I made three business trips to Russia
for a total of approximately six weeks.
These notes are reflections on some of the events I experienced.
I
was looking for a word or phrase to describe what I sensed in Russia while
traveling there on a few trips. This
eluded me for some time. “Backward” is
too harsh of a term; it seems that many Russians are desperately attempting to
upgrade their country’s infrastructure and manufacturing base. “Third World” is another term that does not
quite fit, since Russia has many occidental influences, the middle class seems
to be getting larger, and the educated generations from the ages of about 35
and lower tend to have a respectable command of English, apparently for ease of
international business dealings and travel.
The
proper word to describe what I was thinking is “Spartan.” Another related word of similar sense is
“sparse.” I see a lack of convenience
everywhere. Things are done if they are
necessary, yes, but some things are not done, even when it would make things
much more efficient. For example, one
will notice the driveways of some businesses covered with ice four inches thick
for several months; a little bit of salt – calcium chloride – would make
walking and driving less hazardous and more efficient. One may attend business meetings with people
in buildings with extremely tight quarters with people almost falling on top of
each other; one would think that a properly sized building would allow for
better work performed, and proper meeting rooms (white boards, conference
phones, larger tables for spreading out plans, etc) would allow a better
exchange of information and better communications.
On
the contrary, perhaps we in the Occident have it too easy. Russia is definitely not in an era of
decadence, as we are in the Occident.
The Occident is falling apart economically, socially, and spiritually,
while it appears that Russia is coming together after more than a century of
very bad luck. Perhaps this
characteristic of Russia will be a large contributor to its future stability as
the Occident collapses over the next 50 years.
We in the occident will have no choice in the coming decades to become
more Spartan in any case. The Russians
with more experience in a Spartan lifestyle will perhaps be instructive to us by
demonstrating to us a few ways to hold the pieces of our civilization together
as we descend into the abyss of post-decadence.
