Russia is desperately trying to fill manpower for the war effort, sending any marginalized citizens (aka Eastern Russia, Chechnya, Donbas) to the front without invoking a second round of drafts that would affect Western Russia.

And North Korea? The average North Korean starves, period. Malnutrition is so bad, they are noticeably shorter than South Koreans. Same Koreans, same genetics.

And both these countries are equivalent or even much better to live in than the US or Western countries, how?

newkidontheblock wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2024 11:34 pm

And both these countries are equivalent or even much better to live in than the US or Western countries, how?

Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake. Let them go there and find out.

simon43 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 28, 2024 7:29 am It doesn't seem all bad in Russia.I have quite a few young online science students in Russia. They seem to spend their time flitting between their homes in Moscow and taking holidays in Sochi....

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a poster here a while ago, concerning another country close to Russia. He wouldn't accept that the people don't live in utter misery - he has his Facebook and Twitter - he does his research.

If you talk to people anywhere, you'll often find that life there isn't the dystopian hellscape our media makes it out to be. Yes, there will be stories of the authoritarian government doing horrible authoritarian things to people who speak out against them and things of that nature, but the average person lives a relatively normal life. They go to work, their kids go to school, they go to a bar or restaurant with their friends occasionally, they bitch about their politicians and the manager at work just like people everywhere do, they know their country has its issues but they're generally content with their lives, they're not living in a constant state of fear and misery as we're being lead to believe.

That being said, you couldn't pay me enough to live in Russia. I had an interesting job offer there once so spent a bit of time watching YouTubers who lived there, reading school reviews etc and it pretty much lined up with what a few people I knew had said of their time in Russia... it was a good experience, people were generally ok, the place had its downsides but they enjoyed their time there. It wasn't for me then though, and still wouldn't be.

I don't know much about the true situation on the ground there now, but I suspect living there now wouldn't be the same experience it was ten years ago.

With the Western sanctions, getting money from the west into Russia for living expenses would be challenging. Banks have frozen access to Russia. I have read that only foreigners that speak fluent Russian will be offered jobs. The path to citizenship needs a level of Russian language. It's freezing cold there in Winter. There are more desirable places on planet earth - like Cambodia

newkidontheblock wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2024 11:34 pm Russia is desperately trying to fill manpower for the war effort, sending any marginalized citizens (aka Eastern Russia, Chechnya, Donbas) to the front without invoking a second round of drafts that would affect Western Russia.

And North Korea? The average North Korean starves, period. Malnutrition is so bad, they are noticeably shorter than South Koreans. Same Koreans, same genetics.

And both these countries are equivalent or even much better to live in than the US or Western countries, how?

If you're looking at the usual quality of life indicators, somewhere like Russia probably doesn't come close to any Western country. But then you could probably say the same about a lot of the developing countries Westerners move to for a better life. Your life depends on your individual situation (income from abroad) and what you make of yourself.

I'm with you though, I think a lot of the people who say they want to move to Russia because they share the same values would get a rude wakeup if they actually did make the move.

The scheme is supposedly aimed at the people who can't abide gays existing. The same people also tend to hate immigrants who don't speak English moving to 'their' country, bringing their own cultures with them, and stealing local's jobs.
They'd better hope the Russians don't share too many of the values the new immigrants bring with them, they might find the gods of irony deciding to teach them a thing or two.
They might enjoy not having openly gay people in the community for a while, but it's hard to imagine that being enough to make up for the other challenges they'll face.