Comments by "surely you joke, mein failüre" (@surelyyoujokemeinfailure7531) on "Putin's Brain Abnormality" video.

@Econ Lessons - have you ever read the book "Ecocide in the USSR"? The Soviets very much abused and polluted their own environment, to the extent where (by the time of the conflict in Afghanistan) they were having trouble fulfilling quotas of healthy young males for military recruitment. Also there is the matter of how they place their industrial facilities. Here in the west we [mostly] use zoning to separate residential and industrial areas, but in the USSR they would place everything together, so that, for example, there would be neighborhoods and schools right next to a factory belching green smoke into the sky at all hours. Living like that, the thought of drinking less vodka probably seemed like a waste of good self-control.
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@EconLessons That "low cognitive function" aspect is much on my mind every time I see the content of Vasya in the Hay. Through comments on one of his videos I saw that mini documentary series about the run-down apartment complex people referred to as "the pentagon" :( wish I could unsee it.
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Konstantin has occasionally touched on these aspects of the Soviet mentality in his videos, but you'd have to go through all the comments to find it. What a guy. Love his videos also.
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For Russians, the end of the USSR was basically an end to their exploitation of the human, material, political, and economic resources of other nations. They were accustomed to decades of being able to take money, people (the best and brightest), whole companies, basically anything they wanted from "their" empire. The dissolution of the USSR caused a drop in living standards and life expectations in Russia .. but the experience was the other way for the peoples that regained their independence. And they seem to have no interest in returning to life under the Russian boot.
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