It is Good to See
As an elder American USAF veteran of the mid 1950s with a one year tour in Korea, I have to say I have seen the cycle in US/Russian relationships (as well as Germany, Japan, Italy...) but when all of the politics are put aside, the primal desire to fly is a common bond. People going to class to learn how to build an airplane in any country is inspiring. When they learn the skills to do high quality sheet metal work it is something they will remember forever and they will never look at an airplane the same childlike way they did before. No one can deny them the inner pride that comes with that acquired skill even if they never get to participate in building an airplane - I do not expect these folks will be content with training that is not put to some use however. It is indeed good to see.
Two years ago I was on a Russian tour between Novgorod and Moscow when I became very sick with massive vomiting on our bus loaded with Americans, Canadians and Australians. They pulled into a highway restaurant/truck stop of the type common in Europe, took me off and laid me on the ground beside the bus. After some time an ambulance similar to a Volkswagon minibus picked up me, my wife and our luggage and took us to a small hospital in a town probably 100 miles or more from Moscow while the bus continued on the tour. The doctors and nurses in that hospital were role models for how doctors and nurses the world over should care for patients. Very few could speak any English and we could speak no Russian at all but we communicated with gestures and drawings to supplement occasional verbal communication for about 30 hours before everyone was convinced that I was OK to discharge. The tour company had monitored the situation and arranged for a van to pick us up and rejoin the tour in Moscow.
It was a wonderful tour and we never met a single person that was unkind or impolite in all the cities, towns, hotels, restaurants, museums, stores and street vendor stands we visited in Russia. With that limited exposure to Russia I feel good about what I see in the photographs and I am happy for them.
Bob Axsom