[truth_be_told]

Russia has been more sinned against than sinning. Gorbachev was lied to and manipulated with assurances of a "Marshall -like plan" to get him to dissolve the Soviet Union. During the Yeltsin years the West literally had advisors dictating every aspect of the Political, Economic and Monetary recovery plans in the newly formed countries. Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan were persuaded to give up their nukes in exchange for economic/monetary help. The result? They have been made irrelevant on the world stage and nobody cares about them anymore. Luckily Russia escaped worse fate and is now hitting back. Since then the entire Western media has been whipping up Russo-phobia everywhere.

[throwaway8941]

I live in Kazakhstan. We are irrelevant to the world because we have very weak economy and terrible, all-pervading corruption, not because we don't have nukes. If we had them, they would probably have been sold to some terrorist groups out there already.

[monkeycantype]

One day I hope to come to your country and travel on horseback. I don't know if there really are forests of apple trees that grow apples I'd need two hands to hold, but if it's true I want to ride through in spring when the trees are in blossom. The few Kazakh people I've mentioned this too, have dismissed the idea with phrases like 'don't bother, it's an ex soviet strongman kleptocracy shit hole with las vegas architecture.' But I'm hanging onto the hope that in any country, city people don't really know much about the world beyond where the paved roads end.