Please don't put all of post-communism-counties into one basket, as there are vast differences between them how they are dealing with democracy/capitalism. Russia is quite a special case here and unfortunately most of the times is an example of "how not to do things". But if you look at countries that were not part of Soviet Union (Czech Republic, Poland, etc.), or Baltic-countries (Latvia, Estonia, etc.) you will get a complete different image of things.
I'm living in one that wasn't part of the Soviet Union but the damage is done anyway. The thug mentality rules our contry (Romania). Maybe I was generalizing when I said post-communism countries. There are exception, but the rule is that most were influenced by the russian way of doing "business".
From the outside looking in, it seems to me like the thug mentality was deeply implanted in Romania by Ceaușescu et al. By comparison, to my mind Dubcek's lasting influence in Czechoslovakia is evident in the treatment of Havel and the dissidents in the following decades: no, they absolutely weren't treated well, but their suppression under a Ceaușescu-like regime would have been far, far worse.
The remnants of this thuggish apparatus in Romania has just turned its energy towards the best target: money.
or maybe it is slavic way of doing business? or maybe it is just a consequence of collapse of old institutions and social structure combined with some cultural aspects?
just sayin.
(russian here, living in Estonia and not complaining, btw)
