Russia in meltdown?

[Spudulika]

Okay, I admit to having a personal interest in all of this. I not only have work and family there, also travel many times a year to the country and have been to all the trouble spots you read/hear about in the media.

This morning there's another blast in Russia, an apparent suicide bombing, down in Ingushetia. Since the headline grabber a week ago today there have been 2 more explosions (Dagestan) and a host of shootings in the Caucasus. Having spent alot of time there there is a daily diet of news coming from the region of shootings, bombings, kidnappings etc, every so often drifting up to Russian soil proper.

Last November a weapons arsenal blew up in Ulyanovsk, for weeks later there were explosions and in total it is reckoned that close to 100 were killed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jne14Vl2Dvg&feature=related

In a number of cities the infrstructure has been so degraded that for large parts of the summer (2009) there was no electricity - Tambov - while all the while the country economy contracts and retreats.

The Muslim problem in Russia is a difficulty though it can always be contained, however the problems with Russian infrastructure is going to affect us directly when you consider that Russian nuclear power stations are crying out for upgrades, I just worry that another Chernobyl could be on the way.

[Bluebeard]

The country is so very vast that managing all that infrastructure has got to be an Herculean task. I wonder, given that most of the decisions are being made in the Western fifth (estimate) of the country, if certain oblasts are not completely deprioritised with regard to maintenance, rebuilding, and general safety. I fear that vast tracts outside of the southern "urban" belt that runs near to the touristed train routes are left to their own devices, but it is just speculation on my part based on what little I saw of Russia when there. What parts are you familiar or connected with Spudulika?

[Spudulika]

The country is so very vast that managing all that infrastructure has got to be an Herculean task. I wonder, given that most of the decisions are being made in the Western fifth (estimate) of the country, if certain oblasts are not completely deprioritised with regard to maintenance, rebuilding, and general safety. I fear that vast tracts outside of the southern "urban" belt that runs near to the touristed train routes are left to their own devices, but it is just speculation on my part based on what little I saw of Russia when there. What parts are you familiar or connected with Spudulika?

You've hit the nail on the head Bluebeard, the country is so vast it's impossible to get it all right. Some places are better than others and how Moscow functions as a city is amazing, even with a person like Luzhkov in charge (his brilliant idea of bombing the clounds with cement and gunk to prevent snowfalls still confuses me). You're right, alot of the country is run in the form of little fiefdoms - Tatarstan is one that immediately jumps to mind.

I'm familiar mainly with Moscow and Ulyanovsk having lived in both places for the best part of 2 years and visited for prolonged periods since 2005. I've been in a number of spots in the Caucasus - most recently in North Ossetia and Vladikavkaz last summer, and passed through Ossetia from Georgia by car a 22 hours before the war broke out - I can honestly attest to seeing lines of Russian armour on the road into North Ossetia as we left.

I've spent decent amounts of time in Kazan, especially in 2007 - 3 weeks - and travelled to Voronezh to meet the other half's family last Spring. Voronezh is a spot that begs a good look. It was a strong mover in the USSR, with a powerful sports culture (including it's football club Fakel) but now it's like a dying city. I've visited the main Volga cities - Samara, Togliatti, Saratov and Volgograd. I'll be back over at the end of the month for 2 weeks, and again in mid-June for a month, and at the end of July for 2 weeks for training camp. I do worry about the situation there as with the crowd running the country now it's just getting worse and worse. A former colleague of mine who works the markets there told me that a disaster is on the horizon and all it'll take it one spark and the whole place goes up.

Where did you visit when you were over? Did you find the people welcoming or a bit closed?