kravietz 🦇 @kravietz@social.privacytools.io

A real spy story here, Russia recruited a hitman who murdered a Russian businessman in 2013, gave him a new identity, and then he was arrested in 2019 in Berlin for the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2019/12/03/identifying-the-berlin-bicycle-assassin-part-1-from-moscow-to-berlin/ #russia #germany #chechnya

@yogthos I've read it like 20 years ago ;)

@yogthos

Caves aren't particularly friendly places to live with average 4-8°C and 100% relative humidity.

But this might be not even necessary in long term, read this https://www.quora.com/What-happened-to-the-radiation-that-was-supposed-to-last-thousands-of-years-in-Hiroshima-1945

Not that I'm encouraging nuclear conflict, but you have to be prepared for everything granted the amount of aggressive idiots at power...

@yogthos

There's no such thing as "world population problem", scientifically.

That's an idea pursued in 60's by elitist circles like Ehrlich and Club of Rome who preferred to keep their California mansions not "contaminated" by "human pest" from developing countries. I have a copy of Ehrlich "Population bomb" on a shelf here, that's his language.

"Population carrying capability" etc were just ideas to support this contempt towards less privileged.

@yogthos

The history of escalation started in 1917 with Bolshevik promising violent world revolution and pursuing it at all means.

> look at NATO expansion over the years

It's countries *asking* desperately for NATO protection from openly imperialist Soviet Union, and then Russia.

This is precisely the sentiment most of Eastern Europe had in 90's while Russia - who just finished bloody intervention in Afghanistan - started another bloody intervention in Chechnya and threatened Baltics etc.

@yogthos Why do you think I've been always into speleology? ;)

@yogthos

This is simply not true, Bolshevik's objective was *always* a world revolution, spread by any means available, be it military force, propaganda or sabotage. USSR was created literally by forcefully conquering republics split from Russian Empire, including Baltics, Ukraine, Caucasus etc with classic scenario being small Bolshevik party "requesting support of mighty Red Army". In 1920 Bolsheviks tried to conquer Poland this way, but lost.

@yogthos It's just as true as saying that USSR was designed to bankrupt/destroy the West.

Remember the Soviet "Догоним и перегоним" poster I posted here some time ago? ;)

This *was* battle of ideologies, where each one claimed to be superior and used any means to destroy the other one.

@saper I join @yogthos question

@yogthos Ever heard the expression "Potemkin village"? ;)

Also read the paragraph starting with "Lukashenko's exception is now under threat".

@yogthos @saper

Not defending multinationals, consumers are just equally complicit in destroying the ecosystem. Multinationals would be nothing without consumers *preferring* their products over cleaner alternatives.

@yogthos

As you remember, we can continue this argument for hours, but I disagree.

The problem is that progress in USSR was very narrowly directed: into defence industry.

At the same civilian production was severely underdeveloped and consumer good either weren't there or their quality was utter crap and well behind anything produced in the West.

Classic economy of shortage...

@saper @yogthos

Corporations show many pathologic behaviours but they *are* effective.

I made my largest leap in career - I mean evolving from a stereotypical introvert nerd to an IT professional who can actually talk to people and be understood - while working for multinationals. They suck at other things though.

That last factor - distribution of enterprise's income - is probably what I'd like most about coops.

@yogthos

Ok, so I can tell you first-hand that the first experience when you enter Belarus by train is middle-aged women smuggling raw meat under their coats from Poland to Belarus. Agriculture is ineffective (still very much kolkhoz style) which leads to higher consumer prices.

Living blocks (общежития) and general infrastructure (roads etc) are in poor state, obviously underfunded.

One huge difference as compared to Russia is lack of visible corruption.

@yogthos

Have you ever been to Belarus?

I was and I can tell you exactly how that "vibrant economy" looks on the ground.

@yogthos

This part is easy: because it's more effective to run a large enterprise, either private or state-owned. All enterprises naturally tend to grow through merger or acquisitions (capitalist), or nationalisation (socialist).

In socialism everything was a single state-owned enterprise and there was no competition, which was seen as wasteful by Marxian economy.

They later re-introduced it but concealed under name of "socialist emulation".