Russland ist nicht unser Feind!

Sharon Tennison hat mir schon viele Informationen vermittelt, die sie vor Ort in Russland gesammelt hat. Sie hatte u.a. Wladimir Putin schon kennengelernt, als er noch in der St. Petersburger Stadtverwaltung arbeitete. Diesmal fuhr sie mit einer sehr großen Gruppe, die auf die verschiedenen Orte verteilt wurden und 24 Fragen stellen sollten. Das hat sehr gut geklappt und nun hat sie eine erste Zusammenfassung mir geschickt, die ich gleich mit euch teile. Ihr werdet staunen. Ich habe aber nicht die Zeit, das zu übersetzen. Das müsst ihr mit dem guten Übersetzungsprogramm DeepL.translator selber machen. Viel Spaß!

Russia is Not the Enemy!

September 17, 2019

The Largest and Most Extensive American Citizen Diplomacy Delegation to Russia Completed its Work Today! 

Fifty American citizens investigated more than 20 Russian cities and peoples between September 1 – 17. Thus giving all of us “eyes and ears” into the life and the thinking of Russian people from Moscow to Yakutia in the Far East and from St.Petersburg south to Krasnodar and Simferopol, Yalta and Sebastopol in Crimea. Other cities visited were Perm, Kungur, Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Irkutsk, Orenburg, Ufa, Torzhok, Sergiev Posad, Kaliningrad, Petrozavodsk, Tver, Kazan & Nizhny Novgorod. We sent our U.S. delegates in one’s, two’s and three’s out to these 21 cities with a list of 24 questions to be delved into while in these far-from Moscow cities and towns.
What did they find?

Among other important things, they found that Russia is not our Enemy.

Each city they traveled to, from the largest (Novosibirsk) to the smallest (Torzhok, a thousand-year micro-town being revived by a female entrepreneur!), they found Russians who were delighted we had come to their regions. Most of the Russian “Regional Coordinators” were local entrepreneurs, teachers, professors, lawyers, Rotarians, business men and women … all professionals, none connected with government apparatus. Some of the Coordinators had traveled to America on CCI’s training programs in the 90s and 2000s or were Rotarians whose clubs had been started by CCI entrepreneurs. POLITICS: Russian citizens with whom we spoke, ran the spectrum from highly approving of the current government and leadership, to others greatly hoping for different leadership when the Putin years end in 2024. All are grateful that Russia is on the incline, that they can travel abroad, can create their own destinies and are greatly relieved that they survived the terrible 1990s. What is important to them? Their families, higher education, that Russia is bringing back its culture based on 1000 years of Russian traditions. Gone are the days of wanting to be Americans or Europeans. They want the respect and friendship of Americans and the Europeans but not at the price of selling out Russia’s sovereignty to the west. PROUD:  Russians struck us as being very proud of being Russians today. Even in the small town of Torzhok, they are very proud of their history. They accept the Soviet period as a tragic period, yet they find quite a few aspects of Soviet mentality still valuable for Russian society today; for instance basic health care for all, the care of all children as a top priority, and that the elderly deserve to be taken care of. They believe that their educational system is still superior to most countries and intend to keep it high level. They still speak more languages than many other countries including the U.S.  Language is very important to them; their metros, city buses and train stops are announced in Russian and in English (the global language for commerce).