The General Russia Thread

It is just one of many possibilities. There are many vectors to be considered there.

@ Knit: Well, The BBC had a conflict with the Blair Government over that...

Yep.

As for why news organisations tend to tow the line on foreign policy, in the end it's pretty complicated stuff and it's hard to find experts on it (we like our ivory towers way to much), which means that a lot of the time the only other option is to just parrot what some other government is saying, which tends not to go down well with a national audience. That and foreign policy news is often pretty low on the level of importance it's given, nobody cares enough to go against the established line a lot of the time.

edited 26th Aug '15 5:19:37 PM by Silasw

So just in case anyone in this thread is still interested in the part of Russia that's not Putin, the figures for our natural population movement in July just came out, and they are good. Like, really, really good. Natural population increase higher than in July 2014, total deaths down by 4.7%, deaths from alcohol poisoning down by 10%, deaths from cardiovascular disease finally down in god knows how many years, and so on. The bear wasn't dying in the first place, but now it's not dying harder and harder.

Yay for not really recovery I guess?

Great news regardless.

Who cares about human lives, tell me more about Putin

Say, how does the Russian healthcare system work? Wikipedia is not particuarly helpful in it. Is it completely government controlled? From where do they procure their medicine? Who distributes it? It seems everyone has mandatory insurance.

It's just undoing the effects of the crisis at this point, I'm afraid, but the trajectory is good.

You basically have two systems: the one where you pay, and the one where the government pays. You have a mandatory health insurance that is enough to cover all the stuff that's necessary to save your life and most of the stuff that's about dealing with serious but not life-threatening diseases, so the state-sponsored healthcare system is the main one, but if you need something minor or cosmetic, you'll have to go to the private sector. Sometimes the two systems overlap, then you usually get better treatment and/or shorter waiting periods if you pay out of your pocket.

It sounds oddly similar to the one in my country

Is a fraction of people's salaries taken for the explicit purpose of paying this insurance, or does it come out from the rest of the taxes? That is how it is in my country. The healthcare system is tripartite: The government pays a part, the patron pays a part, and the employee pays a part. Any person working is insured, and any insured person can insure their close family members.

It also sounds a lot like the British system, (except ours is single-payer) with the NHS and private providers.

edited 28th Aug '15 9:20:25 AM by Greenmantle

What? I always thought the British healthcare system involved loads more of double double toil and trouble, eye of newt and tongue of frog stuff...

You have state-funded healthcare and private healthcare coexisting. There is nothing stopping a person from paying and going to a private clinic if they have the money. The state healthcare does not always end up completely free, though - the patient often has to purchase medicine or pay for some really complicated procedures.

Everybody always grumbles about the state healthcare, but it is not atrocious. Yes, you'll have to wait in line (you'll have to in most private clinics too, unless they are really high end) but they do have the basics covered, they do home visits, etc. And in no way is anybody dependent on their employer/employment status to get covered.

Oh, and regarding healthcare taxes: in Russia, the burden is 100% on the employer, with the poor bastard having to pay taxes for each of his employees based on their salary. This is one of the main reasons why the practice of unregistered "shadow" wages is so widespread in Russia.

That sounds like it deters foreign investment too much...

Not at all, actually, but it does make wages a pain in the ass to statistically analyse.

Putin and Medvedev stronk!

Putin does lift and then makes some barbecue and drink some tea with his buddy.

Why this is on Reuters, your guess is as good as mine.

I actually looked up Putin for once, in a youtube video. I like his voice but seriously the way everyone speaks of Putin and listening to his voice? The guy even SOUNDS harmless. It is funny to me.

Also the salary thing...that does not make much sense to me. How do you tell a company "Ok. You come here and you pay each worker their salary AND their full insurance?" without most companies saying "Hold on a minute". Even charging them a percentage of the insurance is enough to make most companies doubt if the investment would be worth it...

Because overemphasizing the role and the prominence of Putin helps the American media sell their party line that he is some sort of existential threat to the "Western values" or whatever it is he's said to be plotting to destroy nowadays.

Which is why most companies around here tend to go "I'm paying my workers ridiculously low wages! Honest! Just look in the großbuch!"

If that is the idea, they are failing to do that.

Most photo ops of Putin end up looking like "Just look at how awesome Putin is!"

The polls say quite the opposite, but I guess saying that you approve of someone's actions is not the same thing as saying that you find someone to be cool or badass.

There are polls on Americans opinion on Putin? Care to share?

Also if we're talking specifically about American media, haven't Fox multiple times said that they think Putin is awesome?

From the Global Terrorism thread.

Russians have set up shop in an Assad controlled airport in Syria to begin formal operations and air strikes against ISIS targets.

Go forth, Russia.

Remove all the terrorist kebab you wish. Remove kebab at your heart's content.

Pew polls are your friend.

A link

That's confidence that he will do the right thing though, not that they dislike him or don't want their politicians to be like him.