.Especially re- hriotsy- Only one has to include the whole Russian/Soviet hriotsy and do not try to pretend that this hriotsy is not theirs. The same way as Americans or Australians do not deny what they had done to their native populations or how they treat(-ed) blacks/not-whites/ not so long ago (+). They are not exactly proud of it, but are quite ready to forgive themselves. That what Russians MUST learn to do too. Moreover that there was (IMHO) more positive than negative about USSR/Russia.As for sovok ..What is it? The tendency to express aloud & without caution/thinking official (national)media cliches as if they were own personal views? Every nation has more than plenty of that the Americans & Australians in particular. When it comes to opinions about Russia and the Russians almost all of the supposedly educated anglo-saxons I have ever met hurried to demonstrate that they knew of eg. USSR more than its former citizens (eg. myself) did. Including understanding the Russian cultural values or even the comparative value of Soviet academic education. This later American sovkovost is actually the reason why only people very well acquainted with American/Anglo-Saxon culture should be the advocates (re: you last point) as you see , we actually agree here too. And IMHO the jewish steadfast approach is something to be learned from. I believe that I saw how it worked when (former or current) Russians suddenly *started* to simply comment to western media articles during Georgian conflict. (as I tried to say previously this patriotic attitude has also a simple capitalistic business value.)Sorry, Eugene a bit off your original line, perhaps but not against it either. Your proposal to concentrate on visas does make sense as a realistic start. Which should not prevent the Russian government to invest into lobbying more or less directly.Cheers