Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
well if people don't want to cut their lawn and weed their gardens then I guess they have the freedom to do that, but I doubt that people want to drive and park their cars in mud, the city governments should be doing a much better job of providing basic infrastructure services to it's tax payers, and if they are not doing that, then the citizens should demand that.
Also don't get me wrong I think that St. Petersburg is very beautiful, and way prettier than any city in the US, but it could be so much more, for one if you look on google street views there are no lamp posts in the city!! and the sidewalks are very narrow, which makes it more dangerous for pedestrians and it gives a very car centric look to the city. However there are some pedestrian streets that look very nice such as these. Which happen to be the only two that I could find. https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9343...7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9376...7i13312!8i6656
Also here is an example of a street that has a wild untrimmed look, but still very pleasing to the eye, mainly because the road is in good condition with actual curbs and a sidewalk. This also happens to be in Kaliningrad. https://www.google.com/maps/@54.6724...7i13312!8i6656
*edit: I actually just noticed in St. Petersburg the lights are strung up above the streets, but still there is something missing, a bit bland, the roads take up way to much of the space.
Skripal is now recovering. The US-UK has also offered Russia the option to declare that they lost control of stockpiles of Novichok which was declined. It doesn't make a lot of sense so soon after chemical weapons stockpiles had been declared for destruction undr the OPCW regime.
I always liked how Russia sticks with what works. The MIG-25 Foxbat was built in the 1960s. Modernized and perfected it became the MIG-31 Foxhound in the 1970s it's still going today. Simple, rugged, purpose built and practical all around. The other aspect of Russians is if it isn't broken, don't fix it.
Grega. I've seen worse than those pics. Some are kind of average actually. I don't doubt some of it is corruption, contractors and officials pocketing money or a contractor losing his butt and jobs not being completed. Some of it is probably even due to bad practices. That tree growing next to an apartment building in Smolensk was strange. It was on a corner of a building which was made of concrete. A root had grown into a crack on the corner and it had actually forced the crack wide enough that the foundation on the corner was broken and cracks ran up the walls.
Why had it been allowed to progress so far? The tree was quite large (20 in diameter) and had to have been there when the building was put up. It was not in an out of the way place, you could see it from the street. Seems like a case of coulds woulda shoulda to me. Anyway when I saw it again the tree was gone and the whole corner of the building had been replaced and a brick facing put on it all.
Ooops, its weird, i can not find the translation right now myself either but I remember I got them before... Possible that some of the Gorodok clips have translations but some not. Or I mixed something up myself like that Zhmurikov did.
Many Russians prefer warmer climes it seems to me. Where are the greatest concentrations of the Russian diaspora? Warmer climates. Russia is not for everyone even if you were born there.
I prefer mountains, fields of snow and pine forests than a stifeling hot beach no matter what though.
Is that really a surprise in cold climate countries? Many well to do Canadians (or northern states Americans) love to move to California, Florida, etc...if they get the chance....
I wouldn't use the Youtube comments section as a credible source either. Social media is often plagued by trigger happy posters who use it a platform to say vile things because they believe they are anonymous. On message boards like C-D you are likely to get more nuances and thoughtful input.
I would agree up to a point......on any youtube material on the subject (from every source, Russian or Western) where comments are allowed, the overwhelming majority question the official narrative (and they are not all Russian trolls) ..the same on forums....furthermore, lately some western journalists and commentators (few well knonwn ones) are starting to ask pointed questions....
Latvians seem to not want to live in Latvia either.
Demography in Baltic countries - all of them struggle with negative natural growth of population and it has been so for years and years. Eg here in Estonia only in 2010 natural growth was very barely positive, in years before and after it the natural growth has been negative i.e. less births than deaths. The reasons are low birth rate and emigration. As you know the population is small anyway and because of that demographers here are pessimistically minded in reference to future. This is certainly a serious issue. And what is the reason of low birth rate and emigration? The reason is economic insecurity of course. To grow up the children is not a cheap thing here. What I have noticed is that local Russians here have less children than Estonians. It is imo quite common if a Russian family here has just one kid.
Often the Soviet years here have been described (especially if something is described and explained to foreigners of former "west bloc") with negative undertone but in my opinion it is ironical that during those allegedely dark years the natural growth of the very same Estonians was positive.
People are capable of asking questions. Zakharova is making some good points here.
Yeah using your foreign spokesperson as an agent of propaganda is so... Russian. The factory it came from was identified. Oh look, they took down a tweet, so lets attack the country we just killed someone in ha ha ha. Now its on to the pets right? Oh look, the Brits won't give us the dead pets so they are hiding a false flag attack. On and on and then Russia complains its the West's fault for bad relations.
New sanctions today including on a man who gained billions from Russia's national resources just for marrying Putin's daughter. Mnuchin today: “The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites. Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’s destabilizing activities.”
Yeah using your foreign spokesperson as an agent of propaganda is so... Russian. The factory it came from was identified. Oh look, they took down a tweet, so lets attack the country we just killed someone in ha ha ha. Now its on to the pets right? Oh look, the Brits won't give us the dead pets so they are hiding a false flag attack. On and on and then Russia complains its the West's fault for bad relations.
New sanctions today including on a man who gained billions from Russia's national resources just for marrying Putin's daughter. Mnuchin today: “The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites. Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’s destabilizing activities.”
The UK narrative is crumbling by the day.....at this point even if Russia did it, the British are making mockery of their own case....
Good for sanctions....will speed up Russia alternative economic links and capital repatriation.....Russia has enormous inequality problems but the US is the last country that can teach a moral lesson about oligarchy and benefit of the elites.
I also suggest for Russia to start responding asymmetrically to sanctions...whenever it cannot respond in kind (sanctions are a coward thing to do given the disparity in economic size and relations, and given the fact the US keep on leash basically the entire EU and can apply pressure to Latin America and Asian countries), it should start to seize and destroy cargo ships (not harming the crew obviously).
Last edited by saturno_v; 04-06-2018 at 04:13 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
