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DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: What's going on in your fort?
« on: February 02, 2015, 12:32:53 am »The Axe Lord bites The Hammerdwarf in the upper front teeth, lightly tapping the target!Aww, how sweet, they are kissing!
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212
General Discussion / Re: Russia Watch Thread/Ветка о России
« on: February 02, 2015, 12:18:31 am »Well, we are certainly going to build a bridge there now. Better late than never, eh?Helgo, Sevastopol isn't just a port in the sense of it being a pier and a bunch of buildings where ships can dock. No, Sevastopol is a port in the sense of it being an absolutely massive military - industrial complex at an incredibly important location, which is simultaneously one of the few unfreezing ports we have and and a fully - equipped warship factory - cum - battlefleet headquarters to boot. It is a product of several decades of disproportionately huge investments by an equally disproportionately paranoid superpower, and saying that building another Sevastopol is somehow more feasible than simply paying rent to Ukraine for the existing one, or, as of now, dealing with sanctions is rather ignorant of both economics and geography, in my opinion.Do you know how much time and money these things take to build?Couple of years, I guess. Ten, twenty tops. And the Sevastopol situation was awkward ever since Ukraine became independent - at least a small facility (which would be easily expandable) could've been built there much earlier.
Change that couple decades into the last two centuries. Sebastopol was the nexus of the Russian Empire's heydey of expansionism - that long forgotten period of time following the Napoleonic wars where Russia was considered the police of Europe, the hammer that was supposed to drop on any great power that got too big for its britches. Unfortunately for Russia and the Concert of Europe, the French and British decided to take the opportunity to show Russia who the real Empires were in the Crimean War, setting the stage for the first world war...
It's sad, really. It's a clearly Russian city, chock full of Russians and Russian history. But because of moronic communist land swaps (oh, how they loved to make sure ethnically unified territories didn't exist back in the USSR. It made it very hard to imagine revolt if your neighbour didn't speak your language or follow your faith) it wound up in the Ukraine, when they should have just been building a bridge.
EDIT: Who wanted to talk about Russian achievements? We can now into smartphones!
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General Discussion / Re: Russia Watch Thread/Ветка о России
« on: February 01, 2015, 11:18:44 pm »Helgo, Sevastopol isn't just a port in the sense of it being a pier and a bunch of buildings where ships can dock. No, Sevastopol is a port in the sense of it being an absolutely massive military - industrial complex at an incredibly important location, which is simultaneously one of the few unfreezing ports we have and and a fully - equipped warship factory - cum - battlefleet headquarters to boot. It is a product of several decades of disproportionately huge investments by an equally disproportionately paranoid superpower, and saying that building another Sevastopol is somehow more feasible than simply paying rent to Ukraine for the existing one, or, as of now, dealing with sanctions is rather ignorant of both economics and geography, in my opinion.Do you know how much time and money these things take to build?Couple of years, I guess. Ten, twenty tops. And the Sevastopol situation was awkward ever since Ukraine became independent - at least a small facility (which would be easily expandable) could've been built there much earlier.
Quote
No, by all means, go right ahead and tell us what you think! Aside from pointing out the factual error of saying that Yanukovich's Ukraine was a puppet state of Russia, which it wasn't, I mean, have you seen the exorbitant sum he charged Putin every year for the aforementioned port of Sevastopol, I am not going to say a word. Ignorantly convincing yourself that other countries are poor and unimportant and will stay that way is a favourite Western pastime, and one that has deep roots in history as well - I think the first European mention of Russia as a totalitarian basket case of a country dates back to the XII century, and let's not forget how thoroughly Russia was discredited by the European pundits during its days of carving out the world's largest unified empire, and so I am not going to interfere with this hallowed tradition of showing one's head up one's own ass out of sheer respect for the persistency with which you approach this uneasy task. Maybe you could even say how Russian economy is going to collapse in the immediate future, as well.Am I really the only one who sees the Russian intervention in Ukraine and Crimea as the desperate actions of a fading power struggling to stay relevant in the modern world in the face of China, the EU and the USA, especially as it sees its past colonial territories and modern-day puppet states e.g. Yanukovych-era Ukraine drifting away to greener pastures?I agree in general, but it gets Knit mad and doesn't lead anywhere, so I usually stay quiet about it.
How could experiencing Scotland up close and personal be so bad as to turn Knit Tie into a Russian nationalist? Then again, I suppose he is in Edinburgh after all... yeah, I can't really blame him.Edinburgh is an amazing city, and my experiences in it have been nothing short of wonderful. The actual reason why I've been swinging to the right ever since I came here is, I believe, summed up by Anatoly Karlin quite well:
Quote from: Anatoly Karlin
Paradoxically, spending a lot of time in the West does not make these expats significantly more liberal or anti-Putin; even the reverse, if anything. On closer analysis this is not surprising. Even when in Russia, they already have access to what Western “free journalists” write about their country – if not in the English-language original, then translation websites like Inosmi. When spending time in the West, many realize their own country isn’t that bad in comparison; and that typical American perceptions of Russia tend to be irredeemably skewed (“Is it always cold in Russia?”, “Do you drink vodka everyday?”, “What do you think about your dictator Putin?”). Consequently, even someone who may be relatively liberal in Russia not infrequently ends up defending many aspects of Russian politics and society that he otherwise hates when in the West.
Also, Owlbread, modern Russians really do have easy access to EU and NATO - getting out of Russia is a very cheap and quick process nowadays.
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General Discussion / Re: Food Thread: Slow Your Roll
« on: February 01, 2015, 04:21:05 pm »
Oh god, I am never going to eat bean and cheese burritos ever again in my life.
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General Discussion / Re: Russia Watch Thread/Ветка о России
« on: February 01, 2015, 03:09:37 pm »
I, myself, think that the Crimean reunification/annexation's purpose was to permanently attach the vital military port of Sevastopol to Russia and to show off on the geopolitical arena in the process, while the Ukrainian civil war was simply a poorly planned attempt to stop the spread of NATO, which didn't work as intended at all. And increased domestic support, I believe, was at most a nice bonus to all those geopolitical machinations - as we can see here, Putin's approval rating was still high even at it's lowest point in the middle of the economic stagnation, and quite stable to boot, so it doesn't appear to me that Putin was overly concerned about his popularity there.
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General Discussion / Re: Russia Watch Thread/Ветка о России
« on: February 01, 2015, 02:06:09 pm »... you've got my condolences, then. Stagnation on that scale is a pretty terrible thing to live through, from what I understand.Not stagnation, just lack of anything as remarkable as the current war, really. I could, with due effort, dig up a lot of news on how some random celebrity did this or that or how a new shop or a theatre was opened somewhere, but you'll agree, hopefully, that those things are nowhere near as captivating to the general public as the suspense of the current battle of the Debaltsevo bulge. Hence why most Russian news outlets are dominated by the mentions of it - it's the best story they have right now, why shouldn't they squeeze it as hard as they possibly can for views and ratings?
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General Discussion / Re: Russia Watch Thread/Ветка о России
« on: February 01, 2015, 01:49:13 pm »... that's just kinda' saddening, serg.
Though I guess it'll be interesting a few decades from now to find out what was going on elsewhere. Y'all apparently have a helluva' media smokescreen going, which usually means there's gods-know-what happening where folks aren't looking.
Frumple, there really is nothing happening in Russia right now. Even the Western sources confirm that - you can't find an article about Russia that doesn't revolve around either Ukraine, Crimea or sanctions.
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General Discussion / Re: Russia Watch Thread/Ветка о России
« on: February 01, 2015, 01:32:46 pm »That woman hasn't been officially accused of anything at this point, to tell the truth. Although I think that this entire affair is simply the result of some FSB guy powertriping into irrational persecution of minor "enemies of the state," anyway.If you called to give purposefully false information, you wouldn't be a traitor, you would be making a very dangerous and inappropriate prank call.All that happened, according to multiple sources, is that a Russian housewife saw a local Russian military base becoming emptier at time passes and heard some random soldier saying something about missions and Moscow, and then called the Ukrainian embassy in Russia to tell it that a lot of Russian soldiers are going to Ukraine right now. This was most likely just an example of some truly monumental stupidity, but one that can still fit under the deifinition of "treason."
However, if you truly believe the information you have is real and are trying to relay it to a foreign embassy... well, that is treason.
If the information turns out to be false you are an ineffective traitor, sure, but not for lack of trying.
If i saw that type of news, i would thought its standard west propaganda, but you are saying she really got accused of treason? I mean it really happened? Not just some tabloid news?
@Frumple: Let me repeat myself: there is nothing interesting happening in Russia right now aside from that conflict, at all.
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General Discussion / Re: Russia Watch Thread/Ветка о России
« on: February 01, 2015, 01:01:27 pm »If you called to give purposefully false information, you wouldn't be a traitor, you would be making a very dangerous and inappropriate prank call.All that happened, according to multiple sources, is that a Russian housewife saw a local Russian military base becoming emptier at time passes and heard some random soldier saying something about missions and Moscow, and then called the Ukrainian embassy in Russia to tell it that a lot of Russian soldiers are going to Ukraine right now. This was most likely just an example of some truly monumental stupidity, but one that can still fit under the deifinition of "treason."
However, if you truly believe the information you have is real and are trying to relay it to a foreign embassy... well, that is treason.
If the information turns out to be false you are an ineffective traitor, sure, but not for lack of trying.
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General Discussion / Re: Russia Watch Thread/Ветка о России
« on: February 01, 2015, 12:43:25 pm »Not true at all. To be accused of treason in Russia, you need not reveal any actual, truthful information to foreign sources, rather, it's the very act of deliberately contacting foreign sources in order to relay classified information to them. And the deployment of Russian troops, unless officially announced, is classified information by default. Differences in legal codes and all. Also, did she really claim that that soldier (one) was to be deployed "to Moscow, in plain clothes and at his own expense," or is it just a juicy fabrication by your source? And even if she did claim that, it is entirely possible that she misinterpreted the statement of a civilian-clothed-at-the-moment serviceman who told his buddy that he has to go on a mission to Moscow, and made an illogical leap to the conclusion that that serviceman was ordered to go to Moscow without putting on a uniform first and at his own expense.If what she did was treason then the claims she made must've been true, at least those that involved her direct observations. And soldiers being ordered to Moscow in plain clothing and at their own expense points to their deployment in covert operations, and the only place that might happen right now is Ukraine.Not really. Considering that Russia right now is going through a big army modernisation initiative, it is fully possible that what that woman saw was just a useless Soviet-era military base getting axed. And as for when she may have heard one of the soldiers in that base saying that they might be going on a mission, well, that's rather flimsy evidence - I heard one British soldier say that he is going to get deployed in Kobani, does that allow me to claim that the British army is really going to fight ISIS? And besides, "mission" might mean everything from maneuvers to watching paint dry on a new ballistic missile. So I'd say Russia doesn't admit to anything here, other than the fact that calling foreign embassies to tell them stuff about your country's army is not considered an appropriate thing to do. Again, imagine what would happen if that woman was living in, say, Britain and called the local Chinese embassy to tell them about how she's heard somewhere that one soldier said to another soldier that he was going on a covert mission into Tibet.I think that was mentioned... two pages ago? Nope, just one page ago.I only posted a German link though. Knit has a point: It's rather reasonable to try this woman for treason, but in doing so Russia essentially admits its shenanigans with regular troops deployed in Ukraine disguised as volunteers...
If I called the Russian embassy right now and told them some nonfactual bullshit about the German army, I wouldn't be a traitor. Conversely if I was a traitor, the stuff I'd passed on must've had some factual basis...
(Damn, hypotheticals in German are so much more smooth...)
Helgo, we are dealing with literally just women's gossip here, for Christ's sake, you can't seriously claim that stuff some random woman says she once heard somewhere tends to be accurate or even grounded in reality the absolute majority of the time, this particular flibbertigibbet was just stupid enough to to tell her scaretales directly to the Ukrainian embassy.
@Frumple: Nobody here wants to talk about Russia, because nothing really significant or interesting is happening in Russia right now. All the economic problems elicit at most a yawn from the local populace, and aside from that, it's just the same as usual.
And besides, I linked several articles about Russia the previous two pages, don't tell me that I, of all people, don't want to talk about it.
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General Discussion / Re: Russia Watch Thread/Ветка о России
« on: February 01, 2015, 09:24:04 am »Not really. Considering that Russia right now is going through a big army modernisation initiative, it is fully possible that what that woman saw was just a useless Soviet-era military base getting axed. And as for when she may have heard one of the soldiers in that base saying that they might be going on a mission, well, that's rather flimsy evidence - I heard one British soldier say that he is going to get deployed in Kobani, does that allow me to claim that the British army is really going to fight ISIS? And besides, "mission" might mean everything from maneuvers to watching paint dry on a new ballistic missile. So I'd say Russia doesn't admit to anything here, other than the fact that calling foreign embassies to tell them stuff about your country's army is not considered an appropriate thing to do. Again, imagine what would happen if that woman was living in, say, Britain and called the local Chinese embassy to tell them about how she's heard somewhere that one soldier said to another soldier that he was going on a covert mission into Tibet.I think that was mentioned... two pages ago? Nope, just one page ago.I only posted a German link though. Knit has a point: It's rather reasonable to try this woman for treason, but in doing so Russia essentially admits its shenanigans with regular troops deployed in Ukraine disguised as volunteers...
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General Discussion / Re: Russia Watch Thread/Ветка о России
« on: February 01, 2015, 02:07:46 am »For economical growth we need hard work, reforms, eradication of corruption...I am afraid that's just general semantics - every country needs hard work, reforms and eradication of corruption. Do you have any concrete proposals on how to bring these three things into Ukraine?
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General Discussion / Re: Russia Watch Thread/Ветка о России
« on: February 01, 2015, 01:50:19 am »When oil money dries up, Russia will lose about 16% of its GDP. Unpleasant, but nowhere near lethal.
Like how you assume that 16% of GDP is not much.... Sadly maniac doesn't visit the thread anymore.
To quote myself:
Unpleasant, but nowhere near lethal.And that's assuming that it dries up entirely, i.e. people will completely stop buying both oil and gas.
Anyway, UR, I always wanted to ask you, how do you think Ukraine will be able to get out of its current economic crisis? And when?
EDIT: And finally, just for fun, here's an article about how NATO was just an instrument of the US foreign policy.
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General Discussion / Re: [Pan paka pan~] Atagos soft fuel tanks return (Happy thread!!!)
« on: February 01, 2015, 12:57:54 am »
Happy Birthday, MetalSlimeHunt!
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General Discussion / Re: Russia Watch Thread/Ветка о России
« on: January 31, 2015, 11:50:16 pm »Other European countries don't tend to sell oil, unlike Russia.And do notice the GDP growth forecast on Russia's homepage. I'd say this is a resonable price for the gloriously reunified Crimea and terrified Europansies.
Looks kind of rollercoastery though. Tried looking at other European countries and not all have that. Using iPhone atm anyway.
Ukraines forecast looks pretty, optimistic, don't you think?
And about Ukraine, considering that it's still a developing country in the phase of economic recovery, and thus, by definition, has higher GDP growth rates than developed countries, I don't see why that forecast is unlikely to be accurate. High GDP growth rates, at the same time, do not necessarily translate into high GDP levels. Look at Tajikistan to see what I mean - rapid GDP increase, widespread poverty.
And by the way, note how Ukraine actually has lower GDP growth rates than other developing European and Middle Eastern countries do on average. There's a reason why one of its derisive nicknames is "Khokhlostan."
EDIT: Since I am posting so many links today, here's one of the better pieces about Crimea I've encountered so far. And speaking of Crimea, that "40% of Crimeans for unification with Russia" poll that was brought up several times before - it, as it turns out, doesn't exactly ask if Crimea and Russia should be united, but rather if Ukraine as a whole and Russia should be united. And that, I believe, is quite a different question.