While Israel and the Middle East are a physical part of Asia in terms of geographic continental boundaries (as is Turkey), that does not apply to the racial definition of those who live there. Israelis live in Asia. That does not make them Asiatic.<br/><br/>Soviet Russia, before the break up, stretched from Poland to the USA and from Finland to China and Nepal and all its citizens were Russians, but that in no way defined their ethnicity.<br/><br/>As you so correctly say, Dash, there's European Russians with fully Caucasian features as well as Slavic Russians who are almost indistinct from Chinese. While a Slav (who as Vin says, looks Asian) who spoke Russian wouldn't surprise me at all, nor would a European Russian who looked, say, British. I mean, put Stalin in a pinstriped suit and bowler hat and he'd look perfectly at home, facially, in London.