Newsflash: Fighting in South Ossetia/Georgia

[Mumitroll]

i read a bit of the stuff in this thread. the level of ignorance displayed here is pretty sad.

for people somewhat interested in the real facts and background of this conflict, go read my site http://www.southossetiaconflict.org, starting from the oldest posts. it has many references to opinions of experts on this area, and facts unpublished in Western media.

for a short summary you can also read

http://www.debatepolitics.com/bias-m...t-your-tv.html

[Shadow Kira01]

Originally Posted by lightbringer

I just hope that the situation does not deteriorate further. Western powers have been fast to condemn Russia without looking at the overall picture, after giving them a carte blanche in the form of Kosovo. Merely months after unilaterally redrawing European borders, we're talking about the value of territorial integrity? I'm sure Putin and Medvedev are laughing their asses off.

Why would Putin and Medvedev be laughing, when their Russian citizens are getting killed in South Ossetia? That is definitely not funny.

[mg1942]

That little sideshow during the Beijing Olympics made the RTS crash even worse. RTS lost almost 70% of its value since its peak in May. Trade had to be stopped a couple of times. Russia's state-owned media must be doing a good job masking the economic woes

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by mg1942

That little sideshow during the Beijing Olympics made the RTS crash even worse. RTS lost almost 70% of its value since its peak in May. Trade had to be stopped a couple of times. Russia's state-owned media must be doing a good job masking the economic woes

not entirely, the majority of the people that own stocks and play in the stock are the 1% super wealthy in Russia. The avg russian joe don't own stocks. So the market crash in russia didn't really affect the commoners, just the elites.

[LeoXiao]

Originally Posted by Mumitroll

i read a bit of the stuff in this thread. the level of ignorance displayed here is pretty sad.

for people somewhat interested in the real facts and background of this conflict, go read my site http://www.southossetiaconflict.org, starting from the oldest posts. it has many references to opinions of experts on this area, and facts unpublished in Western media.

Wow, that interview with the Russian guy was kinda... paranoid.
I can't say he's totally wrong though. It's pretty obvious that NATO is trying to corner Russia so that it cannot expand at all or have any more power.

Oh and I hate to say it but this war was really hilarious, particularly in the way that Georgians armed with Western weapons got totally pwned. Looks like someone was a little overconfident.

[Thingle]

It's getting more apparent that the "truth" isn't what it seems, and the bully's name does not start with the letter R.

[Mumitroll]

That little sideshow during the Beijing Olympics made the RTS crash even worse.

that had nothing to do with the RTS crash. the financial crisis - that did.

RTS lost almost 70% of its value since its peak in May. Trade had to be stopped a couple of times.

30+ times. they have a rule of stopping trade if the index is too volatile, with either more than +5% or -5%, I think.

Russia's state-owned media must be doing a good job masking the economic woes

I think you're not really in the clear regarding Russian media. although there is perhaps more direct state intervention, Russian media still have a much wider spectrum than the US ones - because in the US media culture you have the overwhelmingly powerful self-censorship mechanism. in Russia, if you take TV, you have both e.g. the state-owned 1st channel and RTR, prior to 2000 several other large TV channels like ORT and NTV were held by very deviant oligarchs (Berezovsky, Gusinsky), and ran a sometimes totally anti-governmental course. by now they're also majority owned by Gazprom I think, but there are still many smaller channels which broadcast pretty much w/e they want, including interviews with major dissidents etc. even NTV - although its now majority Gazprom-owned - broadcasts tons of interviews with rabid oppositional critics like Novodvorskaya, Nemtsov or Hakamada). thats practically nonexistent in the US today - you won't see someone like Chomsky on major TV. when you come to the US after Russia, the impression is that you have come to Brezhnev-time USSR - brainwash galore, on all channels.

my explanation for this curious fact is that in Russia that whole Western culture of self-censorship by journalists does not exist (yet?). many journalists do really write whatever they want. which pretty often leads to them being killed because somebody (mostly not the government, but some organized crime people or oligarchs) doesn't like what they write.

not entirely, the majority of the people that own stocks and play in the stock are the 1% super wealthy in Russia. The avg russian joe don't own stocks. So the market crash in russia didn't really affect the commoners, just the elites.

correct. the RTS is an abstract term for most Russians. i think the majority doesnt even know what it is. in reality, the economic crisis wasnt even noticeable so far in Russia from what I know. maybe the real estate prices mostly stopping to climb was the most visible effect so far.

a thing which will, however, be noticeable in the longer term is the dramatic oil price decline.

Wow, that interview with the Russian guy was kinda... paranoid.
I can't say he's totally wrong though.

he's a military guy, and his logic is purely military. and in that respect he's rather accurate.