You're probably confusing median household income, which is around $70k, with median income.
In any case, this is off-topic.
You seem awfully hesitant to provide a source for this data. And you seem to want to blame me for your failings. I wonder why you suddenly want to end this discussion without providing support for your data.
The point of contention here is you're probably using household income, which is $70k, which might include dual incomes, That household income figure is computed using 130M households, whereas the GDP per capita figure is divided across 330M citizens,
The US median income figure of individuals earning an income is a lot lower than $70k, it is somewhere between $30k-$55k, my estimate above was actually pretty generous.
You're probably confusing median household income, which is around $70k, with median income.
In any case, this is off-topic.
You seem awfully hesitant to provide a source for this data. And you seem to want to blame me for your failings. I wonder why you suddenly want to end this discussion without providing support for your data.
Here is a source from a two minute Google search. You can do the same at www.google.com.
Since you are quick to provide assistance to the "America is doomed crowd" can you provide the quick Google link supporting Putin88's GDP per capita number for America?
America isn't doomed, but we are certainly open to valid criticism. Can you link his GDP per Capita post? I am glad I could be of help. Google is a good site.
I see that the clowns are up bright and early telling everyone how GREAT Russia is.
This is a country that cant even compete FAIRLY on the world stage, without a state sponsored systematic doping operation that has been in existence going back to the 1984 Olympic Games.
Plain and simple, theyve engaged in STATE sponsored doping. They are nothing than low life CHEATERS.
Maybe the pro-Russia crowd here can tell us all why the Russian Federation got banned from multiple Summer and Winter Olympic Games, as well as the World Cup.
Talk about a dishonest corrupt country with no integrity.
Biden mentions that Russia expended 100k mobiks to take Bakhmut. Talk about Pyrhhic.
Over 100000 RussIan casualties just in Bakhmut, that’s a catastrophic level of loss, and the US has actually been cautious in such estimates. https://t.co/STmBTwVgb9
— Phillips P. OBrien (@PhillipsPOBrien) May 21, 2023
Mobilised Russians have reported 90+% casualties previously - there's not much distance between that and a complete wipeout.
And to no one's surprise, this war continues to take its toll on Russia. Russia has no long-term plan with Ukraine. It's far too large for a country of Russia's limited economic might to swallow. The longer that Russia stays in this war, the more likely it is to destroy Russia. Ukraine of course is in terrible shape as a result of this unjust war, but they are the victim here. Unfortunately for the Russian people, they are also Putin's victims (except for the ones who share in the corrupt kleptocracy).
This happens when you start slaughtering your own working age population and drive a million other possible employees away https://t.co/dHuHw03SKR
— Phillips P. OBrien (@PhillipsPOBrien) May 21, 2023
In case anyone still had any doubt about the ties between Trump and Putin.
Striking how Putin is adopting Trump's perceived enemies as his own. The new Russian sanctions list includes people Trump considers adversaries like Letitia James, Brad Raffensperger and the officer who shot Ashli Babbitt even though none has anything to do with Russia policy.
The US has just taken way too long to provide Ukraine with the F-16 support they need. Hopefully the signals a new level of cooperation and we can stop pretending that Russia will "escalate" anything based on what we do. Russia is already all the way in and at this point nothing short of a total defeat where Russia's population understands the magnitude of Putin's era will suffice.
"How would you respond to the [claims of Russian Foreign affairs ministry] that supplying F-16s is a colossal risk?" - @POTUS was asked in Hiroshima at the G7 Summit.
I see that the clowns are up bright and early telling everyone how GREAT Russia is.
This is a country that cant even compete FAIRLY on the world stage, without a state sponsored systematic doping operation that has been in existence going back to the 1984 Olympic Games.
Plain and simple, theyve engaged in STATE sponsored doping. They are nothing than low life CHEATERS.
Maybe the pro-Russia crowd here can tell us all why the Russian Federation got banned from multiple Summer and Winter Olympic Games, as well as the World Cup.
Talk about a dishonest corrupt country with no integrity.
Carl Lewis, Butch Reynolds, Regina Jacobs, Justin Gatlin, Tim Montgomery, Marion Jones, Lance Armstrong and BALCO have left the chat.
You're probably confusing median household income, which is around $70k, with median income.
In any case, this is off-topic.
You seem awfully hesitant to provide a source for this data. And you seem to want to blame me for your failings. I wonder why you suddenly want to end this discussion without providing support for your data.
The point of contention here is you're probably using household income, which is $70k, which might include dual incomes, That household income figure is computed using 130M households, whereas the GDP per capita figure is divided across 330M citizens,
The US median income figure of individuals earning an income is a lot lower than $70k, it is somewhere between $30k-$55k, my estimate above was actually pretty generous.
Ok, thank you all. IMF GDP per capita compared to median worker salary (a difficult measure to compare across countries, but Putin88's preferred metric). According to Putin88, the U.S. is at 33% which is "one of the highest in the world" (high is bad). Ok, let's see.
U.S. 33% ($80k - $54k) / $80k Russia 63% ($14.4k - $5.4k) / $14.4k
And now we know why Putin88 wanted to exit this conversation so quickly
You're right in a sense, private-sponsored doping is more efficient, Carl Lewis never did get caught.
There's no question that the Soviet era eastern block nations had state-sponsored doping programs, but it is hypocritical or naive to think that doping wasn't rampant among US athletes as well, and furthermore, that this was tolerated by USOC and other insitutions - from Lewis' wiki page:
Quote:
In 2003, Wade Exum, the United States Olympic Committee's director of drug control administration from 1991 to 2000, gave copies of documents to Sports Illustrated that revealed that some 100 American athletes had failed drug tests from 1988 to 2000, arguing that they should have been prevented from competing in the Olympics but were nevertheless cleared to compete.
Before showing the documents to Sports Illustrated, Exum tried to use them in a lawsuit against USOC, accusing the organization of racial discrimination and wrongful termination against him and cover-up over the failed tests. His case was summarily dismissed by the Denver federal Court for lack of evidence. The USOC claimed his case "baseless" as he himself was the one in charge of screening the anti-doping test program of the organization and clarifying that the athletes were cleared according to the rules.
Lewis was among the named athletes and Exum's documents revealed that at the 1988 Olympics trials he had three positive results on a combined test for pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine. All were and are banned in sport due to their activity as stimulants, though at the time all three were available over-the-counter as dietary supplements or treatments for cold and allergy symptoms. The combined concentrations of these stimulants detected in the three successive tests were 2 ppm, 4 ppm and 6 ppm.
There's no question that the Soviet era eastern block nations had state-sponsored doping programs...
Im not talking about 30 and 40 years ago. Im talking about STATE SPONSORED systematic doping within the last decade (since Sochi 2014).
As a result, your "whataboutism" comparison of apples and oranges fails terribly.
On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned Russia from all international sport for four years, after it was found that data provided by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had been manipulated by Russian authorities with a goal of protecting athletes involved in its state-sponsored doping scheme.
Were talking HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of Russian athletes.
You might want to inform yourselfvwith the following link regarding the conditions for REINSTATEMENT:
You're probably confusing median household income, which is around $70k, with median income.
In any case, this is off-topic.
You seem awfully hesitant to provide a source for this data. And you seem to want to blame me for your failings. I wonder why you suddenly want to end this discussion without providing support for your data.
The point of contention here is you're probably using household income, which is $70k, which might include dual incomes, That household income figure is computed using 130M households, whereas the GDP per capita figure is divided across 330M citizens,
The US median income figure of individuals earning an income is a lot lower than $70k, it is somewhere between $30k-$55k, my estimate above was actually pretty generous.
Ok, thank you all. IMF GDP per capita compared to median worker salary (a difficult measure to compare across countries, but Putin88's preferred metric). According to Putin88, the U.S. is at 33% which is "one of the highest in the world" (high is bad). Ok, let's see.
U.S. 33% ($80k - $54k) / $80k Russia 63% ($14.4k - $5.4k) / $14.4k
And now we know why Putin88 wanted to exit this conversation so quickly
The US media income from a quick Google search (see link above) is $31k, and that of Russia is $8k, so the US delta 80/31 vs 14.4/8 is still higher. though not by much, I'll give you that.
Quote:
Google Search Results "median salary Russia"
About 5,070,000 results (0.46 seconds) Featured snippet from the web
Russia Annual Household Income per Capita reached 7,932.623 USD in Dec 2022, compared with the previous value of 6,561.323 USD in Dec 2021.
My point was that the GDP per capita figure in the US, currently at $80k, is highly misleading. the average US household, constituted by 2.5 persons, is not getting anywhere near $200K/yr in living standards!
This is further exacerbated by the fact that people in Russia, China or many parts of Europe for that matter have access to
free healthcare,
free higher education,
subsidized transport,
lower housing costs
lower food costs,
lower crime levels ("bad" neighborhoods are livable)
fewer social issues.
None of these crucial factors affecting living standards are accounted for in the nominal GDP/capita calculus.
This is actually a good topic, would be glad to continue the conversation in an appropriate thread.
There's no question that the Soviet era eastern block nations had state-sponsored doping programs...
Im not talking about 30 and 40 years ago. Im talking about STATE SPONSORED systematic doping within the last decade (since Sochi 2014).
As a result, your "whataboutism" comparison of apples and oranges fails terribly.
On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned Russia from all international sport for four years, after it was found that data provided by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had been manipulated by Russian authorities with a goal of protecting athletes involved in its state-sponsored doping scheme.
Were talking HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of Russian athletes.
I've just showed you proof that the USOC and other instances have a history of protecting its doped athletes, and yes, in large numbers too, 100 athletes in a decade. What was remarkable about that was that most of these 100 doped athletes, including Lewis, got away with it, because of player$ like Nike etc. Has the economic and organizational dynamic within the US olympic apparatus changed much since? I doubt it.
The recent sanctions against Russian athletes might be politically motivated, the IOC is not an impartial agency, western economic interests and corporate sponsors are at the very least highly influential in this process.
After Brittney Griner played in her first WNBA game last night since coming home from prison in Russia, Phoenix Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard was angry Los Angeles didn’t sellout the arena for her return:
You're probably confusing median household income, which is around $70k, with median income.
In any case, this is off-topic.
You seem awfully hesitant to provide a source for this data. And you seem to want to blame me for your failings. I wonder why you suddenly want to end this discussion without providing support for your data.
The point of contention here is you're probably using household income, which is $70k, which might include dual incomes, That household income figure is computed using 130M households, whereas the GDP per capita figure is divided across 330M citizens,
The US median income figure of individuals earning an income is a lot lower than $70k, it is somewhere between $30k-$55k, my estimate above was actually pretty generous.
Ok, thank you all. IMF GDP per capita compared to median worker salary (a difficult measure to compare across countries, but Putin88's preferred metric). According to Putin88, the U.S. is at 33% which is "one of the highest in the world" (high is bad). Ok, let's see.
U.S. 33% ($80k - $54k) / $80k Russia 63% ($14.4k - $5.4k) / $14.4k
And now we know why Putin88 wanted to exit this conversation so quickly
The US media income from a quick Google search (see link above) is $31k, and that of Russia is $8k, so the US delta 80/31 vs 14.4/8 is still higher. though not by much, I'll give you that.
Quote:
Google Search Results "median salary Russia"
About 5,070,000 results (0.46 seconds) Featured snippet from the web
Russia Annual Household Income per Capita reached 7,932.623 USD in Dec 2022, compared with the previous value of 6,561.323 USD in Dec 2021.
My point was that the GDP per capita figure in the US, currently at $80k, is highly misleading. the average US household, constituted by 2.5 persons, is not getting anywhere near $200K/yr in living standards!
This is further exacerbated by the fact that people in Russia, China or many parts of Europe for that matter have access to
free healthcare,
free higher education,
subsidized transport,
lower housing costs
lower food costs,
lower crime levels ("bad" neighborhoods are livable)
fewer social issues.
None of these crucial factors affecting living standards are accounted for in the nominal GDP/capita calculus.
This is actually a good topic, would be glad to continue the conversation in an appropriate thread.
You're probably confusing median household income, which is around $70k, with median income.
In any case, this is off-topic.
You seem awfully hesitant to provide a source for this data. And you seem to want to blame me for your failings. I wonder why you suddenly want to end this discussion without providing support for your data.
The point of contention here is you're probably using household income, which is $70k, which might include dual incomes, That household income figure is computed using 130M households, whereas the GDP per capita figure is divided across 330M citizens,
The US median income figure of individuals earning an income is a lot lower than $70k, it is somewhere between $30k-$55k, my estimate above was actually pretty generous.
Ok, thank you all. IMF GDP per capita compared to median worker salary (a difficult measure to compare across countries, but Putin88's preferred metric). According to Putin88, the U.S. is at 33% which is "one of the highest in the world" (high is bad). Ok, let's see.
U.S. 33% ($80k - $54k) / $80k Russia 63% ($14.4k - $5.4k) / $14.4k
And now we know why Putin88 wanted to exit this conversation so quickly
The US media income from a quick Google search (see link above) is $31k, and that of Russia is $8k, so the US delta 80/31 vs 14.4/8 is still higher. though not by much, I'll give you that.
Quote:
Google Search Results "median salary Russia"
About 5,070,000 results (0.46 seconds) Featured snippet from the web
Russia Annual Household Income per Capita reached 7,932.623 USD in Dec 2022, compared with the previous value of 6,561.323 USD in Dec 2021.
My point was that the GDP per capita figure in the US, currently at $80k, is highly misleading. the average US household, constituted by 2.5 persons, is not getting anywhere near $200K/yr in living standards!
This is further exacerbated by the fact that people in Russia, China or many parts of Europe for that matter have access to
free healthcare,
free higher education,
subsidized transport,
lower housing costs
lower food costs,
lower crime levels ("bad" neighborhoods are livable)
fewer social issues.
None of these crucial factors affecting living standards are accounted for in the nominal GDP/capita calculus.
This is actually a good topic, would be glad to continue the conversation in an appropriate thread.
The household income figure from that dataset for the US is $36,430, while the household figure I've used for the US was much higher.
Start a thread on this if you want to further discuss this topic, which I will reply to later this week. I don't like wasting my Sunday afternoon quibbling over that type of minutia, which is fairly trivial appendage to the main point which I have made above, that of US living standards being on the decline, and being jeopardized by not having these benefits:
free universal healthcare,
free higher education,
subsidized transport,
lower housing costs
lower food costs,
lower crime levels ("bad" neighborhoods are livable)
You're probably confusing median household income, which is around $70k, with median income.
In any case, this is off-topic.
You seem awfully hesitant to provide a source for this data. And you seem to want to blame me for your failings. I wonder why you suddenly want to end this discussion without providing support for your data.
The point of contention here is you're probably using household income, which is $70k, which might include dual incomes, That household income figure is computed using 130M households, whereas the GDP per capita figure is divided across 330M citizens,
The US median income figure of individuals earning an income is a lot lower than $70k, it is somewhere between $30k-$55k, my estimate above was actually pretty generous.
Ok, thank you all. IMF GDP per capita compared to median worker salary (a difficult measure to compare across countries, but Putin88's preferred metric). According to Putin88, the U.S. is at 33% which is "one of the highest in the world" (high is bad). Ok, let's see.
U.S. 33% ($80k - $54k) / $80k Russia 63% ($14.4k - $5.4k) / $14.4k
And now we know why Putin88 wanted to exit this conversation so quickly
The US media income from a quick Google search (see link above) is $31k, and that of Russia is $8k, so the US delta 80/31 vs 14.4/8 is still higher. though not by much, I'll give you that.
Quote:
Google Search Results "median salary Russia"
About 5,070,000 results (0.46 seconds) Featured snippet from the web
Russia Annual Household Income per Capita reached 7,932.623 USD in Dec 2022, compared with the previous value of 6,561.323 USD in Dec 2021.
My point was that the GDP per capita figure in the US, currently at $80k, is highly misleading. the average US household, constituted by 2.5 persons, is not getting anywhere near $200K/yr in living standards!
This is further exacerbated by the fact that people in Russia, China or many parts of Europe for that matter have access to
free healthcare,
free higher education,
subsidized transport,
lower housing costs
lower food costs,
lower crime levels ("bad" neighborhoods are livable)
fewer social issues.
None of these crucial factors affecting living standards are accounted for in the nominal GDP/capita calculus.
This is actually a good topic, would be glad to continue the conversation in an appropriate thread.
The household income figure from that dataset for the US is $36,430, while the household figure I've used for the US was much higher.
Start a thread on this if you want to further discuss this topic, which I will reply to later this week. I don't like wasting my Sunday afternoon quibbling over that type of minutia, which is fairly trivial appendage to the main point which I have made above, that of US living standards being on the decline, and being jeopardized by not having these benefits:
free universal healthcare,
free higher education,
subsidized transport,
lower housing costs
lower food costs,
lower crime levels ("bad" neighborhoods are livable)
fewer social issues.
I think we can all agree it is hard to get good data for ****-hole countries like Russia
I see that the clowns are up bright and early telling everyone how GREAT Russia is.
This is a country that cant even compete FAIRLY on the world stage, without a state sponsored systematic doping operation that has been in existence going back to the 1984 Olympic Games.
Plain and simple, theyve engaged in STATE sponsored doping. They are nothing than low life CHEATERS.
Maybe the pro-Russia crowd here can tell us all why the Russian Federation got banned from multiple Summer and Winter Olympic Games, as well as the World Cup.
Talk about a dishonest corrupt country with no integrity.
Just like CHINA? Why do we allow the Confucius Institutes on American campuses?
"Concern that the Institutes engaged in activities more closely akin to espionage than to cultural promotion prompted the Nordic countries to take the lead in shutting them down."
There's no question that the Soviet era eastern block nations had state-sponsored doping programs...
Im not talking about 30 and 40 years ago. Im talking about STATE SPONSORED systematic doping within the last decade (since Sochi 2014).
As a result, your "whataboutism" comparison of apples and oranges fails terribly.
On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned Russia from all international sport for four years, after it was found that data provided by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had been manipulated by Russian authorities with a goal of protecting athletes involved in its state-sponsored doping scheme.
Were talking HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of Russian athletes.
I've just showed you proof that the USOC and other instances have a history of protecting its doped athletes, and yes, in large numbers too, 100 athletes in a decade. What was remarkable about that was that most of these 100 doped athletes, including Lewis, got away with it, because of player$ like Nike etc. Has the economic and organizational dynamic within the US olympic apparatus changed much since? I doubt it.
The recent sanctions against Russian athletes might be politically motivated, the IOC is not an impartial agency, western economic interests and corporate sponsors are at the very least highly influential in this process.
Our FBI protected a doctor sexually assaulting US gymnasts!
There's no question that the Soviet era eastern block nations had state-sponsored doping programs...
Im not talking about 30 and 40 years ago. Im talking about STATE SPONSORED systematic doping within the last decade (since Sochi 2014).
As a result, your "whataboutism" comparison of apples and oranges fails terribly.
On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned Russia from all international sport for four years, after it was found that data provided by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had been manipulated by Russian authorities with a goal of protecting athletes involved in its state-sponsored doping scheme.
Were talking HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of Russian athletes.
I've just showed you proof that the USOC and other instances have a history of protecting its doped athletes, and yes, in large numbers too, 100 athletes in a decade. What was remarkable about that was that most of these 100 doped athletes, including Lewis, got away with it, because of player$ like Nike etc. Has the economic and organizational dynamic within the US olympic apparatus changed much since? I doubt it.
The recent sanctions against Russian athletes might be politically motivated, the IOC is not an impartial agency, western economic interests and corporate sponsors are at the very least highly influential in this process.
Our FBI protected a doctor sexually assaulting US gymnasts!
Yes. Repeal and replace the FBI. It is bipartisan.
Our FBI protected a doctor sexually assaulting US gymnasts!
You sound like a HUGE gymnastics fan to me.
I bet you were outraged at the time that Larry Nasser was "operating". Just like you were outraged when Simone Biles bowed out of the U.S. Women's Team competition in Tokyo.
NATO has been in Ukraine since 2014, funding, training and equipping the Ukrainian army, putting its weight behind the post-Maidan Coup military repression of the Donbass rebellion.
From the horse's mouth:
Quote:
"The war started in 2014.And since 2014, NATO Allies have provided support to Ukraine, with training, with equipment, so the Ukrainian Armed Forces were much stronger in 2022, than they were in 2020, and 2014. And of course, that made a huge difference when President Putin decided to attack Ukraine."
Jens Stoltenberg, head of NATO, Feb 14, 2023
In late 2021-early 22, Ukraine had amassed an army of 60,000+ troops that were about to overrun the Donbass rebels. This is when Russia decided to intervene.
NATO has been in Ukraine since 2014, funding, training and equipping the Ukrainian army, putting its weight behind the post-Maidan Coup military repression of the Donbass rebellion.
From the horse's mouth:
Quote:
"The war started in 2014.And since 2014, NATO Allies have provided support to Ukraine, with training, with equipment, so the Ukrainian Armed Forces were much stronger in 2022, than they were in 2020, and 2014. And of course, that made a huge difference when President Putin decided to attack Ukraine."
Jens Stoltenberg, head of NATO, Feb 14, 2023
In late 2021-early 22, Ukraine had amassed an army of 60,000+ troops that were about to overrun the Donbass rebels. This is when Russia decided to intervene.
Translation: NATO's military aid and support to Ukraine was responsive to Russian aggression.
NATO has been in Ukraine since 2014, funding, training and equipping the Ukrainian army, putting its weight behind the post-Maidan Coup military repression of the Donbass rebellion.
From the horse's mouth:
Quote:
"The war started in 2014.And since 2014, NATO Allies have provided support to Ukraine, with training, with equipment, so the Ukrainian Armed Forces were much stronger in 2022, than they were in 2020, and 2014. And of course, that made a huge difference when President Putin decided to attack Ukraine."
Jens Stoltenberg, head of NATO, Feb 14, 2023
In late 2021-early 22, Ukraine had amassed an army of 60,000+ troops that were about to overrun the Donbass rebels. This is when Russia decided to intervene.
Beautiful obfuscation with language.
Plain language: Ukraine used its military in an attempt to regain control of territory invaded by insurgents/rebels armed, funded and supported by a hostile neighbor (read: Russia). In other words, Ukraine did exactly what any nation would do...because it is within their rights to protect their sovereignty.
Eastern Ukraine has deep Russian roots. Heck, I don't know why, but even Zelensky speaks Russian (and only guttural Ukranian). Ukraine eventually barred Russian cultural activities and even their language, eventually setting an elementary school on fire.
NATO has been in Ukraine since 2014, funding, training and equipping the Ukrainian army, putting its weight behind the post-Maidan Coup military repression of the Donbass rebellion.
From the horse's mouth:
Quote:
"The war started in 2014.And since 2014, NATO Allies have provided support to Ukraine, with training, with equipment, so the Ukrainian Armed Forces were much stronger in 2022, than they were in 2020, and 2014. And of course, that made a huge difference when President Putin decided to attack Ukraine."
Jens Stoltenberg, head of NATO, Feb 14, 2023
In late 2021-early 22, Ukraine had amassed an army of 60,000+ troops that were about to overrun the Donbass rebels. This is when Russia decided to intervene.
Translation: NATO's military aid and support to Ukraine was responsive to Russian aggression.
The Donbass rebellion was organic, fueled by the locals' outrage at the Kiev government, which was set up after the Maidan Coup against their democratically-elected government, which they've voted for, overwhelmingly so:
The Maidan coup government treated them like 2nd-class citizens, and attacking their cultural heritage, went on an active campaign to de-russify its large Russophone minority, which makes up 1/3 of the country.
This is what prompted the Donbass rebellion, and the Crimean pro-Russia movement. Up to that point, these locals had a dual Ukrainian and Russian identity, they turned against the Kiev government after the Maidan Coup. Both in Crimea and in the Donbass, the army garrisons stationed there were made up of locals who, when ordered by the Maidan government to violently repress these rebellions, switched sides instead, en masse.
If the Donbass rebellion weren't an organic movement, it would have been crushed right away by the Kiev regime, which sent its tanks and air force to bomb cities like Donetsk, Kramatorsk Slavyansk etc in 2014-15. Instead, the Kiev regime forces got their asses kicked by the locals, who have a reputation for being fierce, the area having traditionally been a mining and industrial center, similar to the German Ruhr or parts of Pennsylvania.
The Russians did help some, but the locals shouldered almost all the burden, something that the DPR/LPR are very bitter about, to this day. Even in the first 6 months of the Russian invasion. these local armies bore the grunt of the fighting and losses on the Donbass front. DPR leaders like Strelkov are still very bitter at Putin for not having intervened earlier.
I've never been to Russia, but apparently both the Moscow and Leningrad subway systems are major tourist attractions, conveying a sense of European grandeur, in addition to being very clean and well-maintained. Not bad for a subway network where an unlimited ride costs 45 cents...
Also Moscow and St Petersburg are the safest big cities in Europe, according to some Parisian friends who visited, one said it reminded him of Paris from a few decades ago.
Apparently there are also a lot of newly built stations that are very modern, but just as elaborate, 35 new stations in Moscow are being built this decade:
each station in Moscow has its own unique look and theme, this new one has a Chinese theme:
Most Russian airports are also very modern and architecturally elaborate, so much for the image of Russia as a s***hole...
NATO has been in Ukraine since 2014, funding, training and equipping the Ukrainian army, putting its weight behind the post-Maidan Coup military repression of the Donbass rebellion.
From the horse's mouth:
Quote:
"The war started in 2014.And since 2014, NATO Allies have provided support to Ukraine, with training, with equipment, so the Ukrainian Armed Forces were much stronger in 2022, than they were in 2020, and 2014. And of course, that made a huge difference when President Putin decided to attack Ukraine."
Jens Stoltenberg, head of NATO, Feb 14, 2023
In late 2021-early 22, Ukraine had amassed an army of 60,000+ troops that were about to overrun the Donbass rebels. This is when Russia decided to intervene.
Translation: NATO's military aid and support to Ukraine was responsive to Russian aggression.
