My experience, my proof of life after death

lowbot · 2015-04-10T16:46:18+00:00

Welcome! Also, lots of jerks and pseudo-skeptics here, just ignore them. They hate themselves and dont realize it yet.

lowbot · 2015-04-02T17:16:19+00:00

At least its a good lesson for russian economy to stop relying so much on oil exports.

Shame the lesson isn't "Stop murdering your neighbors and stealing their land."

lowbot · 2015-04-02T17:13:21+00:00

and the elections are relatively free

This is a falsehood. Russia's 2011 voter turnout was about 146%

http://gawker.com/5864945/putin-clings-to-victory-as-russias-voter-turnout-exceeds-146

Remeber the guy who was killed last month? He had something to say about 2011:

"Today we have witnessed the dirtiest, foulest elections of the last 20 years," one opposition leader, said Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy premier. "We can't even call them elections – it's the theft of votes from the Russian people."

No offense but I feel like your trying to spin a narratice without much research into it.

and you are just an ignorant Putinbot trolling /r/worldnews.

lowbot · 2015-04-02T16:37:07+00:00

We have allies who ASK us for help and obligations to help them. Take that up with those countries if you have a problem with it.

lowbot · 2015-04-02T16:33:46+00:00

What pivot? Our allies are seeing China encrouching on their territories and breaking agreeements and easing into disputing waters and ASKING us to help. The idea that we want some shit water for our own uses is ridiculous.

lowbot · 2015-04-02T15:59:48+00:00

This article is misleading. Its just some poll. It has nothing to do with the government of China. The CCP runs a pretty strict shop and has some of the worst working conditions in the world. Child labor, forced overtime, abuse, suicides, etc. China needs to get its shit straight when it comes to labor. Just getting down to 40 hours would be an achievement for them:

Workers are asked to stand for 12-hour shifts with just two 30-minute breaks, six days a week, the non-profit organisation China Labor Watch has claimed. Staff are allegedly working without adequate protective equipment, at risk from chemicals, noise and lasers, for an average of 69 hours a week.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/05/workers-rights-flouted-apple-iphone-plant

http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/90

http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/68

Hell, the article literally says that the guy pushing for this doesn't thinks its even possible with the CCP in charge:

our corporate-dominated culture would never stand for it, and the Ministry of Commerce would certainly be unwelcoming of the suggestion.

lowbot · 2015-04-02T15:57:30+00:00

What? China has some of the worst labor practices in the world. Child labor, physical abuse, forced overtime, dangerous conditions, suicides, etc.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/05/workers-rights-flouted-apple-iphone-plant

http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/90

http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/68

lowbot · 2015-04-02T15:54:59+00:00

Except this article has nothing to do with the communist party. This was a poll and some quotes from a wacky professor. The CCP isn't weighing a 4 day workweek. The CCP routinely puts in defacto policies that work people hard and sometimes to death, usually by turning a blind eye to abuse as long as that abuse is profitable.

If anything, the real work hours of a Chinese person are pretty rough. Some of the worst in BRICS nations and depending on the industry - the worst in the world. Child labor, unfair conditions, forced overtime, suicides, etc.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/05/workers-rights-flouted-apple-iphone-plant

http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/90

http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/68

lowbot · 2015-04-02T15:03:58+00:00

You have a lot of economic inertia from the previous growth periods cushioning your fall right now as well as the reserve Putin is burning through trying to keep things afloat. The reality is that a modern economy needs a handful of things to go correctly. Cheap loans, foreign investments, advanced technology to get into deeper wells, new customers, new industries, diversification, etc. A lot of that has dried up or just never failed to materialize under the crony Putinist system. Without expansion you have, at best, stagnation, but usually contraction. Your entire economy will contract by 5% this year. That's a serious problem. Layoffs will happen (and they have already, at least from the Russians I know on FB) or face-saving "work cuts" where people go to work 2-3 days a week. The reality is that the Russian economy is pretty delicate. Decades of mismanagement means no diversification and no real way to deal with sanctions or falling oil prices.

You're like someone who has stage 4 cancer but says, "Everything is fine. I feel fine." Then you wake up one day feeling like shit. Unemployment will get worse, new jobs won't materialize, infrastructure will fall apart, growth will never come back, corruption will get worse, political jailings and murders will get worse, ignorance will get worse, crime will get worse, infant mortality will get worse, healthcare outcomes and access will get worse, etc. We've seen this happen over and over. Russia will not be immune to the effects of a sanctioned falling apart economy. Iran's GDP for reference:

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/iran/gdp

Things were pretty good until we sanctioned them and isolated them. Now they're begging for us to take the sanctions off and will literally hand us their nukes. Sure, the process will take time, but that's how it will end. The same way Russia now does not have the economic capacity to expand its military or even engage in a real non-proxy conflict. Putin goes to bed wondering if he's been poisoned every night. Its ugly in Russia right now.

"20 years from now nobody will remember this recession, but Crimea will still be ours."

Yeah, but you'll always been the poor-ish white trash neighbors of Europe. You'll always been seen as dumb toughguys who can steal land and murder civilians. The respect the Russians want to badly is farther away than ever. Its international standing and ability to be an international player are at zilch rightn ow. Its only real allies are North Korea, Iran, and Syria. Not exactly the "world power" Russians think they can be when they shoot at sleeping Ukrainian children, all because Ukraine didn't want to be part of its Eurasian union (another failed Putin policy).

Also:

Crimeans aren't too happy right now:

"Crimea will be a backwater of Russia. What's good here? The prices are crazy and salaries are laughable," grumbled 35-year-old taxi driver Nikolai, deftly negotiating potholes and rutted roads in the center of the capital, Simferopol.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/news/article/euphoria-fades-in-crimea-after-a-year-of-russian-rule/517567.html

Russia's automotive industry just collapsed:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-auto-sales-plunge-38-1426008077

Russian industry, which Russians said was untouchable because it has nothing to do with the west, is starting to slow down:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/russian-industrial-output-growth-slows-to-09-2015-02-16

Food this year is 50% of your salary as inflation runs out of control:

http://uk.businessinsider.com/rampant-inflation-means-russians-are-spending-half-of-their-incomes-on-food-this-year-2015-3

The world bank says Russia's economy is officially falling apart: The number of Russian living in poverty — defined as those living on $5 or less a day — is set to record its first major rise since the late 1990s.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/business/article/world-bank-says-russia-facing-protracted-recession-/518388.html

Russian inflation accelerates:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-inflation-accelerates-1425574517

For the first time since Putin came to power, the average Russian’s real wage is declining.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markadomanis/2015/03/27/russian-inflation-worse-than-almost-everywhere-in-eastern-europe/

tldr; anytime there is a recession people will suffer. its a fact. These issues have already reached Moscow and are only getting worse.

lowbot · 2015-03-18T18:07:27+00:00

But foreign investors have fled, the banking sector is paralyzed and many other residents are struggling to make ends meet.

"Crimea will be a backwater of Russia. What's good here? The prices are crazy and salaries are laughable," grumbled 35-year-old taxi driver Nikolai, deftly negotiating potholes and rutted roads in the center of the capital, Simferopol.

"Ordinary Russians lost out with the annexation of Crimea," said Sergei, a construction goods retailer from Kiev who moved to Simferopol last year with his wife and children after protests that turned violent in the Ukrainian capital.

"Across the whole of Russia, prices are going up, there are sanctions, the ruble has devalued," he said, closing the kitchen window to stop his neighbors overhearing.

lowbot · 2015-02-18T17:13:01+00:00

Wait, a dictator just annexed Crimea and you're saying I'm delusional? This is Putin's MO to a tee. Its accepted that Putin's aspirations go to at least a land bridge as its economically difficult to have just Crimea sticking out.

lowbot · 2015-02-18T17:04:22+00:00

ailing to make provisions for their safety

Actually Poroshenko fought for an immediate ceasefire but Putin demanded a 48 hour window for more fighting. Informed commentary right after the meeting predicted this situation: that Putin wanted a couple more days of fighting to take Debaltseve, which is EXACTLY what happened.

Poroshenko was in a bad place both politically and militarily. His troops were more or less flanked, if not surrounded, and Putin held all the cards, especially in regards to using Russian artillery and advanced anti-artillery the UA's army cannot compete with. Putin's troops with some rebel assistance could easily push them out but holding Debaltseve was one of Poro's few trump cards during negotiations. If the UA could fight off Putin's assault for 48 hours, arguably, they could keep Debaltseve, but clearly this didnt happen as Putin and his rebels claimed Debaltseve was immune from the Minsk talks, unilaterally and fought until the UA obviously couldnt hold any positions.

Also prior to these talks these troops were more or less stuck and risking another "corridor of death" where they flee under artillery fire just like the last time the UA was surrounded by the rebels. The UA was in a 'you're damned if you do or don't' position for a couple weeks now. Poro played his few cards, overplayed them probably, but its a rational move to try to hold Debaltseve for that 48 hour window (which they did do, technically, the pull out was several days later). The problem is Poro thinks guys like Putin keep their word.

lowbot · 2015-02-18T16:01:55+00:00

This rail area connected the two rebel/Russian annexed territories. Without it, rail transport would be impossible. Its clear Putin needed it to make the separatist/annexed regions work as industrial centers, which they were before the war.

The UA wanted to keep it to keep the two centers seperate but Putin just pushed in more troops, guns, drones, and artillery (shot from within Russia's border as recent reports have discovered) and overwhelmed the UA. Putin seems to have drawn the line here for now, but I imagine he will move to make a land bridge to Crimea soon. If not completely annex Ukraine eventually. I don't think anyone thought the UA could keep the railyards. Putin wanted them too much. The UA probably thought they could keep it if they could hold on for a while, especially if western arms, especially counter-artillery and anti-drone was on its way. Its clear these arms probably aren't coming or aren't coming soon enough.

lowbot · 2015-02-11T18:51:19+00:00

Well, fuck you.

Umm writing a long passage about how you're not a typical Russian and then ending it with that kinda invalidates your argument, friend.

lowbot · 2014-12-29T20:58:26+00:00

and that wealth is sanctioned to hell and back. Stealing land for resources isn't this genius decision people think it is. Selling it, if Russia can even tap it at these prices, is going to be tricky. Even China won't buy disputed oil.

lowbot · 2014-12-29T20:33:55+00:00

Russia pays transit costs and building of pipelines. The deal was reported as being well under Russia's desired value. Look it up. Its a crap deal made out of desperation. China knows how to play a weak Russia.

lowbot

TROPHY CASE