Two of the finest fighting forces in human history--The Grand Armee and the Wehrmacht--could not accomplish what Brandon's army of hollow-headed generals, girlbosses and sexual curiosities is taking on now. For now, America is cynically feeding poor Ukrainians into the meat grinder, but I fear that they will then throw the Poles into the fray, when Zelensky runs low on men. Fighting and losing with proxies might soften the blow a bit, but defeat is inevitable. Russia is fighting for its existence, while the US is fighting for its defense contractors' bank accounts.
When I read something like this, I start doubting myself, may be I was wrong and "vaccines" were actually "safe and effective" (of course, they weren't). How can otherwise obviously smart people believe in something like that? I absolutely understand why you hate your government. But why would you support a regime that is so much worse on every count? What good do you see in Russia?
Russia does not celebrate the harmful act of rectal coitus, nor does it sexualize or mutilate its children. Our regime not only does, but is trying to export it to all corners of the globe. So I'm not sure they're worse than our government.
It's also present there, but in different forms, and I would think, much worse. See f. ex. prison culture (where very significant part of the population can end up during their lifes, see f. ex. my other comment), or certain female sports. (And as I said, I absolutely understand why you don't like your regime, I just think Russian one is still way worse.)
Yes, of course, probably very similar sentiment - seeing more problems in the place I'm more familiar with. (Though after living in EU for many years, I would still take EU over Russia any time, even after last winter's nightmare, it's simply not comparable, not even close.)
Of course, I don't hate Russia (if such concept would exist, it's not that simple), I have many friends there as you can guess, and I hope they could live normal lives instead of all this, in peace with other countries, have friends in all places on Earth.
But I hate their regime, because it stole that normal life from them. Do you know, what a typical pension in Russia is? About 200 USD, barely enough for food, but not for medicine (that was before the war; now there is no medicine - see how well that "replacement" works?). Do you know a typical salary of an ICU chief in a covid hospital in a mid-sized city? About 400 USD.
Some say it's cold in Europe? Many areas in Russia don't have gas at all. There are places in large cities that are probably still without hot water at this time of year.
Someone had a nice business, but an FSB officer is about to retire and wants to have a source of income? Ok, the owner is asked to leave or go to prison.
(I once said to someone already in a comment that "You will own nothing and be happy" became a reality there in their own way, that's certainly so.)
All the while the politicians, generals, Putin himself steal all those natural resources and store the loot in those same NATO countries their TV teaches their population to hate, so that they could stay in power.
Much more could be said, but it's already too long. Ask more, if you want.
"What country can produce, from nose to tail, a nuclear powered titanium-hulled submarine carrying ICBM’s that can reach any point on earth in under an hour. With something equally nuclear."
Why are you so sure that they can? Of course, anyone can make a nice video of a rocket, but it doesn't mean that the rocket actually exists and works. If a submarine can leave the port for a couple of days, it doesn't mean it can actually pose any threat to anyone (actually I'm sure that when they return, they are happy to still be alive).
Even in the late USSR (where I lived at the time), it was common knowledge that the majority of those thousands of warheads were not operational. If they needed to make a large demo / exercise launch / etc., it was usually done with civil specialists (engineers, scientists) replacing military personnel. And that was USSR. Now, they no longer have those engineers and scientists. The materials have been mostly stolen and sold in 1990s. Maintenance was not done for years in 1990s either, there is simply no coming back from that.
"His land can produce, end to end, a complete chain of production for all he needs to continue in power."
This, by the way, is absolutely correct. You just seem to massively overestimate what they need to produce for him to stay in power, how little they need, actually. But it obviously doesn't work outside his borders. Technology is not their strength, and they can't win without it.
"And our idiotic sanctions have driven his minions to create internal alternatives to Western products."
Sorry, not at all. May I suggest you go and live somewhere in Omsk for a year as a local (not as a tourist)? You will see that "replacement" in action very quickly :)
First, as long as you judge Russian/Slavic culture by western standards, you will never understand why they do the things they do. Read some Dostoyevsky, Sorokin, Gogol, and Solzhenitsyn for a glimpse into why they think the way they do. And acknowledge that it has only been about 30 years (since the dissolution of the Soviet Union) that the peoples in that part of the world have begun to emerge from a cultural master/slave relationship that the western world shook off 800+ years ago at the start of the Renaissance. They have not yet learned the meaning of words like "freedom" and "optimism". But for the first time in their entire history as a people, they are tasting these concepts. Second, the above article is about the vast resources available in Russia, not about how efficiently they currently use them. The whole reason the US rose to the position we held is due to the resources available to us, industrialization, and the willingness to find innovative and timely uses for both. Russia is in the process of being dragged by Putin and forced by stupid Western political decisions into the mindset they need. It will take time, but they are getting there, and faster than we think.
Yes, you are absolutely right about master/slave relationship! (I hope I understood you right)
I do blame the long history of slavery (see Gogol :), abolished in 1860s but not really eradicated, and restored in the times of USSR) for the issues Russia is having now.
But this is where I would disagree:
"But for the first time in their entire history as a people, they are tasting these concepts"
This (slave mentality) was almost over in USSR times (yes, no contradiction, there were different parts of the population, one de facto slaves (peasants, till early 1970s), one much more modern (cities)); especially in 1970s USSR became much closer to a "normal" country
than anything on its territory has ever been. And confident, proud, and often in a very good, positive way. (Not like Putin's Russia at all, which is like an insecure schoolyard bully. And not like 1960s USSR and before, which was a totalitarian nightmare.)
That positive development reached its peak at about 1991, and a couple years later, was completely destroyed. How exactly, difficult to say (at least briefly), but it seems to me that those in power realized that it's very beneficial for them to dumb the population down to its current state (with propaganda), where they perceive the West as the enemy and do not notice that it's their own "leaders" who stole everything they had, and stored their money in the same Western countries they teach them to hate.
So I would think Russia and Russians would be much better off if the positive legacy of USSR (no, not its imperialism) would have continued, instead of sliding backwards into a basically 19th century world view (which offers absolutely no hope of technological development, by the way, because it panders to the part of the population least suitable for it).
Two of the finest fighting forces in human history--The Grand Armee and the Wehrmacht--could not accomplish what Brandon's army of hollow-headed generals, girlbosses and sexual curiosities is taking on now. For now, America is cynically feeding poor Ukrainians into the meat grinder, but I fear that they will then throw the Poles into the fray, when Zelensky runs low on men. Fighting and losing with proxies might soften the blow a bit, but defeat is inevitable. Russia is fighting for its existence, while the US is fighting for its defense contractors' bank accounts.
When I read something like this, I start doubting myself, may be I was wrong and "vaccines" were actually "safe and effective" (of course, they weren't). How can otherwise obviously smart people believe in something like that? I absolutely understand why you hate your government. But why would you support a regime that is so much worse on every count? What good do you see in Russia?
Russia does not celebrate the harmful act of rectal coitus, nor does it sexualize or mutilate its children. Our regime not only does, but is trying to export it to all corners of the globe. So I'm not sure they're worse than our government.
It's also present there, but in different forms, and I would think, much worse. See f. ex. prison culture (where very significant part of the population can end up during their lifes, see f. ex. my other comment), or certain female sports. (And as I said, I absolutely understand why you don't like your regime, I just think Russian one is still way worse.)
Yes, of course, probably very similar sentiment - seeing more problems in the place I'm more familiar with. (Though after living in EU for many years, I would still take EU over Russia any time, even after last winter's nightmare, it's simply not comparable, not even close.)
Of course, I don't hate Russia (if such concept would exist, it's not that simple), I have many friends there as you can guess, and I hope they could live normal lives instead of all this, in peace with other countries, have friends in all places on Earth.
But I hate their regime, because it stole that normal life from them. Do you know, what a typical pension in Russia is? About 200 USD, barely enough for food, but not for medicine (that was before the war; now there is no medicine - see how well that "replacement" works?). Do you know a typical salary of an ICU chief in a covid hospital in a mid-sized city? About 400 USD.
Some say it's cold in Europe? Many areas in Russia don't have gas at all. There are places in large cities that are probably still without hot water at this time of year.
Someone had a nice business, but an FSB officer is about to retire and wants to have a source of income? Ok, the owner is asked to leave or go to prison.
(I once said to someone already in a comment that "You will own nothing and be happy" became a reality there in their own way, that's certainly so.)
All the while the politicians, generals, Putin himself steal all those natural resources and store the loot in those same NATO countries their TV teaches their population to hate, so that they could stay in power.
Much more could be said, but it's already too long. Ask more, if you want.
"What country can produce, from nose to tail, a nuclear powered titanium-hulled submarine carrying ICBM’s that can reach any point on earth in under an hour. With something equally nuclear."
Why are you so sure that they can? Of course, anyone can make a nice video of a rocket, but it doesn't mean that the rocket actually exists and works. If a submarine can leave the port for a couple of days, it doesn't mean it can actually pose any threat to anyone (actually I'm sure that when they return, they are happy to still be alive).
Even in the late USSR (where I lived at the time), it was common knowledge that the majority of those thousands of warheads were not operational. If they needed to make a large demo / exercise launch / etc., it was usually done with civil specialists (engineers, scientists) replacing military personnel. And that was USSR. Now, they no longer have those engineers and scientists. The materials have been mostly stolen and sold in 1990s. Maintenance was not done for years in 1990s either, there is simply no coming back from that.
"His land can produce, end to end, a complete chain of production for all he needs to continue in power."
This, by the way, is absolutely correct. You just seem to massively overestimate what they need to produce for him to stay in power, how little they need, actually. But it obviously doesn't work outside his borders. Technology is not their strength, and they can't win without it.
"And our idiotic sanctions have driven his minions to create internal alternatives to Western products."
Sorry, not at all. May I suggest you go and live somewhere in Omsk for a year as a local (not as a tourist)? You will see that "replacement" in action very quickly :)
First, as long as you judge Russian/Slavic culture by western standards, you will never understand why they do the things they do. Read some Dostoyevsky, Sorokin, Gogol, and Solzhenitsyn for a glimpse into why they think the way they do. And acknowledge that it has only been about 30 years (since the dissolution of the Soviet Union) that the peoples in that part of the world have begun to emerge from a cultural master/slave relationship that the western world shook off 800+ years ago at the start of the Renaissance. They have not yet learned the meaning of words like "freedom" and "optimism". But for the first time in their entire history as a people, they are tasting these concepts. Second, the above article is about the vast resources available in Russia, not about how efficiently they currently use them. The whole reason the US rose to the position we held is due to the resources available to us, industrialization, and the willingness to find innovative and timely uses for both. Russia is in the process of being dragged by Putin and forced by stupid Western political decisions into the mindset they need. It will take time, but they are getting there, and faster than we think.
Yes, you are absolutely right about master/slave relationship! (I hope I understood you right)
I do blame the long history of slavery (see Gogol :), abolished in 1860s but not really eradicated, and restored in the times of USSR) for the issues Russia is having now.
But this is where I would disagree:
"But for the first time in their entire history as a people, they are tasting these concepts"
This (slave mentality) was almost over in USSR times (yes, no contradiction, there were different parts of the population, one de facto slaves (peasants, till early 1970s), one much more modern (cities)); especially in 1970s USSR became much closer to a "normal" country
than anything on its territory has ever been. And confident, proud, and often in a very good, positive way. (Not like Putin's Russia at all, which is like an insecure schoolyard bully. And not like 1960s USSR and before, which was a totalitarian nightmare.)
That positive development reached its peak at about 1991, and a couple years later, was completely destroyed. How exactly, difficult to say (at least briefly), but it seems to me that those in power realized that it's very beneficial for them to dumb the population down to its current state (with propaganda), where they perceive the West as the enemy and do not notice that it's their own "leaders" who stole everything they had, and stored their money in the same Western countries they teach them to hate.
So I would think Russia and Russians would be much better off if the positive legacy of USSR (no, not its imperialism) would have continued, instead of sliding backwards into a basically 19th century world view (which offers absolutely no hope of technological development, by the way, because it panders to the part of the population least suitable for it).
Putin instead would simply consider you his property, and you would have no say in that at all. Would you like it?
Ask local FSB office, when they do it :)