I'm going to simply state my belief that a lot of this is partisan bullshit being subsidized by the FIS. That's fine since every nation has it's own factory of propaganda spitting out how great living in their repressive regime is (and I am not omitting any Western nations from this statement - what's true for one is true for all).

Ultimately its all about perspective - from the singular vantage point and viewpoint of the author (Ultan) his life in "free" Italy is far worse than what he experienced in Kazan deep in the heart of Russia. Far from any separatist conflict, never having any autonomy either now or historically, and latched firmly onto the teat of Mother Russia - of course life was decent especially if you have the luxury of earning a wage that puts you into the upper middle class compared to everyone else. A wonderful life filled with food, comfort and security.

The whining about how now he has to live like the commoners in a place that I'm sure he chose to go to in order to experience whatever freedom he's heard about, only to find out the struggle of the independent artist and become really sour over it. Grow up, pal. You can't have the state take care of you and be able to have your own opinions or political beliefs. You also have to turn your head at atrocities committed by your President and the government when they're your sugar daddy. If you dont have any empathy for a country's people who don't want to be the beneficiary of a nanny culture in exchange for no choice in your future self-determination - fuck you then, I don't care about your butthurt feelings.

For all the trolls out there who are trying to ascribe deeper meaning to this - get a life and go write your own shit that then gets ripped apart by all the other trolls living in your Dunning Kruger world. Best of luck with that