Russia's at it again

if we need to go there to find out for ourselves it sort of insinuates the country lacks some of the freedoms that we're accustomed too, doesn't it?

I’d say this applies to a certain degree to every country, open or closed. Although there’s no substitute for knowing the language.
 
I didn't say he hadn't had any work done (who knows?), I'm saying most of the difference in those pictures is simply a man who went from 50 to 66.
Having just landed at 66 (and 16 yrs ago was 50, same as a lot of my friends) I can wholeheartedly assure you that’s not how a face ages.....unless you have a good bit of work done on it. He’d be a lot uglier too by now if he had aged naturally because he was never a bonnie lad.
 
I’d say this applies to a certain degree to every country, open or closed. Although there’s no substitute for knowing the language.

True but Russia is not democracy like in some countries. It is also not a total dictatorship like in places like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Countries. Putin has to act with the wishes of the majority of the Russians or he is going to be thrown out by the people. He is there because a large number of the majority of the Russians especially away from the bigger cities support him.
What is surprising is that how popular he is among the majority of the people in the World.
 
@Hanks I am in agreement with most of what you're saying to be honest (fwiw I have been to Russia).

but if we need to go there to find out for ourselves it sort of insinuates the country lacks some of the freedoms that we're accustomed too, doesn't it?

You wouldn’t have to go there to find out if the western media portrayed the country as it is rather than as it suits the west.

Both sides are heavily engaged in propaganda and that is further fuelling the divide with the rest of the world and Putins popularity at home.
 
I'm not sure why anyone would think that the Russian state's actions, even as portrayed by the Western media, would mean that most Russian people are not friendly and should be feared. You'd have to be very naive to hold such views. Most people everywhere are nice.
 
@Hanks I am in agreement with most of what you're saying to be honest (fwiw I have been to Russia).

but if we need to go there to find out for ourselves it sort of insinuates the country lacks some of the freedoms that we're accustomed too, doesn't it?

The more you travel, the more you see the world the more you know that "western propaganda" is real
 
The more you travel, the more you see the world the more you know that "western propaganda" is real

yeah I have no doubt western propaganda is very real, but I also think its worse in Russia based on my travels
 
The Russian news show a lot of stuff the western media does not want to show. Unlike western media the Russian media does not show usually articles criticising their leadership.
 
So what? Many countries and officials also put out statements in support of politicians in many countries. I do not think the Americans are so ignorant that they would let a foreign country influence their elections.
 
"Going wild for Tulsi Gabbard, populist," :lol: HEAVEN FORBID...feck off

I was excited because someone called Harris out on her horrendous criminal justice record. The reason they're coming back with this rather than actually answering the criticism is because there's no answer to the criticism...she spoke straight truth about Harris and Harris had nothing to say.
 
"Going wild for Tulsi Gabbard, populist," :lol: HEAVEN FORBID...feck off

I was excited because someone called Harris out on her horrendous criminal justice record. The reason they're coming back with this rather than actually answering the criticism is because there's no answer to the criticism...she spoke straight truth about Harris and Harris had nothing to say.

the Fact Harris could not respond pretty much ends her run.
Despicable woman.
 
I do love me some potato vodka. Though that often comes from further west now that I think of it. Russia still has great vodka though.
 
I don't know how many people here went to the World Cup but every single person I have spoken to said to me they have made a 180 U-turn in all their opinions and pre-concieved notions...
All my acquaintances that have been to Russia absolutely loved it. One said Moscow is the most American place they've been to in Europe.
 
I was going to call this a pointless post, since this is the Russia thread, but then I realized that your post was actually a clever and poignant play on the old Soviet "and you are lynching negroes" whataboutism.

Well done, Eboue.

go ahead and call it pointless, then we could have the discussion you seem to want to have.
 
The Soviet Union and Russia are two different countries. I have been to both many a times. It was a lot safer during the Soviet Union time but the place was a dump. It is much more dangerous now but not a dump at least in the bigger cities.

One thing you can say that in Russia is that you rarely get someone going crazy in a mall or a school and shooting up a bunch of innocent people.
 
The Soviet Union and Russia are two different countries

Remember the Soviet Union when it was all together, the Soviet Union, when it was all together before they decided, we got to call ourselves Russia.

That was always their dream, to be the biggest in the world. Then it became Russia, and you know what they've done a good job with energy.
 
When it was Soviet Union or in fact the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 1982 to 1984 a few times.

It is like Czechoslavakia and Czeck Republic and Slovakia. Some may have to Czecksolavakia while others may have gone to the Czeck Republic and Slovakia both or one country. You cannot say it is the one and the same country. Russia was part of the USSR but not the USSR.
 
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When it was Soviet Union or in fact the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 1982 to 1984 a few times.

It is like Czechoslavakia and Czeck Republic and Slovakia. Some may have to Czecksolavakia while others may have gone to the Czeck Republic and Slovakia both or one country. You cannot say it is the one and the same country. Russia was part of the USSR but not the USSR.

Sort of true, absolutely, but while Czechoslovakia broke up into Czechia and Slovakia, modern-day Russia is considered the successor state of the Soviet Union. They were by far the dominant force in the old nation, they kept the embassies, the Security Council seat, etc. That doesn't mean Russia is the same as the Soviet Union, of course. The chaotic and dangerously quick privatization that happened in the immediate aftermath of the dissolution saw to that.