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[Transportation]

1 - Sure. But not in the immediately immediate future. Playing bully-boy over eastern Europe's gas supply can only squeeze them a few extra dollars. The problem is that they need the cash NOW.

This is true, but a lot of these budget raises were planned last year, pre-panic. I imagine messing with it now might cause a lot of unnecessary difficulties in terms of production, jobs,lead times, etc. Military flexibility will be quite useful given economic instability in surrounding countries, such as Ukraine. This applies to Russia's nuclear arsenal, which needs an overhaul (so does the U.S.'s, for that matter), as it is Russia's geopolitical trump card.

2 - Now where did I say that? Just because I didn't condemn a non-Russian country in the middle of a discussion on the current state of Russia, doesn't mean I'm a McCarthyite.

Other people have done it before so I thought I'd preempt it?

4 - It's even less surprising when you don't treat Communism as such a break with previous Russian history. The attitude stuff goes back way farther than NATO. Hell, it goes farther back than even the Alaska Sale, or (arguably) the US Revolution.

Do you mind elaborating on that?

*_{Most Russians I know have been happy to say things along the lines of "people in the gulag deserved to be there anyway" and "Solzhenitsyn? Who?" "Or, wasn't he some peice-of-shit defector?".}

Really? I've never really seen that degree of apologism, myself. And the first one is correct in a way as normal criminals were sent to them as well. That's probably not what they meant, though.

Stalin may have 'whacked a lotta krauts', but I recall his body count being a lot higher in a few other places. Too bad nobody in Russia ever seems to remember this.[/sub]

You're going to have to define 'places' for me here; even in terms of the Purges the krauts soundly trounce him in numbers.

[Mongrel]

1 - Sure. But not in the immediately immediate future. Playing bully-boy over eastern Europe's gas supply can only squeeze them a few extra dollars. The problem is that they need the cash NOW.

This is true, but a lot of these budget raises were planned last year, pre-panic. I imagine messing with it now might cause a lot of unnecessary difficulties in terms of production, jobs,lead times, etc. Military flexibility will be quite useful given economic instability in surrounding countries, such as Ukraine. This applies to Russia's nuclear arsenal, which needs an overhaul (so does the U.S.'s, for that matter), as it is Russia's geopolitical trump card.

2 - Now where did I say that? Just because I didn't condemn a non-Russian country in the middle of a discussion on the current state of Russia, doesn't mean I'm a McCarthyite.

Other people have done it before so I thought I'd preempt it?

4 - It's even less surprising when you don't treat Communism as such a break with previous Russian history. The attitude stuff goes back way farther than NATO. Hell, it goes farther back than even the Alaska Sale, or (arguably) the US Revolution.

Do you mind elaborating on that?

*_{Most Russians I know have been happy to say things along the lines of "people in the gulag deserved to be there anyway" and "Solzhenitsyn? Who?" "Or, wasn't he some peice-of-shit defector?".}

Really? I've never really seen that degree of apologism, myself. And the first one is correct in a way as normal criminals were sent to them as well. That's probably not what they meant, though.

Stalin may have 'whacked a lotta krauts', but I recall his body count being a lot higher in a few other places. Too bad nobody in Russia ever seems to remember this.[/sub]

You're going to have to define 'places' for me here; even in terms of the Purges the krauts soundly trounce him in numbers.

1 - The issue is that they need more than the projects that are 'on the books'. The entire armed forces is in grievous disrepair. Given the overall size of their military and the need to maintain their Nuclear deterrent in some vaguely working order, only a serious and sustained injection of resources will do - and only then if it's properly managed.

I'm not sure how much of the old Communist creative spark for making do by stripping things to their essentials remains though.

4 - Call it a consequence of geography, or a quirk of national character, but Imperial Russia had a long history of intimidating belligerence that was more bark than bite.

The overall story is rather long, so I'll have to take a rain check on telling it in full here since I want to go to bed, but see: The Great Game, the effect of the Russo-Turkish wars on European foreign policy, Russian shenanigans in Persia/the eastern middle east., etc. The Crimean war was the one time it produced a 'hot war' directly with European powers.

It happened more often post-Napoleon (1812 gave a false impression of Russian military might that lasted for nearly a half-century), but there were quite a few smaller instances in the 18th century (Poland etc.).

Last bits: Yes, there are Russians like that. It's rather depressing to talk to people like that.

Places: Russia proper and East Europe. Especially the Ukraine and surrounding area. Not sure what you meanabout the Germans managing higher, last time I saw the numbers, Stalin's body count ranked in the double-digit millions, while the Germans never got out of the single digits. Stalin had pretty much a free hand during both the thirties and the Post-WWII era, so that made things easier for him. Amusing footnote: Stalin was a Georgian.

In fairness, the numbers vary wildly depending on if or how you include WWII casualty figures. Personally, I would blame him directly for a great many such casualties, as untold numbers of servicemen died as a direct result of asinine battlefield policies directly laid down by Stalin. To say nothing of the indirect effects of the gutted command structure.

Of course, I think Pol Pot still wins the all-time percentage/per capita record.

[Transportation]

1. Basically, yeah. But I'd say it's still worth a try.

4c.
Well, Allied civilian deaths (emphasis on civilian) alone would put Nazi Germany above the USSR. The Slavic regions in particular as their extermination was required for Generalplan Ost. I could also count military as Nazi treatment of Soviet soldiers was not exactly "nice", but that makes the analysis more annoying.

The USSR's war ability is much better than it is typically credited. There was a nice flash video of the progress of the eastern front, but I can't find it at the moment. I'll dig around if you're interested.

The NKVD archives(as described on this archived page) indicate that Stalin's executions were directly responsible for ~700,000 dead, orders of magnitudes smaller than pre-archives estimates. The high ones you're thinking of were based on hearsay, anecdotes, and other less than reliable data points.

I asked for specifics because there are lots of real and mythical Soviet atrocities due to Cold War propaganda shenanigans and it's a bit difficult to tell what you're referring too.

For example, if you're referencing to the Ukraine famine, that was a fun boondoggle from the Stalin's collectivization. Are his dumb policies responsible? Yes. This level of stupidity is not unique though; Britain's colonial management caused a few of similar magnitude. And the British are not typically compared to Hitler.

Beyond more conspiratorial interpretations, I'm not aware of any evidence stating he did it on purpose. So, it's a far cry from Hitler's explicitly genocidal doctrine.

More Trivia: Hitler was Austrian (Austro-Hungarian, technically) and Napoleon was Corsican (he considered himself thoroughly French but it was still recently acquired).

[Mongrel]

1. Basically, yeah. But I'd say it's still worth a try.

4c.
Well, Allied civilian deaths (emphasis on civilian) alone would put Nazi Germany above the USSR. The Slavic regions in particular as their extermination was required for Generalplan Ost. I could also count military as Nazi treatment of Soviet soldiers was not exactly "nice", but that makes the analysis more annoying.

The USSR's war ability is much better than it is typically credited. There was a nice flash video of the progress of the eastern front, but I can't find it at the moment. I'll dig around if you're interested.

The NKVD archives(as described on this archived page) indicate that Stalin's executions were directly responsible for ~700,000 dead, orders of magnitudes smaller than pre-archives estimates. The high ones you're thinking of were based on hearsay, anecdotes, and other less than reliable data points.

I asked for specifics because there are lots of real and mythical Soviet atrocities due to Cold War propaganda shenanigans and it's a bit difficult to tell what you're referring too.

For example, if you're referencing to the Ukraine famine, that was a fun boondoggle from the Stalin's collectivization. Are his dumb policies responsible? Yes. This level of stupidity is not unique though; Britain's colonial management caused a few of similar magnitude. And the British are not typically compared to Hitler.

Beyond more conspiratorial interpretations, I'm not aware of any evidence stating he did it on purpose. So, it's a far cry from Hitler's explicitly genocidal doctrine.

More Trivia: Hitler was Austrian (Austro-Hungarian, technically) and Napoleon was Corsican (he considered himself thoroughly French but it was still recently acquired).

On the trivia, I think most folks know the last two (not that the coincidence is any less amusing for being repeated). The reason I pointed out the Stalin one is that this thread's original purpose makes it just that little bit funnier.

[Thad]

Since there's no "Russia is fucking scary" thread

Fixed.

[Mongrel]

Russia deals a shocking blow to Putin's United Russia party

There's hope for them yet, I suppose. I mean, this is still bad-news-as-usual for Russia, but given that the script laid out by Putin was for him to romp to a commanding victory, this is a pretty impressive turn of events.

[Büge]

Russian punk band Pussy Riot sentenced to two years

Basically, the band staged a protest against Putin back in February to raise awareness to Putin's ties to the orthodox church and their trumped-up case was rushed through a kangaroo court, violating several legal procedures.

[Büge]

I must say though, their closing statements are pretty badass.

[Brentai]

My whole opinion of the Pussy Riot thing is that it's nothing that wouldn't happen here.

[Brentai]

I take that back.  If someone burst into a church wearing balaclavas here, I don't expect there would be an unfair trial.

[Thad]

Kasparov:

Unfortunately, I was not there to hear the judge's decision, which she took hours to read. The crowds outside the court building made entry nearly impossible, so I stood in a doorway and took questions from journalists. Suddenly, I was dragged away by a group of police—in fact carried away with one policeman on each arm and leg.

The men refused to tell me why I was being arrested and shoved me into a police van. When I got up to again ask why I had been detained, things turned violent. I was restrained, choked and struck several times by a group of officers before being driven to the police station with dozens of other protesters. After several hours I was released, but not before they told me I was being criminally investigated for assaulting a police officer who claimed I had bitten him.

[Bal]

I've missed the Russians being the bad guys in movies.

[sei]

Kasparov:

Unfortunately, I was not there to hear the judge's decision, which she took hours to read. The crowds outside the court building made entry nearly impossible, so I stood in a doorway and took questions from journalists. Suddenly, I was dragged away by a group of police—in fact carried away with one policeman on each arm and leg.

The men refused to tell me why I was being arrested and shoved me into a police van. When I got up to again ask why I had been detained, things turned violent. I was restrained, choked and struck several times by a group of officers before being driven to the police station with dozens of other protesters. After several hours I was released, but not before they told me I was being criminally investigated for assaulting a police officer who claimed I had bitten him.

I somehow lost mental context between clicking through to this thread and reading Thad's quote. (Yes, despite it saying "Re: Russia is Fucking Scary" above the message body.) It didn't jump out at me which thread I was in, and seemed completely plausible that Kasparov had underwent that here in the states.

Which, I mean... I wonder how long it is before we're the Russia (lite) of some otherwise civilized culture's media.

[Classic]

Bestest Buddy Guy-R-SEI, that is some TREASONous talk there. Wouldn't want to have to bring in the Trouble Shooters, would we? We're nothing like those filthy COMMIES are we?

[Mongrel]

Not so much scary, as crazy WTFery: Intrigue, backbiting, and violent acid attacks, at the Bolshoi Ballet

[Büge]

http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/russia-poised-to-pass-bill-making-it-illegal-to-tell-children-gay-people-exist/politics/2013/06/11/68483

[Brentai]

Homosexuals react by violently getting beaten up.

[Mongrel]

“These laws have no place on the statute books of modern, rights-respecting democracy."

Haha, oh dear... I mean, you Russkies may have missed it seeing as how you live there (taiga for trees I guess)... I have news for you!

....

But the bleak reality is that there has always been a large number of Russians, possibly a solid majority, who approve wholeheartedly of wretchedly authoritarian government. I have talked to too many Russians with that view - including some who have been personal victims of repression! - to have any illusions about that. I mean, I worked with ONE guy who was not only a huge fan of Stalin, but who's grandfather survived the worst of the gulags. And the grandfather was all like "They were all just a bunch of criminals. Everybody in there deserved it!" What you can possibly say to that?

To say nothing of good old fashioned racism. Gays getting whacked in the streets? Fuck that's nothing. A black man found out after 8 pm on the streets of Moscow is a dead man. No joke. Or ask a Russian about Asian immigration in the Russian far east where the coutryside is massively depopulated (beyond the usual emptiness, I mean). Woooo now there's some antebellum "values" there.

[Mongrel]

When you think about it, it makes Hitler look like a fucking piker. Imagine chains of jews released from concentration camps dancing and singing der fuhrer's prases not just upon release, but decades later, long after the collapse of the third Reich and after the death of all the principals.

Now THAT is ultimate high-grade brainwashing.

_{(Sorry for the Godwin)}

[Mongrel]

I don't always like him, but Brian Gable had some great cartoons lately.