A great leader who gave Russia democracy but they did not know what to do with it.
At least he reached a worthy age, although the cause of death is a bit vague.
I experienced first hand the consequences when the Iron Curtain fell and had many very intersting and wonderful experiences when
I then began working with the East (Germany) and a feeling of some pioneering role of the rebuild.
For a short time I felt we were able to achieve World Peace but that is now all lost and forgotten thanks to Putin... but not only.
Last edited by Uncle Fester; 31-08-22 at 03:12 PM.
Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
Compatibility: A word soon to be deleted from our dictionaries as it is outdated.
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I agree, Rest In Peace Gorby
Cheers
Ted (Al)
eaglem (01-09-22),enf (31-08-22),Uncle Fester (01-09-22)
He was certainly a brave man , its a basket case of a country that does not like change. Ive been there , on a Euro tour and never intend to go back. The border with Estonia alone took almost 2 hours to cross , going through 3 checkpoints , bag searches , pat downs , the works . I asked a guard why there are 3 checkpoints , he told me in broken english that the first 2 may be corrupt so you may be able to get past those with bribes , but you will not get past the third one... I thought ( but didnt say ) who the heck would want to break INTO Russia ? lol. The place is a real dump , exactly as depicted in 1970s James Bond movies , exactly the same ... Anyway 5 mins later the coach was pulled over by the cops , who would not let us go until all pax paid a $20Euro visa fee , which had already been paid and was attached to our passports !! The streets are full of aggressive pickpockets who targeted out group more than once. We left 2 days later with nothing but bad memories of the place. The company is now skips Russia and uses the ferry direct to Helsinki from Tallinn.
The wifes family was over there during the Moscow olympics. Some of the stories they tell are absolute confirmation of everything above. Her old man was part of the security at the Australian embassy. I've seen home movies taken and they are hilarious.
In one , her two brothers leave the embassy gate and walk in different directions. Then two shadowy figures detach themselves from trees in the park opposite and follow each of them. Her older brother was pretty street wise and used to bribe his tail to just sit in a cafe and drink coffee and leave him alone...he was then free to walk around and examine this "sh!tshow of a country" as he put it, by himself.
A complete dump!
The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.
VroomVroom (02-09-22),william10 (02-09-22)
There was probably more going on behind the scenes ethan you realise. I’ve never been to Russia, but in the late 1990s, I did a bus tour in Western Europe. I had a few beers with the bus driver one night. It turned out he had been taking tours through Russia at one stage, but now refused to do it.
There was an unspoken knowledge that in order to conduct tours in Russia, the tour company (big multinational - well known name) had to pay the Russian Mafia for “protection”. Part of the deal was that shadowy figures would give the driver packages to be taken across the country and then left with someone in another town.
He only saw what in a package once, when they opened one in front of him: it was packed full of US currency - tens of thousands of dollars. He had left it in the cargo hold of the bus each night, while the coach was parked in less than secure places. After that, he swore off taking tours through Russia.
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