Hello,
The term dangerous is used very frequently by Westerners for describing Russia! Google Russia is Dangerous and you get a whole slew of different dangers of Russia!
You see: A cornered Russia is more dangerous than the Soviet Union, Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin are a dangerous pair, Rice says that Russia is playing a dangerous game, Russia’s Dangerous Nuclear Arsenal, Russia Playing Dangerous Game With Bomber Flights Near Alaska Coast, Russia’s Most Dangerous Profession -> journalism, Putin’s policies in Russia dangerous?, Is Russia a dangerous place to visit?, Russia now ranks as the third-most-dangerous place in the world, Russia Is Dangerous But Weak, a fierce Russian resentment that poses dangers for security in Europe and on and on and on and on!
It seems that everyone wants to label all things dangerous with Russia. Everyday I hear the word dangerous describing Russia from the tourist industry, to being a journalist and applied to the Kremlin!
The only thing that I can comprehend from all the talk is that most people have either never been to Russia or if they live in Russia they have never been to America. Either way the issues are the same: It is no more dangerous to go to Russia then it would be to go to America. I see that the dangers are just different.
My favorite statement about Russia is from the State Department of the USA: “Groups of children and adolescents have been aggressive in Russia, swarming victims, or assaulting and knocking them down. They frequently target persons who are perceived as vulnerable, especially elderly tourists or persons traveling alone.” I have missed this particular swarm of kids. In fact I do not think that there is that many kids with out supervision that could swarm. Russia has a shortage of population and kids are the main shortage. I get this image of bees swarming a victim. 🙂
One of the strangest things that I hear is that Western visitors are targeted by the Russian mafia. Now this makes no sense to me. They say that the Russian Mafia is very deep into the tourist industry in Russia. So the happiness of a tourist is very important to making money for the Russian Mafia. Danger does not make happy tourists.
Other words all this Blah Blah Blah boils down to: Russia is not any more dangerous than most parts of the world!
Kyle & Svet
comments always welcome.