Is Russia being unfairly portrayed in western media ?

[Nobody1]

It is mostly propaganda. The Western matrix needs its daily dose of BS. Better is to see for yourself, if only as a tourist.

There are lots of helpful travel vlogs about Russia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Rn5ke9nSYs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRtKRa47XxA

[SanteeFats]

See I told you to hope that Palo never found this thread. It is always Russia is great, Russia is the best, they are just misunderstood by all the West and the West is so hateful toward Putin and the rest of Roosia.

[Jack Tripper]

I don't think anything portrayed by the media is accurate. I've learned that if I want to know about something then I have to sit and spend hours researching it myself.

It's pretty ironic really, you'd think that with dozens of news channels and publications information would be easy to find but it only makes things more confusing. You have to wade through a lot of noise to actually get to the truth.

[Arturo2nd]

Given that what our media is reporting about us is of questionable accuracy, doubtless the portrayal of Russia is distorted. For one thing, the extent of government control is greatly overstated. I know China, a much more densely populated country, has difficulty riding herd on its citizens. So, the Russian authorities must not be as ubiquitous as is portrayed in the West. On the other hand, the growth of data mining, GPS, and surveillance cameras has those of us in the United States far more closely monitored than most citizens know.

I was revisiting the hospitalization of Benta aka Sarah aka Tiny Tyler aka Abelinda in November 2010. (It turned out that she was a university student doing porn to pay the bills) The Russian media reported that over 100,000 people a year were going missing in a population of of 140 million. By comparison, the U.S. has about 84,000 missing (50,000 adults, 20,000 children kidnapped by a parent, 14.000 runaways; blacks are over represented by a factor of 2) in a population of 323 million. Either folks don't want to be found or Russia is a far more dangerous place.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by palo5

They're rarely accurate. But for their own corrupt reasons -- it has to do with power and money -- US and closely allied governments have an agenda to make Russia look like the devil. They often succeed, because they have supine media, and above all, gullible citizens who know little about Russia except the garbage their governments & media feed them. Unfortunately, At least one of my colleagues is a victim of this, and he's 100% sure his opinion is right, when in fact it's 100% wrong

The Soviet government told us the same about the West

I believed it, until I discovered the West is only about 90% as bad as they told us

I wouldn't have known about this thread if that terror-koala Estreeter hadn't told me

Anyone can see how innocent I am on these charges.

[otokonomidori]

Originally Posted by palo5

International flights are generally around 10.000 meters altitude.

As close as I ever want to be in an unarmed aircraft.

A friend of mine married a big bulky Ukrainian woman a couple of years ago.

So I asked her about life in the Motherland and she said everything in Russia and Ukraine is either broken or about to break. She loves it here in Scotland

[Roubignol]

Originally Posted by otokonomidori

As close as I ever want to be in an unarmed aircraft.

A friend of mine married a big bulky Ukrainian woman a couple of years ago.

So I asked her about life in the Motherland and she said everything in Russia and Ukraine is either broken or about to break. She loves it here in Scotland

I have a friend who is a TV reporter. He married a Russian artist. He had to come back home to end his national contract and requested to be correspondant in Russia.

He now lives in Russia since 15 years. The last time I met him, he told me that Russia was great and he probably will end his life there.

My cousin is married with an Ukrainian woman who made her school in France.
She told me that she was not rich when she grew in Ukrainia, but she had a nice childhood.

Now a lot of our children can have almost everything and are not really happy.

[otokonomidori]

Originally Posted by xyzde69

Russia was great and he probably will end his life there.

I felt like that when I saw the prices in Switzerland.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by otokonomidori

A friend of mine married a big bulky Ukrainian woman a couple of years ago.

So I asked her about life in the Motherland and she said everything in Russia and Ukraine is either broken or about to break. She loves it here in Scotland

I can't speak for Ukraine, but in Russia it's sometimes true. Not that things are perfect everywhere else, but Russia was bad in the early 90s. A Finnish student told me about her hostel in St Petersburg. When she arrived, the showers didn't work, so she asked the janitor why. "It's Monday" he said, and did nothing. Next day, the same happened. "It's Tuesday" he said. Well, at least he didn't use the same excuse twice

Scotland's winters are warmer than Ukraine's. That might be why your friend's wife likes it. But it rains more, so far as I know. Does she like whisky?

Originally Posted by scoundrel

Anyone can see how innocent I am on these charges.

I haven't accused you, my Russia-loving friend

[bowlinggreen]

People always talk about how Communism has wrecked Russia, but I have to point out that none of us westerners know how bad things really were under the Czars either.

Russia could really be a truly great superpower, if only it could somehow find its feet, seems like it has never really had the chance.

Putin wants to give it the chance, but the elites in the west would prefer that Russia remain a prostrate purveyor of raw materials to the more "advanced" west.

Thus, we hear all sorts of bad shit about Russia in the news.