Quote Originally Posted by Throbert McGee View Post
I don't know what the current "toilet-paper standards" are in major Russian cities.
I do recall very well from the early 1990s, however, that:
(1) Public restrooms quite often had no toilet paper at all;
(2) When public restrooms did have paper for wiping your butt, it was often squares cut from old newspapers.
(3) While it was easy to find "real" toilet paper on rolls at Russian stores, it's only a slight exaggeration to say that you could use the stuff as a substitute for sandpaper.
(4) Soft, comfortable, absorbent toilet paper could also be found in some Russian stores, but the label was always in English or some other Western European language. (I can remember some Russian friends marveling over the extreme comfort of "pre-moistened towelettes" imported from Italy, because they were SO MUCH NICER than the toilet paper actually manufactured in Russia.)
Sure, it's possible that things have greatly improved since then -- but if so, then it's a rather recent improvement, and the notion that "it's difficult to find good TP in Russia" is hardly what I would call a развесистая клюква (in the sense of a "baseless stereotype".)
They spent over $50 billion on the Sochi venue and some idiots thought they forgot the TP? LMAO! For that much money the TP coulda been lined with gold! LMAO!
But yeah, I can understand why there wasn't much TP in Russia in the 1990's. I read that Western influence in Russia almost totally destroyed the country.
But Russia survived the 1990's and fought back to become the 2nd most powerful nation on Earth. That commands respect and Russia and the Russian people have mine. Russia IS unconquerable.

Russian TP could be a substitute for sandpaper? That's what I call multi-functional. I mean, how soft does it need to be for a quick wipe, lmao?

Quote Originally Posted by SergeMak View Post
My father is native Ukrainian from South Russian Belgorod region. He was born in 1931, his parents were just simple peasants so he is one of those who survived the "starvation". Of course, he was too young to remember this time in detail but he talked with his parents, and he doesn't agree with your estimate of those events.
On the other hand, talking about protecting of people's private property, I would recommend to you to read the Constitution of Russian Federation. It says that in our country all type of property are equally respected. That means, that if the state has a duty to protect private property, it also has the same responsibility towards all other types of property - municipal, state, social, join-stock and so on. During the Soviet period of history a great industry was built in the Soviet Union - thousands of plants and factories. All this assets didn't belong to a certain person or a group of people - they were in a socialist property - the property of all Soviet people. So, how could it happen that all this property suddenly became a property of certain oligarchs in the 1990s when the liberal capitalist reforms started in the country approved by the Western politicians? Do you know what results these brought to Russian people? I'll tell you: deindustrialisation, impoverishment, social inequality, criminalization, corruption, decline in life expectancy, decline of birth-rate, terrorism ans so on. All this I saw in plenty an example with my own eyes. Have you ever worked without getting paid for three and more months when the inflation rate was more than 30%? I did. Have you ever received you wage not in money but in some natural goods, as, for example, sausage? I did.
So don't tell me about the great liberal values and the bad life in the Soviet Union.
Life in the Soviet Union was not easy, but there was a positive dynamic almost during the whole Soviet period. People always new, that to-day we maybe don't live very good, but to-morrow it will be better, and it really would happen.
Quote Originally Posted by Alex_krsk View Post
But now it's much better than in 90s and much bettre than in the USSR so maybe it's not that bad with tose "liberal values".
I'm afraid it wouldn't. Those were only promises, things stayed the same every year. But i may be wrong considering china. Chinese managed to make reforms without revolutions. Whie the rgime in china is still much more strict than in USSR (which is ok with the western media btw when russia is always accused in some laws that are more strict in those western countries)
^ Thanks. That's what makes this the most epic forum I've ever joined. And that's what I call history - people. Politicians and outsiders write the textbooks and media but it's the people who really know what happened... and what's happening.
Btw, I think the USSR knew that life would get better in Russia. I think they knew that the Russian people would make life better... and they did. In the end, it's not really about governments, it's only about the people.
It's people that make governments... and break them. I think in Russia the government is the people... Well, more than it is in America.