Russians

compare Russia to Poland, Baltic states, basically all the former communist countries. There is a big contrast. Corruption at the government in Poland is much lower than in Russia, because they had a decent government, who were competent enough to manage monetary policy properly and didnt allow inflation like in Russia to happen. These countries will soon reach the EU level, yet Russia, despite its huge natural resources, will remain just an average or below average country.

Reply 182

damit!

why was i watching Sky One when Putin gave the interview saying hes not going to allow progress in Russia?

ps Newbie intresting view on things.doubt it will happen though as you predict them

Reply 183

abrp

damit!

why was i watching Sky One when Putin gave the interview saying hes not going to allow progress in Russia?

ps Newbie intresting view on things.doubt it will happen though as you predict them

do you honestly think that Putin is the man that Russia needs? do you honestly think he is the 'right' man? A lot of people in Kazahstan love Nazarbaev and he won the recent presidential elections very easily. He isnt really a bright president. For instance he wanted to build some sort of Asian Las Vegas in the middle of dessert, next to some russian old nuclear factory or something. This shows how stupid he is, yet people think he is great because he took the country of the chaos. i m sure a lot of russians think the same about putin. it is not actually them who did it. it is just the recovery these countries are experiencing, particularly because of high oil prices. when they go down, you ll feel the effects and people might think differently about putin.

Reply 184

well..i wont be feeling any affects of lowering oil prices except a fatter wallet but w/e...and of course thats assuming oil prices go down down down a huge lot.

and fine..since you know so much about politics..who do you suggest becomes Russian President? who shall be the main party? LDPR ? Rodina?

Reply 185

abrp

well..i wont be feeling any affects of lowering oil prices except a fatter wallet but w/e...and of course thats assuming oil prices go down down down a huge lot.

and fine..since you know so much about politics..who do you suggest becomes Russian President? who shall be the main party? LDPR ? Rodina?

i agree with you about other parties. there are no really reasonable substitutions. the other parties are retarded basically. i was just making a statement that putin isnt a great president as most people think.

Reply 186

well..whether they are retarded or not is for the individual to decide.

yes..hes not a great president..but then again nearly everyone has faults.

its just a matter of how many he has in comparison to the next best contender (or next "least worst") :wink:

Reply 187

Ferrus

19

This thread reminds me of the Sting song.

'In Europe and America there's a growing feeling of hysteria'

Reply 188

Lexy86

Aniketos says:
the fact that she is a race mix dusn't say all Russians are. most Russians are a mix of all kinds of Europeans just like the rest of Europeans held together by a common culture and language .Russians = Vikings, Slavs and Indo-Iranian mixted together.

Thanks for proving my point! Russians are defined as a MIX. Therefore, there is no way they can be PURE. A MIX cannot be PURE by definition.

Plus, I wasn't talking about race, I was talking about ethnic components. They're two vastly different categories, might I add. There's no such thing as a "Russian race" - racial differences are defined by skull/body structures. I'm not a racial mix, I'm an ethnic mix. Everyone here is. That's my point.

abrp says:
but how do you indentify a Russian?

Aniketos says:
White European who upholds Russian culture and acts in favour of Russia

... so would my friend Julia's American husband, a descendant of German settlers, who came to Russia, married Julia, intends to stay here and "acts in favour of Russia" be Russian then?

The problem with all of these definitions is that no one's been able to come up with one that actually works. That's why there's still no "unifying national idea" in place.

Other than that, I completely ditto everything Bismarck has said :smile:

Reply 189

ill ask him.

(although im trying to get him to register instead :wink:

).

ps you didnt refer to a significant part of the convo.

Reply 190

Lexy86

abrp

ill ask him.

(although im trying to get him to register instead :wink:

).

ps you didnt refer to a significant part of the convo.

Which one? The part about the Indo-European/etc "racial" differences? That goes hand in hand with everything I've been saying - Russians are an ethnic mix, therefore, there's no way we can have a classification of the population based on "purity". We're all "impure".

As for the "returning to Russia to improve the country" bit, you've gotta realise that's just a tad bit too naive for everyone's liking. With the way the system's set up, enthusiasm doesn't get you anywhere. The absolute majority support the system in place - for them, it "works". For me, it doesn't. I'm going to go ahead and guess that for anyone who was brought up in a decent system, the shock they'd undergo if they were to return (as in, for life, not on holiday) would cancel out their enthusiasm altogether. It's certainly worked that way for me.

Reply 191

Lexy86

Sorry to double-post, but I wanted to leave a comment on Russian guys for a second here - now, I've been to quite a few places, and I've had direct contact with locals in many different countries, but I've never witnessed anything like this from any guy anywhere else in the world...

A Russian university board I post at had this debate topic on patriotism and people were, naturally, voicing their opinions. One girl had a pretty strong opinion that clearly didn't sit well with one of the male members, who generally describes himself as being much better than everyone else.

In response to one of her replies, he wrote the following:

Не затыкай меня, мразота провокаторская.
Я заткну - мало не покажется.

А вам, уважаемые форумцы, урок/совет - стоит ли полемизировать с такой дрянью?

... and did he so much as get a warning for it? Nope. In fact, everyone ignored it. I was the second person to comment on his absolutely appalling behaviour... in a 17-page thread (!!!). He isn't what's regarded as an example of "bad company", btw - he's educated, well-read, speaks foreign languages and so forth.

The thing is, while this isn't an isolated incident, it seems like no one even cares about proper conduct over here anymore, let alone about how to treat a girl, regardless of the opinions she may hold.

Reply 192

Bismarck

13

What's new? Disrespect for women is ingrained in Russian culture it seems. I'm sure the rate of domestic violence is the worst among countries with a similar standard of living.

I know that comment would get the person at least 2/3 of the way towards a ban here...

Reply 193

Bismarck

What's new? Disrespect for women is ingrained in Russian culture it seems. I'm sure the rate of domestic violence is the worst among countries with a similar standard of living.

I know that comment would get the person at least 2/3 of the way towards a ban here...

ooh you know Russian as well :p:

(ps to say disprespect is ingrained seems a bit stupid imo..it all depends on the person..a dumbass is going to be disrespectfull to women in any country..an intelligent cultured person will be respectfull)

dont worry Lexy86..if we ever meet ill be very respectfull..always am :smile:

but i have to admit..the amount of swearing in Russia is incredible...i hate it..people swear for no apparent reason..thats why im not friends with most of the Russians @ my school..something goes wrong and they go: "ah ti ebanui v rot pedorov cyken cyn blyadi poganya chtob ti zdoxla xyu"..

and many more..it really is revolting :frown:

ps Lexy what exactly which side was winning the debate?

Reply 194

abrp

ooh you know Russian as well :p:

(ps to say disprespect is ingrained seems a bit stupid imo..it all depends on the person..a dumbass is going to be disrespectfull to women in any country..an intelligent cultured person will be respectfull)

dont worry Lexy86..if we ever meet ill be very respectfull..always am :smile:

but i have to admit..the amount of swearing in Russia is incredible...i hate it..people swear for no apparent reason..thats why im not friends with most of the Russians @ my school..something goes wrong and they go: "ah ti ebanui v rot pedorov cyken cyn blyadi poganya chtob ti zdoxla xyu"..

and many more..it really is revolting :frown:

ps Lexy what exactly which side was winning the debate?

russian swear words are hilarious and there are sooo many of them, written in different styles. there may be couple of words for one word.haha. in english you only get fooking and mix it a little bit with other words. unfair isnt it.

Reply 195

i know

..i "learn" so much when i go to Russia..its worst when you go past some construction site where they are building a new shop or repairing some pipes which inadvertably blew up during winter and the torrents of swearing is unbeliavble.

Reply 196

tanusha-tomsk

OP

Personally, (and I don't want to get into a long debate since I have to go in 10 minutes), I have little reaction to swearing. I think it's much nicer than when everyone is nice to you and everyone smiles and greets you, when he/she either doesn't care for you at all or dislikes you and is going to say things behind your back. That is one of the reasons I want to go back to Russia - I want people to be straight with me so I know who truly cares about me, who's indifferent and who dislikes me. I don't like it when people I don't know smile at me, clearly they are indifferent to me but because of them the friendly smile looses it's meaning (so when my friend smiles at me it's not so nice anymore). Of course it's not nice to hear all the swearing when you're getting on the bus but then there's not much you can do about it. You can chose not to swear and take the high ground, that's all you can do.

Reply 197

pogel17

6

tanusha-tomsk

Personally, (and I don't want to get into a long debate since I have to go in 10 minutes), I have little reaction to swearing. I think it's much nicer than when everyone is nice to you and everyone smiles and greets you, when he/she either doesn't care for you at all or dislikes you and is going to say things behind your back. That is one of the reasons I want to go back to Russia - I want people to be straight with me so I know who truly cares about me, who's indifferent and who dislikes me. I don't like it when people I don't know smile at me, clearly they are indifferent to me but because of them the friendly smile looses it's meaning (so when my friend smiles at me it's not so nice anymore). Of course it's not nice to hear all the swearing when you're getting on the bus but then there's not much you can do about it. You can chose not to swear and take the high ground, that's all you can do.

Hi!

I am on my Year Abroad in Siberia (Krasnoyarsk) and know exactly what you mean, although i always feel like people in shops never want me to buy anything! I have to say that i like people smiling at me, even if they dont mean it. Afterall i am english. I love Russians for being straight down the middle on their opinions of people though.

Anyway on my travels i stayed in Tomsk. Its the most beautiful city in Siberia for me. I love the wooden buildings and it reminds me so much of my univeristy in England. The statue of Checkov is pretty cool too. 'Boulange' do the best cakes i have ever had in Russia!

James

Reply 198

tanusha-tomsk

OP