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Sanctions are a dirty western political trick just so the politicians here can say "we did something". Sanctions are useless! Do you know who they affect? Reg

by readhn 10y ago

Sanctions are a dirty western political trick just so the politicians here can say "we did something". Sanctions are useless! Do you know who they affect? Regular people ONLY. Who have no say in politics anymore over there (elections are rigged). Facts: 1. Top Russian government officials transferred their assets to Europe / USA over the years. They have their families and kids living abroad and going to European/American universities. 2. They have assets offshore not affected by russian currency fluctuations. Most have dual citizenships. If you want to hit them hard: arrest their wealth offshore; kick out their families from usa/europe. Why is that not happening? Why are we still allowing illegal wealth transfer through use of offshores? Why is prime-minister of Russia allowed to own a $20mil apartment in London? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3182636/Vladimir-Putin-s-Deputy-Prime-Minister-owns-secret-12million-apartment-just-short-walk-Downing-Street.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3182636/Vladimir-Put... Whats sanctions? Against who? Its a big joke!

emp_zealoth 10y ago
The point is to ruin Russia to the point they become North Korea and cannot afford the upkeep for it's military. Regular people? Boo-fucking-hoo. Maybe if they get off their asses and stop the Putin's insanity...but who are we kidding? People there dream of good old soviet imperium
- readhn 10y ago
  Ruining russian military? You mean rusting tanks from the 60's or expired rockets from cold war era? The military can not compete with the west anymore. People there stopped dreaming in the 90's when the ugly side of "new Russia" showed its face. As i said election process is rigged, many folks there want change. please, do not believe 75%+ public support ratings spewed out by state propaganda machines. they are simply untrue. Lots of folks are ashamed of conflict with Ukraine but unfortunately there is no political and social platform that allows to do anything about this. Anything thats against the state agenda gets nipped in the bud.
  - emp_zealoth 10y ago
    I've actually been to Russia, through Petersburg, all the way to Solovetsky island, spent around a month there. I'd say that sure, people are nice on a personal level, but some topics were off limits because it would end badly. While i know that the russian military has issues with equipment that is literally falling apart, let's not kid ourselves the west doesn't have similar issues. ICBM's don't need any contemporary electronics to be perfectly deadly. And let's not forget that Russia right now is actively developing modern weapon systems perfectly capable of taking on anything the west has to offer, some of them are slated to be markedly better (For e.g. PAK FA, if they actually manage to produce it in meaningful numbers, makes the F-coat-hanger-abortion-35 completely irrelevant) And air power is disproportionally effective in conventional war. So, my point is - if Russia literally goes bankrupt, it can no longer afford precision tools, asic chips, expertise, modern milling machines, exotic materials, etc. This is not cold war, where you could literally hand solder computers. (Yes, I know no one put's 22nm chips in 5th gen planes, but the point still stands)
    - nazgob 10y ago
      PAK FA is designed to compete with F-22 not F-35. F-35 is single engine, different machine.
      - emp_zealoth 10y ago
        There are only 185 F-22's and the lines are dismantled. If you are going to produce only F35's at a ratio almost 10:1 compared to F22... Then doesn't the fact that PAK FA is supposed to go agains vastly superior (to F35 for sure) F22 make you agree with me logically?
    - readhn 10y ago
      If you understand who runs the country and how they operate then you will understand that they do not desire any serious conflicts with the west. West - is where they retire, keep their money and often families. They are not about to shoot themselves in the foot.
  - 10y ago
vetinari 10y ago
It's not that simple. You want to arrest all assets of powerful Russians offshore? I hope you are ready to face pissed off Shell or Mitsubishi CEOs, after their assets in Russia are arrested too. In addition, you would be playing how Russian government want you: they told their oligarchs last year, that the time to repatriate everything is now (2015). You would be awarding those who listened to that advice and penalize those who didn't. What could possibly go wrong? ;)
- readhn 10y ago
  of course its not that simple. simply because this is how corruption operates in the west as well. they use similar channels and ways to hide/legitimize questionable profits.
Dolores12 10y ago
Who is prime-minister of Russia?
- readhn 10y ago
  Igor Shuvalov, officially worth half a billion dollars. Has properties all over europe, his wife flies their dogs (corgis) all over europe for dog shows ... on a private bombardier business jet... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3695649/Vladimir-Putin-s-crony-flies-wife-s-prized-Corgis-PRIVATE-JET-business-just-class-uncomfortable-them.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3695649/Vladimir-Put... nice to be a pro-P. politician in Russia... sanctions somehow skipped out on this poor bloke...
  - Dolores12 10y ago
    That's what i thought. You don't know who is prime minister of Russia. Just stop lying.
    - sctb 10y ago
      Please don't comment like this. This site is here for us to learn and to gratify our intellectual curiosity, not to trap fellow users or engage in flamewars.
      - Dolores12 10y ago
        I am sorry for being rude, indeed topics like that should never appear on HN.
    - readhn 10y ago
      Ok my bad, to me Medvedev and Putin are 1 person. So ok Shuvalov is technically a deputy prime-minister or next in line. Does it really make a difference? Is he now allowed to steal? Medvedev his boss has done pretty good for him self as well....
      - 10y ago

by readhn 10y ago

emp_zealoth 10y ago

The point is to ruin Russia to the point they become North Korea and cannot afford the upkeep for it's military. Regular people? Boo-fucking-hoo. Maybe if they get off their asses and stop the Putin's insanity...but who are we kidding? People there dream of good old soviet imperium

readhn 10y ago
Ruining russian military? You mean rusting tanks from the 60's or expired rockets from cold war era? The military can not compete with the west anymore. People there stopped dreaming in the 90's when the ugly side of "new Russia" showed its face. As i said election process is rigged, many folks there want change. please, do not believe 75%+ public support ratings spewed out by state propaganda machines. they are simply untrue. Lots of folks are ashamed of conflict with Ukraine but unfortunately there is no political and social platform that allows to do anything about this. Anything thats against the state agenda gets nipped in the bud.
- emp_zealoth 10y ago
  I've actually been to Russia, through Petersburg, all the way to Solovetsky island, spent around a month there. I'd say that sure, people are nice on a personal level, but some topics were off limits because it would end badly. While i know that the russian military has issues with equipment that is literally falling apart, let's not kid ourselves the west doesn't have similar issues. ICBM's don't need any contemporary electronics to be perfectly deadly. And let's not forget that Russia right now is actively developing modern weapon systems perfectly capable of taking on anything the west has to offer, some of them are slated to be markedly better (For e.g. PAK FA, if they actually manage to produce it in meaningful numbers, makes the F-coat-hanger-abortion-35 completely irrelevant) And air power is disproportionally effective in conventional war. So, my point is - if Russia literally goes bankrupt, it can no longer afford precision tools, asic chips, expertise, modern milling machines, exotic materials, etc. This is not cold war, where you could literally hand solder computers. (Yes, I know no one put's 22nm chips in 5th gen planes, but the point still stands)
  - nazgob 10y ago
    PAK FA is designed to compete with F-22 not F-35. F-35 is single engine, different machine.
    - emp_zealoth 10y ago
      There are only 185 F-22's and the lines are dismantled. If you are going to produce only F35's at a ratio almost 10:1 compared to F22... Then doesn't the fact that PAK FA is supposed to go agains vastly superior (to F35 for sure) F22 make you agree with me logically?
  - readhn 10y ago
    If you understand who runs the country and how they operate then you will understand that they do not desire any serious conflicts with the west. West - is where they retire, keep their money and often families. They are not about to shoot themselves in the foot.
- 10y ago

vetinari 10y ago

It's not that simple. You want to arrest all assets of powerful Russians offshore? I hope you are ready to face pissed off Shell or Mitsubishi CEOs, after their assets in Russia are arrested too. In addition, you would be playing how Russian government want you: they told their oligarchs last year, that the time to repatriate everything is now (2015). You would be awarding those who listened to that advice and penalize those who didn't. What could possibly go wrong? ;)

readhn 10y ago
of course its not that simple. simply because this is how corruption operates in the west as well. they use similar channels and ways to hide/legitimize questionable profits.

Dolores12 10y ago

Who is prime-minister of Russia?

readhn 10y ago
Igor Shuvalov, officially worth half a billion dollars. Has properties all over europe, his wife flies their dogs (corgis) all over europe for dog shows ... on a private bombardier business jet... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3695649/Vladimir-Putin-s-crony-flies-wife-s-prized-Corgis-PRIVATE-JET-business-just-class-uncomfortable-them.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3695649/Vladimir-Put... nice to be a pro-P. politician in Russia... sanctions somehow skipped out on this poor bloke...
- Dolores12 10y ago
  That's what i thought. You don't know who is prime minister of Russia. Just stop lying.
  - sctb 10y ago
    Please don't comment like this. This site is here for us to learn and to gratify our intellectual curiosity, not to trap fellow users or engage in flamewars.
    - Dolores12 10y ago
      I am sorry for being rude, indeed topics like that should never appear on HN.
  - readhn 10y ago
    Ok my bad, to me Medvedev and Putin are 1 person. So ok Shuvalov is technically a deputy prime-minister or next in line. Does it really make a difference? Is he now allowed to steal? Medvedev his boss has done pretty good for him self as well....
    - 10y ago