José Luis Castañeda 

When someone says Russia what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Russia is a big country with so many different weathers, people, traditions and costumes that putting in just one word is impossible. But there are some key words or terms that describe this country more easily, those words or ideas sometimes become stereotypes that help us to imagine or have a general idea, the thing is that they could be positive or negative, true or false.

Russia is a really important nation talking historically; it was part of the USSR on one time and represents communism. A lot o people associate Russia with, vodka, war, missiles, socialism, Marxism, dancing, drinking, hats, cold weather, serious people,  nuclear power, orthodox church, mafia, etc. This image represents to me, my own perception of Russia and I think that a lot of people share this in common. In this photo we can see soldiers that show us the powerful army and the militarism that the country had through history and that still have. Also the airplanes with the flag is a example of the sense of patriotism and nationalism that the country has, it is a world power and is not easily manipulated by others because of the union of their people. The Red Square with the Kremlin that appears on the picture is for me on of the most representatives places of Russia not just because its beauty but because it is a historic site and a lot of important events had happen on the same floor.

So I think this image represents well to Russia, it has several elements that are real and that not just represent old history but they also show some current values and ideology. The world is full with different points of view but when can narrow them to produce a generalized idea of something, so that we could understand each other.

This is the link to original article that post the image.

http://www.acus.org/files/images/reuters%207%2023%2010%20Russian%20fighters%20over%20Moscow.jpg