The new Cold War?

Why Russians don’t want to live in Canada

Gary Shteyngart Mar 7, 2014
HTML EMBED:
COPY
The new Cold War?

Why Russians don’t want to live in Canada

Gary Shteyngart Mar 7, 2014
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Crimea, we used to go there all the time, to Yalta. … And I would wear this Soviet child Speedo, which was very sexy, I think.

And we lived in this underground hut that was owned by Ukrainians and there was a little boy who was even smaller than me, and I was probably the smallest kid in the U.S.S.R., and I would beat him [up], I feel so sorry about it now: A Russian beating a Ukrainian, it sounds so prescient.

But then the next year, a Latvian chicken bit me.  And then a few years later, a Georgian kid beat me up. I think there’s a lesson in there for Russia somwhere: You’re hitting now, but you’re going to get your comeuppance someday.

The real country that [the U.S.] competes with economically, in terms of world power, is China and maybe down the line some day, India.

I think Russia really needs attention. This is a country that desperately needs to be on the world stage at all times, otherwise it doesn’t feel like a superpower.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.