freedom of the press

[Yoshimasa Tsuji]

If there is anything praiseworthy of Russia, it is undoubtedly
the people who have achieved so many great things IN SPITE OF
all the destructive policies of the government they have had
so far.
  Hitler imagined Stalin had no popular support and thus could
easily defeat Russia, and he was mistaken. Russia won in spite of
Stalin's incompetence. I don't know if Putin is incompetent or
if Russian economy will collapse with the fall of the oil prices,
but am very sure the life of the Russians depends only upon the
Russians themselves, not on the external forces including the
government.
  We are witnessing a tremendous change in the Russian language
and its culture since 1990 and many of us will find the contemporary
culture worthy of studying. And it has little to do with what Putin
is going to do.

  I don't disagree to a statement that Russia has paid unnecessarily
high cost for its achievements. For example, the life expectancy in
the villages in the last 100 years has improved by 10 to 15 years
(60 years for men now). And it is indeed a great achievement if you
think about what most of the 200 countries in the world achieved
in the same time span. Russia paid a high cost, but there are
nations that paid a lot but got nearly nothing.
  Russia was lucky having Sozhenicyn and others who have created
great works out of misery, but there are many nations in Asia
and Africa who have suffered much more and have not attracted due
attention due to the absence of world famous writers. It is not
the misery nor the incompetent government officials that attract
our attention to Russia, but those attractive talented people.
Or have you ever thought of Russia as a business chance?

Cheers,
Tsuji

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