Go Ukraine, fuck Russia.
A not very wealthy country of about only 120 million people wanted to play superpower.
They were offered peace, cooperation and prosperity, but instead they chose corruption and confrontation.
Russia could very possibly have been the biggest economy in Europe by now, if they had chosen cooperation. That would have made them more powerful and influential than all the bullshit they've pulled to undermine the west and their neighbors.
I totally agree.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were handed everything they wanted on a silver plate.
They could have been Poland on steroids.
But they chose to reject it, so stupid.
Russians have been brainwashed for centuries by their elites to thinking corruption is the natural order of things.
They can't believe that western nations can have shows of wealth and quality of life standards they do, because that means the way they and their ancestors have lived for decades isn't how people are supposed to live.
Their elites steal everything, ensure education standards are low as possible so their workers can just barely manage to operate in a factory, on a farm or in a mine, and then encourage them to stay drunk as possible during their waking hours.
And then they wonder why Russians who manage to emigrate west never go home and sooner or later cut all contact with their backwards motherland.
Frankly if it hadn't been for the advent of Nuclear Weapons, and Soviets stealing designs for them from America, Russia never would have been a Superpower at all and probably collapse in on itself in the 60s.
Their elites steal everything
You think the western elites don't? It's just slower..
The trick is not to steal faster than the economy can produce. It's like organic, fair trade, sustainable kleptocracy.
Western elites do steal, true. But to no where near the same extent. We'd have trillionaires in the west if they stole as much as Russian oligarchs do.
As someone who is from that region, it's not even that. A whole lot of countries want to play superpower, and they are only mildly hated for it. The US, the French, even the Chinese are an abstract economic threat. The Russians want to play 18th century superpower and that makes them a concrete military threat.
The stupid thing is, just by looking at the state of the world right now, they totally would have won the long game if they went soft power only. Putin is a failure that way as well I guess.
At some point weโll probably have to admit that theyโre culturally not inclined to do good. That and the rampant alcohol abuse is holding them back.
How quickly we forget the first satellite, first man in space, first nuclear power plant, first fusion reactor, and the MIR space station.
Something has indeed been holding them back since those things were created, and their culture hasn't significantly changed since then.
Russia could very possibly have been the biggest economy in Europe by now,
What's your point? It clearly states the cold war ended with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Most of eastern Europe chose to democratize, and they are way better off today than in 1991. But Russia chose to undermine the west and the countries around them, instead of cooperation.
Countries are at war with each others.
That's not a law of nature by any means.
But Russia chose to undermine the west and the countries around them, instead of cooperation.
West and russia have been at war since WWII and even before read the article on cold war carefully.
As someone who lived during a large chunk of the Cold War, let me add some personal perspective on this.
You are absolutely right in that the Soviet Union and the West were in a war from WWII on.
A spy war, an economic war and several hot proxy wars.
The US lost nearly all of those, but they did win the economic war, and in doing so broke the USSR economically and politically.
After the USSR fell, the Cold War was over. Done. Finito. To emphasize this, capitalism came pouring into all the former SSR's and former Soviet citizens got to taste consumerism triggering chaos that took a full generation to hammer out. And then the 2010's came along and Russia began using it's natural resources to become more and more integrated with Europe.
To the point where some analysts were beginning to be worried that Russia might come to dominate the EU economically.
In fact, if Putin had waited another 5 years Europe would likely have become so dependant on Russian natural gas that they would literally have been unable to effectively protest any move Russia made, in fear of them turning off the tap. Russia was on the road to being THE dominant power in Europe, and Putin literally threw it ALL away chasing dreams of a renewed Russian Empire.
Go Ukraine, fuck Russia.
A not very wealthy country of about only 120 million people wanted to play superpower.
They were offered peace, cooperation and prosperity, but instead they chose corruption and confrontation.
Russia could very possibly have been the biggest economy in Europe by now, if they had chosen cooperation. That would have made them more powerful and influential than all the bullshit they've pulled to undermine the west and their neighbors.
I totally agree.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were handed everything they wanted on a silver plate.
They could have been Poland on steroids.
But they chose to reject it, so stupid.
Russians have been brainwashed for centuries by their elites to thinking corruption is the natural order of things.
They can't believe that western nations can have shows of wealth and quality of life standards they do, because that means the way they and their ancestors have lived for decades isn't how people are supposed to live.
Their elites steal everything, ensure education standards are low as possible so their workers can just barely manage to operate in a factory, on a farm or in a mine, and then encourage them to stay drunk as possible during their waking hours.
And then they wonder why Russians who manage to emigrate west never go home and sooner or later cut all contact with their backwards motherland.
Frankly if it hadn't been for the advent of Nuclear Weapons, and Soviets stealing designs for them from America, Russia never would have been a Superpower at all and probably collapse in on itself in the 60s.
You think the western elites don't? It's just slower..
The trick is not to steal faster than the economy can produce. It's like organic, fair trade, sustainable kleptocracy.
Western elites do steal, true. But to no where near the same extent. We'd have trillionaires in the west if they stole as much as Russian oligarchs do.
We will have them
Meanwhile western have been brainwashed for centuries by their elites to thinking russians are the bogeyman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio
Elites steal everything everywhere not just in russia
As someone who is from that region, it's not even that. A whole lot of countries want to play superpower, and they are only mildly hated for it. The US, the French, even the Chinese are an abstract economic threat. The Russians want to play 18th century superpower and that makes them a concrete military threat.
The stupid thing is, just by looking at the state of the world right now, they totally would have won the long game if they went soft power only. Putin is a failure that way as well I guess.
At some point weโll probably have to admit that theyโre culturally not inclined to do good. That and the rampant alcohol abuse is holding them back.
How quickly we forget the first satellite, first man in space, first nuclear power plant, first fusion reactor, and the MIR space station.
Something has indeed been holding them back since those things were created, and their culture hasn't significantly changed since then.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War
Countries are at war with each others.
What's your point? It clearly states the cold war ended with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Most of eastern Europe chose to democratize, and they are way better off today than in 1991. But Russia chose to undermine the west and the countries around them, instead of cooperation.
That's not a law of nature by any means.
West and russia have been at war since WWII and even before read the article on cold war carefully.
As someone who lived during a large chunk of the Cold War, let me add some personal perspective on this. You are absolutely right in that the Soviet Union and the West were in a war from WWII on. A spy war, an economic war and several hot proxy wars.
The US lost nearly all of those, but they did win the economic war, and in doing so broke the USSR economically and politically.
After the USSR fell, the Cold War was over. Done. Finito. To emphasize this, capitalism came pouring into all the former SSR's and former Soviet citizens got to taste consumerism triggering chaos that took a full generation to hammer out. And then the 2010's came along and Russia began using it's natural resources to become more and more integrated with Europe.
To the point where some analysts were beginning to be worried that Russia might come to dominate the EU economically.
In fact, if Putin had waited another 5 years Europe would likely have become so dependant on Russian natural gas that they would literally have been unable to effectively protest any move Russia made, in fear of them turning off the tap. Russia was on the road to being THE dominant power in Europe, and Putin literally threw it ALL away chasing dreams of a renewed Russian Empire.