The Cossacks are Coming

Recently I was introduced to a Russian lady here in California who soon informed me she was in fact a Cossack. In my interest in Russian history and culture I know about the Cossacks, but hard facts are elusive as to who they really are.  I knew them from the dramatic pictures and wild stories and that they chased Napoleon out of Russia in 1812. A few questions from my ignorance brought her answer, “Cossacks are a nation.” The origin of the name “Cossack” is from an early Turkic word meaning “free man”—anyone who could not find his appropriate place in society and went into the steppes, where he acknowledged no authority.  An independent people they have always been.

Olga told us of her family, its terrible treatment under Stalin, the “disappearance” of most of the men, Meeting Olga encouraged me to do a little research and I find their identity goes back the 16^th century in that southern steppe lands of Eastern Europe and Asian Russia, around the Dnieper and Don rivers—that geographic location destined to be forever in the way of invading armies going south or north, with  the Cossacks allying with one side or the other, or both.

As I underline in “Walking on Ice, an American Businessman in Russia,” I am always amazed at the determination and strength of many of the Russian women who come here for a new life. To meet a Cossack woman, here only three years, with a good job, and hear her decent English and resolve to better herself in this totally different culture, is admirable. The Cossacks are coming, but maybe only one at a time.

The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan of Turkey, the painting by Ilya Repin shown above is in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg

Confessions of a Russophile

From the review for “Walking on Ice. An American Businessman in Russia” from Russia Profile magazine, by its editor, Andrei Zolotov, Jr.  

Of the legion of Western entrepreneurs who came to Russia in the early 1990s in search of opportunities, many came here guided not just by greed, but by a quest for adventure. But there were few who had become infatuated with Russian culture built their businesses as a cultural matchmaking of sorts. They had the inquisitive minds and open hearts of cultural interpreters, which helped push their projects in the land, where, as one such person, Frederick R. Andresen put it, “everything is difficult—and everything is possible.”

Andresen put his insightful observations into a tenderly written, concise book, which is neither an academic study, nor a memoir; neither a business manual, nor a cultural history. Yet it somehow manages to serve all these purposes and can be recommended as an easy and highly educational read for aspiring Russia scholars and people preparing for a tour of duty in Russia.

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Like a Russian River

Russian history,
it seems to me,
is much like a Russian river.

It lays unhappily frozen,
obedient within its constraining banks
for a period longer than it can stand.

Then suddenly,
some foreign ray of change
permeates the ice
and the river erupts,
climbing upon itself
moving recklessly down stream
releasing its discontent,
taking everything with it,
the good and the bad,
until it finds its kind of peace
and flows quietly
with all appearances of normality.

But winter will come again
and how soon
no one knows
for sure.

Frederick R. Andresen
2000
Photo by Christopher Harrington

Excerpted from “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”

Russia-Three Sides of the Coin:
A Talk for Society of Commercial Intelligence Professionals (SCIP)

Monday, I gave a talk to the Southern California chapter of SCIP (Society of Commercial Intelligence Professionals) in Long Beach. This is a group of professionals who use their background and training in intelligence gathering for commercial purposes–meaning what is the competition doing and why. I was invited to give a prospective on how to do this in Russia. There are so many myths and misunderstandings about that country I was happy to try to make things a bit clearer. Seventeen years in business in Russia, six in residence, gives me a perspective “from the trenches.”

My message was called “Russia, Three Sides of the Coin.” I wanted to express the underlying cultural foundation that surfaces in often-unexpected ways when dealing with Russians. Much is changing there, but much stays the same. The Cold War memories and James Bond movies fill us with so much drama about it all. One of my sayings is that in Russia there is much secrecy, but no secrets. Also that the basis for success is group loyalty thorough genuine personal relationships, fairness, and strong knowledgeable leadership.

As a primer, I gave a quick glimpse of Russian history beginning in the late 900s including the warring princes of Kiev hiring the Varangian (Viking) prince Ruark to organize them, the choice of Greek Orthodoxy to control the people, and the start of Russia as a nation. The resulting formula for ruling Russia, according to Czar Nicholas I, was “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality.”

I built a Power Point presentation which included maps illustrating the geographic and resulting religious uniqueness in Russia’s thousand year history and how that impacts the culture even in today’s supposedly borderless world. Maps showed what I call Russia’s “inconvenience of geography” with no natural borders, no free access to the sea, and all rivers running north into the Arctic except the Volga which empties into the land-locked Caspian.

Map of Russia Today

A geopolitical comparison with America shows a natural island of security, two oceans with world class ports, two non-threatening neighbors, productive agricultural land with a river network flowing into the sea, and the center of global communications. Americans take this all for granted, but Russia sees it as the main threat to their “greatness.”

Yet, I pointed out, that Russia and Russians have a lot going for them. Their greatest asset is their “minds,” not their “mines” (meaning their ample natural resources.) Their intelligence, determination, and loyalty impressed me from the start. The proverbial readiness to say “no” I stressed was an opportunity to ask “how” and tap into their amazing resourcefulness. The Russian woman’s search for a “clever” man is her quest for a partner who knows how to get around the “no” of congenital Russian bureaucracy and get the job done.

After the talk, I got some interesting questions. One executive from a major international firm was questioning the value of certain personnel changes between L.A., London, and Moscow. One Russian, a consultant on business in Russia, agreed with my summations and added some interesting historical and other facts.

The audience was terrific, and it was a joy to have been invited by SCIP.

Introducing Fred Andresen

From a lifetime of international business, travel, and life in Asia, Russia, and Europe, a deep interest and experience in intercultural relations has developed and is my base for my sharing as a professional or as a writer. I am asked to speak to MBA classes and professional groups on working with the Russians.

My writings are mainly historical novels set in various times and places. However, my first was non-fiction and based on seventeen years business experience in Russia, six years in residence. I founded (1992) and managed a leading telecommunications company in Russia expanding globally. I enjoyed working with the Russians, finding them intelligent, dedicated, and resourceful.  I am presently on the board of a Russian orchestra and president of the Los Angeles/St. Petersburg Sister City committee. 

Books include:

“Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia” (2007) based on over seventeen years in Russian business. Realistic and humorous.

“Dos Gringos” (coming in Dec 2009) based on a true story of my Norwegian immigrant father’s escapades in the Mexican Revolution

“The Lady with an Ostrich Feather Fan” (2010) the story of the famous Yusupov Rembrandts and those who sought them, and those who protected them.

“The Fabergé Clock” (2010) a action/romance novel set in contemporary Russia.  

An enjoyment of literature, classical music, and art is reflected in all this work.