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But you see what happens when Russians are NOT working for their military complex, and NOT using their military.
Eastern Ukraine ( and everything that took place there) is a good example of it.
(Crimea too, but in this case it's the opposite - that's the case when Russians actually DO use their military power.)
Heck, look even at what happened to Russia thirty years ago, when they decided to put their guns down.
Did it help to "raise salaries" in any way?
I don't think so.
Actually Russian average salary in $ equivalent was twice higher just 7 years back, before Crimea annexation.
My point is it's great to have a well developed military, but not at the expense of everything else - Russia's military spending is #1 budget item, it's crazy, and not great for the country's future.
Actually Russian average salary in $ equivalent was twice higher just 7 years back, before Crimea annexation.
My point is it's great to have a well developed military, but not at the expense of everything else - Russia's military spending is #1 budget item, it's crazy, and not great for the country's future.
...except for there will be no "country's future" without this military spending.
If Crimea would have been taken by Americans as planned, and Russians would have been left without the military base in the Black Sea, this would have been a direct blow to Russian military operations in Syria, since Sevastopol was the "stopover port" for this purpose.
And if Americans (with the help of Saudis) would have overthrown Assad, the Russian gas pipe to Germany ( as the source of revenue among other things) would have been taken out of the game.
But hey, the salaries in Russia ( supposedly) would have been twice as high ( according to you) "without sanctions."
For starters, to cut the chase - I was listening to this Chinese girl ( other than Serpentza who basically confirmed my opinion of China,) she gave an additional interesting insight.
Her Russian is exceptionally good ( she lived there for couple of years,) and here she was talking about certain feature of the Chinese culture, looking for the equivalent ( translation of the word into Russian,) which she couldn't find - some "nei juan."
After she described this "nei juan," I thought to myself "no wonder you couldn't find the equivalent in Russian, since what you describe is simply non-existent in Russian culture. Hence there is NO equivalent."
What it turns out to be, is ( just an example); people are sitting in the theater, watching some performance, and someone decides to stand up, in order to see better. Then the next person sitting behind him gets up too ( to see better, obviously,) then the next one and so on, until the whole auditorium is standing up to watch the performance. And those that can find the higher chair, then ladder and even some tower, will probably stand on it too, just to "see better."
Same concept transcends into real life; once you jump into this "competition," the more you try to "better" your life, the more the quality of life goes down for everyone.
"Life is very comfortable in China now" she continues, "your purchases are delivered from one end of China to another one in a matter of few days. And same goes with food deliveries; the restaurants promise ever-faster deliveries of the "fresh and hot meals," and the couriers that deliver that food from across town on mopeds, now cut through the red light, and end up dead or injured, not to mention putting lives of others at risk. But hey, that's "nei juan" - the faster and better, the soul of competition."
Are you getting the idea?
I certainly do.
These are the twists and turns, the essence of culture that is totally foreign and unfamiliar to me, so god knows what else is there unfamiliar and unpredictable to me, unlike in the cultural "Christendom."
I understand that *Christendom* has its own variety of course, but there are certain boundaries and limits common for all, when it comes to nitty-gritty.
And this is absolutely not a case with China, ( be that treatment of animals, or the whole approach to the "competition" as you see here, or this weird twist, the weirdest combination of the "Communist party being in charge of Capitalism," with "one child policy, where the female infants are regarded as "undesirable," and got rid of, and so on.
And so if you take the country with the third world mentality, and place the first world know how there, wait for trouble, since these two don't mix.
Actually Russian average salary in $ equivalent was twice higher just 7 years back, before Crimea annexation.
My point is it's great to have a well developed military, but not at the expense of everything else - Russia's military spending is #1 budget item, it's crazy, and not great for the country's future.
You clearly have no idea of what has been going on in Russia for the last 20 years. The MIE of Russia has changed completely. Go educate yourself, for your own good. I'm not going to try.
For starters, to cut the chase - I was listening to this Chinese girl ( other than Serpentza who basically confirmed my opinion of China,) she gave an additional interesting insight.
Her Russian is exceptionally good ( she lived there for couple of years,) and here she was talking about certain feature of the Chinese culture, looking for the equivalent ( translation of the word into Russian,) which she couldn't find - some "nei juan."
After she described this "nei juan," I thought to myself "no wonder you couldn't find the equivalent in Russian, since what you describe is simply non-existent in Russian culture. Hence there is NO equivalent."
What it turns out to be, is ( just an example); people are sitting in the theater, watching some performance, and someone decides to stand up, in order to see better. Then the next person sitting behind him gets up too ( to see better, obviously,) then the next one and so on, until the whole auditorium is standing up to watch the performance. And those that can find the higher chair, then ladder and even some tower, will probably stand on it too, just to "see better."
Same concept transcends into real life; once you jump into this "competition," the more you try to "better" your life, the more the quality of life goes down for everyone.
"Life is very comfortable in China now" she continues, "your purchases are delivered from one end of China to another one in a matter of few days. And same goes with food deliveries; the restaurants promise ever-faster deliveries of the "fresh and hot meals," and the couriers that deliver that food from across town on mopeds, now cut through the red light, and end up dead or injured, not to mention putting lives of others at risk. But hey, that's "nei juan" - the faster and better, the soul of competition."
Are you getting the idea?
I certainly do.
These are the twists and turns, the essence of culture that is totally foreign and unfamiliar to me, so god knows what else is there unfamiliar and unpredictable to me, unlike in the cultural "Christendom."
I understand that *Christendom* has its own variety of course, but there are certain boundaries and limits common for all, when it comes to nitty-gritty.
And this is absolutely not a case with China, ( be that treatment of animals, or the whole approach to the "competition" as you see here, or this weird twist, the weirdest combination of the "Communist party being in charge of Capitalism," with "one child policy, where the female infants are regarded as "undesirable," and got rid of, and so on.
And so if you take the country with the third world mentality, and place the first world know how there, wait for trouble, since these two don't mix.
That's all to it.
"nei-juan" (whatever that means!!!) = culture = faster and better, the soul of competition !!!
I took a quick look at her YouTube channel. Other than a couple videos of her obscure shabby town, she reveals nothing more about herself.
She mentioned in her accounts on Twitter and Instagram that she lives in Hangzhou.
From her shallow contents, it isn't hard to surmise that she is not bright. She does have a following bragging to a Russian audience, or may be not .. her compatriots are awestruck with her linguistic achievement. She certainly is among the lucky few to have traveled to and lived in Russia.
The less fortunate majority do not get to learn a foreign language, to travel and have to toil physically.
Actually Russian average salary in $ equivalent was twice higher just 7 years back, before Crimea annexation.
My point is it's great to have a well developed military, but not at the expense of everything else - Russia's military spending is #1 budget item, it's crazy, and not great for the country's future.
Why is important that Russia earn more "USD equivalent"?? Russians live in Russia and spend rubles not dollars....
Military is like any other industry, and it has knock-down effect on other industries....Russia cannot bankrupt itself because is the sole issuer of rubles and it spends rubles into the economy. The economy is simply human and physical capital put to work, money is simply an abstraction.
Talking about #1 budget items...what about US defence spending?? 65% of the US budget is Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.current US deficit is almost 10% of GDP...is the US bankrupting itself?? No, all of its commitments are in a currency it can issue.
And so if you take the country with the third world mentality, and place the first world know how there, wait for trouble, since these two don't mix.
That's all to it.
This is one of the points I disagree with you on and I don't understand why you say that at all.
Chinas "third world mentality" is the only "mentality" really making any substantial progress today. China isn't 3rd world. Chinese people are not ignorant and never were.
I do think dearest Erasure you apply the same ill informed and borderline racist standards that states such as Britain apply to countries like your homeland of Russia.
"nei-juan" (whatever that means!!!) = culture = faster and better, the soul of competition !!!
I took a quick look at her YouTube channel. Other than a couple videos of her obscure shabby town, she reveals nothing more about herself.
She mentioned in her accounts on Twitter and Instagram that she lives in Hangzhou.
From her shallow contents, it isn't hard to surmise that she is not bright. She does have a following bragging to a Russian audience, or may be not .. her compatriots are awestruck with her linguistic achievement. She certainly is among the lucky few to have traveled to and lived in Russia.
The less fortunate majority do not get to learn a foreign language, to travel and have to toil physically.
Well my point is, that whoever decided to turn the country with a third world mentality into a major player in the world economy, basically sent us all in a whirlpool.
And when it comes to Islam - I didn't even start yet)))
It's the religion (the whole philosophy, the mindset of it) that is simply in-com-pa-ti-ble with Western values in its very core.
Starting with the way it views the women.
And I don't care how much of the finger pointing is out there "but-but-but the Christian fundamentalists..."
Yes the Christian fundamentalists are not a cakewalk, but the Christendom gives the wiggling space for the society to evolve and to QUESTION with time what's right and what's not, what should be changed and how. With other words, the Western men are far more generous and agreeable to accommodate the women and to rearrange the laws.
And ironically enough, they are the ones to pay the price as the result of it all.
Islam does not leave such luxury of questioning when it comes to "women's question."
So it's only a matter of how "astray" any Islamic society goes from the original teaching, and what time frame it has before adhering back to it.
So when I see the women living in the Western societies flaunting their hijabs or any "headgear," I want to question their sanity.
Particularly when they combine it with the form-fitting Western clothing.
This is one of the points I disagree with you on and I don't understand why you say that at all.
Chinas "third world mentality" is the only "mentality" really making any substantial progress today. China isn't 3rd world. Chinese people are not ignorant and never were.
And that's what I find particularly scary.
When you combine "nei juan" ( "faster and better") mentality with the unstoppable desire to make money, it's the third world mentality that will stop at nothing while doing it - be that selling animals from the lab to the near-by market, putting some additives in the infants formulas to make it "look thicker" and the rest.
As for the "Chinese people being not ignorant" - I am sure some of them are not.
It's not like they are completely empty-headed and void of any spiritual life.
After all, the Confucianism that governs (ed) their life/philosophy for centuries is something ancient and complex.
It's just I think that it already failed as a teaching, looking at the end results.
Quote:
I do think dearest Erasure you apply the same ill informed and borderline racist standards that states such as Britain apply to countries like your homeland of Russia.
And it's OK if you ask me.
I have been on the receiving end of it in my life on numerous occasions (and not just from the Brits but other Westerners too,) yet it doesn't bother me too much, particularly the more time is passing by.
Because at the end, it's all about the "ultimate victory."
What society comes as the ultimate winner, proving its perfection, the "arrangement of things," ( be that family life, state affairs and what not.)
And it looks to me, like the way the Western societies were initially arranged, they are crumbling in the long run, even though at certain point in time they seemed to be almost perfect. (At least what life there was coming across on a surface.)
But Russia was never "perfect."
In fact, it was always a very questionable place, with gazillion of beginnings, always torn apart by the opposing ideas.
Half of them were of pure European origin, and other half - much closer to the third world societies.
So it's the ultimate God's "workshop" if you wish; nothing is firmly approved, and a lot of different things tested.
And so, the more time is progressing, the more the importance of Russia grows, in spite of all the "gnashing of teeth," coming from the Britain including.
As far as I’m aware China developed its own civilisation independently as opposed to Europe which was an off shoot from the Middle East/Mediterranean world. For most of its history China was the greatest power in the world even rivalling Rome and they produced many great works of art, science, literature, architecture etc. Their main drawback was their pride and arrogance in their own culture, disregard for others, and they shut them selves off from the rest of the world, until Europe surpassed them and came knocking at their door and humiliated the country. Now China is finally rising back up to its historical standing in the world. And as far as any perceived cultural immaturity, that probably has more to do with China’s enormous peasant population that has only recently been taken out of poverty and have moved into the cities. Poor rural folk are always the bane of the “inlightend” intelligentsia, whether that be in the early days of Peter the Great and his western cultural reforms or the soviets bringing literacy to the masses, or even in the US where the democrats represent the “cultured” city folk and the republicans represent the “brutish” rural folk/ “uncultured” new money. China right now is filled with new money types of people who are drunk on money and the power and social clout that comes with it, the same thing applies to Russia too btw. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouveau_riche
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She does have a following bragging to a Russian audience, or may be not .. her compatriots are awestruck with her linguistic achievement. She certainly is among the lucky few to have traveled to and lived in Russia.
