One of the misunderstandings that I constantly ran into in the US is that Americans judge everything by their own standard. According to the Americans, we are all the same, and given equal opportunities, would behave the same, would cherish the same ideas and pray to the same gods.
There is practically nothing you can do to explain to the Americans that this is as far from the reality as it can only be. You mention corruption and you hear "Yes, our government is also corrupted", you say something about police brutality, and you hear "Yes, we know, we have it". You say racketeering, and you get "someone was just indicted on racketeering charges". Everything you say the Americans have. They are simply happy to be like everybody else in the world.
This is the biggest BS, guys. It is not the same. It is not even close. And the difference is like being in the Zoo and looking at a tiger. Only that you are looking from inside the cage... Feel the difference?
How can I make you understand it? The words are the same, but the meaning is different.
In 2007 according Transparency International Russia is 36th out of 179 countries. US is 159th. (http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2007) Not a big surprise for any Russian. They should be ranked much higher, because the methodology used for the Index is based on the reports, and Russians tend not to report these things. But this is pretty much irrelevant, as this is like watching a movie. Blood is rushing on the screen, but we're comfortably watching. It does not bother us, it is not making us vomit, or bleed, or suffer pain. It is not a real world.
But corruption in the world is real, even if we measure it by our scale, being #159 out of 179. We all know what the difference is between the Gold nad the Silver in smimming in the Olimpics - 0.01 of a second. So what is the difference between #159 and #36? To find out I suggest you read Tig Hague's book Zone 22.
No, this is not another Joseph Heller's "Catch 22", this is a name of a real prison camp in Mordovia, Russia, which houses foreigners. This is a real story of a 30-y.o. Englishman, who spend time in the 
Russian prison from 2003 to 2005. Real time in real prison. Why? Oh, basically, he did not bribe the Customs officer at the airport, where he flew from eathrow on July 17, 2003. He did not understand a simple gesture - demand for money.
30 years ago you might have been reading Solzhenitsyn and Shalamov about Russian prisons. Do you think it has really changed? Read this book, you open it, and you won't stop until you finish. It is a thriller, a real life one.
"I will never ever cross the Russian border again", says Tig. He now understands that life depends on sometimes disproportionately small things, and it is so easy to lose it for practically nothing.
Would he ever compare the corruption in Russia to corruption in England (167th out of 179 countries)?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zone-22-Tig-Hague/dp/0718153561
Maybe next time you rush to the conclusion that we are the same as everyone else, you would remember this real life story. There is a difference. Like between playing a Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun. Who first?
This book will help you not only better understand Russia. Not only better understand what is happening in Georgia (even though there is not a single word about it). It will really help you understand your own country.
By the way, I have been here, right where the prison is... but I was lucky to be outside.
Jon Zolsky, your Daytona Beach connection
www.BeautifulFlorida.com
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