And please keep in mind that of course I do not mean everyone from Russia. I don't play politics but I do play "observe and report." I can see with my own eyes from having lived here that there is one group, one nationality, that seems to keep to themselves and rarely interacts with any other group. Call is a language barrier or a culture barrier or whatever you want, but there are a lot of Russians here and I don't know anyone that has more than 1 or 2 Russian people that they even know.
Social aspects aside, because I actually would enjoy having some more Russian friends, there have been a few events lately that have the public calling for restrictions on foreigners entering and staying in the country, just like I feared it would.
This country is surprisingly devoid of genuine road rage despite the fact that the roads here are chaotic as can be. I rarely drive but when I am so much as walking, it can sometimes be a real exercise in patience to keep your cool on the roads until you just get used to it.
There was an incident that ended up getting recorded and going viral recently of a Russian guy and his gf having a minor scrape where a taxi touched their bike and they fell, and the response of the Russian was to start shouting and eventually to hit the taxi driver. It was just a slap and not a beatdown, but the damage that encouraged xenophobia was already done.
The couple involved were ID'd by the powers of the internet and they were brought in by police but strangely, not charged nor deported. It was revealed that they are teaching English here which was odd because on the video when the Russian is trying to speak English he is bloody terrible at it. I hope they aren't paying him much but I am sure the school is really distancing themselves from him at the moment because it is almost certain he was illegally employed in the first place.
He issued some sort of apology or explanation about the situation but it wasn't really an apology, it was more of a deflection of blame and sort of attacking the general public for lashing out at HIM even though he was the one that attacked a taxi driver for a minor fender bender that is so common it isn't even worth getting worked up over.
later it was discovered that there is a 2nd video of him doing the exact same thing to another taxi driver on a separate instance.
To me the solution to this isolated incident is quite simple: prosecute this one person. Unfortunately the police have failed to do that and now the story is kind of blowing up on Vietnamese social media (what little they are allowed to have) and there is a growing anti-foreigner sentiment brewing and this is not a good thing.
I think 99% of people in the world would never do this sort of thing and would likely at least try to behave like a guest in another country but this person is not like that. He seems prone to acts of violence and just like I would suggest they do to anyone, someone that is like that has to be punished one way or another.
Vietnam is a very safe society specifically because things like assault are not tolerated so I am a bit confused and concerned about why they would just let this instance slide.
I am hopeful that things can calm down. I haven't noticed any anti-foreigner sentiment thus far because everyone I know and hang out with is respectful and not violent. That doesn't really matter in the court of public opinion though, does it? If this anti-foreigner sentiment gains ground I fear the that next step would be to start limiting visas especially since it was discovered that this man has been living here and working illegally for years.
This has been my home for many years and I had hoped (still do hope) that it would remain my home for many years to come. But in order for that the remain the case the "bad apples" are going to have to be removed from the pot, starting with this guy.
What do you think?