10. MYTH: Boris Yeltsin was loved by the ignorant West but hated by Russians. REALITY: When Yeltsin told Russians to vote for Putin, they did so without hesitation.
9. MYTH: Russia is an oil superpower. REALITY: Russian oil is worth pennies per capita, many countries have much more. Oil is a very bad, harmful thing for Russia, much more of a curse than a blessing, because it dilutes the need for immediate reform.
8. MYTH: Russia tried democracy and it failed. REALITY: Russia has never once had a true contested election.
7. MYTH: Russia tried capitalism and it failed. REALITY: Russia has never been governed by anyone other than a king or a person raised under Communism. It has certainly never been governed by a capitalist.
6. MYTH: Russia is the land of great literature and science. REALITY: America, famous as a land of hillbilly morons, has far more Nobel prizes for science and literature than Russia.
5. MYTH: Russia is the innocent victim of foreign enemies. REALITY: Far more Russians have been killed by Russians than by foreigners.
4.MYTH: Russia belongs on the G-8 because of its nuclear strike force. REALITY: Giving Russia props because of its nuclear weapons encourages the development of such weapons, and hence violates the fundamental principles of non-proliferation.
3.MYTH: Russia is important because of its land mass. REALITY: Russia's territory is even more harmful to its interests than the oil that lies under it. Russia's efforts to hold and control that territory are destroying the nation, because the job is simply far beyond Russia's puny means.
2.MYTH: Russians are brave, and have shown it struggling against winter and invaders. REALITY: Russians are extraordinary cowards, and have shown it in consistently refusing to oppose their own government. Russians fought foreign invaders because the were more afraid of their own government than those invaders, and because of their latent hatred of foreigners. Russians live with the climate because they have no choice.
1.MYTH: Russia will be great in the future. REALITY: People have been saying Russia will be great in the future for nearly a thousand years. And every year, Russia keeps getting worse.
|