Russia of the Soviet Union vs now | What has changed since the USSR?

[@mieczyslawawozniak2305]

I am Polish who has been living in Australia for the last 30 years. I learnt Russian at school and I took Russian private classes in communist Poland. I am so glad I did, as I can understand it still after that many years. It is such a beautiful language.

[@rdsc.455]

All languages developed during the course of development of humanity are best and beautiful.We should have mutually respect each other's language as all are our own languages i.e humanity's languages.Respect each other's language and traditions.

[@sportsfisher9677]

Dzenkuje Bardzo Sestra

[@simonsmatthew]

It is such a pity that Poland has such an anti-Russian agenda. Polish Americans and the Polish Government through NATO and the EU have played a big role in escalating the conflict in Ukraine which has cost many lives. Most ordinary people just want this war to stop, they don't care if Crimea belongs to Russia or Ukraine or neither.

[@alfaromeo6985]

@@simonsmatthew It is a pity you are singing Putin's propaganda song. You certainly do not speak for most ordinary people. Crimea belongs to Ukraine not Russia.

[@simonsmatthew]

@@alfaromeo6985 Crimea had an indigenous population (rather like the US once did). Russians have had a long presence in Crimea. You might argue that Crimea is not really Russian, but for sure it is even less Ukrainian. Ukrainians have only ever had a very recent presence on the peninsula, and it has always been a fairly small minority (under 20 percent) of the population. You seem to think that 'territorial integrity' trumps self-determination. By saying that it is over for the Tibetans, Kurds, Papuans - and their fate is the same as the Greeks and Armenians in what is now called Turkey or Indians in the US, or Aboriginals in Australia. Please google history of demographics in Crimea.

[@Bangkokrover]

I’m British. In the early 1980s I was ships photographer on several Soviet passenger liners operating from Leningrad (Now St. Petersburg), Odessa and Vladivostok. The ships name’s were Shota Rustaveli, Taras Schevchenko, Maksim Gorkiy and Turkmenia. At that time it was the height of the Cold War and the President of the U.S.S.R. was Leonid Brezhnev. When, at first being assigned by my U.K. agency to Soviet ships, I was very apprehensive, as there would be just 2 non Soviet staff among 500. There also used to be so much anti Soviet propaganda. But it turned out that working with those people is one of my greatest and treasured experiences.

[@Ded_Silu]

Hello, have you published photographs from those days with ships from the USSR?

[@yurigansmith]

That sounds like a great experience!

[@ronanrogers4127]

I can fully understand why that was such a memorable experience. It really was a unique opportunity. You were very fortunate to have had such an opportunity.

[@Mercmad]

Hi Keith,almost 30 years ago my Brother came to Australia from New Zealand on the Taras Shevchenko !. As we we owned large vessels our selves it was interesting for my brother to see such a rusty ship travelling so far!. Another Russian Cruise liner,the Mikhail Lermontov actually sank off New Zealand in 1986.

[@Bangkokrover]

@@Mercmad High Mercmad. Sounds like you were on the Taras perhaps just after the end of the Soviet Union? The owner, Black Sea Shipping Co, would have been hard pressed to maintain her properly by then. I didn’t work on that particular ship around Oz and NZ. Those poet class ships were used for emigrant voyages, Europe to Oz during the 1970s to early 80s so were not set up for luxury cruising. I was not on them during that period, but later I was on the Shota Rustaveli cruising the Mediterranean with French & Italians. The ship was set up more luxuriously. The difference between emigrant voyages was best shown by what one of the previous passengers had carved into the woodwork of my bunk on the Shota Rustaveli. Was carved “Shitty Rusty Smelly”. But to me it was a palace. Before I was on the Russian ships, I was on the emigrant ships of Chandris Lines, Ellinis and Australis. Those ships I know are in many Aussies & Kiwi’s DNA.

[@markpatterson5250]

I am an American who met and married a Russian girl in the Soviet Union in 1979. I remember being amazed by the fact that my wife was unaware of the fact that the United States was even in WW2. I have no idea what exactly she was taught in school. I am still in awe, after all these years, of the warm heartedness of the Russian people. Thank you for your videos, they bring back many cherished memories for me.

[@mishacol]

It was always taught that USSR was allied with USA and UK, but the Soviet contribution was incomparably greater.

[@anthonymctigue9038]

Yes very sound people always know where you Stand with them.

[@JesusisGodandKingofkimgs]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gH61k4Smfb5ngpI

[@farerolobos9382]

Probably she was taught that the USA and Britain only opened the much promised and awaited Second Front when the Red Army was reaching Berlin, which is true. Until then the Western allies only fought in North Africa and the Pacific and the non-declared (but evident) goal was to drain Soviet blood as much as possible or, so to speak, killing two birds with the same stone. Did you know that over 80% of the German casulaties during WW 2 happened in the Russian Front?

[@markpatterson5250]

@@farerolobos9382 Thank you for your reply. You may want to read Viktor Suvorov's "The Chief Culprit" to gain new insight into WW2.

[@brunellabigi7807]

I'm really impressed by your attitude and approach about teaching history. The ignorance about USSR and Russia is not surprising especially among American students, but as an expatriate myself I can assure you that is widespread and common to other countries as well. Partly all this is due to a generational deterioration of education, partly from the fact that young people they learn western commercial messages from social media and they don't know how to distinguish commercial history from real historical facts. You might be also a rarity in your country too. Keep up with your excellent work, especially now.

[@stuartbritton4811]

Russians are also ignorant about their own history as they cannot see the trees from the wood.

[@lorenandre63]

Thank you very much for the compliment.

[@sovietheart3883]

The USSR was the best state to ever exist and capitalist propaganda will not change that.

[@jpr4747]

I can testify how this is true : all my ex-Soviet friends do think the same and miss USSR for many precise reasons ( material, cultural, educationnal, relationship between tovaritches). In 2014, I met some Russians and Ukrainians, even Georgians, Crirmeans ( Tatars) and we made a poll, about the 1991 referendum : 80% of the people said they had voted for keeping USSR and the rest said : I was wrong, if I had knew, I would have voted for keeping it. Some explained which was their living, some had lived in Bulgaria and gave precious facts. I have also a great friend from Poland, comrad. The same.

[@bryantint1339]

Babylon USA 🇺🇸 sucks.

[@TheVelcroProject_atnD]

I'm from the Philippines. I'm here to say I LOVE YOU BOTH! especially to Eli from Russia! you are very special to me my dear. I really love how you explained everything and enlightened us about Russia. I feel you both as a person loving their mother country.

[@tomtocz7284]

I was a kid growing up in Poland at the time Soviet Union was collapsing. As the Soviet influence waned in the country the Russian foreign language requirement was abolished for my class. The older classes continued with the Russian language and the younger classes below mine were required to learn English while for some reason my class had no foreign language requirement at all. I am learning Russian now and really enjoying the language :)

[@stayconnectedd]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGjKf4h5gK6Uo9k

[@bimmjim]

@@stayconnectedd Who engineered and built those buildings ??

[@sandor7594]

Russian language and Soviet Unio are two things. What is Soviet Unio? See it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJjXm5qGqaygrpI

[@martakowal4938]

Same here, i learned Russian in 2 grade but then it was stopped without being replaced by another language. They might as well have kept it.

[@firegirl24]

Чтобы там не говорили политики, поляки также близки русскому народу как украинцы и беларусы. Вражда братских народов началась когда Речь Посполитая приняла католичество, а Киевская Русь православие. Мои предки по матери были с Польши. Когда Польша была в составе Российской Империи, они состояли на военной службе и вместе с казаками перебрались на Дальний Восток, где охраняли границы России.

[@elizabethmorton4904]

I can't believe you two don't know who Rasputin was! Such a great story! He was a mystic/holy man who had enormous influence over the Tsarina Alexandra, wife of Nicholas, the last Tsar of Russia. He was some crazy guy, boy! He was quite gruesomely assassinated by a group of noblemen who were concerned about the extent of his influence over the imperial family. You really should read about him - it's such a fascinating story.

[@cdgncgn]

holiness and sexual sin is a misnomer. His eyes also look weird. That is usually from some sort of possession.

[@rameshsingh2480]

Rasputin was a traitor who wanted to destroy the Russian royal family .

[@АлексейАлешин-о8б]

What does Tsarina mean? Some kind of incomprehensible word, if you meant Empress Alexandra Fedorovna, then she is a Царица (Tsaritsa).

[@esmeraldagreen1992]

@@АлексейАлешин-о8б The term tsarina is used in the west instead of Tsaritza, that is all.

[@jacqueline8559]

@@esmeraldagreen1992 true, that's the Title in UK, and the family were related to UK (and many world) Royal Families, so we will keep to the title👑😁. Sorry, Esmeralda, not meant for you, I realize. Interesting story about Rasputin, but he was terrifying in his grasp over Alexandra, who seemed to rely on him, and fear him, too. He was mad, true, and known to be a drug addict, and heavy drinker. A false mystic. Not someone I'd like to bump into on the street lol.

[@lutchbizin6420]

Я бразилец, знаю русский язык, русскую историю, очень люблю русскую литературу, русский балет, русские народные ансамбли, самые красивые пейзажи на свете. Россия - это великая страна...Жаль, что меня ещё там никогда не было! К несчастью, невежество существует везде, в том числе, в Бразилии. Но, всё -таки, это не значит, что все бразильцы думают одинаково. Я благодарно поздравляю вас с отличной презентацией!

[@oritafilms]

Boa! Parabens. 🇧🇷 e 🇷🇺

[@robsan52]

1. America and the rest of the allies would have lost 9 or 10 times the amount of military people if the USSR hadn't held out until Dec. 42' and then turned the war against the Germans early 43' and forced them to retreat until the USSR conquered Berlin in early Summer 45' and that was pretty much the end of the war in Europe. American's are told that our industrial power made the difference for the Red Army...partly true though the Red Army would have, eventually, beat the Nazi's but probably not until the end of 46' early 47'. The danger was that Nazi scientists might have developed the atomic bomb before that happened and while they had the V-2 rocket which could easily reach all of the European cities they were close to building the V-3 rocket which could have reached all of the eastern U.S. cities as well as the eastern Canadian cities with atomic bombs. To stop that the allies would have had to throw many more millions of military personnel to defeat the Nazi's or until the U.S. developed the atomic bomb...its possible that it might have been a close run thing as to who developed the A bomb first. We are taught almost nothing about the many many millions of Red Army people sacrificed to defeat Germany. I am a bit ashamed for my country by how little we know about the USSR's great sacrifice in WW2.

[@robertbrowne9820]

Thanks!

[@sindymilan3557]

Привет товарищ, как дела? Привет из Пакистана Прекрасная Элли всегда креативна Слава великой России Слава Цезарям Слава царю Александру Слава прекрасным Анастасии и Владимиру Слава Советскому Союзу

[@bengreatorex502]

This is literally one of the best channels on KZbin.

[@MoniqueangeliqueLumpkin]

I AM FRANCO AMERICAINE, GREW UP IN SOUTHWEST FRANCE, MULTILINGUAL, SPEAK BASIC RUSSIAN, MY UNCLE WAS LIBERATED BY THE RUSSIANS WW2, WHILE IS WAS POW IN GERMANY, RUSSIANS WERE KIND PEOPLE, I KNOW THE STORY. FRANCE SIMILAR TO RUSSIAN SCHOOLS, AS WELL AS OUR APTS COMPLEX. HOPE TO VISIT RUSSIA SOON.

[@meronvlogz]

Great stream, watched the whole thing. Great content

[@stevengarrett2631]

As an older American I appreciate your facebook posting as I have learned much about your home. I have studied Russian literature, philosophy and music. Keep up your great work.

[@MoniqueangeliqueLumpkin]

U TUBE IS THE BEST HISTORY TEACHER AS WELL AS LANGUAGES, GET SOME HISTORY OLD BOOKS AS WELL, GO FLEA MARKETS, THE SAGA OF US EDUCATION DEMISE.SO SAD. KEEP KID OUT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IF POSSIBLE.

[@blueseaev]

Thank you for this information, as a mother 2 kids in public schools here in New York I can tell you that the majority of kids 10-17 don’t know anything European countries or even the world war, I have to take my time and teach my kids with maps and buy history books so they have an Idea of what’s out there. Thank you for your clarification Eli!

[@lorenandre63]

Please buy books I have a child in Belgium and they fucked up his education and history look up my name on Instagram it was not a short visit they lied in two court cases at great cost to see my son and still won had a judges order 6 weeks a year paid for all his trips in Europe the states, Caribbean UK paid child support and they hacked my data broke into my bank acc found my former friends and lied them. My mother was a school teacher my sister a phycologist we had a medium size liberty and went and bought so many books for years Barnes and noble the old book store in union square and so many other places and they cheated my son not me my son.

[@lorenandre63]

And worse he was to see my dad in Florida to go to Disney he was a modest man they kept him away from my dad and family my dad died a year later never saw his grandson he's now thirteen speak Dutch,French and German they won't get away with this I have a pass and they can fuck themselves. Imagine coming from the Caribbean and I'm supposed to scared I assure the police who tried to abuse me are lucky.

[@indoctfool9412]

THE history is well writen by the winners🤗

[@anthonylindsey6205]

As an American, I can tell you half of us don't even know our own geography.

[@vadimfedorov636]

Lol

[@christinafidance340]

It’s true! Sad, but true!

[@lorenandre63]

That's for sure.

[@NoMady688]

Damn It. I Know only only one thing "América para os Americanos". Thats ALL i Know 🤣🤣

[@lorenandre63]

The geography is only a part of the misunderstanding of this problem one has to go back to 1914 - 1918 especially the year 1917 to understand the issues at hand here for the Russians.

[@colinkelley6493]

Very good, interesting, fun job. 1) I am a 77 year old American. The fears of the Cold War was a big part of my childhood. 2) When I was in college, I was almost forced to fight in the war in Vietnam.. 3) I read many times over the years, that not only did the people of Russia have to stand in line to buy shoes, but there often was only one style and one size of shoe once they got inside the store. The shoes looked ugly, did not fit, and were uncomfortable. I was told that was typical. 3) Traditions. I drink hot tea, herbal and green, all day long every day. If you are invited to somebody's house for dinner you really want to bring something to add to the fun, either home made or store bought, something to celebrate the moment: wine, cheese, humus and crackers, a desert, something adventuress and unusual made with raw cacao chocolate. You two ladies are delightful. I learned a lot.

[@aldrickbanks3455]

This teacher is so fun and energetic, using a lot of goofy but hilarious cultural references. First Russian language video I watched.

[@DennyT71]

Eli,, you and your friend are both so young and happy acting that it brings joy and smiles out. Thank you, and I hope you continue to be this way. The laughter is infectious.

[@боряборя-о6ю]

Какие поверхностные у вас знания истории. Трэвел у вас получается намного лучше

[@IzzyOnTheMove]

I'm watching this on March 26 2022 and it's going to be interesting to learn the history of USSR, Russia, and beighboring nations. As a Canadian we aren't taught that in school and it might help to understand some of the context for the current situations. In discussions in KZbin comments on videos, at first it was like "No one in Russian are for this war", but then people told me it's not that black & white, because of the history, so I'm looking forward to learning. 🇨🇦❤

[@nevm7469]

Yeah, as an American born after the Cold War ended I’m interested to see how the history of the USSR shaped modern day Russia and how it’s history is taught there vs in places like the US and Canada and Western Europe. We’re taught a little about it in American schools, but not all that much. Mostly in the context of the Cold War and communism and how it effected us. I’m sure the American and Canadian system’s are probably pretty similar in curriculum and how and what they teach and our overall exposure to the USSR and it’s history. I grew up in New York and have a lot of Canadian friends, especially from Toronto and around Ontario, and I know from them that we all pretty much learn many of the same things and are all taught in a similar way.

[@Rbva]

It's worth noting that Canadian armed forces have trained Azov soldiers in the past, despite it being against the law to fund the neo nazi organization. I'm in Canada rn too (Irish originally) and from what I've seen, Canada spent $890 million arming Ukrainian Forces despite knowing the was going to neo nazis. Canada helped the US instigate this war and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to learn the history of this conflict. Personally as an Irishman I am ashamed to see how Russophobic my country became due to the western narrative; it has only shown me even more than Russian culture is more beautiful than I had ever realized before I started to really learn for myself. Watching footage from Patrick Lancaster, seeing the war raging since 2014, hearing locals talk about their experiences and who is to blame, and seeing all the innocent victims in the Donbass makes me mortified that my part of the world is not only supporting this barbarity, but they are sweeping it under the rug and blaming the victims. I just hope the truth will come out and people will realize that we are all humans. Peace and prosperity over war and increasing profits for the Military Industrial Complex.

[@Nikkimorox1]

@@Rbva hi Ryan I live in Scotland and even though I knew of Russia and a little about Ukraine I am ashamed to say I did not know the troubles of those in the Donbas for the last 8 years. I luckily came across Patrick's videos after realising the medias narrative wasnt telling me the whole truth. I first watched Ukraine on Fire which taught me so much, sadly as you know too many have been indoctrinated since even I was a child that russias the baddy and America are the heros, as I got older I changed that belief very quickly. I find if I try and tell people to watch things other than the BBC I get called a Russian Bot, they refuse to believe America and NATO have been poking the bear for so long it's hard not to think this was planned to happen all along and they were hoping Putin would retaliate. With channels like Patrick's and Eli's we can only hope people wake up.

[@jacqueline8559]

Learnt a bit about Lenin, and lots about Tsar Nicholas and his family. He had begged his cousin, King of England for asylum in the run up to the Revolution and, not believing he or his family were in danger (and probably for political reasons) he was refused and turned away. Very shortly before the families deaths. Part of UK Monarchy dark past, there. Then we learnt a lot about Stalin.?? Why.... Would love to visit Russia to visit the Churches

[@juavi6987]

@@jacqueline8559 Partly because the Windsors had to fear to be overthrowned themselves like in the German States and Austria as well

[@outdoor07]

As an American I enjoyed this. Your command of the English language is impressive. I have nothing but respect for the Russian people and what they endured over the past 100 years -especially during WW2. The ignorance you encountered (Americans not knowing much about the history of the former USSR) is not surprising given the poor education system we now have in America. Please tell more about the President's message at midnight on Christmas eve? By the way -people in America who do not throw away anything are called "hoarders".

[@AlienBunnyRabbit]

I'm American and I learned most of everything about other countries on my own. In defense of the education system, it is terrible, but American history as well as state history can be pretty dense. Perhaps world history could be added in high school, but even then, it might turn out like a world literature class, where only a few countries are focused. As far as hoarding, I like collecting knick knacks and I have several clothing items saved from childhood. This kind of saving isn't uncommon,, though I tend to label hoarding as someone who has so much legitimate trash, that they cannot live day to day properly. But from what I've heard from a Russian friend of mine, her parents saved clothes she could use again, much like mine did, which is very wholesome. In any case, I enjoy learning about Russian history, as it is a country that has an interesting history with America, but in a different way than England or Canada.

[@AlienBunnyRabbit]

@@sicsempertyrannis3782 unfortunately this is quite common in various parts of the country. I actually experienced something similar as my parents didn't see my homeschool as very good and, thankfully, I was able to transfer to a magnet school. Those types of environments are not great learning environments and I hate you had to experience that. Im also from the south, so yeah, your scenario is quite familiar.

[@Nogardthegreat]

It is due to all the Marxists in the education system here in the USA. They are calling it "Progressive", but it's just the same old Communism of Lennin and Marx. Anyway, they do not want any younger Americans to know what happened in the old USSR, like the Holodomor.

[@АлександрДухин-р3ц]

@@Nogardthegreat I am surprised, what does the USSR and the famine of 1933 have to do with it. Famine in Russia happened very often, but especially it began to occur periodically after about 10 years in the XIX century, for example, there was a severe famine in 1892“ "42 million people starved in the winter of 1900-1901, 2 million 813 thousand Orthodox souls died of them," From Stolypin's report in 1911: "32 million starved, losses of 1 million 613 thousand people", famine was in 1922 and 1933. After collectivization and especially after the development of new lands in 1956, this tradition was interrupted and the famine disappeared.

[@Mercmad]

@@АлександрДухин-р3ц It was the implementation of the first 5 year collectivisation plan which saw all grin seed stock stolen from the Ukrainian farmers. So for 1932 no wheat was planted,by 1933 live stock had been taken and no one could produce food. Thus the communist famine began.

[@stanspb763]

I visited the USSR a number of times starting in1976 and had a lot of friends primarily in Leningrad and was in Moscow during the revolt and occupation of the Duma, but not close to the action.Overall, the peak of the quality of life was in the mid-70s and stagnation really impacted the country in the 80s. I remember my first visit, few Americans had been to the USSR and even today almost everything known by Americans is pure propaganda. I was impressed how well everyone was so well dressed and how spotlessly clean the larger cities were. It appeared to be upper-middle-class the two largest cities. That period was also the peak of the middle class in the US when most had savings and took vacations. Now, the once middle class in the US has a negative net worth but from the late 40s to mid 70s the share of the wealth that belonged to the large middle class was about 70%and now it is less than 6% and a very wealthy rich class 0wns everything including the government. In Russia, incomes were regulated so the vast majority earned the same, so there was less division by class than in the US. I remembered the cost of flying to Crimea for a holiday at a health retreat was about 14 rubles while the median salary was about 400 ruble/month. The ruble was pegged to the US dollar. Vacation resorts, health spas, were very low cost but cars were very expensively. The cost of museums and opera or ballet was very low for Russians but a lot higher for foreigners

[@casteretpollux]

Very good description. I read yesterday that the reasons the Soviet Union collapsed were the costs of the Afghanistan war, costs of keeping up with the nuclear arms race, US sanctions and the US getting the Saudis to crash the global oil price. Essentially the Soviet system couldn't survive longterm without other industrialised parts of the world choosing to adopt socialist economies. Hostility of the US ended the Soviet system.

[@k.c.2084]

@@casteretpollux Workers of the World Unite, it is still possible. We just have to actually unite as global citizens and weed out the corrupt greedy sociopaths that are controlling everything now.

[@firecatgreg]

True. The rich and rich elitists will try to own and control everything and they have a centralize plan and it's called Agenda 21 built to fail and take down free democracies which are in themselves manipulated as well by the rich. The rich often control all governments or influence them enough. That is why they are rich. The highest species has the most profit and is the most rich. They inherit it from the system that allows it. Even in communism the same things happened but the class of the rich were centralized people in power who transitioned to capitalistic folks with the same centralized power ambitions. As the Russians and others have pointed out all society is basically the same with different labels. So what you say is full of a lot of truthful facts. Nice post. The middle class on average in the USA uses 100 BTU slaves per person. That is more wealth for the industrial world of modern man than any king had in ancient times. But on average the richer have more BTU slaves and wealth. And most of this comes from FOSSIL FUEL ENERGY. Which of course the politically correct world of the west now claims they want to give up. They want to give up riches of wealth and energy profit for trinkets the rich who will keep that profit will hold. So they are traded bubbles of false growth for wealth of real growth and told a negative trajectory and going to the stone age is progress.

[@simonsmatthew]

@@casteretpollux Yes the USSR could not keep up with Reagan's huge defence expansion programme. But there were also problems in the USSR economic command system. A long time ago I studied and taught about the differences between Chinese and Soviet industrialisation. It's a big area of discussion that is not taught in economics and history programmes, but is well known to Sinologists. A big difference was how the transition from communism to capitalism/globalisation was managed. The Chinese did it slowly and kept a lot of their command system intact. The USSR took the US's advice and adopted a 'big bang' or 'shock therapy' approach. To cut a long story short, the Chinese were right.

[@jpaulo_ap]

​@@casteretpolluxThat's propaganda. The USSR was illegally dissolved by Gorbachev, in a process of revisionism that started with Khruschev.

[@kellybacelis]

I feel like I have very similar desires as Moscow Russians. I enjoy watching your channel, you seem like a kind, well educated, likable woman. I will learn Russian and visit some day

[@f1lutek]

I grew up in Poland when USSR was still a thing, so Russian was a mandatory subject; because it was forced on us - we all tried not to learn it; then I got interested in physics - the wealth of literature on the subject published in Russian was amazing and... it was all affordable for a student, so I learned Russian in a hurry, mostly on my own, and acquired quite a collection of Russian books on the subject. Then some of my Russian friends introduced me to Russian poetry - and I am addicted ever since. Now I live in Canada, speak several languages, my Russian is no longer fluent in conversation, as it was 40 years ago, but I can still read it, because I do, frequently. The most poetic language in the known universe; only Spanish can compare, but this comes with some caveats it would take an essay to explain. Same applies to Russian classics; when English speakers say "Dostoyewsky is amazing" - they have no clue how amazing he is, until one reads him in Russian. Eli, try to read an English translation of "The Idiot", one of the severe cases - you will see what I mean, half of it is missing; meanings have very few shades; still a good story though, just not as good as it is in Russian.

[@АлександрДухин-р3ц]

Many people say that the translated works of Hemingway into Russian look more colorful and interesting than the originals themselves.

[@maria.5974]

@Szary Myszak- it was nice to read your comment, tks. If you want to read a good contemporary Russian prose, I would single out 2 writers - Tatyana Tolstaya and Lyudmila Ulitskaya. They are both very talented.

[@GuyHeadbanger]

Over all the poetry - you skall never forget Katyn and you should never forget, the Russia invited the Nazis to start WW2 by dividing Poland. Not the Germans made the plan and it was not signed in Berlin, but in Moscow.

[@martakowal4938]

I'm Polish and listened to this with my Filipino husband, who is fascinated by gopniks bc of Life of Boris 😂 We had a great time with you both! I can say that Polish ppl do so many Soviet things...the tea drinking, hoarding stuff on their balconies, having dashas... I grew up hearing stories about my family standing in long lines to get things. They took turns to stand in a line for couple weeks to purchase a fridge that's still at my grandma's house.. I know you didn't mention Poland bc it left the Soviet union earlier but there was so much here for my husband to learn from.

[@maria.5974]

gopniks are invention of vloggers. The last gopnik I saw was in the 90s, and he didn't have adidas suit. Lol.

[@TemujinMSM]

@@maria.5974 There are for sure gopniks in immigrant communities in the US.

[@Pidalin]

Poland was never part of USSR, people very often confuse USSR and comm-block as whole.

[@TemujinMSM]

@@Pidalin I think it was for a few years but not after WW2.

[@Pidalin]

@@TemujinMSM Eastern part of pre WWII Poland was given to Ukraine, so it obviously was part of USSR, but that's just Ukraine today. Poland was never officialy ussr if I know, same like my country when it was Czechoslovakia.

[@HHH22229]

In 5th grade, we had to make a flag of another country out of colored construction paper. Everyone made flags from all over the world… I only needed red and yellow colors. I made a hammer and sickle Soviet flag. I still remember how good the flag looked and how proud I was. Besides, Lenin was a cool looking man, I once grew a Lenin style beard. Eli, your English is so good… I could listen to you for hours. I’m one of those people who is fascinated with Russian culture. My grandparents were officially Russian, ethnic Lithuanian. Those borders moved all over Eastern Europe… one day it was Austria-Hungry the next day it was Russia or Germany.

[@teena4rl211]

I grew up in the so called Cold War Era, during the time of the Soviet Union. I remember the Bolshoi Ballet and the Russian ballet dancers and figure skaters. They were as graceful as swans. Of course, the Russian writers are world famous and their books classic literature, as is the music. I think the overall impression of Russia then and now is that of a cultured, resilient people.

[@DrPlatoman]

Ευχαριστούμε!

[@SamMiller-x4f]

As a old United States citizen i wrote a letter to my U.S. representative asking that we could have Eli as the U.N. representative of Russia to the United States. Thanks Eli!

[@Pylypczak]

Great idea! But she is a doll and A L L governments and administrators including UN are gangsters. I wouldn’t want them anywhere near her.

[@Pylypczak]

Also- 1/2024 - there are no diplomatic relations between USA-USSR… I get your point though. Shes brilliant, and charming

[@mariansmith7694]

Yes, history is still taught in many different versions depending upon who is teaching.

[@veekay6238]

Watching the video, I feel I was from the USSR. I mean the soviet influence was also huge in Hungary of course. Soviets left the country in 1990. We basically had the same life (as my parents told me) like cueing for bread and sometimes going home without it, it didn't matter how long you waited for it in the line. And yes, history is always told differently in other countries. We also have very similar habits as Russians have, e.g. we take our shoes off at home, change clothes, bring small presents when we visit someone and offer tea for visitors. Naming kids in Hungary is an interesting one in a sense, that you have a government approved list you can pick the names from. There are too many "crazy" as well as popular foreign names nowadays, which have to be written to be followed by the Hungarian grammar/pronounciation rules (Jessica -> Dzsesszika), but it is getting more and more popular to use old Hungarian and/or Hunnic names. Although, we use latin alphabet, we could easily write anything using the cyrillic alphabet as Hungarian being a phonetic language. Fun fact, Hungarian language originates from one of the ancient tribes who were living in the Volga - Ural area of Russia, but still it is not a slavic language, as many in the west would think so. Yes, the similarities in our cultures are mind blowing. 😀

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

In the UK we also take our shoes off at home. I can't imagine walking inside without taking off my shoes. I went to a gift shop and they had many names of cups and the names are soooo crazy too! Traditional names are not used much these days. My sisters children are named Sonny and Autumn!!!! It would be amazing to know your opinion. I'm additionally a big follower of this channel and I additionally create vlogs with regards to life in Russia. for some reason the youtube algorithm has actually not been as favourable to me yet. Nearly every person who enjoys my vlogs writes that it is excellent, yet very few are able to view it. Can you be brutally straightforward and tell me exactly how I can improve? I value your truthful opinion.

[@maria.5974]

@Viktoria - I visited Hungary, your comment made me smile. Yes, our cultures are similar and you like the pig lard/salo as much as we do.)) My ancestors are Mordva, near Volga (Finno -Ugric ethnicity).

[@veekay6238]

@@maria.5974 oh my god, haha, too funny! The other day when I was having duck fat spread across my bread slices with some red onion and red paprika powder on top with a little salt, I was wondering if there are any other nation who knows and likes these kind of food as we do? This is the best food/snack if you are "thirsty" if you know what I mean LOL. It brought some nice memories back when we hosted house parties when we were younger. It's so nice to learn that we have similar habits, cultures, it feels like we have a little secret in common and an instant connection. I am glad my comment made you smile. 😊

[@geoeconomics5629]

Magyar tribes came to Panonia plain from What is today Russia

[@sandor7594]

@@SamsRussianAdventures Your vlog is very good! I'm a follower you!

[@meganseizetheworld8309]

The schools in the US had very little focus, if any, when teaching us about WW2. I think they focused more on The Cold War when it came to any type of historical education regarding Russia. I think our education system is more focused on keeping us disconnected from Russia for some reason but luckily we can educate ourselves.

[@stayconnectedd]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGjKf4h5gK6Uo9k

[@danpollo4208]

Based!✊

[@hdj81Vlimited]

because USA must need a vilan to sell weapons.

[@allenbragg7920]

@@hdj81Vlimited How many countries sell weapons? Is it because they all need enemies? India and Egypt have purchased from both the U.S. and Russia.

[@alishamcg]

I think maybe it depends on where you live, we learned about it (California)

[@DennyT71]

Thank you both ladies. Love the information.

[@ioanstef1983]

Not only russians! CCCP was Ordered, civilised, people centered, as opposed to money focused Anarchy that we have these days!

[@ElwoodAndersonNV]

I was in the USSR for a month in 1989, one year before the USSR collapsed. It was a tour sponsored by the the University of California, Berkeley Alumni Association, where I attended university in engineering. I carried a large SVHS video camera, which was a very primitive device at the time, compared to current technology. Much of what we were told about the USSR prior to going turned out to be untrue. We had a Russian guide for the whole tour, and individual guides for every city we visited. When we entered Russia we were given a document to record money exchanges, and were told that this document would be presented to customs officials when we left. They official exchange rate was $2 per ruble. We soon found out that buying souvenirs at the government Beriozka stores was much more expensive than the black market rates of 20 rubles per dollar. Wherever we stopped the busses to visit a tourist attraction, a Russian would meet us in a Lada with the truck open with all the black market goods available. This is where we ended up buying our souvenirs. We visited Moscow first, then took a flight to Khabarovsk in the Far East where we visited schools, escorted by student guides. Having a video camera, I was escorted by two teenage girls who were very interested in trying out their newly learned English. We were very impressed by what they were learning in these schools. After the trip I corresponded with one of these girls, and she visited the US after the trip. From the Far East we took the Tran Siberian railroad to Irkutsk, and from there we flew to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and visited Samarkand and Bukhara by bus. Here we found out where all the fruits and vegetables were grown, that were not readily available in Moscow. From there we visited Georgia and Armenia, before flying to Leningrad, where we attended a Kirov opera, and flew back home. The guides we had told us all about what was going on in the USSR, including perestroika and glasnost. The Moscow guide told us he expected the USSR would fail within a year, and it did. When we passed through customs on the way out of the USSR, the Russians who checked us out would open our suitcases and see all the lacquer boxes, caviar, tee-shirts, Russian dolls, and other souvenirs, as they examined our currency exchange document. I had only exchanged dollars for rubles once at the first hotel we stayed at, which showed I had received 10 rubles for $20, while my suitcase had at several hundred dollars worth of souvenirs. The customs officials were having a big chuckle about the disparity, and laughing to each other as we passed out of customs. A video I sent out to the other tour members after the trip is available at the link below. photos.app.goo.gl/kUZHCWB8MqVjQtRA7

[@ella.canna777]

I'm Polish and it's quite a different story for me since USSR was kinda ruling over PRL (it's what Poland was called back in the day). Here people rarely speak well of USSR since we were very dependent on this country and our rulers were often more interested in USSR's well-being and many people were suffering from a lack of clothes or certain food - they blamed it all on USSR feeling like they were stealing from us. Now more and more people start questioning how horrible commusinst era was since many people had everything they needed and now it's way harder to live a normal life with our capitalist economy and lacking social support.

[@ella.canna777]

I mean - people were getting free apartments, but they had to wait like 10 years. Now there's no way for a young person to ever get their own place not having to get a loan with 30-years long time of paying it back, it's not even this possible to begin with. People would get vacations for them and their families from their workplace. People were overall quite poor, but equally poor - now you're expected to be making money and living a good life, it's not that common to be real about how much you make and stuff. People of PRL era were quite bitter, but very honest. Now people are getting more western in terms of "fake it 'til you make it". I guess this could be what people are missing. They start to idealize what it's been back then.

[@adamwnt]

@@ella.canna777 I do't think there's anything to be proud of in our old PRL, what you say may apply to more fairness, less wild capitalism, more social democracy so to speak and I would agree on that, the race rate we live in today has its downs, but the status quo we were in for 44 years against our will was nothing to be proud of, far from it.

[@Elena-il3tu]

Вы говорите какой-то бред. Это все в ваших головах вбито из вне. При СССР якобы Польша была зависима, а сейчас можно подумать она не зависима от ЕС и США? Тогда было меньше колбасы, больше социального обеспечения и человечности между людьми, сейчас больше колбасы, но меньше социальной поддержки и человек человеку волк. СССР на сколько мне известно строил заводы в Польше и как вы говорите обкрадывал вас, так это наоборот реализовывалась продукция, продавалась по всему Союзу с ваших фабрик и в этом ничего плохого нет. Кто кого обкрадывал претензии не ясны.

[@peterleibundgut2349]

Thank for the great videos. I enjoy a lot learning about Russia. When I went to school, the Soviet Union was very much alive under Leonid Breshniev. Because I was poor, I chose Aeroflot to travel from Zurich to Tokyo with a stopover in Moscow in 1979 when I traveled to Japan. Today, 43 years later, I still live in Japan. Greetings from the foothills of Mt Fuji

[@hershellacey9405]

Keep smiling and laughing. It sounds wonderful and makes you even more beautiful.

[@jakemonster001]

I grew up at the end of the Cold War and later got my degree in History at university. Loved this video and would love to be part of a chat online if you ever did another one like this one in the future. :)

[@jakemonster001]

Also, my dad worked for the government and got to travel to Russia and other former Soviet nations after the Cold War. He loved it so much as he never thought he’d get to travel there.

[@PJM-adventures]

Better late than never, I thank the both of you for your authenticity and informative presentation. The media tends to deal in stereotypes, often inaccurately, so it is refreshing to encounter your down to earth approach. You have reinforced my belief that generally, people are people everywhere. Only ignorance creates demons. Hope you find your way to Australia again one day. Cheers. Peter from Melbourne.

[@piotr4248]

Hello Eli, that's an easy question, the collapse of the Soviet Union started with the collapse of the Berlin wall in 1989 and in a few months, all Eastern European countries detached, followed by the USRR republics. It was a process, it did not happen within a week or month, it was about one year.

[@omnimercurial5169]

It started in 86 when Gorbachev threw away the 12th 5 year Plan aka the Pyatiletka, in favour of the disastrous Perestroika

[@YSLRD]

Not that simple. Soviet people connected to the outer world and saw the difference and grew restless. More liberal policies were designed to placate them. The inefficiency of the system combined with pressure from its citizens and other countries brought the system down.

[@omnimercurial5169]

@@YSLRD It was far from perfect, but it was functioning in a stable manner until Gorby messed up the flow of logistics. The Consumerism and Hollywood VHS Piracy played a part it is true, but things were steadily improving until 86, after that.... Everything was disrupted, undermined and worsened.

[@olegpetrov2617]

It was a chain of events. Low oil prices and weak "soft" leader. Life became to worsen. Nationalist movements appeared in republics.People in Russia wanted changes as well.

[@piotr4248]

@@omnimercurial5169 I was a small child before the USSR collapsed, and I remember the economical hardship in East Europe. The shortage of food followed by bad policies. My grandparents could not eat from their own farm, no animal could be killed and consumed, all had to be registered and given to the government for pennies, while store prices were high and mostly with empty shelves. To hide the USSR crimes, food was going out of the country in large cans branded as paint but inside there were meats from pigs and cows. People farmed with their hard labor, but could not benefit from it, as their own food or at least, being paid for it. We all mocked USSR as brutal and cruel. Also, we had to study the Russian language from grade 2 through 8, but could not travel to Russia if we had no family over there. Just imagine why people hated USSR, and if this is not enough, I have more to share.

[@roycavins1621]

Dear Eli, When the Russian Revolution took place in 1917 Russia's industrial capacity was very small compared to Germany, Britain and the United States. Since most Russian industry was developed under communism how did the modern day Russian oligarchs so quickly gain control of these vital Russian industries? Did this happen during Boris Yeltsin's time in office?

[@konstantinkelekhsaev302]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatization_in_Russia

[@geoeconomics5629]

Soviet Union collapsed so Soviet Government run economy did not exist anymore. Privatisation was next thing So people who were closest to politics became owners of large chunks of Soviet companies GRAB WHAT YOU can cause later when dust settles you will be just a SLAVE peasant working for those who gained acess to large chunks of Soviet Economy this is how it is in USA

[@harvey6664]

@@alixa3460 enter American shell companies who bought these state run companies and their tech. Alot was lost from USSR. Gorbachev okayed East Berlin. And expected NATO will not expand. Surprise. everyone in east Europe almost part of NATO.

[@roycavins1621]

@Alexis Andres The love of money is indeed the root of all evil.

[@geoeconomics5629]

@Alexis Andres Got it

[@madis_l9578]

Born in occupied Estonia I had to learn most of history at least twice.

[@josedosanjos2200]

I'm from Brazil ! Thanks for sharing about your country history.

[@s.leayoung5456]

I think every Country puts their own version of what they think should be in the history books so I can understand how confusing it is. It's confusing to me. Thanks for the great history lesson!!! Love your videos!!!👍😃

[@michaelmartin8337]

Спасибо, Эли, за этот замечательный урок истории России и Советского Союза.

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

It's fascinating to learn so much. It's a whole book worth of content! I'd love to know your opinion. I'm likewise a massive follower of this channel and I also make videos concerning life in Russia. Sadly the youtube algorithm has actually not been as wonderful to me yet. Almost anyone that find my content states that it is great, however few get to watch it. Can you be brutally truthful and say just how I can improve the content? I value your honest point of view.

[@ernstwiltmann6]

@@SamsRussianAdventures I'm gonna check your channel out, look's interesting.

[@YSLRD]

USSR was famous for tyranny and oppression. People idolize it because they were so completely defeated that they accepted it. It's similar to the way some slaves accepted their lot.

[@ernstwiltmann6]

@@YSLRD Just wait until the obituary about the neocon/liberal west is being written. I'm not sure how our crimes are being reconciled. And the final version of history is pending.

[@ernstwiltmann6]

@@YSLRD I thought slavery, tyranny and oppression was an US issue, to keep Latinos and their countries under control ?

[@joshuahalsell5152]

Really enjoyed this video Eli! Always professional your videos are!

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

I love that she always covers random topics. I never know what to expect from the next video! It would be amazing to know your opinion. I'm additionally a massive follower of this channel and I likewise create videos with regards to life in Russia. I don't know why but the youtube algorithm has not been as kind to me yet. Virtually everyone that views my material writes that it is very good, but few get to view it. Can you be completely sincere and tell me exactly how I can improve the content? I value your sincere point of view.

[@joshuahalsell5152]

@@SamsRussianAdventures I agree about Eli's sir heh it is very wide coverage of topics 😊 as far as making videos...I do not make them myself however...I am realizing that many foreigners are just used to seeing a couple cities in USA (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc) when there is much more to our country and diversity! I would just advise you...keep working hard and make connections 😉

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

@@joshuahalsell5152 Thanks Joshua, I appreciate you taking the time to provide me with valuable feedback.

[@ScottAndScarlettsDarkHumor]

From what I remember, in the US, The USSR is taught very briefly if taught much at all. The whole concept of public education in America is to give people a very in-general education within a certain time frame. The same is true in college. Also in American colleges, you have a hybrid system of class scheduling and subjects. Hybrid in terms of what you described. Certain subjects/coarses must be taken, they are mandatory. Others can be chosen. As to the individual asking if it was the same place as the USSR, I understand what they meant. They were asking if it was the same geographical location on earth. Like if you told them Moscow's latitude and longitude and they asked if it was the same place as Moscow, geographically, yes it would be.

[@infidelhindu]

37:00 I noticed from the map that in some of the former Soviet republics - Azerbaijan, Tajikistan & Turkmenistan, Russian is not even a second language, but it is a second language in Mongolia, which was Communist but never a part of the Soviet Union

[@jerrywright3280]

Thank your for the explanations about Russia. I learned a lot from this video.

[@lenar8061]

My dear Eli, I work in one of the high schools in Canada. The students have a privilege to choose their subjects starting from the grade 10th. The world history learning is not a priority rather the students focus more on the local history. Don't be surprised by American ignorance of knowing history, they simply haven't been taught. Only those people who have some personal interests have deeper knowledge about a forein history, culture, customs and traditions. Even worse knowledge among the students there is a word geography, a geolocation of the countries and their capital cities. Unfortunately. Nowadays we are all interconnected therefore people should have a better knowledge about each other. What a great work you do educating English language speakers about our motherland. I'm Russian myself born in USSR and I'm very proud of you💖

[@gabriellagirardi4741]

This video has been very interesting from the historical point of view and the differences from USSR and Russia are enormous. Great video thank you

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

Yes! Russia was very sad during the 90's but now it is a completely new place with a massive mentality shift. I'd be fascinated to know your opinion. I'm likewise a huge fan of this channel and I also create content with regards to life in Russia. Sadly the youtube algorithm has not been as kind to me yet. Almost everybody that views my content writes that it is very good, unfortunately not many get to enjoy it. Can you be brutally honest and tell me exactly how I can improve my vlogs? I value your straightforward viewpoint.

[@user-ee7cb2fj8b]

В худшую сторону!

[@amandabresciani4506]

I really appreciate your perspective on Russia and the Soviet Union. Being from the US, I can tell you that the intellectual deficit that you have observed of geographical and historical knowledge can be explained in part by the fact that the Soviet Archives weren't readily available to us until after 1991 as well as the fact that remembering the Soviet Union era tends to evoke bad memories for a whole generation of United States Americans because it was a time of such great tension and a general feeling of a lack of security. People that grew up in that generation don't often bring it up, but when you bring it up to them they will talk about what a scary and uncertain time that was. It is true as well that there is a great degree of variation in the way history is taught throughout the United States even in lower grades because teaching credentials are certified on a state-wide level, and some states give teachers more leeway than others on the curriculum that can be taught.

[@simonsmatthew]

Yes when I speak to Americans of a certain age there is a lot of anti-Russian feeling that you don't get with Western Europeans. I think there was a lot of negative propaganda during the 1950s and 1960s that probably exacerbated the fear.

[@shupp7547]

Hawaiian American, and we have adopted many habits of the mainland. We drink coffee, and on hot days we have shaved ice. I think our education is lacking in the USA and definitely in Hawaii. However I do remember when the wall fell and people could travel and be free from your nation. It is sad that people think that being restricted is something to be desired. The USA is getting more controlling and people are fighting to keep their freedoms. We love to have choices and privacy. Communism and socialism likes to control thought and freedoms. I hate waiting in lines and I remember pictures of the lines in the USSR. It was sad. We have our own problems but I would never want to be controlled like the USSR was. I did know that you were a republic and a capitalist economy. I actually remember when it was changed over in your country. Our education has gotten worse over the years and I private school and home school my kids. So wonderful to learn about your wonderful country. I want to visit one day.

[@nancyshiffler9435]

Eli l am U S grandmother that loves your channel. You are a wonderful joy to watch.

[@choiegamee6857]

Thank you for many useful informations about Russia. Keep continuing in this way . Very good channel about Russia.

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

It's great to learn something new. I'd love to know your opinion. I'm also a massive fan of this channel and I also create videos to do with life in Russia. unluckily the youtube algorithm has actually not been as favourable to me yet. Almost anyone that find my channel says that it is top notch, unfortunately very few are able to watch it. Can you be extremely straightforward and tell me just how I can improve my vlogs? I value your sincere point of view.

[@choiegamee6857]

@@SamsRussianAdventures : Hi Sam, I just visit your channel. Your video are very good but the subject of your video might not be what people would looking for. In my humble opinion, people want to have the information of Russia. I mean something likes economy, culture, cost of living in Russia, an ordinary russian life...

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

@@choiegamee6857 thank you. I get 50/50 in this area. Some what ordinary life and done want adventure. I much prefer adventure and visiting somewhere new. Most of the audience are men and so they want to see women! Eli is already a pretty woman and so she can make a topic on any subject and she will get the views. I really appreciate your advice and if you have a particular video request, let me know.

[@debbiemeyer7666]

I watch 3 other Russian KZbinrs showing everyday life in Russia. One husband and wife learned English only 1 year ago by watching old American movies. They had a baby 1 year ago and had an online baby shower and they spent 3 whole days opening huge boxes of baby gifts from many countries, mostly English-speaking countries. I’d say most were from many states in America. I think they have enough clothes for their daughter until she’s 3 years old!

[@MC-fw5vt]

Hopefully they donated many things to the less fortunate!

[@megaotstoy]

Soviet Union according to N.Berdyaev is just one of the three (four now) forms of historical Russia: 1) Moscow Tsardom, 2) Russian Empire, 3) Soviet Union (and 4) post-soviet, modern Russian Federation)

[@BibEvgen]

Not the Moscow kingdom, but the Russian(русское) kingdom. Не московское царство, а русское царство.

[@firecatgreg]

Yes all empires have power and all power by any complex alpha species must rely on smaller species to exist. We call those slaves or cooperative species and every human has them as well as every kingdom and organization. The more power you have the more power needs you have. THE SLAVES I OWN We call bacteria slaves in the humans that helps us digest our food. In cows those things are viewed as evil by some because they create to many cow farts. So all things in a complex organism require profit and food or calories and the greater the structure in physics or in organic life or in organized life the greater the need for wealth. And the more complex the life form or organization the more pieces it has and that complexity has MORE HEAT SINKS so by it's nature is less efficient. Higher level structures are always embedded with energy complexity and wealth from raw materials and energy spent to create them. This is a fact of nature. THE SLAVES MODERN MAN OWNS. Modern society is based on profit and energy and raw materials. As far as caloric energy for food and life of a nation or modern person most BTU calories of power comes from Fossil Fuels. So we literally live modern life and all structures for the most part come from fossil fuels. To get rid of them is suicide of the human race unless better fuels are used to replace them with higher BTU density. We have black slaves in the USA today. Those black slaves are barrels of oil., coal and natural gas, with some nuclear for the most part. We have a huge need for profit and power and that is inherent in any great empire, be it the UK, China, ancient Rome or Greece, the USA or Russia in it's various forms.

[@johnfranklin192]

I like the way you present this program. You are very genuine and likeable. You will be a success.

[@claudiocacopardo9924]

u r fantastic! as always interesting and well explained

[@tonylong525]

Don't apologize for thinking Americans have no idea about geography or history. Some do, obviously, but in general our knowledge of history and geography is practically nonexistent. That includes our own history and geography, by the way.

[@ernstwiltmann6]

Is that something we should be proud off, I'm saying that as a Canadian.

[@LoneWolf-je9vr]

@@ernstwiltmann6 It apparently is.

[@simonpilk]

Yes I am from the UK and have travelled widely in Europe as well although not yet to Russia or Ukraine etc. I am very shocked also about younger people from the UK and almost any age for America who seem to have almost no geographical understand of where anywhere is any more! We were taught in the past about political geography which is more about where different countries and places are. I think most usual people from almost every country just want the basics of warmth, food and a little money, not much to ask for so we as earth citizens so many have things in common than we think. I am hoping to visit Russia and Ukraine now that hopefully Covid is easing and I find it interesting from so many angles. It made me smile that ‘Bald and Bankrupt’ Benjamin went to Perm which was interesting. Your command of English Eli is just stunning! Take care

[@ernstwiltmann6]

@@simonpilk That was well said.

[@wackyruss]

I grew up in the 80's in Houston, Texas, USA. I remember I had a World Map on my wall when I was a kid. The USSR was a HUUUUGE country that took up most of Asia. I often wondered what life was like there in such an enormous place that was even bigger than the USA. I remember seeing an illustration in an atlas of "People of the USSR" which showed illustrations of various ethnicities of the Soviet Union. I remember thinking that many of them looked "Chinese" (Asian). My Dad served in the army and would always tell us he was trained specifically to fight the Communists. Movies like "Red Dawn" , "Ruskies", and "Spies Like Us" were popular and featured the Soviet Union. Also there was that Russian boxer in the "Rocky" movie that famously said "I WILL BREAK YOU" to Sylvester Stallone. I remember Gorbachev had a weird discolored area on his bald head. I also remember that TV series called AMERIKA which was a fictional account if the Soviet Union took over the USA. There was always a fear that the USSR would "nuke" us with Atomic Bombs.

[@DeadnWoon]

I may reply to your very informative and interesting commentary as the man born in the USSR, in the Soviet Ukraine. My grandad served in the Soviet army in the 1930s-1950s, he was a paratrooper. He was a very nice man that every woman around adored - mutually... The Soviet boxer in Rocky looked Nordic (not to say, Aryan, not to say, Nazi-wise) for he was played by a Swedish actor... His depiction in the movie was ABSOLUTELY, PRINCIPALLY, theoretically and practically incorrect. The Soviet sportsmen that went to the tournaments, Olympic games, et al abroad were ALWAYS selected so that they look nice, attractive, brave but charming. They all were always told by the Soviet authorities to smile, shine, look healthy and be a living advertisement of the USSR. If the Soviet boxer indeed behaved in a way, Rocky's opponent did, he would have been sent home immediately... As far as I now know, the post-Stalin USSR definitely NEVER had any plans of invading the western countries first. As the sign of counterattack - everything is possible. But nothing else. Both the Soviet and the American secret services and militaries knew that neither the USA nor the USSR had any plans of invasion - but they milked the budgets of their countries by telling their governments and people that the enemy was going to invade somehow. I would say that the classic, elder James Bond movies (especially, Octopussy) depicted the situation pretty perfect. The Soviet leadership did not want any confrontations with the USA, but there were a few bastards on both sides that tried to provoke the other side. Those bastards usually were of lower ranks and had no opportunities to really ignite a war. Just look at the place of General Orlov in the scene as compared to the chairman and General Gogol... General Orlov definitely was less important at that table... kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5a4gYWZe8-Nhq8

[@geoeconomics5629]

Your dad was trained to fight for this: USA has only 1 Imperative: IT IS IMPERATIVE that no EurasiaN challenger emerges capable of dominating EurasiA and thus of also challenging America - Spykman Brzezinski Wolfowitz etc...

[@cassandraelliot7878]

I was at a party, 4 years ago, when a man (we were all American) said to me, "Russia is communist." I had to explain it to him.

[@ericgoingoverseas5064]

Very common misconception among my fellow Americans. That's what our government told us. Most never cared about it any further.

[@cassandraelliot7878]

@@ericgoingoverseas5064 Yet these people loved to voice their opinions about politics.

[@ericgoingoverseas5064]

@@cassandraelliot7878 I never said Americans always think things through and do neccessary research. 😁 The chosen political party or government truth is all that's required.....As depressing as that is sometimes.

[@cassandraelliot7878]

@@ericgoingoverseas5064 Mr. Putin recently gave a speech in which he referred to the Old Chinese Curse: May you live in interesting time. So we do. I agree that (I like how you out it) the chosen political party or government truth tells us all we need to know. Wishing you the best going forward.

[@fredianopellegrini9930]

Dear Mrs. Eliana for a long time in trying to learn English listening to blogs spoken in English language . And having noticed that native speakers speak too fast I started to see Russian blogs. I listen to several of them: girls from Kabarosk, Perm, Udmurtia, Moscow and Rostov. All are nice, interesting and ... with lots of snow and cold.

[@kappy-nf6uh]

Really appreciate watching your youtube channel. It has been a huge learning curve. I'm just curious as to why your grandmother still misses life under the Soviet Union.

[@MoniqueangeliqueLumpkin]

SIMPLE FREE MEDECINE, HEALTH CARE, PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION , FREE FOOD.

[@Nikioko]

Nostalgia. People forget about the bad things and remember just the good ones. Same phenomenon in East Germany.

[@stefanalexandrucojocaru1789]

I believe that after the Government of federal Germany invested hundreds of billions of euro in Eastern Germany. I believe that people in the Eastern Germany will forget the communist past

[@edwardlangrehr3008]

I want to call you RED,, BEAUTIFUL REDHEAD. GREAT ENGLISH PHONETIC SPEECH.

[@shiweicai4872]

Powerful and respectable country.

[@poco1174]

Really, and where did you get that idea? Many, many things to respect about Russia, the USSR is not one of them. Their power is not one of them. Ask anyone in Eastern Europe who lived in the Soviet yoke. Ask any Ukrainian?

[@beadingbusily]

I grew up in the 1980s. The internet did not exist yet, and there was nothing about Russia, except news about how Gorbachev and Reagan both had nukes, so we were probably all going to die soon. So, different era, different world.

[@bowrudder899]

"Товарищ" употребляется как форма обращения в армии до сих пор (напр. "товарищ генерал").

[@СергейРычков-р9х]

В А Р М И И Н Е Т Г О С П О Д.

[@Jamem30]

Not just the Army. In the TV series Спяши ("Sleepers" on Netflix) the FSB good guys Tovarished each other rather a lot - while standing in front of portraits of Andropov and Dzerzhinsky, by the way!. One might rightly hope that the USSR, lining up for bread, shoes, oil; using psychiatric hospitals to silence dissidents, каторга, etc are in the past. But even after 30 years maybe it is increasingly premature to think this is the case. Sorry to be so downbeat. Love the videos.

[@Hanna-yn5ou]

My history book in Sweden, in "high school" had the picture of the USSR flag on the Berlin reichstag, on the cover, in the final year. This was early 1990s and they still hadn't changed the curriculum. Nowadays the view of the USSR is much more negative than back then. Officially things were neutral in our country. Some preferred the USSR worldview and felt neutral or mildly positive about the USSR. Some hated the USSR and preferred the American worldview. Both views were acceptable. I had been in the USSR as a kid and never saw anything that I thought was negative. My dad did business with the companies in the USSR so he brought the family there several times on holiday and staying in Moscow. As a kid in the 80s I was impressed. Playgrounds were cooler in Moscow than in Sweden. There were huge skating rinks with ornaments everywhere, I remember being in an amazing toy shop and trying a water slide for the first time. To me as a kid - it was cool. As I was in my teens, glasnost started, followed by the breakup of the USSR, I had to review my positive view of USSR, when all the poverty in the countryside, the neglected buildings and mistreatment of handicapped people was exposed, I felt very confused and let down. All of of the USSR was certainly not like Moscow or Jurmala... I still think the leadership of the USSR had good intentions. The bad things that happened were the results of human weaknesses. I think the education there was very good, based on skill level and general knowledge of Russians I know who are my own age. Also - there were different phases of life in the USSR. It was much better in the early 1980s, than late 1980. What happened after WW2 in Eastern Europe is a matter of interpretation - but the USSR followed the agreement between the Allied that was made in Yalta! Russian was one of the languages available to choose in my school, as your 3rd or 4th foreign language in school, along with German, French and Spanish. It was the least popular one though - due to just "looking" difficult.

[@arneheeringa96]

Well it would be good to read about the Gulag, like 'Gelobtes Land' by Wolfgang Ruge or 'The Gulag Archipelago' by Solzhenitsyn. USSR hat some very bad sides about it. And yes I went there before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

[@arneheeringa96]

@@arsydruzh no it isn't. Wake up.

[@АлександрДухин-р3ц]

@@arneheeringa96 Who needs to wake up - it's you who have read different fairy tales. There was a war going on in the USSR at that time -a civil war, and there is no war without victims. The hot phase of the civil War lasted until 1922 and smoldered until 1939. I am very touched when Western people judge communism without knowing anything about it. The actual results of Stalin's rule are as follows: from 1921 to 1953 4 060 306 people were convicted for all types of crimes: 799 455 people were shot, 2 631 397 people were imprisoned, 413 512 people were exiled, etc. 215 942 people Respectively 2,15%: 0,42%, 1,39%, 0,22%, 0,11% population of the USSR in 1953. Total killed in the camps 606 748, i.e., of 0.85% of the population. During the war 367 thousand Germans, 228 thousand were deported from the Western regions. Tatars and others. citizens of Crimea, 24 thousand Azerbaijanis, 20 thousand Armenians, 45 thousand Turks, 164 thousand Latvians and Estonians, only 848 thousand people. From the famine of 1932-1933, the population decreased by 2.5 million people. Having survived the devastating losses of the great Patriotic war, for 26 years from 1928 to 1954, the national income of the Soviet Union increased by 12.9 times. The population increased from 137 million to 200 million between 1920 and 1956. The number of students from 1914 to 1954 in schools increased 3.2 times, in technical schools, etc. 34 times, in higher education-13.6 times. The number of researchers increased 21-fold from 1913 to 1954. The number of doctors from 1913 to 1954 increased by 12.6 times. Housing stock in cities and towns increased 2.8-fold from 1926 to 1954. The real income of the workers from 1918 to 1954, the workers grew 6 times, the peasants 6.5 times.

[@АлександрДухин-р3ц]

I have lived in the USSR for 30 years and have not seen poverty in the villages , and you can pick up different trash everywhere and always.

[@arneheeringa96]

@@АлександрДухин-р3ц to people loyal to the system life wasn't bad, same as in Germany where I live now. I see much remnants from dictatorship though people don't identify.

[@jacqueline8559]

Excellent and very interesting. Thanks so much

[@GulfSouthGene]

Thanks for all the education about Russia, I would rather understand then hate, bless you for all you do to enlighten our thinking of your country, you are a jewel!

[@Pk-wu9tl]

The effort you put into your videos is so wonderful to see. You are my number 1 tour guide!

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

I love her videos too because she covers such a wide range of topics. I'd be fascinated to know your opinion. I'm also a significant fan of this channel and I additionally create videos concerning life in Russia. I don't know why but the youtube algorithm has not been as kind to me yet. Almost every person who sees my content states that it is excellent, however not many are able to view it. Can you be brutally straight up and tell me exactly how I can improve? I value your straightforward viewpoint.

[@Pk-wu9tl]

@@SamsRussianAdventures of course! Let me watch a few of your videos and I will come back to you.

[@borisnegrarosa9113]

She's not real. She's an actress pretending to be real. She has a camera crew making the videos. Stop being dumb.

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

@@Pk-wu9tl Thank you! I really appreciate you taking your time.

[@garythorington1600]

Hello I’ve studied the USSR since I was in the 3rd grade. I have always been fascinated with the Soviet Union it’s leaders and it’s people I could not believe the nation ended the communist system in 1991. I am still interested in all aspects of Russia it’s culture and history. My only regret is I have not yet learned the Russian language. I am also embarrassed by Americans especially the younger people know so little of American history snd geography. It is doubly embarrassing how little Americans know how little they know of the Great Patriotic War and how the Red Army primarily defeated the Germans in WW2. Anyway I love your station and will start learning Russian!!!

[@cameronmurtagh9977]

Damn straight mate

[@sirdudleynightshade8747]

Not much point in Americans learning about their history.....it's currently being rewritten and selectively cancelled.

[@cameronmurtagh9977]

@@sirdudleynightshade8747 I feel you, buddy

[@odysseusthesojourner4401]

Hi Eli. Privyet! I love your videos. This one is particularly interesting because I served in the US Air Force in the 1980s. I actually wrote a paper in 1983 in which I predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union. You have explained Russia and the USSR very well.

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

Wow! That is interesting! Did you serve overseas? I'd be fascinated to know your opinion. I'm also a huge follower of this channel and I also create vlogs with regards to life in Russia. Unfortunately the youtube algorithm has not been as helpful to me yet. Practically everybody that watch my vlogs says that it is brilliant, unfortunately few are able to enjoy it. Can you be brutally straightforward and tell me just how I can improve my content? I value your truthful opinion.

[@odysseusthesojourner4401]

@@SamsRussianAdventures I will check out your vlogs and give some feedback. Let’s get your viewership up. Can your videos be found under the name that you show here? As for my military service, I was based in Europe; England and Greece. Interesting time to be there.

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

@@odysseusthesojourner4401 Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to your feedback. I wonder how much the mentality within the armed forces has changed towards Russia?

[@odysseusthesojourner4401]

@@SamsRussianAdventures that is a great question, Sam. I can’t speak for anyone but myself. Back in the early 70s, I developed a great admiration for Soviet hockey but still looked at the CCCP as our enemy. Really state communism as the enemy. This view was reinforced while in the USAF but I began to see it as people crying to be let out from the oppression. Through the 90s, my views really changed and I became very hopeful for the direction that Russia and the other 14 states might go. I doubt that many Cold War military men and women think as I do. I still hear things like “Putin was KGB so never trust him”. So that Cold War indoctrination lives on.

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

@@odysseusthesojourner4401 interesting. I guess everyone needs an enemy in order to stay alert, focused and on point. I don’t think there will ever be a war between military powers. The scariest thing would be the effects of accidentally opening fire as they always seem to provoke each other by testing boundaries and borders. Great to chat and learn things from your point of view.

[@dublinlassdana6544]

I’m an American, I’m 47 and I grew up during the time of the Soviet Union and I have family who lived there and I can tell you that it was a time where propaganda dominated the news, on both sides. My fear is that our young people, Americans and Russian youth alike, idealize the idea of “COMMUNISM” because they think that having free things is so great but they don’t understand that you have really no true personal freedoms, you cannot do as you like. I wish that education about those times would be true and more extensive. Young people have wonderful ideas on making a better world but sometimes their “dreams” aren’t based on the reality of life.My fear is that history repeats itself! You are doing a great service! Baka baka!!

[@dailostenebris9630]

it's paka, not baka

[@aqualee3198]

Eli I see this video is at least two years old. Overtime our schools have deteriorated academically since I was a girl in American schools. Recently a reporter asked young people where Asia was. Their response was some city in the East. 😢 As a Senior I do know the difference between the USSR and Russia, but love learning from different perspectives. Thank you for sharing your country and history. ❤

[@Johnny53kgb-nsa]

In the early to mid 1960's, the US government had many American's scared of the Russian's. We would hear, the Russian's are coming, lol. We had to practice bomb drills in elementary schools, we had to go into the hall's, duck down, and cover our neck. It was ridiculous. Very nice video, thank you, Johnny

[@dimitrislakakis2281]

We did the same early 1960 th in Russia

[@Johnny53kgb-nsa]

@@dimitrislakakis2281 Are you serious? Dang, I wish our governments would learn to get along with each other like the people do. We're all just regular folk's, with our own families and love of life. Thank you for sharing, John, Indiana

[@Richiesrant]

This was long, but very informative. The wealth of information here is invaluable. Benjamin Rich (the bald and bankrupt youtuber) should be watching this!

[@stefaniac2095]

I was born in 1975. Growing up in Italy the ussr was a huge mystery. I would not say an enemy like they felt in America but we felt like the ussr was another planet. I do still remember the Chernobyl disaster. It was in Ukraine but of course we all amassed together as Russia . It affected us in Europe as we were scare of drinking fresh milk.

[@zoejay]

I remember us not drinking milk after the disaster too. I was 5 years old at the time.

[@johnmcmaster7110]

Many years ago when I was "young", i perceived russia as a cold place with people who don't smile and need to line up for toilet paper. I'm sure the toilet paper line was true but I'm curious now from the russians who were there....how many years that actually had to be done or was there just a brief crisis?

[@florianmeier3186]

The Soviet Union was more crisis than anything else. The revolution caused many lifes and forced Russia to stop the war under bad conditions. Stalin made it stronger, but the regime became so cruel that in the end his closest camerads feared to be sent to Gulag any moment. Even if it managed to win the WWII (a great success), the great losses were partly caused by bad organisation and preparation in the beginning. That times were very hard afterwards is logical as it was the same for whole Europe. The recovery was just accelerated in Western Europe by US money as US did not suffer significantly destructions and was interested to prevent European countries from switching sides (which was a realistic danger at the beginning). But already in the 1950s the attraction of USSR in the rest of Europe was gone and the empire could be only kept together with violence. Inside USSR the success continued due to further industrialisation and exploration of Siberia and space which was a big adventure for young people. But finally the old men on top were not flexible enough anymore to keep the momentum and the money put into military defence was lacking for further economic growth. The reforms of Gorbatchev came to late to avoid the final decline.

[@MrDXRamirez]

I am 66 years old and born and raised in Manhattan. Catholic schools never taught anything about Russia and public school taught nothing about Russia. As a matter of fact, I learned more about Russian and European history from Jansen’s History of Art, a fantastic book I sill have I found in a dumpster outside of my school. Gives you an idea of the degree of ignorance and disdain American education has for knowledge and Fine Art in particular. Jansen’s Book is a large hard shell text, beautiful book, worth about $200 in today’s money...imagine the value of 300 books going to the dumpster. Further more, to learn about Russia there was one books store on 5th Ave, it was around Union Square, there was a Russian bookstore and sold everything I needed to learn. But let me tell you I felt all eyes were on me going into the store. I bought a ton of books, all sold very inexpensively, I was 20 at the time and I kept the library I consider a treasure. Now you might ask why did I do this? The answer is simple: Cold War politics...it was impossible for me to believe the allegations made against Russia that I had to double check, by learning Russian history to form my opinions...very demoralizing that my country would be so propagandistic, embarrassing and humiliating that to this day I cannot believe a single word uttered out of the mouths of politicians. People are sadly ignorant that I tell them when I encounter someone as ignorant as I allege that the USSR is still in existence and its in Washington D.C. and they appear to believe it. This was NYC a world class city, you can imagine the ignorance in the rest of the country. In New Jersey where I went to spend summers the kids I encountered there were snorting glue for lack of having access to real pot. That summer, the summer of 1971 I read Tolstoy and Dostoyevski banned currently in American education and gave the NJ kids an ounce of pot to get them off the glue destroying their brains...what idiots.

[@theangrycanuck8331]

I feel like I'm going through such a phase and awakening

[@MrDXRamirez]

@@theangrycanuck8331 See how Americans run away from the truth. They do not know how to respond to the truth and thus avoid it...you are the only one who observed my comment. Congrats on your awakening.

[@theangrycanuck8331]

@@MrDXRamirez could I ask a huge favor? Could you give me a list of books and sources to go through. I've been learning about the Soviets ending period during 1985 to 1993

[@sandor7594]

Here in Hungary is (from 1956) zero the nostalgia for Soviet Union.

[@tahagocmenoglu573]

Good

[@borisnegrarosa9113]

Hungary was never part of the Soviet Union. Now you have to deal with the European Union instead. Good luck

[@DirkDP65]

LOL! But I think it's the EU who needs good luck in dealing with Orban...

[@LoneWolf-je9vr]

@@DirkDP65 Wrong. They can withdraw their investments from there and wtf will Hungaria do then?! Countries that weren't Soviet but were under the Soviet influence got screwed by the west and if they continue to be "neutral" or even agaisnt the western "democracy" and "values", they'll end up as either Chinese spheres of influence or huge battlefield between the east and the west.

[@sandor7594]

@@LoneWolf-je9vr Yes.. Sovietunio was better, as EU. But no! We want no a colonial life! Never! We are free! Regards from Budapest.

[@JoanDoris1]

I didn't learn anything about the USSR in high school. In college I didn't study about the USSR. My boyfriend got me interested in Russia and her history, but I learned the most about Russian history by my own reading, being in a prayer group for Russia and the Church in Russia. And I visited Russia twice. I took some filmmaking classes in college and learned about Sergei Eisenstein.

[@mariansmith7694]

Sadly, most US citizens have very poor knowledge of geography & history.

[@karimbouda596]

Thanks so much for this topic !

[@markfischer3626]

I'm an American who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. I knew quite a lot about the Soviet enemy. It was like studying people on another planet. I knew all the SSRs and their capitals. I learned a lot of geography starting when I was very young because I collected stamps from all over the world. We learned a lot about many aspects of the USSR in school. Reading and critiquing the Communist Manifesto was required in both high school and college. We learned a lot about different theories of government and economic systems including the USSR's and our own. I'd read a lot of books about the USSR, listened to music from all over the world, and read fairy tales from many countries including Russia. I lived through the cold war so it wasn't history, it was the daily news. The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 was very frightening. We couldn't work at school because we didn't know if we would live to see the end of the day. You have no idea we came to Workd War III. I was born and grew up in Bew York City, a prime target for multiple nuclear strikes. It's may 2023. It appears Russia is turning back into the Soviet Union. No sky in Russia? What about Tchaikovsky, Dostoyevsky, Trotsky, and PutZsky? Do you know what a putz is? You might get a laugh watching an old American cartoon series on KZbin called Rocky and his friends. It was a children's show featuring Rocky the flying squirrel, his friend Bulwinkle Moose and their arch enemies the spies Boris Badinov and Natasha Duval. They reported to Mister Big and there was Fearless Leader. The Soviet Union was bankrupted by falling into a trap set by the Reagan Administration. The US ramped up the nuclear arms race building new nuclear weapons delivery systems and began working on a missile defense system. Russian generals insisted on keeping up. At the same time the US persuaded Saudi Arabia to flood the global market driving the price way down and the USSR's income with it. The Russian generals were suckers for numbers games. At their peak the USSR had 45,000 nuclear weapons, the US 30,000. Either country could be completely destroyed with only 200. Despite what you hear, there is no defense against a nuclear attack. Not with S400, S500, S550, Patriot, THAAD, Iron Dome, nothing. The reason was learned independently by physicists in the US and the USSR in 1962.

[@user-ee7cb2fj8b]

Советский Союз - это лучшее, что было в истории человечества!

[@ericastier1646]

Oh my goodness Russian women are awesome ! you two. so natural, expressive and feminine. I really respect your country because of your people's culture and good natural ways. You don't realize how many western countries miss this balanced genuine characters you have. As they say, you don't know what you have until you loose it.

[@anthonycarlisle6184]

"You don't know what you have till it's gone." - how I heard it.

[@fwingebritson]

The biggest change from the Soviet era is the fact that we are now allowed to see Russia from the inside, and from Russians perspective. There would be no Eli from Russia, or Bald and bankrupt as we know them today. It would still be "Russia is the evil empire." OOPS, excuse me. Russia and Soviet Union has been used interchangeably since IDK when. There were no real exchanges or interchanges with the US and SU during the cold war, at least not until the '80's. We were pretty much expected by our respective governments to hate each other. What scares me now is that the same thing can happen in the US that happened to the SU. That is, then "capitalist opportunist" did not seek the collapse of the Soviet Union necessarily for freedom and all that crap, but to connive their way to the top. The same with these so called "communists" within the US that claim "communism works, but it's never been done right" all they can see is themselves at the top and the fall of the US would usher in these scoundrels to squeeze and control the masses their way.

[@Vivian-fq8yf]

Except Russia is still considered the "evil empire" in the West. The relationship for a while looked like it was getting better for a while during the 1990s, but now we know that it was never meant to be. Russia was actually more devastated economically after the dissolution of the USSR than they were in World War 1. For many living in Russia at the time, this "shock therapy" was traumatic. The US will never be happy until Russia is broken up and turned into a neo colony of the US, much like Nigeria. This is what the capitalist Russian government realised in the 2000s. No matter what they do it will never be enough. The US expanded NATO to include many Eastern European countries, some of which even bordered Russia. The US armed and funded extremist Muslim groups backed by the Mujahideen such as those in Chechnya. Russia was forced into a few wars because of US meddling. The US even interfered in Russia’s own 1996 presidential election. When Russia finally decided to push back the US instantly went back into Cold War mode, and that’s where we are right now, a Cold War 2.0. The US backed an anti Russia coup in Ukraine in 2014, it was called Maidan. Now there is a proxy war in Donbas between Russian and Ukrainian backed forces. Ukraine is pretty much overrun by literal Nazis thanks to American meddling. The nuclear weapons treaties that were signed at the end of the Cold War between the US and the USSR are almost all gone now. This was in large part thanks to the Trump and George W Bush administrations. First it was the ABM treaty, then the INF, then Open Skies. The US was the first to withdraw from each of these treaties. The only nuclear weapons treaty left is START, and even then we don’t know how much longer really that will exist. So we know now none of this conflict had to do with communism. It was all about the US geopolitical war games and lust for world hegemony. This is what many countries have now realised. Russia does not need to rely on the West anymore when they can simply turn to the SCO(Shanghai Cooperation Organisation). The Russian government certainly has its problems, it has all of the problems capitalism brought with itself. Corruption, greed, poverty, etc. However ultimately the US is the worst aggressor on the world stage. Poll after poll shows that most people worldwide by far see the US as the number one threat to world peace.

[@jayaramanp7267]

If you call people who are against exploitation scoundrels call them scoundrels. If you call people who work for labour class scoundrels call them scoundrels. If you call people who are against using religion to intoxicate people and exploitation them in the name of God scoundrels call them scoundrels. Communism is the philosophy that turned World upside down. But in our own life time we saw it's failure. Capitalism also failed. What we need today is the blend of both. Communism with human face and freedom and small entrepreneurship Capitalism without exploitation.

[@digitalronin7787]

@@jayaramanp7267 yes china mixed both capitalism and communism and now they are thriving they are meant to surpass United States soon

[@АлександрДухин-р3ц]

@@jayaramanp7267 What you said is the Stalinist economy. Under Stalin , there was a combination of a planned economy and a market economy , a planned economy operated at state enterprises , market ecomics worked in artels (small and medium- sized businesses). State-owned enterprises produced 10,000 items of products, artels produced 33,000 items of products, and the active development of the private peasant farmstead should be attributed to this. But the arrival of Khrushchev for such a balance was fatal, he destroyed the private sector.

[@Vivian-fq8yf]

@@richardpchaseii5084 What Russia decides to do with its own military on its own borders is its business, not America’s or NATO’s. Here this video describes what is really happening between Russia and Ukraine. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hH3Tgayrr92GnJY

[@yacovlevi]

Hello Miss. Thank you for this video. It was very interesting, informative.

[@hectorriverajr9516]

wow this video is so informative I like it I love learning new things thanks Eli

[@YanPagh]

Because people have short memory and forgot why it collapsed on the first place? Kilometer wide breadlines, anyone? Vanishing people who dared criticise?

[@ЭЮЯ-о3к]

The USA destroyed the USSR as well as many other countries.

[@ЕвгенийБулыгин-д6ч]

Actually this was inside job to sppedup USSR fall. There was some economical problems, but there was enough food and many other wares. This happened because USSR elites was wishing to live luxury life like czars, which some of them partially got already, secretly converting stolen money to artwork, jewelry and so on. And the only way to save all this, grab more power and live luxury life was to rewrite laws and you cant do this fast enough, so the other way is to destroy entire state and form another one with constitution and laws comfortable for such scumbags. This was finally achieved when Gorbachev came to power, but started long before him. Gorbachev was just last step. All this breadlines wasnt result of bad harvests, but intentionally made acts to make people unhappy wishing for new leadership and more efficient system. Food was on warehouses and often was moved to forests and other hidden places and just thrown off. There was huge piles of wares found in forests, but who will know about this, when scumbags control TV and there was no other mass communications that times. So Gorbachev promised unhappy ppl exactly that Perestroika will fix all this, which is a lie in every word, and finally country was dissolved despite most ppl voted to save USSR on referrendum and cut to pieces. So now all this bastards became new leaders writing their own laws and doing everything they want. Later Eltsin came to power and sold everything he could for almost free. Naval vessels was sold for couple of luxury Mercedes-Benz cars and so on. Now many members of communists party of USSR became rich ppl and some of them even oligarchs, their dream came true. Now they grabbed stolen treasures and moved to live in US or Europe among capitalist tycoons and nobility. Its an oversimplified version of what actually happening that time and example of what corrupted ppl can do to any state. Look at modern US now - corrupted ppl destroying this huge empire. It doesnt matter what system you got - monarchy, socialism, capitalism or something else. Bad ppl can ruin any system. Greed got no nation and greedy ppl dont care of any state, they will live there they think its best for them, draining money from any place they can, including motherland. And no, USSR fall not because of oil prices, Chernobyl or Afghanistan war, its a fables told you by your corrupted elites to show how mighty they are, but in fact they are not. Just another bunch of scumbags.

[@cameronmurtagh9977]

@@ЭЮЯ-о3к I'm pretty sure that it was the entire free world working on this one mate, it was called the "Cold War" for a reason

[@odysseusthesojourner4401]

@@ЕвгенийБулыгин-д6ч I think you identified the heart of what happened Yevgeny. It was like the implosion of a tall skyscraper. Someone put the explosives, and another came in and took what they wanted. Power grab.

[@YanPagh]

1. Then do tell us all: why did it fail? You say: "inside job", elaborate on that, otherwise what you are basically saying is that the elites sabotaged their own absolute power. That sounds good, but makes no sense so I am asking so you can rationalise what you are saying, please tell us in detail: what do you mean with "it was an inside job". 2. The Russian elites were eliminated during the revolution and subsequent pogroms as well as their filthy capitalists, doubt me ask the Czar fam... oh wait they were brutally tortured and executed during the revolution, so these were the Russian people in power, dictatorship of the proletariat, remember? Are you telling me that the communist system leads to a new and more brutal elite? 3. Different systems bring about different results. Constitutional Monarchies for instance have a better welfare system than any communist country ever had. And they have a frigging monarch! See Denmark, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium, or japan that after losing the war adopted the new system. Successful, with stable economies. Now tell me how the people live on remaining communist regimens, please, be my guest.

[@TheCossak]

aaah the good old days :)

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

Nostalgia! I'd be fascinated to know your opinion. I'm also a huge follower of this channel and I likewise create vlogs concerning life in Russia. for some reason the youtube algorithm has not been as great to me yet. Virtually everyone who find my channel says that it is great, but very few are able to watch it. Can you be extremely straight up and say exactly how I can improve the content? I value your honest viewpoint.

[@TheCossak]

@@SamsRussianAdventures thank you for letting me know about your channel. I am always on the lookout for more content on life in Russia and want to get as many perspectives as possible. I've subscribed and looking forward to discovering your view of Russia.

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

@@TheCossak brilliant. Be brutally honest with your comments and be sure to let me know if you have a video idea you’d like to see

[@TheCossak]

@@SamsRussianAdventures will do! 👍

[@cameronmurtagh9977]

@@SamsRussianAdventures You do good stuff

[@JimmyD9765]

anybody who really knows history knows that the USSR won WWII ... im pretty sure Churchill and FDR only landed in Normandy once it was clear Stalin could take all the territory germany had won ...

[@joerod7526]

SPOT ON 👍

[@JimmyD9765]

@@joerod7526 thanks my friend that's the way it seemed to me ... churchill especially would not have minded seeing the soviets and germans destroy each other until both were gone

[@bobgoodall1603]

A charming video. You have serious competition at home!

[@habusteve]

Really interesting!!! Nice Job! Thankyou1

[@cyruscohen666]

I live in US and watch news Many Beautiful Russian Women being kidnapped-raped and murdered IN USA . This has not been happening in Russia .

[@bowrudder899]

Теперь коммунизм переезжает в Америку.

[@trismegistusqueeg9565]

Tak tochno da nikto nye vidit eto.

[@cameronmurtagh9977]

They really need to teach this one in the US, what a tragedy en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Fields

[@MrMaziar58]

Free thoughts are the fabric of USA But Americans in general are more in favour of capitalism in general.

[@LoneWolf-je9vr]

@@MrMaziar58 Who asks plebs anything. You're becoming the very thing you wanted to destroy.

[@MrMaziar58]

@@LoneWolf-je9vr Horale

[@multipolarworld.]

I'll do my best to visit Russia next year.Long life President Putin! Long life Russia!!❤

[@SamsRussianAdventures]

Brilliant! Where are you from? It would be amazing to know your opinion. I'm likewise a massive fan of this channel and I additionally create content about life in Russia. unluckily the youtube algorithm has not been as courteous to me yet. Nearly all people who watch my content states that it is incredible, unfortunately not many get to watch it. Can you be brutally truthful and say exactly how I can make better videos? I value your straightforward viewpoint.

[@cameronmurtagh9977]

Maybe take the politics elsewhere mate, it's very dangerous for Eli

[@eugeneshenesky2033]

This is comprehensive and very educational please make more videos like this and thank you 🙏.