Recently, Quatrarius made me think of how's Russia perceived around the world (by the way, thanks for the ELI5: US politics, dude!). For years, I've been raised to think that the US is Russia's enemy, that the States are secretly planning some sort of defence fence around Russia's European border using the anti-missile bases, that the US nudges the world community to punish Russia for "lawful" (question mark) annexation of "our territory anyway"...
Now that I put it like that, it sounds silly in the light of European and North American hubskiers expressing their surprise at such reactions from the big country, as well as some other surprised remarks I've glanced over in the recent years. Which got me thinking: what do people actually think of Russia? Rarely, if ever, have I seen properly vocalized reactions. The best I've got so far is "Russia? Oh, cool. Is it chilly there?" (shakes head).
So please, tell me all about what you think of Russia: the good, the bad and the ugly; political, economical, cultural or personal. Be as blunt as you have to: you're not going to offend me.