Well, I will say that I am a huge fan of many of their writers...from Dostoevsky to Gogol to Gorky et al.
Some of the greatest novels I've ever read...
Well, I will say that I am a huge fan of many of their writers...from Dostoevsky to Gogol to Gorky et al.
Some of the greatest novels I've ever read...
There's nothing civil about this war.
I've worked with a fair number of Russian scientists, possibly more than anyone else here on P-F.Originally Posted by cheby
They're jovial people to be around at the bar after work. When it comes to doing science they are about average. Not the worst, not the best.
The challenge they have is a hostile cultural environment that does not nurture intellectuals within it. Nor does it attract, and/or retain intellectuals from outside of it. When you've had oh 80'ish years of cultural and intellectual repression under Soviets, then ~8-10 years without a repressive oligarch running your country, then you got a repressive oligarch running your country again for the last near quarter century...It doesn't make for a particularly strong, attractive, diverse, or even very interesting culture.
We could say the exact same thing about North Korea, Somalia, Afghanistan, etc.
___
I'll also say, I've known Russians who live in Russia, worked with them, ate dinner with them, drank with them. Every single one of them would leave Russia in a heartbeat to go to any western country, Japan, or South Korea. None of them want to eat Russian food or live within Russian culture. I suspect if there was a redeeming quality to Russian culture we would have found it at the bottom of those various vodka bottles.
Yeah, well, what do you expect. It's Russia, an incredibly hostile environment to scientists and industry leaders; hostile to successful businesses and restaurants which are crushed to death between racketeering and government corruption. Hostile to actual athletes, with a sports system that is almost entirely based on how much your oligarchic connections. Hostile to actual diplomacy, habitually violating every aspect of the Vienna Convention on a near daily basis and making it impossible to maintain productive working relationships. There's a reason that Michelin star restaurants tend to leave fairly quickly, and there's a reason they have a chronic "Brain Drain" which has only accelerated over the last decade. There's a reason that almost the entire world with the exception of a few defense and trade partners have dramatically reduced their diplomatic presence within Russia. The problem isn't because the west is a big bad bully, or that people on P-F.com tend to look poorly upon the country.
Virtually everything that country does or touches turns to shit. Everyone is sick of their shit, like having their diplomats physically assaulted or detained on a regular basis, or coming home to find their family pet strung by its entrails from the fucking ceiling. They're tired of running a successful business and getting their earnings tapped by both organized crime and corrupt government officials. They're sick of working at companies that could have otherwise been successful multinationals but get driven into the ground by oligarchic bullshit, or having to buy their way onto sports teams. So, yeah....too bad if you don't like the overwhelmingly negative reputation the country has garnered.
I guess if you're all about nailing your dick to a door on every decision you make, then Russia looks a lot better.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
He was probably even surprised himself that it took them so long. On the way down, he probably thought...
As to Russian culture, lets look at it from the perspective of our chosen...hobby? Profession? Obsession? Shooting handguns.
-Russia has a relatively robust shooting culture, including action pistol shooting. From the articles I have read, while robust compared to some places, it is really easy to get squeezed out of it if you do not have money and connections to stay up with all the capricious permitting nonsense...or at least you take the risk getting legally hemmed up if you don't. The idea that Russia has a gun culture anything like ours is untrue, they simply are more permissive than say most of Europe because they know they are unable to tighten the availability of firearms the way they would like to. Therefore, they don't even try unless the powers that be dislike you.
-The shooting community in the US has some odd corners of Russian SOF lust. People that are easily impressed by backflipping shovel throwers, and see poor weapons safety as evidence of hard core advanced techniques rather than the BS that it is. The chief firearms "software" export of Russia is derp. Their SOF teams try to use "hardcore" as some sort of jackleg replacement for proper resourcing, sound practices, and competence. It shows in the body count of major counter-terror operations. Russians don't bow down to terrorism....and are terrified of their own security services trying to rescue them.
I am sure they have some really good shooters, I hear of them placing in the IPSC world shoot. But aggregated across their society, they don't contribute much to our world as shooters and are unlikely to for the reasons others have listed.
To be fair, apart from maybe a specific dish or two from certain regions and maybe sausage or bread I’ve haven’t heard anyone without familial or cultural ties to Potato Europe talk about how awesome any of the food is.
im strong, i can run faster than train
He knows more about it than everybody else on this board, combined.
Even for those of us who quit that place 30 years ago the violent government mafia syndicate Russia and the land of millions entrapped Russia are different things. When one feels sick for the loved ones or friends who still live there, one can get triggered when these two things are mixed. I can't blame anyone here for not caring to care though.
Doesn't read posts longer than two paragraphs.
Don't ever think that many of us don't care. Whether we have family that fled generations ago, (my own), or simply value freedom and liberty, we care. Those who don't are doomed to continue to repeat the mistakes of the past (imho).
There's nothing civil about this war.
I have not read the whole thread so I do not know if this was posted yet. Wagner Group is blaming the Kremlin and threatening revenge.
Wagner Group members vow revenge for death of mercenary army founder Prigozhin https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...death-of-prig/
Any legal information I may post is general information, and is not legal advice. Such information may or may not apply to your specific situation. I am not your attorney unless an attorney-client relationship is separately and privately established.
Now it gets really interesting.
"If I ever needed to hunt in a tuxedo, then this would be the rifle I'd take." - okie john
"Not being able to govern events, I govern myself." - Michel De Montaigne
Reply With Quote