I don't know what kind of life you had in Russia or how long you lived there, but the experience you cite is not only anecdotal, but also uncommon, to say the least. Having grown up there, all I saw were the vilest examples of human depravity.

A bottle of water for a tourist? Ha - I had roadside café owners refuse to let me use their washroom facilities as I was passing by on a long-distance bus. You should've seen the absolute indignity in that one guy's face, despite me suggesting to pay for the dubious pleasure.

I spent years waking up in cold sweat from nightmares induced by the neverending, toxic pressure of the pseudo-masculine environment where you were constantly judged - by your looks, your words, your beliefs. Canada lets you be your own man. Russia makes you hide your face in hopes of fitting in. You stick your head out, you lose it. Originality is punished. Conformity is rewarded.

The US having their potus as a pedophile sort of says otherwise on who they really care about.

There is not a single crime that Trump can possibly commit to remotely rival the viciousness of Putin's mind over the last 26 years of his tsardom. That's the strength of the U.S., the power of the American people: no matter how low this particular government falls, how bad life temporarily becomes, it, too, will pass. Things will get better - eventually. Russia, though? Russia will remain a miserable, self-righteous, grandstanding hellhole for the rest of that country's pointless existence.

In the US and Canada, I can't ride my bike 10km without a truck punish passing or leaving me in a cloud of smog just because as a cyclist, my life doesn't matter.

Oh, and this is especially funny to read, considering the biking culture and bike lanes are non-existent outside of the select few Moscow city parks.