Moscow. Like Manhattan, Only different.

For those of you who have read my books, blogs and editorials about today’s Russia Federation what I am about to point out will not be a surprise. For the remaining 310, 299,867 Americans it might!

Less than .0001% of Americans have ever visited this culturally rich and thoroughly misunderstood country. So it is unlikely in my lifetime that a state of mutual trust will ever be achieved. Especially, if the movies and TV keep depicting old stereotypes of days gone bye. Curious given, the Japanese bombed us, the Nazi’s tried to eliminate us (and others), and the Russians shed the blood of over 27,000,000 citizens as our ally against all the World War II wack jobs. (I recognize that is a gross oversimplification, but, give me a break, I’m trying to make a larger point!)

Recently, a friend, former Russian newspaper editor (pictured somewhere in the collage) invited me to a party at his apartment with some friends on a Saturday night this past October when I was speaking in Moscow. Aside from the fact that I was old enough to be everybody’s father, they were culturally inquisitive, lots of fun, very social media savvy, and came from Russia, Finland, England. Can you guess who is who from the picture?

Oh by the way, virtually everybody in Moscow has a unmonitored computer and a bugless cell phone. In many ways, Moscow, less the Cyrillic language, is a lot like Manhattan.