Originally Posted by Jesus H Christ

Good thread. I've posted many times on this subject. As mentioned before, I've been doing business there for years. At first, there were lot's of complications but when the Russians saw I was going to stay the course things turned profitable. Why?

Russians hate everybody and more so don't trust each other and in turn, hate themselves more then any other. Obviously their culture is Russian, but it resembles more Asian (minus the niceties) then western. Pleasurepays nailed it in his description. Russians "in general" are a very strong people in all aspects of life compared to American standards and would be considered rude bullies in most of the world. They are insulting, consistently try to intimate, exploit any flaw, blind to stranger suffering, and the strongest take all. In short, the culture is more a prison mentality. Predictability, greed, and envy are exploitable and normal so you must adapt if you're going to do business there.

IMO the reason why Russians are Internet intelligent is because the weak must constantly think of profitable avenues because the "strong" monopolized most and why they are viewed as scammers. In truth, successful exploitation is considered a sign of great intelligence there. I feel bad for many of them because I know some very honest talented Russian programmers that can do anything but are tainted when mentioned Russian. Matter of fact, I've seen working marketing techniques that would change much of what we all know if they could figure out how to get the profits safely "in" the country or the programmer out. Although, Russia is getting better it is still a miserable place to live/be and dread when I have to go there.