It's a little political...

Yes, I really had to make it rhyme.

I've been fielding some questions about politics in Russia, next year's elections specifically. Here goes nothing... (Let's hope Putin is okay with what I have to say...)

An overwhelming majority of people love Putin. Actually I shouldn't say that. An overwhelming majority of people have no interest in politics whatsoever, and these people generally answer polls to say they'd be happy to have Putin for a third term. It looks like they won't amend the constitution in order for this to happen. However, they totally want him to be prime minister. And this is not degrading in any way, unlike a president running for vice president (or anything else for that matter) in America. The most shocking thing I found out is that, also not like America, Putin can be president again in 4 years. The limit's not 2 terms in a lifetime here, it's just 2 consecutive terms. So, basically whatever happens during the next term, Putin will be elected president again in 2012. The only chance of this not happening is if Putin does not have a hand in politics whatsoever during the new guy's term AND things go really well. Then that guy might have a fighting chance against Putin. But, at least right now, that seems unlikely.

How is this a democratic country, you ask? Well, the people are voting... But more than that, no one cares. As my politics teacher so aptly put it: "Russians don't care if Russia is a democracy; it's only important that the West thinks that Russia is democratic." Putin even asked famous people to run against him in the presidential elections (i.e. director Mikhailkov) to make Russia seem more like it was having democratic elections. Hey, if Russians are receiving the type of political system they voted for, isn't that what a democracy is all about?

Next topic: Russian drinking laws... (This is where you ask, "Wait, there are drinking laws in Russia??") The drinking laws in Russia are few and far between. You can't buy alcohol if you're under 18. (Laugh here.) You can't drink alcohol on the metro. (Laugh here.) And I'm fairly certain the blood-alcohol limit for driving is close to (if not actually) the European standard of zero percent. This one's not really a laughing matter, despite the fact that everyone does it too. The weird thing is that even in America you can buy alcohol until 2am, but in Moscow the metro closes at 1am. And the only time of day the streets aren't over-packed with cars is the middle of the night. So, they're kind of just asking people to drive home drunk. I mean, the metro opens again at 5:30, which is really not all that long to be closed, but if you realize at 1:30am that you missed the metro, those are 4 long, drunken hours til you get to go home. I'm sure people end up taking cabs home, but of you have your car anyway, I'm sure that idea isn't very appealing. (Taxis in Russia are overwhelmingly of the gypsy variety, and the shadier side of gypsy at that.) So anyway, the point is that there are loads and loads of drunken, after-1am car wrecks that probably could be prevented by keeping the metro open another hour or two. Okay, so, the other two loose drinking ...well, let's call them "rules". Basically as long as you look like you might be somewhat close to 18 they pretty much let you buy alcohol. (This generally includes anyone who looks 15 or older.) And as for not drinking in the metro, I think everyone generally takes that to mean that as long as you're not anywhere where the metro maids (like meter maids? ...but meaner and paid less) can yell at you. So, actually ON the metro seems to be okay. Why are people just walking around drinking alcohol, you ask? Because this isn't America. It's totally okay to just walk around with open alcohol. Well, if you're really drunk and a cop sees you, you can get put in ...not jail exactly... I guess it's just a vomit-encrusted, sober-up cell.. until the next morning. In the winter this prevents you from falling down outside and freezing to death (which happened to one of the coordinator's friend's 16-year-old son last year). But the rest of the time it's probably pretty unnecessary. ...Except for the fact that you'd have dozens (if not hundreds) of drunk men lying around the city every morning. Now, I have lived in a college town the last 3 (or maybe 7?) years of my life, so you'll know what I mean when I say I have seen my fair share of drunk people wandering around. However, I'm totally serious when I say that I have never seen a peoples more consistently and completely drunk than I have in Russia. By 6pm on weekdays, and pretty much all day on weekends, the metro stinks of vodka or beer. I still have no idea how they manage to do it; they seem to drink it like I drink ice-cold water on a 90-degree day--except more cheerfully.

Ah, parking. There are no discernible parking laws in Russia. As long as you're not completely blocking traffic, all's good. So, you often have to cross the street simply to be able to walk down it because there are cars parked on the sidewalk. If a road has two lanes each way, it can become one lane each way. If there's a large intersection where you can't turn left (which is most of them), people will park in the intersection! This one always confuses me the most.

If you get arrested for any reason, the minimum sentence is 15 days. Like, once you're booked, that's it. I have no idea why this exists. I know it also happened during Soviet times, but I haven't been able to discern a reason for it yet. Let me know if you find out...

Not this upcoming week, but the next week we have a week off. So, on Friday I leave for Eastern Europe! A girl in my program, Anna, and I are going to: Tallinn, Estonia; Helsinki, Finland; Riga, Latvia; Vilnius, Lithuania; Gdansk, Poland; and Kaliningrad, Russia. I don't know if I'll have time to update on the road, so I'll try and get in one more (and some more pictures) before I leave. :-)