Moscow calling

Watching world and US events from Thailand gives an interesting perspective. Thailand is so politically surreal it both jaundices and jades one. The fact that there are so many people from so many places in addition to the locals means Americans feel very much in the minority. The Russian invasion of Georgia was something I watched in Bangkok on CNN international, BBC international, and Al Jazeera (which had the least slanted and most up close coverage).

Now the people I worked for in December and March want us to go back to Moscow, ASAP, to help them open up their long awaited new spa. The economic news (Russia's stock market has been hammered from the invasion and the general economic climate [means oil looks to stay at a lower level than earlier this year]) has caused them to rethink their approach. Instead of day use by the uppercrust, now it's membership. Call up and reserve one of the buildings. We will add it to your tab. Considering Moscow has more billionaires than any city except NYC, and that the spa is located where the power brokers are moving to, probably a good call.

So do I favor taking it easy on giving the Russians a response to their actions this summer? No. They have a culture from centuries past that has found refuge from utter catastrophe (look East, to the steppes) in the strong hands of their own despots. After a brief floundering freewheeling democracy the old steel hand in the leather glove gang have taken back control of the country. There is no viable political opposition. It has been crushed by the new Youth Wing and government oppression. The oligarchs have been brought to heel. The people, many of them, welcome the ideology, intelligence, and bellicosity of the president. They will push, and cheat, and dare to do the unfashionable, untenable, perhaps even the unconsciousable in foreign affairs.

Let's not take it easy. Let's let them know we will play their game of realpolitic if necessary. Despite the liberal peace loving Americans like me, we cannot expect the Russians to stop. This is how they are operating again, we are merely realizing it now because we can't pretend otherwise. If and when we draw a line in the sand, it must mean something.
I really hope when this does get done we have an international community covering our back, because the Russians are right in thinking we are stretched thinner than we have any right to be as far as projecting American power. That is with the power of military resources, reputation, financial clout, and leadership.

And me? I hope that besides paying the bills and enjoying the unique things that are good about the Russian people that I can be spreading that Left Coast philosophy: Relax, meditate, be in harmony. What better place than a spa to start to transform culturally. Yoga is starting to catch on in Russia, spiritualism of many kinds is spiraling up, and many Russians are young enough to have less experience with their historical burden of authoritarianism. They offer a group some of whom might want to be cool more than they want to be top dog. It's another answer to projecting power, that of sharing what we have learned from our own cultures intellectual and spiritual evolution.

Here is a little short writing that gives some flavor of my prior experiences:

Misha has a toothache. The white Porsche SUV, streaked with Moscow’s winter grime, still moves as smoothly as before, but Misha is in a hurry. Disdain for traffic laws has become outright contempt. The mysterious card acquired in his KGB days ensures there will be no consequences from the laws of man, only those of Nature. It is 11:30pm, and his boss needs him no more. Deliver me to the hotel and he can go home to his wife and, I suspect, vodka.

Left turn lanes are created around left turn lanes. Parking lots become shortcuts, red lights fade behind. The knowledge of the power behind a car so expensive keeps anger from erupting around his maneuvers.

The mélange of Muscovite buildings flash by, Soviet stolidness, modern bravado, and there the 13th century splendor of the convent, onion domes and crenellated walls just across the river. The ice no longer floats by. Now that I have acquired fur lined boots and been lent a Prada winter coat, the weather has changed. Now the crunchy snow is melting into slush. When the next hard freeze comes, even Misha may drive slower on sheets of ice.
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I've seen plenty of Russians in the resorts of Thailand. It's not the same. If you want to understand other people, go to their place.