It's amazing how the Soviets succeeded.
I ran into a lady serving food samples at Costco in Charlotte a few years ago. The Russian sounding accent and flash of a stainless steel tooth made me ask her where she came from. It was Kazakhstan. So, I told her that originally I came from Ukraine. Well, she said, we're all the same people.
Back in July on a camping trip I was registering for a site a Colorado State Park. So, the college age park office attendant asks me "What kind of last is yours?" It's Ukranian I told him. "Wow", he said, "my parents and I used to live in Kiev and we're Ukranian!" But, then he told me his family only spoke Russian! As I left, he said goodbye in Russian and I smiled and replied goodbye in Ukranian. :)
Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov