Quote Originally Posted by pisces
Quote Originally Posted by JJ
Quote Originally Posted by RusskiSlav
a Soviet-like regime may be back
It would be great man, yeah, it would be really great. I'm missing free education, free apartments, the low crime level, free medecine and the real freedom for all. Unfortunatly it never comes back.
Well, while I'm not a Putin-hater, I have to disagree.
Education is still free if you mean universities. Not very easy to enter one for free but still possible. If you mean ultra-popular universities of Moscow, there sould be some "filter" anyway. Are bribes and блат better than official payment?
Formally, the higher education is still free, but in fact...
As time goes, more and more "commercial" faculties, less and less free ones.

Quote Originally Posted by pisces
Free appartments - if you mean коммуналки, then yes. I used to live in one. I would prefer a rented flat to living in коммуналка.
Why necessary communal flats? Lots of people got a quite normal, 1-, 2- and even 3-room apartments. Now these flats cost a significant amount of money.

Quote Originally Posted by pisces
Low crime level - I see no difference. Except that in USSR crimes were not so widely spoken about on TV (which perhaps was good).
The crime level *definitely* was much lower! If you compare number of really hard crimes (like, with use of firearms...) -- I'm afraid, the present rate is *orders* higher than in Soviet times!

Quote Originally Posted by pisces
Free medicine - there was one but the quality was on the same level as the price (paid indirectly through taxes).
For free, the Soviet medicine was really not bad (which was admitted by the UNHCR, for examples).
And, BTW, the modern medicine isn't so good, especially thinking how non-free now it is.

Quote Originally Posted by pisces
Real freedom - well we were free and still we are free. Who took your freedom away?
I always thought, what *freedom* is a very personal thing in fact. Like, if some person want to be free -- he *will* be free (in any country and any times). Alas, 99% of people just don't want and need to be free (regardless of country and political system, too).

Quote Originally Posted by pisces
The positive thing the present government is trying to do is not the restoration of USSR, but actually bringing Russia to a normal social and economic level - the thing that was equally missing in USSR and after its breakdown.
Agreed completely.