It's odd -- this is one of the few times during the present peregrination that I've been in a largely Slavic city, and it really does seem to make a difference in people's demeanour. Like walking down the street in Chicago, as opposed to a small town in the central Midwest. I'm fundamentally American, but of Slavic/German ancestry and Christian -- and the latter two bits sometimes don't go over well in the Midwest, or in NYC (although for very different reasons). Here, the people are fundamentally Slavic, and largely Christian, but reaching towards the sort of liberal politics, society, and art that America sometimes stands for. So one becomes increasingly conscious of the inherent antinomies in these views. The impulse towards one view or the other might be useful, but don't think that it's heading towards a fundamentally different type of world, in which all problems are resolved. (With the exception of religion.)
