That must be why so many Russians are so eager to get out of Russia so much- life is just too good in Russia! They yearn for the simple, spartan life found in the west! Yeah, that must be it.

XD

Intel’s use of Russian labor doesn’t constitute anything significant in terms of capital investment. Further, since top-notch Russian programming talent was hired out years ago, it makes you wonder what, exactly, Intel is stuck with, doesn’t it? Their manager’s remarks to the effect that Russians were last-resort miracle workers smacked more of morale building or wishful thinking than of an attaboy or a solid grasp of reality.

Don’t get me wrong. I love St. Petersburg. (The one in FL isn’t too bad, either, with its great little Dali museum.) The only thing wrong with it, apart from that vile, gaudy Church on Spilled Blood, is that it’s in Russia. There was a secession movement a decade or two ago, but it’s a virtual certainty that it was the neo-Soviets who committed the murders that cut that short.

Of the capital investments now taking place in Russia, you have to wonder how well managed the companies are, and who, exactly, is insuring those investments. I wouldn’t be surprised to find US taxpayers on the hook for some of them; that was US policy for decades.

Facts do not speak for themselves (especially when they’re merely factoids instead). Most often, they need quite a bit of help.
Concretes without sound connections are not surprising coming from a wildly enthusiastic Russia booster.

What you Janine, Mr Bourbaki and others don’t understand is that your perceptions are not reality. I have linked concrete facts which you choose to ignore. This is indicative of a rigid intellect incapable of a paradigm shift. More links for your concretely refuting your panicky assumptions:

Siemens, Russia eye poweful nuclear alliance(FEB 3):
http://uk.reuters.com/article/tnBasicIndustries-SP/idUKL349564720090203

Daimler Trucks Acquires 10% of Russian Truck Manufacturer Kamaz:(Dec 10, 2008)
http://www.daimler.com/dccom/0-5-7145-1-1159761-1-0-0-0-0-0-11979-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.html

Caterpillar builds factory in NOvosibirsk:(Jan 5, 09)
http://www.marchmontcapital.com/story.php?story_id=5722&story=Caterpillar-crawls-into-Novosibirsk-with-truck-plant–

Agco to announce Major deal with Russian firm(Jul 28, 08)
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2008/07/28/agco_russia.html

Volvo Truck starts production at Kaluga plant
http://www.just-auto.com/article.aspx?id=97595

I could go on and on but this amply refutes you silly hypothesis.

Janine – who buys Russian cars? That’s why BMW, Mitsu, VW, Ford, GM,Renualt, HYundai, Daewoo, Fiat & others have factories in Russia. Do you feel foolish now? That’s why Russia was the Europes leading new car market in 08. Russia is now the world’s leading gas & oil producer. Saudi could pass them if they would produce at their full capacity with their recent expansions- but the saudis keep cutting production.

I have offered fact after fact and you provide nothing but unsubstantiated falsehoods like this:
“will be repeated in any industry where Western investment is resulting in some success. The wholly Russian sectors (are there any?) will not prosper in the general downturn. The smart money is staying away in droves, those with existing investments are quietly (but frantically) trying to divest before nationalization”
Completely contradicted by fact as I have demonstrated. Russia has not nationalized 1 company since the revolution and will not be doing so in the future. Do you know anything about Russia? or do you enjoy making a fool of yourself?

Obviously you have not read the essay as he points out Western oil firms are still eager to invest in Russia: “Perhaps surprisingly, the cash rich western oil companies still have an appetite for investment in Russia, and several are showing an interest in partnering Gazprom in the giant Yamal development in Arctic Siberia”

Russia with communism was 1 of 2 superpowers. Russia with capitalism is like a 100 ton locomotive headed down the track. It is now just starting to depart the station. Unfortunately the USA&UK are the helpless maidens tied to the rails a few miles down the way. This didn’t have to be, but the USA&Uk did there best to break up Russia in the 90s and I expect that Russia will not have any mercy now that the tables are turning.

What you Janine, Mr Bourbaki and others don’t understand is that your perceptions are not reality. I have linked concrete facts which you choose to ignore. This is indicative of a rigid intellect incapable of a paradigm shift. More links for your concretely refuting your panicky assumptions:

Siemens, Russia eye poweful nuclear alliance(FEB 3):
http://uk.reuters.com/article/tnBasicIndustries-SP/idUKL349564720090203

Daimler Trucks Acquires 10% of Russian Truck Manufacturer Kamaz:(Dec 10, 2008)
http://www.daimler.com/dccom/0-5-7145-1-1159761-1-0-0-0-0-0-11979-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.html

Caterpillar builds factory in NOvosibirsk:(Jan 5, 09)
http://www.marchmontcapital.com/story.php?story_id=5722&story=Caterpillar-crawls-into-Novosibirsk-with-truck-plant–

Agco to announce Major deal with Russian firm(Jul 28, 08)
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2008/07/28/agco_russia.html

Volvo Truck starts production at Kaluga plant
http://www.just-auto.com/article.aspx?id=97595

I could go on and on but this amply refutes you silly hypothesis.

Janine – who buys Russian cars? That’s why BMW, Mitsu, VW, Ford, GM,Renualt, HYundai, Daewoo, Fiat & others have factories in Russia. Do you feel foolish now? That’s why Russia was the Europes leading new car market in 08. Russia is now the world’s leading gas & oil producer. Saudi could pass them if they would produce at their full capacity with their recent expansions- but the saudis keep cutting production.

I have offered fact after fact and you provide nothing but unsubstantiated falsehoods like this:
“will be repeated in any industry where Western investment is resulting in some success. The wholly Russian sectors (are there any?) will not prosper in the general downturn. The smart money is staying away in droves, those with existing investments are quietly (but frantically) trying to divest before nationalization”
Completely contradicted by fact as I have demonstrated. Russia has not nationalized 1 company since the revolution and will not be doing so in the future. Do you know anything about Russia? or do you enjoy making a fool of yourself?

Obviously you have not read the essay as he points out Western oil firms are still eager to invest in Russia: “Perhaps surprisingly, the cash rich western oil companies still have an appetite for investment in Russia, and several are showing an interest in partnering Gazprom in the giant Yamal development in Arctic Siberia”

Russia with communism was 1 of 2 superpowers. Russia with capitalism is like a 100 ton locomotive headed down the track. It is now just starting to depart the station. Unfortunately the USA&UK are the helpless maidens tied to the rails a few miles down the way. This didn’t have to be, but the USA&Uk did there best to break up Russia in the 90s and I expect that Russia will not have any mercy now that the tables are turning.

2. military hardware(Russian hardware is still better and cheaper than USA hardware and has only recently started to upgrade) – they are # 1 exporter now.

‘Still’ better? Which of course explains why the Middle East is littered with wrecked Russian military technology.

3. oil&gas production

Did you actually read the article you are commenting on?

4. nuclear reactor manufacturing

…From the people who brought the world Chernobyl…

5. Auto manufacturing (for Europe)

Oh yes, Russian cars are much in demand, you see them everywhere. Actually… I have never seen a single post-communist Russian car anywhere in Western or Central Europe. Not one. Not a single one. Skodas on the other hand…

6. nanotech

Which as it happens is my field. I know several outstanding Russians in nanotech, all of who live and work in the USA or Switzerland. if you think Russia is a nanotech leader, you do not know what you are talking about.

Epic fail.

The comically ignorant epitaphs emanating from this board are eerily similar to Hitlers characterization of Russia as a “backwards barbarous” state. That didn’t work out to well.
Categories in which Russia is #1 now or will be in the near future:
1.Agriculture production
2. military hardware(Russian hardware is still better and cheaper than USA hardware and has only recently started to upgrade) – they are # 1 exporter now.
3. oil&gas production
4. nuclear reactor manufacturing
5. Auto manufacturing (for Europe)
6. nanotech

They will also be a strong contender in civil aviation with the superjet 100 in production to be followed shortly by the MS-21

The life in all Major Russian cities is already better than that in American cities and most European cities. Some of the 2nd and third tier cities have only started to develop, but they have had only had 8 years , where as Western cities have had 80 years.

Hopefully Russia will learn from USA&UKs mistakes and develope in a more sustainable way.Iif they continue down this track without moderation,they will collapse like the USA & UK. They need to develop in a more sustainable way than the USA. Attempting to subjugate the middle east for O&G is not a good long term strategy.

BTW: 40-50% of the Russian is middle class – cars, foreign vacations, new apartments. All European resorts treasure Russian tourists as they spend more than than europeans/americans. This is not surprising as it was calculated that the Russian middle class has more disposable income than their western counterparts. (no mortgages, cheap utilities)

From http://www.cgi.stanford.edu:

GDP per capita in Russia has now passed $15,000. Russians don’t
typically pay much in the way of mortgages (less than 3% of the
population has a mortgage), rent (I don’t know the statistics, but
very few Russians, I suppose less than 1%, rent their homes),
utilities (natural gas is almost free), or taxes (flat 13% rate). So
consumer spending is similar to that in Western Europe, where GDP per
capita is higher. GDP per capita in France, Germany or the U.K. is
about double, but disposable income is about the same because the
French, Germans and British bear a crushing burden of taxes, housing
costs, and expensive fuel and heating costs, to an extent which
Russians don’t have.

more:
http://www.euromonitor.com/Top_10_consumer_trends_in_Russia

From Frost and Sullivan:

http://rbth.ru/articles/2008/12/15/151208_investment.html

Frost & Sullivan’s Director Beatrice Shepherd states, “The unfavourable press on doing business in Russia overshadows this country true potential. There is limited objectivity and willingness, coming from Western enterprises, to accept the differences of working with a different culture and business environment. At Frost & Sullivan we have been working on projects in Russia for global companies from the US, Europe and Asia but also for Russian companies. This gives us a unique perspective on this country, a truly objective view

Sorry to break reality to you all. Learn to think independently and not regurgitate, do more research. This will aid you in the tough times ahead.

postscript:

USA is several orders of magnitude more corrupt than Russia if you hadn’t noticed.

I don’t know about the Swiss, but the Germans seem perfectly happy to increase their dependence on nuclear power. As long as it’s generated somewhere else.

Editor’s note: Eric, send me an e-mail using the sidebar address as there is something I need to tell you privately about why every comment you post gets caught by the spam bot killer

Russia’s tip-of-iceberg, visible modernism obscures her third world base.

No one other that the wilfully blind misunderstand that Russia is essentially a third world country with nuclear weapons. And the idea that Russia, which is essentially an African style kleptocracy, actually has a ‘capitalist’ system is hilarious. The article Nicolas Bourbaki wrote above is just another indication that the Emperor, I mean Tzar, has no clothes.

We are all in the downward spiral now and Russia is not well positioned to come out of this any better than anyone else as they simply lack a culture capable of anything but top down direction. Hell, governments in the west are doing their damnedest to destroy ours but at least we have one.