The history of Russia is a long and complex one, with the first recorded settlements dating back to the 9th century. Over the centuries, Russia has been ruled by a variety of different empires, governments, and leaders, and has gone through many periods of expansion and contraction.

The Russian army has always been just propaganda and advertising

I don't understand where the anti-Americanism and Russophilia in so many people in this country comes from.

The Soviet Union dealt such an economic and technological blow to the Wall Street imperialists that when I came there in 1989 on a student exchange, my family rode a motorcycle with a sidecar (it was probably a copy of a motorcycle designed sometime in the 1940s-50s) and the store had sugar and butter (i.e., a limited amount) on the tickets. This was the economic miracle of Russia in practice, as I experienced it first hand just before the entire Eastern Bloc collapsed. So I don't understand the comments that claim it wasn't :-). The collapse and falling behind the US by at least 20-30 years was obvious in the USSR and continues to this day. It's just gotten worse.