3 ms·

If not for Revolution, perhaps Russia would resemble more of 300 mln strong Sweden than of 140 mln strong Honduras as of today.

thriftwy 9y ago
[In Latvia they can celebrate liberation, in Ukraine they can celebrate independence; but in Russia it’s very hard to do that. So in that sense, the legacies go on but the people really paying for it now are the Russians, rather than anyone else] This. This is so hard to understand even to most Russians. Funny how he then proceeds to tell about violence in Crimea. Does he imagine that people of Crimea aren't the ones who are paying, and who could be happy as a part of newly nationalistic Ukraine?
Gravityloss 9y ago
Sweden always (well, for the last 400 years or so) had a quite different way of governing and different values than Russia. You can look at Finland which was governed by Sweden for a long time, then was a part of Russia but had its own laws etc and was a semi autonomous experimental area. During that time there were still feudal slaves in Russia. Poor farmers didn't have it easy anywhere of course.
iliaznk 9y ago
It would not in any way.
sswaner 9y ago
Perhaps if the battle of Poltava had gone differently...
nextos 9y ago
History is very complicated and full of contradictions. Imperial Russia is often dubbed as a semi-medieval state, yet it was able to build the Trans-Siberian Railway which was a massive engineering feat.
- jscipione 9y ago
  There is no contradiction, medieval states regularly build massive engineering feats including Cathedrals all over Europe.
  - astrodust 9y ago
    Pretty easy to build megastructures when you're the Church and you can squeeze the local population for every bit of money they have. Those things would also take several generations to build. They weren't comparable to highways or railways that got laid down within a decade.
- digi_owl 9y ago
  Many such contructions gets done for military reasons. The railway was a massive improvement for moving men and material in times of war. Damn it, one may wonder if the US highway system had not happened had it not been for the cold war putting a fire under everyones ass.
  - greedo 9y ago
    Or Apollo...

thriftwy 9y ago

[In Latvia they can celebrate liberation, in Ukraine they can celebrate independence; but in Russia it’s very hard to do that. So in that sense, the legacies go on but the people really paying for it now are the Russians, rather than anyone else] This. This is so hard to understand even to most Russians. Funny how he then proceeds to tell about violence in Crimea. Does he imagine that people of Crimea aren't the ones who are paying, and who could be happy as a part of newly nationalistic Ukraine?

Gravityloss 9y ago

Sweden always (well, for the last 400 years or so) had a quite different way of governing and different values than Russia. You can look at Finland which was governed by Sweden for a long time, then was a part of Russia but had its own laws etc and was a semi autonomous experimental area. During that time there were still feudal slaves in Russia. Poor farmers didn't have it easy anywhere of course.

iliaznk 9y ago

It would not in any way.

sswaner 9y ago

Perhaps if the battle of Poltava had gone differently...

nextos 9y ago

History is very complicated and full of contradictions. Imperial Russia is often dubbed as a semi-medieval state, yet it was able to build the Trans-Siberian Railway which was a massive engineering feat.

jscipione 9y ago
There is no contradiction, medieval states regularly build massive engineering feats including Cathedrals all over Europe.
- astrodust 9y ago
  Pretty easy to build megastructures when you're the Church and you can squeeze the local population for every bit of money they have. Those things would also take several generations to build. They weren't comparable to highways or railways that got laid down within a decade.
digi_owl 9y ago
Many such contructions gets done for military reasons. The railway was a massive improvement for moving men and material in times of war. Damn it, one may wonder if the US highway system had not happened had it not been for the cold war putting a fire under everyones ass.
- greedo 9y ago
  Or Apollo...