Do you think of Russia as being to the East or to the West?

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WingedSeven@reddit

don't really. i just say they're on the other half of the world (i'm not on the west coast so i'm not right next to em)

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MistaSoviet@reddit

Putin wants you to think of Russia as too different from the west to ever trust or befriend. Don’t fall for Putin’s fascist narrative.

Russia is a Christian country that has had alliances with the west throughout its history, was one of the great imperial powers of the Victorian era, and until FaZcist takeover was one of the most educated and scientific countries in the world.

Russia needs the world and the world needs Russia. Don’t let Nazi scum like the EP or xenophobic fearmongers tell you otherwise.

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Icy-Student8443@reddit

bro so true so true

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deltagma@reddit

I’m a Russian American.

We say Eurasian. We don’t say east or west.

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Icy-Student8443@reddit

that’s cool

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Plantayne@reddit

As far as I know it’s always been the antithesis of the West in political terms. “The East” is a term that became popular specifically to separate the Soviet bloc from the rest of the western world.

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Rocky-bar@reddit (OP)

Looking at the maps, it could be said that Russia IS the Western world! Or Eastern, whichever way you fly.

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TheDwarvenGuy@reddit

Nah if that's true you could say any country is in the west.

Russia is firmly in the eastern Hemisphere, it can't really be said to be Western except in a cultural sense.

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Rocky-bar@reddit (OP)

Bizarrely all of Europe is in the Eastern Hemisphere, so The West as we call it is actually the East, except the USA is the West.

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Icy-Student8443@reddit

i mean yeah ur not wrong technically speaking

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TheDwarvenGuy@reddit

Europe is partially outside the eastern Hemisphere while Russia is in the east of the eastern hemisphere.

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MoreCowsThanPeople@reddit

Portugal, Ireland and Iceland aren't.

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FivebyFive@reddit

It's a cold war term. You're over thinking it.

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MoreCowsThanPeople@reddit

Considering it's on the other side of the International Date Line, it seems more eastern to me than western.

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Isgrimnur@reddit

North on a ballistic trajectory.

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hugeuvula@reddit

Only 30 minutes away by missile...

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Icy-Student8443@reddit

bruh

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WulfTheSaxon@reddit

Or your next one’s free.

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reckonair@reddit

Minuteman II!

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RolandDeepson@reddit

Buy one get seventeen

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TheDuckFarm@reddit

This guy Titans.

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EpicAura99@reddit

Liquid fuel is so last century 🙄

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SyrupUsed8821@reddit

This guy launches

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NoTime4YourBullshit@reddit

That was my first thought. I’ve always thought of Russia as north. It’s funny how the Mercator Projection has so thoroughly trashed people’s sense of geography.

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albertnormandy@reddit

Since we're being pedantic, it isn't north, because once you cross the north pole you're going south.

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Isgrimnur@reddit

Once you're in re-entry, directions don't matter. ;)

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RolandDeepson@reddit

"Forward"

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randomnickname99@reddit

It's only North until that suddenly turns into South again though

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nosomogo@reddit

Correct. This the the only context I think about Russia in.

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Ozone220@reddit

I think east west from a europe perspective and see the Americas as west from that same perspective, but then when talking about locations in America it's a separate east west system.

I live on the east coast in a western country

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Spasiboi@reddit

You can draw up East / West however you want. I’d do it based on if the country was historically Catholic (UK, France, Poland) or Orthodox (Russia, Romania, etc.)

“Western Values” is a stand-in for Anglo-American Neoliberal values.

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VictorianPeorian@reddit

I just realized how silly this sounds, but I think of it as being east of Europe, rather than west of North America. If you're talking culturally, I guess "Western" for the most part? I guess I would (in my limited knowledge) lump them culturally with eastern Europe...? (Not politically, obviously lol.) Although I imagine they have some indigenous cultures like in Siberia that would be more similar to other Central or East Asian cultures? (I haven't researched the demographics of Russia—although I think they also have Sami populations, which are kind of their own thing... Idk)

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veive@reddit

I think of "eastern bloc" and "western bloc" as separate from the cardinal directions in their names.

IE: Russia and China are Eastern Bloc, but Australia and New Zealand are Western Bloc.

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WhenYouWilLearn@reddit

Japan and Korea are quite alligned with us, but it is contentious to call them Western nations.

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MyUsername2459@reddit

Well, Japan and South Korea are pretty clearly geopolitically "Western", and North Korea is geopolitically "Eastern", but that's geopolitics, not geography.

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Electrical_Quality_6@reddit

I think it makes sense

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Impactor07@reddit

India is legit central central lol

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PeaAdministrative874@reddit

To me it’s just Russia. Its own thing.

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cryptoengineer@reddit

I think of it as East, because most maps put Eurasia on the right, and the Americas on the left.

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Youngadultcrusade@reddit

Marx had a pretty offensive quote about this exact matter! Most Russians I’ve met have been cool and felt pretty similar to us Americans in a lot of ways, though the ones I befriended were mainly anti Putin liberal/upper crust St. Petersburg Russians going to college in the US.

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Rocky-bar@reddit (OP)

What was the Marx quote?

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Indoor-Cat4986@reddit

East east east

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Kevincelt@reddit

They’re in the eastern part of Europe and control the entirety of northern Asia, but I would say they’re fundamentally European. If western means Western European and cultures fundamentally influenced by Western Europe then I would say they’re eastern, but if you mean western as in European dominated or heavily influenced then they are western.

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Jessgitalong@reddit

I imagine I would think of it as east if I lived in Europe, along with Slavic countries. I know Prague is west of Vienna, though, so it’s largely more cultural than geographical. In the USA, we don’t generally think so much in those terms.

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cdb03b@reddit

Neither. Russia is Russia and is culturally distinct from both regions, though sharing traits with both as well.

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Lamballama@reddit

East. They are, by the ruling regimes own philosophy,* Mongols in western clothing. That they happen to be Orthodox Christians isn't particularly important to modern discourse

* one of the most influential thinkers which inspired the Putin regime believes that every so often, the sun emits cosmic energy which hits earth and inspires a civilization to greatness. The West inherited theirs from the Romans and is petering out, but Russia inherited theirs from the Mongols, so it is much fresher and still to be tapped

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BankManager69420@reddit

Culturally the west, geographically the east, despite it being fairly close to the west of where I am geographically. World maps in the US generally start at the west tip of Alaska, and end on the east tip of Russia

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SkiingAway@reddit

As Russia is only a few miles to the West of Alaska

Empty land where almost no one lives.

80% of Russia's population is in the portion that's in "Europe" (West of the Urals), and is many thousands of miles away from there.

The nearest road actually connected to the rest of Russia is like 1250mi away from the Bering Strait. (Magadan is basically the end of the Russian road network) There is just about zero infrastructure and near-zero people in the actual Far East of Russia.

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Meilingcrusader@reddit

It's European in the classical sense. It is still a society which is broadly animated by Christianity. Also, weirdly, simultaneously by Communism. A fascinating land of contrasts. It also has a sort of pioneer spirit in a way which typifies the distant sectors of the anglosphere (US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, maybe New Zealand) due to their wide open Siberian frontier. The values that modern russia treasures are similar to the ones we did a few decades ago. But both us and them have changed a lot since 1960. Our society has values which are much more liberal now and theirs are more conservative than before due to the reaction following the collapse of the USSR. Nevertheless, we have more in common than not, and more than most people would want to admit

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mistiklest@reddit

It is still a society which is broadly animated by Christianity.

But, it's Eastern Christianity (Orthodox), as opposed to Western Christianity (Catholic, Protestant).

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Meilingcrusader@reddit

Honestly Catholicism has more in common with Orthodoxy than Protestantism

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bjanas@reddit

Yes.

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FeijoaCowboy@reddit

I generally think east, but I'd bet that if I were in Alaska, Russia would feel very west

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haveanairforceday@reddit

"Western values" pretty much means western Europe and North America. You can obviously go further west so it doesn't necessarily make all the sense if you try to apply it to a map

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GodzillaDrinks@reddit

I think of it as the East. Which is weird because modern day Russia is more "wild" than our American west ever was.

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WhichSpirit@reddit

Russia is Russia. It's too Russian to be either east or west.

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theBeardsley@reddit

Russia = Russia.

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direwolf106@reddit

Mostly I think they are dumbasses.

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Current_Poster@reddit

I think of it as Russia. When I think of "the West", I tend to think of the Western hemisphere and a little extra, and when I think of the East I think of Asia.

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mustang6172@reddit

North.

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Redbubble89@reddit

Russia has always been considered West.

It's always had historical connections with Europe. They were a trade partner for centuries and Allied powers during both world wars. It's really until Stalin and the Iron Curtain where the relationship went south. USSR went up to Poland.

If you look at a population density map of Russia, very little of it is East of the Urals. Russia is all of Siberia where there are no people and maybe a few outposts. The statement that it's West of Alaska across the International dateline, there is no major city or much of anything north of China and Mongolia. They've invaded Korea and Japan but it's never been an Asian country.

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ALoungerAtTheClubs@reddit

East. The major religion is a branch of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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earthhominid@reddit

Russia is their own cultural entity. Similar to the middle east, Africa (which has somewhere between 2 and 4 major political blocs), and South America.

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rawbface@reddit

The world is a globe. It's both.

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Captain_of_Gravyboat@reddit

West. It's right next door.

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baalroo@reddit

I think if Russia as being to the west. "The West" is not about geographic direction.

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DrGerbal@reddit

Alaska is west. And Sara plain who’s from there can see Russia from her back yard. So west I guess

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Young_KingKush@reddit

Would Russia/Russians not be considered "Eastern European"?

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Rocky-bar@reddit (OP)

I think of it as East, but it IS undeniably East of the UK, where I'm from.

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After_Meat@reddit

Historical conception of Russia comes from a European perspective in English speaking spaces. This makes it an eastern country.

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After_Meat@reddit

Russia is obviously east

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TheBlazingFire123@reddit

It certainly isn’t west

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vinyl1earthlink@reddit

Neither the East nor the West is particularly eager to claim Russia!

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UCFknight2016@reddit

Eastern Europe

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moonwillow60606@reddit

It’s large enough to be both.

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tuiva@reddit

To the east. Alaska is fairly unpopulous.

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DrBlankslate@reddit

Neither. Russia is its own thing.

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webbess1@reddit

The terms "East and West" come from Medieval Europe. They were invented by people who didn't know the Americas existed. Russia is to the east of Europe, therefore it is part of the East.

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novavegasxiii@reddit

Linguistically its slightly closer to European languages than say Mandarin or Arabic.

In terms of religion it clearly is western.

It arguably has more in common with governments like china than england or the US.

If i had to pick id say western but not 100% in eirher.

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boston_homo@reddit

I picture Russia to the north east.

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zugabdu@reddit

If forced to choose in those binary terms, I'd say "East". "East" in a geographic sense and "East" in a cultural sense don't mean the same thing.

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Select_Cantaloupe_62@reddit

East and West is less geographical to us, and more philosophical. Remember that we're very isolated (physically) from the rest of the world, so when we hear "West" we're thinking Europe, South America, our Blood Brothers in Canada, etc. "East" is--funnily enough--usually Asia. Korea, Vietnam, China, these are the far-east places that we default to.

Russia falls very firmly under the "East". They have never been anyone we can identify with. They were sworn enemies for \~50 years, followed by 20 years of "meh", back to sworn enemies again.

Also, geographically, I have to be honest... most of America doesn't really think about Alaska being close to Russia as "Russia being close to America". You're right--they literally are very close--but we're discussing very remote regions of both our countries, surrounded mostly by deep-sea navies and nukes. It's just sort of a no-man's zone to us.

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mcm87@reddit

Russia is not the East nor the West. Russia is Russia.

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_meshy@reddit

Culturally, I see them as part of "The West." As a rootin', tootin', red blooded freedom loving American, I see them as "The East." And in geographic terms, I think of them as east of the US because my brain just assumes that you will fall off the edge of the world if you try to go west across the international date line.

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WashuOtaku@reddit

North!

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OpelSmith@reddit

Both Europeans and Americans seeing Russia as eastern is honestly one of Russia's historical insecurities

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estifxy220@reddit

Politically, definitely east.

Russia in general however consider is neither west or east - its kind of its own thing.

I will say western Russia is more “western” orientated, especially with the heavy influence of Europe, but its still got its own unique distinct thing going on. Siberia however is completely distinct from the west/east. The only part of Siberia id consider “eastern” is the far east because of heavy east Asian influence.

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