Opinions on Russians

[Manifest Destiny]

Sorry but I don't buy the "they put a gun to the peasant's head and made him walk the plank to fly the thing" argument. I also don't see how the US Space program is any safer than the Soviet / Russian one.

It's not so much putting a gun to people's heads as it is simply disregarding safety when it would compromise public appearance. A lot like Inese's Chernobyl comments, actually.

Regarding professional sports, steroid use is universal and ubiquotous. Professional athletes around the world cheat on a professional basis because that is what it takes to "be the best". Some get caught, many don't. Neither the Soviet Union nor Russia nor those evil Communists had or have a monopoly on steroid use. We all know that so why point the finger at "them"?

The difference is that American athletes aren't taken by the government as children and stuck in training facilities for most of their lives. Sure; plenty of athletes around the world use steroids. But how many of them were living in government run athletic facilities when it happened?

[Manifest Destiny]

Sure, it was the American taxpayer who paid for the success of the Russian space program, no doubt about that!



Yeah, you ARE naive.

But what do you think about countless victims of American imperialism and colonialism?

It's unethical, of course, but a drop in the bucket compared to what the USSR did.

[Hors]

Btw, Tristan once again exposes himself as a cheater/dishonorable person: he gave a rep point to a poster after publicly declaring that he's leaving the thread.

Or is he simply a woman seeking attention?

[Hors]

It's unethical, of course, but a drop in the bucket compared to what the USSR did.

You're comparing the almost complete annihilation of Amerinds, mass murder of countless zillions Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese etc. with what?

[RoyBatty]

It's not so much putting a gun to people's heads as it is simply disregarding safety when it would compromise public appearance. A lot like Inese's Chernobyl comments, actually.

Strange.... that's what investigative committees kept saying about the Space Shuttle disasters. "Culture of recklessness" etc.

The difference is that American athletes aren't taken by the government as children and stuck in training facilities for most of their lives. Sure; plenty of athletes around the world use steroids. But how many of them were living in government run athletic facilities when it happened?

Because in the USA everything is privatised and run by Corporations on behalf of the Government and what else is "Government" but the servant of the Corporations and the rich........

There have been some interesting recent developments as Comrade Bush and now, Comrade Banana have rapidly socialised spheres of the US Economy. The shape of the EU (particularly the governing structures) is also becoming more and more similar to that of the old Soviet Union. We sometimes (half) jokingly refer to it as the EUSSR. Let's see what the future brings!

[Hors]

When I look at Russian country in the map I feel respect...but I still remember 1920 when We can stop them

Ah, our Polish brothers tend to forget that at Visla was the end not of the Russian offensive on Warsaw, but of the Polish offensive on Kiev

[Osweo]

NASA Astronaut fatalities stand at around 22 vs 4 Soviet Cosmonaut fatalities.

Four? Laika, Belka, Strelka, who was the fourth?

[Brynhild]

I voted having no opinion on them, only because I'm rather ambiguous about them. I admire them for surviving in the harsh conditions and for their imperial past, but Russians nowadays, I really don't know.

Not many Russians would come to Australia - too far and probably too hot, so I haven't had to deal with them very much. Love their Vodka though!

[Loddfafner]

My line on Russia (I learned the concept of 'lines' from Russians) is that they are like the Italians in that they are palpably foreign but still a part of the greater European civilization. Recent Russian emigrants I encounter seem crassly materialistic or obnoxiously intense, but they may not be any more representative of the breed than brilliant, courteous African emigrants.

[Maelstrom]

You're comparing the almost complete annihilation of Amerinds, mass murder of countless zillions Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese etc. with what?

Not just that, but what about the strategic delay of entering both WWI and WWII? Indirectly, the USA bought about the deaths of thousands of people on the continent.

I do believe the poster you're quoting is trying to refer to Stalin's mass murderings. It would be a bit silly to go down that road though, as Stalin was by no means an ethnic Russian.