Word Play

Russian is an adjective. Russia is a noun.

Why these obvious grammatical statements? Because some may be confused why a magazine about all things Russian (adjective) is so vehemently against what Russia (noun) is doing.

It is because we abhor what is being done by those who have hijacked Russia’s democratic processes to hold the Kremlin. We stand against their War on Ukraine, their corrupt theft of national assets, their wanton suppression of human rights, individual freedoms, and personal sovereignty. In short, we believe that the greedy, aggressive regime ruling the Kremlin roost is acting contrary to the Russian values of community, honesty, decency, and generosity. 

We also believe a better Russia is possible, just like we believe that the long arc of human history has been (painfully slowly) bending toward increased economic, political, and social freedom, toward greater respect for human rights, and greater sovereignty for communities and states.

A hundred years ago, few might have thought that the world’s ruling empires would crumble, that Fascism and then Communism would collapse, that monarchs and apartheid would fall, that the gulags would be opened. 

Yet this all happened in recent memory. And the present horrors will pass just as did many of the past: gradually, and then suddenly. (To paraphrase a character from Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.) 

In the meantime, we must cling to hope, and to that lesson of history: that evil, aggression, greed, and inhumanity always eventually consume themselves. 

And we must keep telling stories. “We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” said Joan Didion. In the face of life’s chaos, we use stories to construct a cohesive narrative about what is going on, about who we and others are, about what we all value, about what we and others are capable of. 

The stories we tell in this magazine are to remind us that a different Russia is possible: one that values generosity, decency, truthfulness, and community. Please share them, and this magazine, with others. After all, it’s not a story until you share it.

Paul Richardson