Russia being Russia

Peculiar national identity, the Many Russias. The Dream of Catherine the Great, is how I like to think of it--which is half geographical, centered on Crimea, and part personal and anatomical. Which, when we are talking about Catherine II, means Potemkin Villages, and long trips up the Dniepr. It's much, much more than a whim or caprice, however much it may seem merely to depend on the disposition of an Imperial Clitoris. Suspect as I know it to be, I cannot gainsay it.