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.
Russia has chosen to escalate things.
Some time ago I mentioned an island called Sakhalin. It was taken forcefully by the Soviet Union right after the Japanese surrender. The Japanese have never acknowledged the loss and feel it is still theirs.
Sakhalin has become an important LNG source with Russia, Japan and Shell Oil all partners. Shell Oil bailed out completely when Russia invaded Ukraine, leaving billions in investment behind. Now, Russia has reneged on all agreements and taken the facility - all of it. Just changed the rules, changed its laws and seized the whole thing.
It was a foolish, foolish move according to informed sources, for many reasons but primarily because Russia lacks the technology to fully maintain the facility.
Foolish people believe Russia is winning something these days. Informed people know better and see the end of Russia at some point.
Sakhalin was "forcefully taken" by the USSR as the Soviets were reclaiming territory that Japan itself took by force via its victory in the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War. The Soviet seizure of Sakhalin - more accurately, the southern part Japan had renamed "Karafuto" - was part of the Soviet maneuvers against Japan which started on August 8, 1945, when the USSR fulfilled its promise to the day to enter the war against Japan three months after the war in Europe ended.
While competing claims over the sovereignty of Sakhalin dated back to the days of Tsarist Russia and Bakumatsu Japan (and then Meiji and post-Meiji Japan), the Japanese presence in Sakhalin as of the Allies' victory in 1945 stemmed from a military operation during that war in the first decade of the 20th Century.
The Japanese HAVE acknowledged that loss - Japan surrendered all claims to Sakhalin as part of the Treaty of San Francisco.
How I figured out the Achilles heel of Vladimir Putin
How I figured out the Achilles heel of Vladimir Putin | Ted Talks
This video is pre-invasion, but it gives valuable insights into the Russian government under V Putin: how it works and how they maintain control. Watch the whole thing, it's only 15 minutes.
It touches upon the high degree of criminality in the Russian government, the corruption, the greed and the cruelty.
These assets will eventually show up in Putin's portfolio.
Or his friends.
Naivete is thinking Putin really cares about ordinary Russian citizens. And its naive or flat out dishonest to claim Putin minimized civilian damage with his attacks. He's a terrorist using terrorist techniques.
How I figured out the Achilles heel of Vladimir Putin | Ted Talks
This video is pre-invasion, but it gives valuable insights into the Russian government under V Putin: how it works and how they maintain control. Watch the whole thing, it's only 15 minutes.
It touches upon the high degree of criminality in the Russian government, the corruption, the greed and the cruelty.
[…]
It is small wonder that these people want to take over other countries, their greedy grasping sticky fingers are running out of things to steal.
The Soviet system created generations of people who think they have to cheat and lie, “to beat the systemâ€.
I worked with many many people who were raised in the USSR, and came here to the US to work and live after the fall. All of them still had the belief that they had to lie and cheat, and that it was normal. They all had good high paying technical jobs, well educated, but they still got involved in things like insurance fraud (nobody hurt in an accident but they all went to a corrupt lawyer, corrupt doctor, corrupt physical therapist, everybody made 10’s of thousands). One set of folks ran a corrupt technical school, with fake resumes and references, people paid to answer a phone call and give a fake reference. One time I mentioned I just had my state car inspection done, and one asked “how much did you pay?â€, I said “what do you mean the price is fixed by law?â€. He couldn’t even imagine going to an honest business. These people had to become corrupt and deal with other corrupt people just to survive in the USSR and they still saw the world that way.
Russia has Nazis....Erasure told us Russia doesn't have Nazis...only Ukraine
Then you didn't read my posts well, because that's NOT what I've said.
So I'll repeat it again, and hopefully you'll pay attention this time around.
Russia indeed has Russian nationalists of different flavors, and the skinheads types actually run to Ukraine and joined the ranks of "Azov."
But Russian government never condoned their stance, their politics, because being a multi-national state, for Russia the Russian nationalist agenda is dangerous.
While the very idea of today's Ukrainian state, all their policies are based on the nationalism.
Hopefully now you understand the difference.
With that being said, things are changing, the way I see it.
By now, with arrival of American weapons in Ukraine, ( the way the Western world is supporting Ukrainian nationalism in general,) I see specifically the RUSSIAN NATIONALISM on the rise, in response to all that.
I see it on the military channels first of all.
The video that was posted here ( I am not well-familiar with Rogozin,) he is talking about the very specific issue - the issue of Chechens, the Chechen war ( based on their nationalism that is closely tied to Islam,) and that Russians won't allow them to act in their usual aggressive ways in Moscow ( being the Russian city.)
By now of course the head of Chechen republic Kadyrov and his men are the major military force in the war in Ukraine, and big supporters of the Russian state.
So how Putin is going to balance all that, how this rising tide of the Russian nationalism is going to affect the internal multi-ethnic relations in Russia - that I don't know.
Hopefully the minorities will understand that this "Ukraininism" IS a threat to Russia ( with Ukrainian nationalists bringing the enemies straight to the Russian borders, in the same manner as they supported Hitler's troops,) and hopefully they won't act adversely to this latest wave of the Russian nationalism.
The Soviet system created generations of people who think they have to cheat and lie, “to beat the systemâ€.
I worked with many many people who were raised in the USSR, and came here to the US to work and live after the fall. All of them still had the belief that they had to lie and cheat, and that it was normal. They all had good high paying technical jobs, well educated, but they still got involved in things like insurance fraud (nobody hurt in an accident but they all went to a corrupt lawyer, corrupt doctor, corrupt physical therapist, everybody made 10’s of thousands). One set of folks ran a corrupt technical school, with fake resumes and references, people paid to answer a phone call and give a fake reference. One time I mentioned I just had my state car inspection done, and one asked “how much did you pay?â€, I said “what do you mean the price is fixed by law?â€. He couldn’t even imagine going to an honest business. These people had to become corrupt and deal with other corrupt people just to survive in the USSR and they still saw the world that way.
That's a very dangerous attitude to hold onto in the US if you are well educated and have a good job. You get caught engaging in fraud and you can lose all of that very quickly. If you don't have a good job then various hustles etc. have a much smaller downside if you get busted.
The Soviet system created generations of people who think they have to cheat and lie, “to beat the systemâ€.
I worked with many many people who were raised in the USSR, and came here to the US to work and live after the fall. All of them still had the belief that they had to lie and cheat, and that it was normal. They all had good high paying technical jobs, well educated, but they still got involved in things like insurance fraud (nobody hurt in an accident but they all went to a corrupt lawyer, corrupt doctor, corrupt physical therapist, everybody made 10’s of thousands). One set of folks ran a corrupt technical school, with fake resumes and references, people paid to answer a phone call and give a fake reference. One time I mentioned I just had my state car inspection done, and one asked “how much did you pay?â€, I said “what do you mean the price is fixed by law?â€. He couldn’t even imagine going to an honest business. These people had to become corrupt and deal with other corrupt people just to survive in the USSR and they still saw the world that way.
These are the same people, with the same mentality that American government shook hands with back in the 90ies.
So the mentality of the post Soviet times, without any Soviet ideology is not all that different.
That's a very dangerous attitude to hold onto in the US if you are well educated and have a good job. You get caught engaging in fraud and you can lose all of that very quickly. If you don't have a good job then various hustles etc. have a much smaller downside if you get busted.
Yes yes and yes.
You shake hands with the devil, you invite him in your own house.
Because now these people, with this mentality are amongst you, and not just in "IT jobs."
They are in business too.
( And that goes to the international business as well in general.)
Russia has chosen to escalate things.
Some time ago I mentioned an island called Sakhalin. It was taken forcefully by the Soviet Union right after the Japanese surrender. The Japanese have never acknowledged the loss and feel it is still theirs.
Sakhalin has become an important LNG source with Russia, Japan and Shell Oil all partners. Shell Oil bailed out completely when Russia invaded Ukraine, leaving billions in investment behind. Now, Russia has reneged on all agreements and taken the facility - all of it. Just changed the rules, changed its laws and seized the whole thing.
It was a foolish, foolish move according to informed sources, for many reasons but primarily because Russia lacks the technology to fully maintain the facility.
Foolish people believe Russia is winning something these days. Informed people know better and see the end of Russia at some point.
These are the same people, with the same mentality that American government shook their hands with back in the 90ies.
So the mentality of the post Soviet times, without any Soviet ideology is not all that different.
People like Putin, of course.
Literally everyone in Russia was as corrupt and filthy as described, the entire country from top to bottom.
Foreign businesspeople had to deal with the government the Russians chose for themselves. People like Putin shaking down foreign companies that wanted to do business in St Petersburg. The corruption starts in Russia, it is home grown.
The US, for it's part, as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. This makes it a serious crime for Americans to engage in corruption in foreign countries. If evidence is presented American businesspeople seriously risk prosecution, and they know it. No such laws prevent Russians from engaging in corrupt practices.
Don't try to blame Russian failures on the USA. Russian failures and shortcomings are all self induced. Just like addicts they got what they wanted and have to endure the consequences.
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.
How I figured out the Achilles heel of Vladimir Putin
....Erasure told us Russia doesn't have Nazis...only Ukraine
