I was fortunate enough to visit Russia in 1986. Similar experience except the Intourist guide took us to some dodgy illegal bars. We were offered £1000 for our jeans and any western branded clothes. That’s £1000 worth of rubles which we couldn’t take out of the country. We found the microphones in our hotel in Moscow but not in Leningrad. At the time the locals were lovely friendly people. In the intervening years I’ve had business dealings whilst at Motorola. Corruption was the norm.
You raise so many issues in this blog, many that resonated with me - the flood of refugees from Syria are living a very miserable life in countries that opened their borders but are themselves in crisis, especially Lebanon. But getting any coverage for this is very hard indeed- this is a war and a region only of concern when it is producing terrorists or threatening the West.
My daughter works with sea rescue where the realities of mass migrations, border hostility and the trauma of displacement are so clear- hundreds die as we holiday by the Med and again getting coverage is so hard.
Who now remembers the chaos and suffering in Afghanistan?
We can't care about everything, we are laden already after the pandemic and the shock of war in Europe is deep. Im so glad my Mum who lived through the war and hated war and was devastated that UK forgot the lessons of peace when they voted LEAVE, would be beyond heartbroken. She knew the terror of bombs and loss, of trying to protect a baby during the raids etc and the scars of war marked many in my family. I grew up in the shadow of a country and a people deeply wounded by war and I find it all quite unbearable to even listen to.
But the West carries responsibility here too - many military people have said the leaders were warned many times since 2014, especially about the drums beating in Russia- and the racism at the borders is deeply disturbing.
Thanks for opening up these issues and for sharing about your travels...I went on a long tour in a rickety van with others a few years earlier and your descriptions brought back many memories.
I was fortunate enough to visit Russia in 1986. Similar experience except the Intourist guide took us to some dodgy illegal bars. We were offered £1000 for our jeans and any western branded clothes. That’s £1000 worth of rubles which we couldn’t take out of the country. We found the microphones in our hotel in Moscow but not in Leningrad. At the time the locals were lovely friendly people. In the intervening years I’ve had business dealings whilst at Motorola. Corruption was the norm.
You raise so many issues in this blog, many that resonated with me - the flood of refugees from Syria are living a very miserable life in countries that opened their borders but are themselves in crisis, especially Lebanon. But getting any coverage for this is very hard indeed- this is a war and a region only of concern when it is producing terrorists or threatening the West.
My daughter works with sea rescue where the realities of mass migrations, border hostility and the trauma of displacement are so clear- hundreds die as we holiday by the Med and again getting coverage is so hard.
Who now remembers the chaos and suffering in Afghanistan?
We can't care about everything, we are laden already after the pandemic and the shock of war in Europe is deep. Im so glad my Mum who lived through the war and hated war and was devastated that UK forgot the lessons of peace when they voted LEAVE, would be beyond heartbroken. She knew the terror of bombs and loss, of trying to protect a baby during the raids etc and the scars of war marked many in my family. I grew up in the shadow of a country and a people deeply wounded by war and I find it all quite unbearable to even listen to.
But the West carries responsibility here too - many military people have said the leaders were warned many times since 2014, especially about the drums beating in Russia- and the racism at the borders is deeply disturbing.
Thanks for opening up these issues and for sharing about your travels...I went on a long tour in a rickety van with others a few years earlier and your descriptions brought back many memories.