Environmental degradation is ubiquitous. Russian men have a life expectancy of less than 60 years. Russia remains suspended between a horrific past and an uncertain future. Because the Soviet Union disappeared without bloodshed, the old regime was never fully displaced. The rule of law remains largely a dream.
Corruption is taken for granted.
The political culture under Putin is unsavory. Putin has empowered the political police, demonstrated his discomfort with forceful opposition, revived a crude Russian nationalism, and made political hay by waging a brutal, fruitless war in Chechnya. Yet Putin, like his countrymen, craves acceptance in the West, and insists that Russia is a European nation. Some Russian commentators have had the courage to tell their countrymen the truth. We are painfully searching for the right path.