The widespread protests were in 2014 ye they were in the soviet union Only the insight an 80 year old could possibly dispense.
Look mate, I don't wish to offend you, but I'm happy to wait until the main man @Archers Road comes back, if I wanted to speak to the chimp, I'd have directed my question at you, thank you and have a good evening.
I'm sorry any response that doesn't massage the ego makes you feel a bit of a gibbon, but there's no need to be so grouchy. But I can assure you despite the fact I wasn't rubbing shoulders with Uncle Joe Stalin, it was for sure in the USSR.
Look mate, if you knew your history, you would have guessed that I was referring to Gorbachev, my mate @Archers Road would have done, because you weren't even born or still ****ting your nappy. Stalin ffs.
You never referred to anyone, I referred to Stalin, as a shot at your age. Of course, the great famine was conducted under Joseph Stalin so he is a name that is far more applicable to the Ukrainian people. He killed about 3 million or more of them while they were in the USSR. Gorbachev and his Perestroika are tiny in the grand scheme of things. Khrushchev caused huge issues, when he became Premier he granted Ukraine the Crimean Oblast, that to this very day causes ethnic tensions. Go down your local pub and ask the oldies about it, they'll know it all off the top of their head I reckon.
See, we can agree on some non football things, you and I. We should keep well out of it imo. And it would maybe help the situation a bit if the yanks, and our own government for that matter, would at least try to see this from Russia’s point of view. If Ukraine becomes a NATO member, that effectively extends the USAs military reach 1000 miles closer to Moscow.
They do see it from Russia's view, they just don't give a **** Its like how people claim the bully in school doesn't understand he's causing so much harm, he does, he's just a ****. We are ****s.
It's like Canada joining a military pact with Russia and the Chinese and expecting the US not to do anything about it.
Many Russians, a silent majority if you will, do not support Putins policies at all though. It's hard to support when your savings are being wiped out, you make no money while prices rise and you hear word of even more sanctions. I worry for Russia after Putin is gone, it's a corruption pyramid that Government and without him I think its gonna be an economic disaster.
I remember watching a documentary on the old USSR and communism after the fall of the Berlin wall and the supposed economic enlightenment of the free market in Russia. They interviewed some of the old timers who'd lived most of their lives under communism. Whilst they were critical of some aspects of it, they said that everybody had a house, a job, a salary, and could afford their food, bills and heating. Nobody fell beneath the safety net, because the state controlled everything and made sure that everybody had a basic standard of living They were bemoaning the economic situation in modern Russia, where like the west, a certain section of society has become very wealthy, whilst the poorest have become even poorer, which in Russia meant that old folk couldn't afford their rent and heating bills and many were struggling simply to afford food to put on the table.
Eastern Germany had the exact same phenomenon, many people suddenly fell away, lost their jobs couldn't find new work and had absolutely no safety net to support themselves. Those guys obviously missed the old days, it's a much easier situation when you can just go out and grab work anywhere because the state will handle it, or the need to be University educated isn't so over the ****ing top like it is today. Something I'm very critical of. Luckily for the Germans, they had a wealthy Western side who were happy to pump money into, the Russian cronies just got first dibs on whatever massive ****ing enterprise they fancied.
Me neither mate. But if they could lob a missile into Loftus Road it would be funny. Although a hand grenade should be enough to destroy the ****hole.
He’s off having a polish thinking about his forthcoming night at the local Ibis. So he’ll be at least 3 minutes.
Pretty sure they only work for @brb Shocking really innit. The one thing we all want back and he's keeping it for himself.
