My girlfriend is ethnically part Chinese and is fascinated with that part of her history and speaks Mandarin. Her grandfather raised her with all of the Chinese history and mythology. It will be good to go there with her as a guide of some sort even though she hasn't been yet.
We're both interested in Russia as well and if my friend is still there, it would be great to see him and see some of the sites.
I have no idea. I am still shocked that place exists on a map. Never looked into its history as I'm not big on newish history in general.
Absolutely not... so.. you believe that the US wouldn't allow Texas independence?
Oh, and as for Russian behavior, they'll do anything to get what they want. I'm not trying to defend or justify their behavior. I'm merely pointing to what I consider to be double standards being applied.
Both St. Petersburg and Moscow are wonderful cities. Highly recommended, although St. Petersburg is the real jewel. I've loved each of my visits to Russia.
Absolutely not ,
In Crimea from the threads back then russians only had a small percentage of a majority not a massive majority , something like 10 % in the difference at the time , but in many cases 110% of the population voted to rejoin Russia , despite blocking the Ukrainians and others from voting ,and bus loads of Russian troops and various Militias they sent were allowed to vote ,
Which is easy to say when you're on the outside looking in... and how would it have been sorted when the USSR collapsed? It's just convenient for the West that Russia was weakened by what happened. To Russians themselves, and to many people in those former states, they consider Ukraine (and others) to be part of Russia. It's not sorted in their minds, and I doubt it will be sorted any time soon.
So in Russia's case if Germany went and took Kaliningrad back would russia kick up stink because they only took post ww2
And if Texans wanted to be separate from the Union, do you think their desires would be respected? Come on, honestly, do you really think the Federal government would allow the loss of Texas regardless of the reasons?
Not really. Its more to do with how the nations concerned would react, and their perception on things. To Russians, Ukraine is part of Russia.. the same way that Americans would look at Texas.
I tend to base most of my impression of Russia on mid 19th century literature I've realised..
Communism probably hardened them and made them more cynical, but I get the impression the old Russian spirit is on the way back for some reason..
Yeah, Northern Ireland was done and dusted a hundred years ago. Time to move on.
Or does it become more complicated when 65% identify as from another country.
The time to sort that out was 30 years ago when the USSR collapsed. Ukraine gained its independence along with several other states. The case is closed. There should be no need in this day and age for aggression in that part of the world. The Cold War is over. Time for everyone to move on.
My views on Crimea are totally biased because I know someone there very well and they were very happy with it. There was a pretty big ethnic Russian population there. Historically, it's Russian only leaving it in 1954. The people I know were not particularly pro-Ukraine at all.
I think Putin is a pretty abhorrent man but he does come across very well as a leader. There was a famous video of him talking about American installations in eastern Europe and the effect it was having on relations. You'd be hard pushed so find such an honest and forceful dialogue in many other leaders, who say one thing and do another.
As always, when you live in one of these places and see how normal everyone actually is, the scaremongering becomes tiring. I'm surrounded by three tables of "commies" as I type this and they're having more craic than most groups of people in Ireland would be having on a Wednesday night.
My best friend moved to Moscow recently and says it's great. I can't wait to visit St. Petersburg and Moscow in the next few years. Some of my older colleagues studied there, and some people in my girlfriend's family, and they all have good things to say.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying..
Seems completely reasonable, intelligent, and understanding of the realities of diplomacy..
But yet nobody in Ukraine wants to be forcibly returned to Russia, Crimea barely had a russian majority ,who previously ignored a free russian passport drive,
Russian military takes to the streets a sham election where in most places 110% of the population voted to join russia,
Controversial, but I like him on a lot of issues. Not everything.
Listen to some of his interviews with Russian media. Really insightful, direct, addresses questions, hates this modern Western wokeness, The interviews can last for 3-4 hours at a time. I can't imagine any Western leader, Martin, Biden, Johnson etc. being able to do anything similar. He's also unapologetically pro-Russian, something I would be stunned with if any Western leader came out and said about their own country.
I'm aware he can be criticized on a number of fronts as well.
Are you equating Ukraine being in the USSR to Texas being in the USA?
Corruption is rife among the average Russia...a scurrilous accusation.
It is commonplace... however, I would point out that while Northern Europe is relatively clear of corruption, both the US and our Southern European nations are very corrupt. Italy, Spain, Greece. Anyone crying out about Russian corruption is obviously ignoring them. Just as the US is a wealth based culture with the power firmly in their control, with voter fraud, and manipulation of voter districts... There could hardly be the systematic discrimination directed at African Americans, without there being ongoing corruption. Hell, just look at the personal wealth of US presidents between entering and leaving office... oh no, that must all have been acquired legally and without any compromising efforts. Remember the Clintons with their Charity efforts? Oh, no, that's not an indication of corruption in the land of the free.
I've noticed a willingness to ignore the corruption/negatives within western nations, while doing everything that can be done to show the corruption/negatives of non-western nations. Double standards abound when we compare western nations to those who are on the **** list.
It is when they want Ukraine returned to Russian control. Do you think the US would tolerate Texas being independent on their borders, or demand that it rejoin the union, because of historical borders, and the resources it contains? You know well that the US would do anything to retain control over its states, including warfare.
Take a look at their borders, and then look at western nations. We have buffer states between us and most trouble. Russia covers a huge area with many unstable nations nearby.
As for fear, the US has allies and bases all around Russia. Their strategy of containment gives plenty of reasons to be fearful... especially for Russians who have no common trust in the US the way European nations have. There is no historical friendships, or alliances. No commonality between cultures. And they've seen US aggression across the globe, and the near constant propaganda coming from Western nations about Russian behavior (whether real or not). They've as much to fear from the US and it's allies, as China does. Which is reasonable in my mind.. considering that the US is a warmonger with a huge reliance on it's military production to keep it's economy afloat.
Look at the US and European behavior over the last four decades, not as an European or Irish person.. and you'll appreciate that there's plenty to be wary about.
But what does Russia fear exactly with regard to Ukraine? "Destabilising" Ukraine by giving them moral support and encouraging democracy is a long way from threatening Russia.
Nobody is going to be thinking of invading Russia anytime soon so why the paranoia of "the West"?
Most countries have been invaded over time on many occasions. The whole map of Europe has changed numerous times as I'm sure has most of the middle East and the far east. Even over the past 20 years maps in Eastern Europe have changed, the Western part has settled down it seams. Most of Western Europe are not paranoid about being invaded like the Russian seem to be. Or as the countries around Russia seem to be, but these countries are worried that Russia will be the invaders
They have a growing population of foreign nationals living and working there in some cases illegally ,the Chinese population is supposedly several times the official figures ,in Siberia there has been calls to limit the number of Chinese coming out of fears they could do a Putin and send troops to protect their citizens ( doubt it would ever be possible )
Source? Wiki tells me that although deaths exceed births it’s compensated for by immigration. Not unlike most of the west. The population has increased since 2010 but did decline 2019-2020. Not by 1 million though
i’ve noticed that even though there’s a huge omerta about fertility levels in the west (which are dire) it’s only used as an attack on China and Russia.
A truly dismal summation of Russia, its history and its people.
Russia's 'paranoia' goes back a lot longer than 100 years. They have good reason to be wary because they've been fighting off invasions for 1,000 years, from west to east. As for your aforementioned 100 years; they fought in World War 1, World War 2, had a half-century long Cold War that could have ended humanity at any moment and recently have seen the increased circling of NATO on its borders. "Paranoia"?
There's people in USA who want the return of slavery.
The question that has to be asked what happens when putin is gone ,can't see anyone else coming through thats as dangerous as he is ,
Look at Ukraine as above ,close to 100,000 russian troops on the border ,now according to Russia they are not involved in Ukraine ,yet 2 weeks ago the Ukrainian army blew up an artillery gun that was in an area of Ukraine firing at Ukrainian military ,they used a drone to hit it , fairly quickly an artillery bombardment was launched inside of Russia again targeting Ukrainian military ,
This nonsense he needs the 100,000 troops to stop an invasion by nato needs to be publicly called out ,or call he his bluff and move NATO forces in big numbers into Ukraine and let NATO take control of security for Ukrainian airspace and borders
Russia was never a democracy, it never went through a liberal transformation like western Europe, culturally it's very different, Russians have always liked a "strong man " leader .
It's less of a threat to the world than China by a distance
But like, haven't the west being trying to destabilise the Ukraine for a while?..
He flat out denied that they were behind the cyber attacks in one interview I saw..
I don't know about Belarus..
I agree he does seem very sane and refreshingly sentient. But then his actions are jarring. Like the troops build up in the Ukraine. Or the cyber attacks on the West. Or his apparent tolerance for the Belarus nutjob with his weaponised migrants scheme.
Unlike counterparts in most western countries he knows what he is doing and doesn’t need excuses. Unsurprisingly this scares the masses and explains the obsession with finding shocking newsworthy stories that happen in the largest country in the world.
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