Russians feel a tempest brewing

2014/12/21 15:52:26

UBO: We publish many stories about troubles in Russia, not just to point a finger, but because every day we become more convinced that Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine was mainly an attempt to divert the attention of Russians from the problems that his maladministration of the Russian Federation has brought to the Russian people. Nothing that Putin is doing in Ukraine, including the illegally occupied territory of Crimea, will do anything to solve the problems that Putin hopes long-suffering Russians will tolerate to support his “Russian World” dream.

 

< Photo: Ivan Sukhov of the Moscow Times

 


From TheWorldPost, Dec 17, 2014

 

By Ivan Sukhov of the Moscow Times:

 

[…]

 

Most of these problems do not seem to affect the underlying social and political foundations of society, but that foundation is already suffering tangible effects from the steadily worsening economic situation. Although it cannot be proven scientifically that an increased number of cracks in the facade is directly linked to greater seismic activity that threatens the building's foundation, the sheer number of such cracks naturally makes onlookers want to maintain a safe distance from the structure.

 

These "cracks" are numerous and varied.

 

Never before in post-Soviet history have Russia's service sector employees shown such a blatant disregard for the basic requirements of their jobs. It seems as if every single shop, service-oriented business, private company and government office along with municipal employees, bank managers, railway conductors and waiters at second-rate restaurants have simultaneously returned to the Soviet custom of barking rudely at customers. No trade deficit has yet appeared, but the negative attitude that accompanied the deficit that preceded the Soviet collapse is already here.

 

Perhaps never before in all of Russian history has the level of professionalism in all spheres dropped so precipitously.

 

Newly built road interchanges are made in such a way that after the first snowfall pedestrians must clamber over roadside mountains of black, half-melted snow containing a mix of anti-icing agents and mud.

 

This taxing daily struggle for survival in Russia calls to mind the words of the mayor of a small Finnish town above the Arctic Circle who, when he visited Moscow in the early 2000s and learned how much money the city authorities spend on cleaning snow from the streets, remarked that frankly such a sum could clear all the snow from Russia right up to the Ural Mountains.

 

Even in an expensive medical clinic, Muscovites risk receiving treatment from nurses who have not learned how to hook up an intravenous drip.

 

Municipal plumbers spend two months fixing a leak in your plumbing, but in the end you are forced to take a wrench in hand and become something of a plumber yourself.

 

In at least five out of 10 cases, consumers receive inferior goods or services, or else the products themselves are fine but the delivery or sales process is so bad that it is simpler to do without them.

 

The bricklayer who perfectly restored the fireplace at my dacha went on such a drinking binge with the down payment I gave him that he was physically unable not only to haul away the debris from the job, but even to pick up the rest of the money I owed him.

 

For the complete text, link below:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ivan-su ... ng-society_b_6341168.html

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