mass shooting terrifies me. Also being robbed, being involved in a road rage accident. If I was black I'd add to that the possibility of being subjected to police abuse. Without considering the chance I'm for some reason snatched and imprisoned in Guantanamo for the rest of my life without any legal proce…
Maybe the USA just has a lot more news outlets. We don't have Oblasts or little shanty towns full of drunk war criminals committing rapes and crimes that don't get reported because the Oblast/town has no local news agency and everything they learn on the news is filtered through VK. There is a university on the border of Ukraine (30mins or so in I believe) where they kicked out ALL of the students living there and filled it up with village evacuees and men who are in between going to the front line. They basically took over an entire college and were sexually assaulting/harassing the young students. There is one news article about it off of telegram and it's never been updated, happened a year ago.
Not a single American thinks about Guantanamo Bay in their day to day life that isn't a public defender.
I'm on a LOT of Russian telegram channels since they started the war. Nearly all Russians get their news off of Telegram or vk and it's basically all community sourced news. If the gov doesn't want you to hear about it you won't. A LOT of stuff goes on that you only hear about if you go to that specific telegrams news channel (often for an Oblast/city/town). A LOT of people don't report any news at all because they don't want to get harassed by the government.
Funny comment though. Curious where you're from.
I was in Moldova back in 2013 for a university org summer course and for me it somehow felt like being in Cuba. There weren't many tourists but everyone was very welcoming. You could see even between students the difference in pro-russians and pro-europeans. Weird thing is cut the hot water during the summer. Best wine I've ever had and it was home made from my friend's parent's cellar. Loved the time there.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It depends on your definition of safe. You won't be robbed. You may be assaulted on the street at night even in downtown Minsk. But the biggest risk is the state. If someone in the security apparatus decides that you should be taken hostage, tortured and beaten to death to show off to your government, they will do it and there will be no way for your consulate to help you. It's tougher for locals. Over 300,000 people…
> If someone in the security apparatus decides that you should be taken hostage, tortured and beaten to death to show off to your government, they will do it and there will be no way for your consulate to help you. Nah, just don't break their laws, it's pretty simple. European friends of mine visited Iran a few years ago, they even had some hookups with Tinder. I was very surprised at the time, their description felt…
Merely opening this link [1] would send you into trouble irrespective of whether you are local or a tourist. This is the chatbot of an opposition media in exile, FYI. There is for sure a law under which you will be prosecuted.