You might think that all Russians are crooks from reading this article in today's NY Times about a quarter billion dollar scam by Russian doctors and other immigrants.

"This one, like many others, had its nerve center in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, the locus of the city’s Russian-speaking immigrant population, many of whom grew up under a Communist system that bred disdain for the rules and a willingness to cheat to get around them.

Brighton Beach has one of the highest rates of health care fraud in the nation...“This is the Russian mind-set, and this is why it’s endemic in the system,” said one law-enforcement official who has investigated organized-crime groups from the former Soviet Union for many years. “If you’re not scamming the system, if you’re not scamming the government, you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing — you’re looked upon as a patsy.”

But the times is quick to correct any misimpression that all Russians are crooks: "Of course, most immigrants from the former Soviet Union involved in health care in the United States are law-abiding, and would be offended at the impression that such schemes help to create. Still, some experts in law enforcement and academia believe that the cumbersome Soviet system, with its thicket of strictures that governed almost every aspect of life, effectively helped to groom a generation of post-Soviet criminals in the United States."

No doubt it is just a few who break the law, and they are the ones who make the news.

On the other hand, maybe some crimes need more personal investigation: Russian authorities are investigating claims this week that young military conscripts have routinely been forced into prostitution, according to several reports. It is the latest in a string of scandals that have plagued the Russian military...Soldiers For Rent

Then again: As The A.P. notes, “all Russian men between the ages of 18 and 27 are required by law to serve in the 1.2 million-member military, but only about 9 percent typically are drafted. The rest avoid the feared conscription by signing up for college, being excused for health reasons — often falsified — or by simply paying bribes.”

Honestly Russian

Interesting article. Seems a bit over the top but I an see it happening where you have authority willing to abuse its power.

Soldiers for rent?

Not all Russian ideas are without merit.

Perhaps the U.S. Marines could learn a thing or two