Donald Trump's ties to Russia
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Topic: Donald Trump's ties to Russia
Posted By: js
Subject: Donald Trump's ties to Russia
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2016 at 12:05pm
Interesting reading for any US voter.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/veteran-spy-gave-fbi-info-alleging-russian-operation-cultivate-donald-trump" rel="nofollow - http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/veteran-spy-gave-fbi-info-alleging-russian-operation-cultivate-donald-trump
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Replies:
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2016 at 12:08pm
Plus this:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/10/was_a_server_registered_to_the_trump_organization_communicating_with_russia.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/10/was_a_server_registered_to_the_trump_organization_communicating_with_russia.html
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2016 at 12:29pm
graffiti on the wall of one of Vilnius bar
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2016 at 12:36pm
It figures that the Europeans know whats really going on here.
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2016 at 8:27am
More news: https://thinkprogress.org/trump-putin-extra-22babc3a8e19#.sinhu3tci
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2016 at 8:19am
This is the first time I can remember the Russians supporting a Republican.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-media-backs-trump-questions-us-democracy-091558036.html
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2016 at 9:05pm
Just for the record, i have been to Russia and studied the language for several years in college. The former Soviet Union did phenomenal research into occult scientific knowledge as well as creating a more Utopian society that was, of course, flawed but yielded some good results. The US is currently in a crisis of captialism eating itself and Russia's position on the world stage as a leader of the BRIC nations has it at odds with the US's hegemonic stanglehold on pegging other nation's currency to the US dollar. Russia has wrankled Uncle Sam beyond belief and even though Trump is a moron in many ways, i do think he is right about shmoozing with Russia in many ways. They are not the bogey man the media portrays them to be. In fact they were our ally until after WW2 when we decided that we needed a super power to make the scapegoat of all our problems. I'm not saying Russia has done no wrong, oh heaven's no, they have done many, many, many wrongs in this world, but so have we
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2016 at 12:31am
I was born in European country, occupied by Russia, and spent first 25 yrs of my life in what was known as Soviet Union. And I lived the other two and half decades of my life all around Europe (from UK to Balkans, from Holland to Baltics) and Central Asia - territories which have regular relations with Russia. You can find no nation there who like Russia - because of their aggressive 19 century-like imperialistic behavior first of all.
During last decade Putin's Russia started two wars in modern Europe - occupied part of Georgia and Crimea peninsula / Donbass in Ukraine. No country in modern Europe behaves like that during last 60 yrs. I don't care much about their internal "soft dictatorship" - I perfectly know this nation culture/mentality, they are far not Europeans and as almost any Asian nation, they prefer authoritarian regime against freedom (and each citizen's responsibility). But Putin's regime aggressive plans to return world to Molotov-Ribbentrop's pact era is a biggest danger for peace and future in all Europe and partially Central Asia/Near East.
What is written in previous post ^^ is direct citation from Putin regime-paid Russian propaganda for naive Westerners (using RT (former Russia Today), "Sputnik",etc channels) - comparing with former Communist Russia Putin's regime learned a lot from Gebbels art of propaganda, and I know it works - especially in parts of the world which are far from Russia and part of people believe in all that lies.
I still live 160 miles from Russian border (originally Eastern Prussia, most developed part of pre-WWII Germany which Russians occupied right after the war, departed ALL local population and built most militarized territory in Europe), my home town is full of Russian spies and 24h per day we can hear/see their TV propaganda. Not sure if in States you see the same. In Europe they advertise themselves as last crusaders fighting against gays wedding, Asian immigrants invasion to Europe (they still believe that world count them being part of Europe) and as best example of "strong hand controlled democracy" vs European silly democracy and American Imperialism.
To be honest, even here in Europe their propaganda works for part of population - usually lower educated, lesser income getting marginal groups and small part of leftist intellectuals (absolute bigger part of them never been in Russia even as tourists, I don't speak about familiarity with culture,language,mentality and regime's methods)
I believe it's extremely difficult for outsiders to have a right opinion about other nation/country/regime especially if it's very different country from your own. We here in Europe were shocked when "red Obama" has been elected in such anti-Communist country as States and during two cadences we evidenced absolute disaster of US foreign affairs everywhere -from Europe to Middle East to Near East and Far East. But I believe for Americans he was good enough and my above opinion on Obama's America sounds more than funny for many Americans.
Now we are even more shocked about possible Obama's alternative - Mr.Trump looks like bad joke here, but I believe for many Americans my words looks like crazy foreigner's stupidity. America's Putin fans words that "Russia is far not so bad, probably even good" for everyone even slightly more familiar with subject sounds at least as bad joke.
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2016 at 1:50am
siLLy puPPy wrote:
Just for the record, i have been to Russia and studied the language for several years in college. The former Soviet Union did phenomenal research into occult scientific knowledge as well as creating a more Utopian society that was, of course, flawed but yielded some good results. The US is currently in a crisis of captialism eating itself and Russia's position on the world stage as a leader of the BRIC nations has it at odds with the US's hegemonic stanglehold on pegging other nation's currency to the US dollar. Russia has wrankled Uncle Sam beyond belief and even though Trump is a moron in many ways, i do think he is right about shmoozing with Russia in many ways. They are not the bogey man the media portrays them to be. In fact they were our ally until after WW2 when we decided that we needed a super power to make the scapegoat of all our problems. I'm not saying Russia has done no wrong, oh heaven's no, they have done many, many, many wrongs in this world, but so have we |
What ended our happy relationship after WWII was that Russia decided to make several countries in Eastern Europe their own. Similarly, in today's world, Putin has displayed a desire to keep expanding Russia's boundries. Just ask anyone form Eastern Europe what they think of Putin.
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2016 at 2:10am
Yesterday(!) Police of small Balkan country of Montenegro announced some first results of investigation of incident which happened there a few weeks ago. During country's Parliament election, a team of terrorist has been arrested (the very same election day). Montenegro is one of the last European non-NATO country, but it already asked for membership (which most probably will be confirmed next year).
Since it was almost obvious that current Socialist(!) President will be re-elected (and he was the one who supports NATO membership as main warranty for their independence), Russians in the only Russia-still-friendly country in Europe -Serbia formed and trained gorillas team (of Russian,Serbian and Montenegrin citizens) and sent them at the day of election to attack the Parliament and to kill current (and possible future) President since they saw it's the only way to change the government and to avoid Montenegrin participation in pro-American (read - anti-Russian) treaty. Montenegrin special services arrested them right before attack, same President has been elected and yesterday country's police announced first official info about what was a plan and who's responsible for it.
It's not a Hollywood movie, it happens in TODAY's Europe. Do you really think Putin is true Americans friend?
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2016 at 2:24am
siLLy puPPy wrote:
...Russia's position on the world stage as a leader of the BRIC nations... |
Wrong - they are not
Of all BRIC countries, or BRICS if you want to use more current version, Chine is an upcoming world economics No1, India goes slow but according to more optimistic scenario has huge perspective. Brazil with their corrupted Socialist government has a huge troubles (and economical as well), Russia's economics decreases few years in a row. They are not a leader (and never been), they are looser.
Russia's economics size is same of Italy (or Mexico if you want), and main source of their income is sales of oil and gas, as Saudi Arabia or Kuwait does. Their convention military forces would loose against single Britain,or Germany. The only argument they have they are second world largest nuclear country after US, and they officially changed their Military Doctrine - from now they have a right to use their Nukes first. Against everyone (even non-nuclear country) if they will see that their interest is in danger.
Yes, I know States are far from them, much more far than Warsaw or Berlin, but - do you really think they are friends of Americans?
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2016 at 8:39am
^ First of all all those countries were divided by ruling elites. It was decided in Germany after the war on which ones to divide up into two sides. This was done by financial elites not the Soviet Union themselves. Like everything regarding history and poltics, this is a subject that requires volumes of history to decipher in order to see a much larger picture and i've spent about 20 years studying these things on a deeper level than many out there. The relationships of geopoltics is more governed by financial elites than elected nation states these days but i do see Putin as a leading force in creating a new world currency that dethrones the US dollar. Also if you understand all the scientific research that is done in Russia you would realize that they have been leaders in such arenas that have basically been forbidden in the west. It's too much information to convince you of anything since you experience things on a different more personal level but Russia is just doing what empires do and the US has been more of a threat to world peace. And also Russia gets blamed for many things that it has nothing to do with since it's a convenient scapegoat for the Western media. I meet Russians here all the time because we have a large community and they are just like everyone else. It's not the people who are bad but rather the out of touch elites who are bent on world domination
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2016 at 8:59am
This is not about the Russian people, its about their government. I visited East Germany while they were ruled by Russia, I can not describe the despair and misery, the most unhappy place i have ever visited. I also have many friends, mostly Polish, who lived under Russian domination, their stories contain no mention of a worker's utopia. Putin is no different, he seeks domination of other countries, whatever he can get his hands on.
I'm well aware of the awful things the US does in the world, but thats no excuse for what the Russian government does, or tries to do.
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2016 at 9:19am
siLLy puPPy wrote:
^ First of all all those countries were divided by ruling elites. It was decided in Germany after the war on which ones to divide up into two sides. This was done by financial elites not the Soviet Union themselves. Like everything regarding history and poltics, this is a subject that requires volumes of history to decipher in order to see a much larger picture and i've spent about 20 years studying these things on a deeper level than many out there. The relationships of geopoltics is more governed by financial elites than elected nation states these days but i do see Putin as a leading force in creating a new world currency that dethrones the US dollar. Also if you understand all the scientific research that is done in Russia you would realize that they have been leaders in such arenas that have basically been forbidden in the west. It's too much information to convince you of anything since you experience things on a different more personal level but Russia is just doing what empires do and the US has been more of a threat to world peace. And also Russia gets blamed for many things that it has nothing to do with since it's a convenient scapegoat for the Western media. I meet Russians here all the time because we have a large community and they are just like everyone else. It's not the people who are bad but rather the out of touch elites who are bent on world domination |
I am a bit surprised to hear such point of view from American -
leftists (and ultra-right radicals - both often are supported
financially from Kremlin) around Europe speak like that for decade or
more. For me, it only shows how successful Putin's propaganda is
nowadays.
Anyway, we are living in a new world we still don't
know what it is. Very soon you will have your new President and possibly
post-industrial world will became even more strange than before.
BTW,
your above mentioned "capitalism eating itself today in US" is a joke I
believe. There are no capitalism in Western world for some decades
already, we are living in post-industrial world. Capitalism can be
found in some third world countries (in different forms) - including
Putin's Russia (state capitalism). Western world passed this stage with
IT-revolution.
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2016 at 10:27am
snobb wrote:
siLLy puPPy wrote:
^ First of all all those countries were divided by ruling elites. It was decided in Germany after the war on which ones to divide up into two sides. This was done by financial elites not the Soviet Union themselves. Like everything regarding history and poltics, this is a subject that requires volumes of history to decipher in order to see a much larger picture and i've spent about 20 years studying these things on a deeper level than many out there. The relationships of geopoltics is more governed by financial elites than elected nation states these days but i do see Putin as a leading force in creating a new world currency that dethrones the US dollar. Also if you understand all the scientific research that is done in Russia you would realize that they have been leaders in such arenas that have basically been forbidden in the west. It's too much information to convince you of anything since you experience things on a different more personal level but Russia is just doing what empires do and the US has been more of a threat to world peace. And also Russia gets blamed for many things that it has nothing to do with since it's a convenient scapegoat for the Western media. I meet Russians here all the time because we have a large community and they are just like everyone else. It's not the people who are bad but rather the out of touch elites who are bent on world domination |
I am a bit surprised to hear such point of view from American - leftists (and ultra-right radicals - both often are supported financially from Kremlin) around Europe speak like that for decade or more. For me, it only shows how successful Putin's propaganda is nowadays.
I guess i delve into the nitty gritty more than most Americans. I really only listen to the leading experts who have studying these things for decades. My views have nothing to to with Putin. More comments are more about the entire history of the Russian culture. It is utterly fascinating in its development and i have visited most Eastern European countries with most time spent in Poland and i totally understand exactly why you folks despise Russia. I'm simply saying there are good things that are coming along with the bad.
Anyway, we are living in a new world we still don't know what it is. Very soon you will have your new President and possibly post-industrial world will became even more strange than before.
It's true we are entering uncharted territories but i have a clearer picture than most i guess because i've listened to hundreds of hours of whistleblower testimony about the secret power structures that really govern our world. It has a lot to do with the Federal Reserve here in the US that was given to private hands a hundred years ago. Amongst the biggest revelations that will be revealed in a short time is the secret space programs that have developed all kinds of technology that have been kept from the public in general. Other claims are that the Nazis were the first to enter space all the way back in the 30s and the US and USSR have had bases on the moon and other planets. I've heard enough testimony from old timers who worked in these programs to be convinced it's real. Free energy and all the world's problems have been solved long ago and it's only a small elite who keeps these things from being unleashed onto the public. When viewed in this context it becomes more obvious that the politics that we observe on a public level are really no more the pawns being placed on a chessboard and moved accordingly by the invisible power structures
BTW, your above mentioned "capitalism eating itself today in US" is a joke I believe. There are no capitalism in Western world for some decades already, we are living in post-industrial world. Capitalism can be found in some third world countries (in different forms) - including Putin's Russia (state capitalism). Western world passed this stage with IT-revolution.
I disagree. Capitalism is alive and well and it is eating itself because it thrives on consuming the Earth's resources, polluting with impugnity and then moving on. Western countires may have become post-industrial but the industry simply moved to China, south Asia, Africa and Latin America. Keep in mind there's no such thing as "pure" capitalism. It is simply one system employed that mixes and meld with various others and only one ingredient in a larger economic pie that is used and manipulated accordingly for the benefit of a very small elite of billionaires who own 98% of the world's wealth
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2016 at 11:45pm
so -we woke up in the new world
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/730314/donald-trump-putin-moscow-russia-election-presidential-race" rel="nofollow - http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/730314/donald-trump-putin-moscow-russia-election-presidential-race
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2016 at 1:30am
I can't describe my disappointment, this is a very sad day for the US and the world.
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2016 at 8:54am
There's a lot that goes on behind the scene. Clinton and the establishment was hell bent for leather on creating a war with Russia. Although i didn't vote for him and don't personally like him, at least he will most likely not be creating artificial skirmishes where none exist. Part of the insider testimony i've studied is that the president is only like 35th in line in an invisible power structure. If he gets too out of control and threatens the status quo they will simply play a JFK on him. I suggest just don't watch TV for the next four years!!!
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2016 at 9:01am
siLLy puPPy wrote:
There's a lot that goes on behind the scene. Clinton and the establishment was hell bent for leather on creating a war with Russia. Although i didn't vote for him and don't personally like him, at least he will most likely not be creating artificial skirmishes where none exist. Part of the insider testimony i've studied is that the president is only like 35th in line in an invisible power structure. If he gets too out of control and threatens the status quo they will simply play a JFK on him. I suggest just don't watch TV for the next four years!!! |
Russia's actions in the Ukraine and Syria are not "artificial skirmishes', people have died, and more will, others will loose their liberty, there is nothing artificial about that.
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2016 at 10:49am
That's true but it's a drop in the bucket compared to what the US does in world occupation and theft of other nation's resources. I'm not defending Russia's aggressive behavior in that region by any means but the Syria thing is riddled with inconsistencies in reporting and i have not been convinced either way about what is happening there. And when it's all said and done, it's not our business as Americans to be there. We have a crumbling country and spend all our resources keeping corporations rich.
I respect Putin for a reasons. He has allowed Edward Snowden asylum. Snowden has been heroic in exposing how invasive and insidious our government really is. Also he has been rejecting genetically modified crops and the whole notion of corporations being able to patent life forms.
In short, Russia has not done anything the US hasn't done a million times over. It's a mixed bag for sure but i'm happy to see another power fighting back against the world domination that our leaders seem to be salivating over.
The same could be said about China, India, Brazil. There are both positive and negative aspects of their nations all playing out simultaneously.
Unfortuantely we live in a univesre where negative and postive energy are in constant flux. This plays out in the human world as dictated by physics. It has always been this way and always will unless we literally pop into a different dimension or something where the rules are different
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2016 at 11:00am
The sins of the US are no excuse for the sins of Russia, the fact remains that Putin is an aggressive murderous thug who welcomes your complacency in the face of human suffering.
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2016 at 11:08am
Just in case there is any confusion, I am anti-war and anti-imperialism, whether its coming from the US, Russia, China or anyone else. Wars are fought by poor people to protect the interests of the rich, and Russia is no exception to that.
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2016 at 11:20am
siLLy puPPy wrote:
That's true but it's a drop in the bucket compared to what the US does in world occupation and theft of other nation's resources. I'm not defending Russia's aggressive behavior in that region by any means but the Syria thing is riddled with inconsistencies in reporting and i have not been convinced either way about what is happening there. And when it's all said and done, it's not our business as Americans to be there. We have a crumbling country and spend all our resources keeping corporations rich.
I respect Putin for a reasons. He has allowed Edward Snowden asylum. Snowden has been heroic in exposing how invasive and insidious our government really is. Also he has been rejecting genetically modified crops and the whole notion of corporations being able to patent life forms.
In short, Russia has not done anything the US hasn't done a million times over. It's a mixed bag for sure but i'm happy to see another power fighting back against the world domination that our leaders seem to be salivating over.
The same could be said about China, India, Brazil. There are both positive and negative aspects of their nations all playing out simultaneously.
Unfortuantely we live in a univesre where negative and postive energy are in constant flux. This plays out in the human world as dictated by physics. It has always been this way and always will unless we literally pop into a different dimension or something where the rules are different |
Putin's aggressive propaganda is in big part based on use of so-called "useful idiots" ( http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot" rel="nofollow - http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot )
- Westerners who because of one or another reason are not happy with
their own government/career/personal life and are searching on "easy"
alternative. They are usually too lazy for searching the info in
alternative sources and are easy victims of straight Russian propaganda. In
Syria, just some weeks ago Russian planes bombed Red Cross humanitarian
help convoy killing lot of drivers and personal. They are dropping
bombs on hospitals and schools in areas, controlled by anti pro-Russian
regime. Nothing is strange here though - Putin did totally same in
Chechnya some years ago - just destroyed all big town with civil
population in his own country. Have any American president ever bombed
New Orleans or San Francisco? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/20/un-aid-convoy-attack-syria-us-russia" rel="nofollow - http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/20/un-aid-convoy-attack-syria-us-russia Snowden - ask him if he's happy living in Russia . I know only two Americans emigrated to Russia during last 50 yrs - Snowden and folk singer Dean Reed somewhere in 70s. Dean Reed left Russia after few months for E.Germany (can't accept their way of living) and dead after some years from alcoholism. From other hand, you can see millions of Russian living in Western world - it's difficult to compare life standards in "non-perfect" Western world and 19 century imperialism based Eurasian "soft dictatorship"
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2016 at 12:52pm
snobb wrote:
[QUOTE=siLLy puPPy]That's true but it's a drop in the bucket compared to what the US does in world occupation and theft of other nation's resources. I'm not defending Russia's aggressive behavior in that region by any means but the Syria thing is riddled with inconsistencies in reporting and i have not been convinced either way about what is happening there. And when it's all said and done, it's not our business as Americans to be there. We have a crumbling country and spend all our resources keeping corporations rich.
I respect Putin for a reasons. He has allowed Edward Snowden asylum. Snowden has been heroic in exposing how invasive and insidious our government really is. Also he has been rejecting genetically modified crops and the whole notion of corporations being able to patent life forms.
In short, Russia has not done anything the US hasn't done a million times over. It's a mixed bag for sure but i'm happy to see another power fighting back against the world domination that our leaders seem to be salivating over.
The same could be said about China, India, Brazil. There are both positive and negative aspects of their nations all playing out simultaneously.
Unfortuantely we live in a univesre where negative and postive energy are in constant flux. This plays out in the human world as dictated by physics. It has always been this way and always will unless we literally pop into a different dimension or something where the rules are different |
Putin's aggressive propaganda is in big part based on use of so-called "useful idiots" ( http://https//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot" rel="nofollow - http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot ) - Westerners who because of one or another reason are not happy with their own government/career/personal life and are searching on "easy" alternative. They are usually too lazy for searching the info in alternative sources and are easy victims of straight Russian propaganda.
I will not disagree that there are too many idiots who just buy the goods with absolutely no research. Most Americans are sheep and that's we just had the two lamest candidates of all time compete for president In Syria, just some weeks ago Russian planes bombed Red Cross humanitarian help convoy killing lot of drivers and personal. They are dropping bombs on hospitals and schools in areas, controlled by anti pro-Russian regime. Nothing is strange here though - Putin did totally same in Chechnya some years ago - just destroyed all big town with civil population in his own country. Have any American president ever bombed New Orleans or San Francisco? I understand the stance about Syria but there is plenty of emerging evidence that the US has been funding groups like Da' esh and is trying harder and harder to establish NATO forces ever closer to Russia's borders. I see some (not all) of what Russia is doing for it to protect itself from the ever closer creeping invaders. Is it justified? Who knows. I'm just saying i understand their tactics. The US is more complicated than a president bombing parts of our country. In our case, we slaughtered the Native Americans in great numbers, took their lands and used slave labor to build the infrastructure. Then we stole large parts of Mexico and other lands across the world for our military bases. The police have been killing innocent people for some time here and neglect is rampant. Flint, Michigan's water supply for example as well as what happens after hurricanes and other disasters. They are destroying cities by not doing anything. Snowden - ask him if he's happy living in Russia . I know only two Americans emigrated to Russia during last 50 yrs - Snowden and folk singer Dean Reed somewhere in 70s. Dean Reed left Russia after few months for E.Germany (can't accept their way of living) and dead after some years from alcoholism. From other hand, you can see millions of Russian living in Western world - it's difficult to compare life standards in "non-perfect" Western world and 19 century imperialism based Eurasian "soft dictatorship"
I can't argue with that one! I have visited Russia and many Eastern European nations. While i could totally see living in Krakow or Prague for example, Russia did NOT appeal to me at all. There are many, many things i do not like about Russia, but there are other things i do. I feel if they ever got their act together they could be an amazing country but they took the wrong road after WW2 just like we did in my opinion. Both nations have become aggressive behemoths at the expense of others. I'm sure Snowden would rather be home but the government here is the evil empire and he pissed on their parade
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2016 at 1:08pm
Krakow and Prague are excellent places to live, as well as Budapest or Vilnius as well All these places are million miles away from any Russian town
If you know Russian history and culture you know that what you call "problem" with Russian way is not after WWII problem, but last 700-800 yrs problem. It's a theme for separate discussion, but for sure you know that they don't find their way starting from Novgorod Rus' and Moscow Rus' era. Are they Europe - no way. Are they Asia - partially yes. Their elite are often impressed by Western civilization, but simple people and big part of authorities are heavily rooted in Genghis Khan Golden Horde culture.
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2016 at 1:36pm
^ I haven't been to Vilnius but the 3 Baltic States are definately on my list. I did go to Hrodna, Belarus right next door to you though :) I agree with everything you're saying. I read an entire history book on Russia although i've forgotten much of it at this point. They have always been poised to be the next empire on earth and then shoot themselves in the foot. However, there have been amazing amounts of hidden scientific research that has emerged from the former Soviet Uniion. They accomplished many amazing things although it was mostly at the expense of the average person. I'm very interested in that country for some reason. It's just plain weird
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2016 at 1:50pm
I know Hrodna - whole Belarus is quite unique museum of Soviet Union stayed till nowadays. Russia mostly lost this spirit, but Belorus behave as if Soviet Union still exists. In some places you can feel like you're in Russia ca. 1985.
Baltics have no relation with all this , closest town to imagine what Vilnius is is Krakow
Not sure what kind of Soviet researches you mean - technological? Soviets did a lot but almost everything has been related with military industry. Almost nothing has been done till the proper stage though. Soon after graduation in mid 80s I dealt with nano-coverings projects, five or six yrs ago I did some research for Oxford University on same subject - Russians offered them technologies from that field. I've been almost shocked that the technology was almost at the same level as in late 80s, and still unfinished.
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2016 at 5:28pm
Yes, Minsk was very much like a Soviet Union museum. It is literally the strangest place i've ever visited. Belarus is definately stuck in a time warp. Yes, i know Lithuania has close ties with Poland because they are Catholic traditionally. Vilnius looks like a wonderful place to visit. I'll get there some day. Still wanting to do the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok.
I'm talking about secret technologies. Keep in mind that most advanced technologies went underground in the 1930s and have been kept from the public eyes ever since. Soviet scientists performed many experiments ranging from pyramid technology to the discovery of orgone energy as well as other metaphysical phenomena that most would call spiritualism. Upon the collapse in the early 90s, much of this was leaked on the nascent internet and has been documented but only discussed in very small circles. The research not only proved aspects of the nature of the uniiverse that the ancients were well aware of (like portal technology etc).
There is a push by insider's to leak all this information to the public but the illuminati has firm control and a kill switch on the entire power grid and internet so the battle continues on how to relay a full disclosure of 70 years worth of advanced technology onto a mostly unsuspecting world. It's fascinating stuff. Both the Soviets and the US were behind the Nazis in much of this technology and after WW2 the real Nazis lived on in both the Americas and the USSR
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 10 Nov 2016 at 1:11am
Right 4 days ago (at November 7, the 99-th Jubilee of Bolshevik's Revolution in Russia) there in Minsk Belorussian President Lukashenka opened new Lenin (!) monument in Minsk's central square. No Castros/ Venezuela spend money on such things nowadays. I live just 160 miles away from Minsk, so it's like a time machine travel to the past (it takes 2 hours by modern train, but all Westerners need visas to visit Belorus; traveling by car is more complicated since besides of having visa one must declare his own car as "temporary import item" on Belorussian border, it usually takes few hours and requires same operation ("re-import of your own car procedures") on return)
Westerners unfamiliar with roots of Russian mentality often call it "mystical", sometimes it attracts them. Reality is much simpler - Russian mentality/culture has been formed under influence of two strongly opposite factors: Central Asian nomads (starting from Genghis Khan) tradition and West European civilization. Russians are most Western of all Central Asian nation (or most Eastern of European nation - as rusophiles say) and their mentality is a mix of naturally antagonistic Asian irrational mysticism and European rationalism and logic (cemented by Orthodox Christianity - most radical and irrational form of major Christian religion wing)
All history of Russia is a history of internal fights between their two main streams, with variable success from one or another side. Unfortunately for us Westerners, what they are today is an explosive mix of Western consuming society and dark Eurasian irrational believing that nothing depends on single individual, with wish of having "good Czar" who will solve all their problems and will make their life better and almost panic fear to make any decision by themselves (and being responsible for the result).
So, for hundreds years Russia was a great soil for millions of mystic and irrational fairy-tails, religions, theories,etc,etc. From Rasputin to Bakunin, to Altay Mountains and Siberian taiga myths,etc,etc. I grew up hearing all that sh*t around and we all insiders knew very well that 99% of that all always were lies. Irrational believers under long-time pressure from dictators just tried to make their life ... "more colorful" creating all that myths (and very often believing in them themselves). If you will dig deeper under almost any of such myth you will realize one day that it's just another nice fairy-tail, you can't blame the nation who stayed in darkness and under pressure for ages for dreaming to live better life though. Since you speak Russian you most probably know some great books of Russian greatest writer from 90s Victor Pelevin on that subject.
Pelevin was extremely popular during their more liberal period in 90s (during Yeltzin president-ship) but with increase of Putin's regime many Russians started hating Pelevin and he left Russia for Tibet (not sure if he's still alive and lives there).
Anyway, Westerners for years were attracted by some irrational cultures, just depending on personal taste (and financial possibilities) one could chose Goa,Tibet or less touristic Russian Siberia
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 10 Nov 2016 at 8:33am
^ I don't disagree with anything you say! I find the culture fascinating because of its complexity. You may be too close for comfort and have little love for the country but from a distance it does have an exotic flair :)
Goa, Tibet and pretty much every other country is on my list of interest as well. Currently i'm learning Mandarin Chinese and Japanese as i've become interested in those cultures. As far as romanticism the same could be said of the US and Western cultures. True that we have a higher standard of living but we are killing the planet with our consumptive habits. I studied biology with focus on ecology and environmental science and i can honestly say that humanity are the same filthy pigs no matter where they live and which languages they speak. I do admire the Soviet experiment of socialism although doing so under a dictatorial type of leadership was certainly the wrong way to go.
BTW, what does Lithuania provide for the world's economy? I know there is an amber industry on the coast but there must be more going on there than gem stones :)
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 10 Nov 2016 at 9:45am
Yeh, we are too close for love.... In 13-14 century Lithuania was largest country in all Europe, later we issued first Constitution in Europe (second in the world - after US). And then - starting from late 1700s we were occupied by Russian Empire up to the end of WWI. With total ban of Lithuanian books,papers and schools - in fact under total rusification. Freedom came in 1918 and lasted up to 1940 - Russia occupied us again. With short break between 1941-1944 (we were occupied by Hitler's Germany), Soviet Russian occupation lasted up to late 80s. During WWII on ALL fronts Lithuania lost around 20 000, starting from 1940 Russian occupants killed or departed to Gulags and Siberia more than 200 000, many of them just died there. Catholic churches around country have been used by occupants for cement or grain warehousing... But saddest thing is that when Soviet Union just broke up, we all thought that it's a beginning of new possibilities for us and Russians as well. Now , 25 yrs after, they returned back to XIX century Eurasian Empire concept with aggressive rhetoric and even more aggressive actions. Their dictator tries to restore "Great Empire" taking back one or another piece of territory of their neighbors by power, and - what is much more pity - absolutely bigger part of their population support him in this. In Soviet Union times everyone hated the regime - doesn't matter if it was people of occupied countries, or Russians themselves. Now they support regime because Putin promised them "to make Russia Great again"
Amber is kind of national totem here, like kangaroos in Australia or kiwis in New Zealand. For sure you can find jewelry and souvenirs with it everywhere, but it's hardly an industry. Main country's income comes from FinTech and IT services for banking industry (European IT services centers for UK's Barclays, Western Union, Swedish Swedbank,SEB are all based here in Vilnius). We produce lot of IT soft ware for world leading IT companies, as IBM. Then - most modern laser technologies (selling to Japan mostly) and biotech (new technologies and products for US). From more traditional fields - foodstuff industry, machinery production, partially agriculture. and tourism,transport and logistics. We have one of the fastest internet in the world covering 98% of territory (only optical) and 4G mobile operators covering 95% of country's territory, so generally we are quite modern nowadays. I lived for years around Europe (incl. UK, Netherlands,Austria,etc) and in some fields we are surprisingly ahead of many highly-developed lands. You still can find lot of Russian occupation scars almost everywhere, mostly in a form of ugly faceless Soviet-type buildings (for sure you saw lot of them in Russia and Belorus, they were absolutely same everywhere) and even more deep scars in some people mentality.
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 10 Nov 2016 at 1:57pm
^ Thanks for the Lithuana 101 educational course! A country i know too little about other than reading the Lonely Planet travel guide :) So instead of kiwis we can called amberites or something?
I saw plenty of souless architecture in all of Eastern Europe. I call them commy-plexes. Even beautiful unscarred from WW2 cities like Krawkow and Praha had plenty of them surrounding the centers. Yeah, your history leaves little room for Russian appreciation day for sure. I'm sure you can relate to Native Americans and Black slaves in many ways, but despite it all, here you are with your native language in tact and a country on the map!
My biggest understanding of the horrors of European past was when i visited Auschwitz near Oświęcim in Poland. Before that i was unaware of the sheer scale of the monstrosities that the continent endured from the Nazis. That map with all the train routes percolating even into the furthest of the Greek Isles was terrifying. Ahh, humanity never learns. Thanks the heavens for music, huh?
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 11 Nov 2016 at 1:14am
Vilnius looks like this nowadays
few more illustrative pictures representing Lithuania:
Old Castle on the island of a lake in Trakai in former Lithuanian capitol of Trakai
Seaport of Klaipeda
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 11 Nov 2016 at 1:17am
and - we are a little bit Rastafarian, just look at our flag
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Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 11 Nov 2016 at 3:41am
Returning back to the thread's main theme:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/moscow-had-contacts-with-trump-team-during-campaign-russian-diplomat-says/2016/11/10/28fb82fa-a73d-11e6-9bd6-184ab22d218e_story.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/moscow-had-contacts-with-trump-team-during-campaign-russian-diplomat-says/2016/11/10/28fb82fa-a73d-11e6-9bd6-184ab22d218e_story.html
I spoke on phone yesterday night with our friends from US East Coast, they believe that the party and the team will assure that America's course wouldn't be drastically changed. We will see....
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 11 Nov 2016 at 6:52am
^ Nice pics AND flag. The castle on the island is on my list when i get there.
So Trump could very well be convicted of fraud before he even takes office. I believe (as do others) that he was just a lure to get Pence into office. There is also bantering that our archaic electoral college could switch to Clinton in December for their final vote.
Personally i've dug deep into power structures and really don't think it matters in the big picture who wins. I personally think Trump winning has gotten some of our complacent, head-in-the-clouds populace off their asses and finally getting involved in the real world around them
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 11 Nov 2016 at 9:42am
^ We don't know what Trump's winning means yet, but so far most signs still point towards not good. I try to remain positive in any situation, but considering the things that he said that made him popular, it says some very bad things about my country (US).
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 11 Nov 2016 at 8:12pm
Check out this article. It's pretty right on IMHO
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/09/donald-trump-will-be-president-this-is-what-we-do-next/" rel="nofollow - Donald Trump Will Be President. This Is What We Do Next.
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 11 Nov 2016 at 8:24pm
A lot of good stuff there, best of all, get involved.
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