patrick.net

There was a great youtube channel on a guy who was a teenager in the 80s Soviet Union.

One thing I remember, he said you knew "Something was Up" when the little Box everybody got took too long to go from the 4PM show to the 5PM show and played filler music. A Premier's Death, Chernobyl, etc.

I saw Moscow in the early 70's. It was very eye-opening and also depressing.
We were on a prepaid tour from England; it was illegal in England then to take much cash out of the country so prepaid tours were popular.
It was absurdly inexpensive, like $147 for airfare, hotel, meals, for several days. It sounds impossible.
We were on buses with microphones behind the ash trays in the seats. Everyone was laughing when we found them.
There was also a bug in my hotel room; I stayed at the Intourist hotel, it was a walk to Red Square.
I went walking around and Russian guys were friendly and approached to talk with me; other Russians were following me around.
At the famous GUM store, I remember the meat counter; Russians were gazing at the meat like it was jewelry out of their reach.
The two Russian guys who talked to me were funny; one said he liked my American jacket, my Levi Strauss American Blue Jeans, American hockey teams. I was wearing a Pendleton wool jacket and I stood out like a sore thumb, I also had long hair.
Another Russian kid looked at my Draft Card; he was fascinated by it and I offered it as a souvenir. Why I had it in my wallet I don't know. Soon, a car came who were secret police or something and he ran away into the night.
Another group of Russians gathered around me when I went to see Lenin's Tomb in Red Square; the line for foreigners was short, the line for Russians looked like a mile long. So, some Russians had pretended to be in a group with me and we all approached the entrance together, they pretending to be talking with me.
The guard held up his rifle and used it to push us all backwards; then he grabbed me and pulled me forward.
I recall the dead Lenin looked fake under the glass in his coffin; his corpse was on an incline, just the torso showing. Maybe he was made of wax.
There were armed guards all around the coffin; they probably would shoot anyone trying to touch it.
I thought to myself that the Lenin corpse was important because some Russians might believe that there never was a revolution and it had always been the same miserable situation forever.
At the time I didn't own luggage, so I used my father's WWII green army duffel bag for my suitcase. Of course it was delayed for several days after I returned. It was likely completely searched. How they thought I was a spy at age 19 still amazes me.
The Kremlin Museum was amazing; the jewels and Faberge eggs, and other things put the Crown JewelsI saw in the Tower of London to shame.
I saved some of the toilet paper for a souvenir; it was brown and rough, like the paper towels you wipe your hands with in USA bathrooms.
The girls were hot and I saw them everywhere; they wore out of date fashions.
I saw in 4 days more hot chicks in Moscow than I saw in one year in England.
I saw Soviet soldiers running around sometimes; they were not Russian looking, rather asian looking.
The subway was incredible and interesting, likely built by the Czars.
Edit: I saw the Vostok rocket. It was a firecracker compared to the Saturn V rocket which send Apollo to the Moon. I realized that there was no chance that the Soviets were ever going to make it to the Moon. The "space race" was real, but the "race to the moon" was total bullshit, they were never in it.
Looking around at how stuff was so fucked up in Moscow, I said to my companion "Why is the USA afraid of these guys?"

RayAmerica says

He said one of his greatest fears was a simple 'knock on the door, because you never knew what it meant or who it was.

Like what happened to Roger Stone? 5am raid with CNN truck to be sure everyone knew what treatment people who support non-establishment types like Trump can expect.

RayAmerica says

Try to let this sink in; 16 (or more) adults lived in a one room apartment. There were several other similar apartments on the same floor. Each floor had only ONE BATHROOM!

H-1Bs in Silicon Valley so I am not getting the shock factor here.

RayAmerica says

everything in the Soviet Union was broken, and, crooked. The only way you could obtain most items was through the black market, but even then, everything was in short supply. Only people that were 'rich' could afford a car, which was almost always old and barely functioning. People had no incentive to work, and the workers always put forth very minimal effort.

And the difference between what is going on here now and back then in the Soviet Union is ?

RayAmerica says

You had to be extremely careful about what you said and who you said it to.

Still not getting the shock factor, shit like this been the norm since the early 1950s here

RayAmerica says

Keep this in mind; we are only one 'Black Swan' event away that will create the 'crisis' that the psychopaths, and their fellow travelers, at the WEF will not let go to waste.

How did we get it down to just one event ? Any chance it could take several events or multiple events on a cascade feedback loop ?

The Glorious Motherland has In-wincible Planned Ec-yonomy that outstrips all Western Prod-yuction!
Pravda says toilet paper is a luxury, not a necessity. Deal with it.

rocketjoe79 says

Pravda says toilet paper is a luxury, not a necessity. Deal with it.

Just like health care here !

This is America! If you can't afford it, you deserve to die! And besides, if you were a good and proper Christian, God would heal you if you prayed for it

DD214 says

Just like health care here !

Gee, I wonder who is using the plethora of hospitals and clinics. Even small towns have hospitals.

we definitely become more soviet in america than original soviets. the woke absurdity brainwashing is out of this world.

shut up and obey, esg or die.

I grew up in Soviet Union. Left soon after it fell apart. It seems that US of A is following Soviet path since early 2000's. Remember, it is slow initially, but accelerates...just like inflation

Bd6r says

I grew up in Soviet Union. Left soon after it fell apart. It seems that US of A is following Soviet path since early 2000's. Remember, it is slow initially, but accelerates...just like inflation

Do you think Russia is better or worse than it was before 1991?

Do you think it's improving or getting worse?

I see the US in decline, and although Russia CERTAINLY has it's problems, I think it's FAR better than it was 40 years ago and the US is considerably worse. Is this me being naive?

Bd6r says

I grew up in Soviet Union

Does this dude sound legit to you? He has been defamed, of course, and it is a little hard to know if this was a bit of a grift.
https://rumble.com/v1xrkif-1984-kgb-defector-yuri-bezmenovs-warning-to-america.html

Robert Sproul says

Does this dude sound legit to you?

I cant make up my mind about him. There seems to be a lot of truth in what he says, but he does seem to try to monetize his experiences. He overestimates competency of KGB I believe

richwicks says

see the US in decline, and although Russia CERTAINLY has it's problems, I think it's FAR better than it was 40 years ago and the US is considerably worse. Is this me being naive?

US is worse, Russia is different than 40 yrs ago. They have changed from totalitarian state to mafia state. I suppose both are bad and it depends on what a certain person prefers. In totalitarian state, if you tow party line you will be ok. In mafia state, you may be randomly whacked just because but level of repression will be overall lower in most cases. In Soviet times, state apparatus was not too corrupt (KGB actually was stamping out corruption), in Russia the main occupation of FSB (successor of KGB) is enrichment of fsb chiefs.

That said, I have not been in Russia in last about 10 years.

Bd6r says

US is worse, Russia is different than 40 yrs ago. They have changed from totalitarian state to mafia state. I suppose both are bad and it depends on what a certain person prefers. In totalitarian state, if you tow party line you will be ok. In mafia state, you may be randomly whacked just because but level of repression will be overall lower in most cases. In Soviet times, state apparatus was not too corrupt (KGB actually was stamping out corruption), in Russia the main occupation of FSB (successor of KGB) is enrichment of fsb chiefs.

Then I guess the US is becoming more like Russia. From what it appears to me, the main job of the intelligence agencies has become a job to enrich criminals within our government, and this extends into our foreign policy. The US appears to always try to start a war, and once it starts, they start fleecing the US population right away and then raiding the country that they invaded.

It's been this way for 30 years, if not longer.

And Pukin said that dismatling of that "great" empire was "the biggest tragedy of the 20th century". Now he's trying to re-conquer it back and you, OP, are one of his cheerleaders on this board. See any irony yet?

RWSGFY says

Now he's trying to re-conquer it back

Putin is not trying to "conquer it back." You know that, so enough with that Neocon talking point. I believe the Neocons wanted to provoke this war and kept pushing to the point of setting Ukraine up to join NATO. Had that not been enough to get a Russian reaction, then maybe the next step was to convince Japan to retake the Kirils and Sakhalin.

Seasonal wonderfulness in Russia means going from being an icicle to a warm season mosquito farm. At least it defeated Hitler and Napoleon. What more could you ask for?

The neocons, almost to the man/woman, are all descendants of Jews fleeing the Russian Empire pogroms in the Pale of Eastern Europe. To them, the destruction of Russia is the prerequisite for reclaiming their ancestral lands. They are the same types of Zionist-infected Jews who seek Armageddon in the Middle East.

AmericanKulak says

There was a great youtube channel on a guy who was a teenager in the 80s Soviet Union.

https://www.youtube.com/@UshankaShow

There's a game on Steam now. Basically SimCity only it's a Soviet Republic that you centrally manage.

Downloading it now.