Never a dull moment with Putin

Eddie Dane said:
Considering how incredibly rich Russia is in resources, it is quite a feat that they managed to end up in such a mess.
Oil, gold, uranium, gas, agricultural land, timber, there is no end to the riches they are sitting on.

Not much of that seems to be trickling down to the working class, though.
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Unfortunately all those resources are in the middle of Siberia, a place few people desire to live in. The Soviets could force people there, I don't think they can do that any more.
 
WildCat said:
Unfortunately all those resources are in the middle of Siberia, a place few people desire to live in. The Soviets could force people there, I don't think they can do that any more.
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actually, much of siberia is like parts of northern canada, and much of it is quite liveable.
i live at 56N and there are a lot of people north of me.
 
WildCat said:
Unfortunately all those resources are in the middle of Siberia, a place few people desire to live in. The Soviets could force people there, I don't think they can do that any more.
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And that's only a part of the problem. A lot of the good stuff is in places that are hard to access, especially in winter, and transportation costs can be severe. Many Russian oil companies have fields that need high oil prices just to turn profit.
 
timhau said:
What are your average daily low temperatures in January or February? For Novosibirsk (located at 55N), they're below 0F -- and that's the lush, livable, and warm southern part of Western Siberia.
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that's about right....and there is a lot of industiral activity north of me.
canada's diamond mines are much further north.
our summers are hot and daylight hours long.
we grow corn here too.

btw....at -40, celsius and farenheit are the same.
we see quite a bit of that here.
 
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bikerdruid said:
btw....at -40, celsius and farenheit are the same.
we see quite a bit of that here.
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So does Novosibirsk. In some parts of Siberia, that is an average winter day. Northern parts of the Krasnoyarsk Krai area is like that, and that happens also to be one of the resource-rich areas. I think the temperatures ever recorded are from the Sakha Republic, in the northeastern part of Siberia. That place is, incidentally, also Russia's biggest diamond producer.

Most of Siberia is a lot like Yukon or Northwest Territories in terms of livability -- and the infrastructure is worse and distances even bigger.
 
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WildCat said:
Unfortunately all those resources are in the middle of Siberia, a place few people desire to live in. The Soviets could force people there, I don't think they can do that any more.
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Yep.

That was the actual reason the KGB had quota to meet in terms of how many subversives they arrested.
Slave labour for the mines and no political opposition, that's killing two intellectuals with one stone.
 
bikerdruid said:
the russians seem to have a need for strong leadership.
lenin saw that, and, contrary to marxism, set up a strong authority.
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And that makes authoritarianism OK? Would you come to like Harper if he used his authority even more?

No wonder you like Castro, Qaddafi and Hussein so much.

most working class russians believe they were better off under communism.
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That's because they've never known it.
 
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You didn't answer my question about Harper. Would you like him more if he used his authority more strongly?
 
bikerdruid said:
i am an avid supporter of the cuban revolution, yes.
i have never been a supporter, nor did i ever admire either qadaffi or hussein.
your base assumption is dead wrong.
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Do you feel that Fidel Castro is an admirable leader?

Do you feel that Ahmadinejad is an admirable leader?
 
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