It is very sad. In my day (God, that makes me feel old to say that!), it was the Soviet Union. Most of my friends including my own grandparents came to the USA to avoid the Bolsheviks (Communists) during and after the Russian Revolution. My best friend's grandfather was taken out into the street and shot. However, the country was at least not in complete chaos and poverty as it is now, run by gangsters. Not that I support the Soviet regime. Simple things like pens can be sold on the black market. Everything is very, very expensive and hard to get there. Russia has one of the highest percentages of alcoholism in the world. When my husband and I were in Europe two summers ago, I wanted to go to Leningrad - St. Petersburg - but the travel agent said it was not safe.