Eastern Europe: Olivier's sphere of influence

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Dwesa: Jul 19, 2016

HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:

A Su 33 crashed attempting to land on the Admiral Kuznetsov according to Russian media. This is the second Russian plane to crash in the Mediterranean.

https://lenta.ru/news/2016/12/05/su33/

Nice power projection.

# ? Dec 5, 2016 13:08

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# ? May 14, 2024 09:18

Punkin Spunkin: Jan 1, 2010

At some point the heroic Admiral Kuznetsov will have killed more Russians than the Syrian opposition :911:

# ? Dec 5, 2016 18:03

vyelkin: Jan 2, 2011

HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:

A Su 33 crashed attempting to land on the Admiral Kuznetsov according to Russian media. This is the second Russian plane to crash in the Mediterranean.

https://lenta.ru/news/2016/12/05/su33/

Probably couldn't see the runway because of the big plume of smoke.

# ? Dec 5, 2016 18:12

Nenonen: Oct 22, 2009; Mulla on aina kolkyt donaa taskussa

Punkin Spunkin posted:

At some point the heroic Admiral Kuznetsov will have killed more Russians than the Syrian opposition

By this time you'd expect all the diesel emissions to have taken their toll on sailors' lungs, but then, thanks to natural selection superior Slavic lungs should be immune to such effects by now

# ? Dec 5, 2016 18:12

Lovely Joe Stalin: Jun 12, 2007; Our Lovely Wang

That it seems to have been a failure of the arrestor cable just adds a grim comic element to the crash.

# ? Dec 5, 2016 18:30

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

Lovely Joe Stalin posted:

That it seems to have been a failure of the arrestor cable just adds a grim comic element to the crash.

To translate that bit accurately, since Google Translate did mutilate the sentence, the plane rolled off the deck during the landing as the arrestor cable did tear apart.

# ? Dec 5, 2016 18:33

Lovely Joe Stalin: Jun 12, 2007; Our Lovely Wang

I'm picturing Road Runner breezing through one of Wiley Coyote's traps.

But with more inexplicably dirty engines and human tragedy.

# ? Dec 5, 2016 18:36

Punkin Spunkin: Jan 1, 2010

SO this is definitely the ghost of Nikolay Kuznetsov bringing terror to modern day Russians for all the poo poo he had to take right?
Maybe he's just confused and thinks he's still fighting fascists, easy mistake

# ? Dec 5, 2016 18:38

AceRimmer: Mar 18, 2009

Punkin Spunkin posted:

SO this is definitely the ghost of Nikolay Kuznetsov bringing terror to modern day Russians for all the poo poo he had to take right?
Maybe he's just confused and thinks he's still fighting fascists, easy mistake

If he's destroying Putin's military assets, then he is still fighting fascism QED

# ? Dec 5, 2016 18:45

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

AceRimmer posted:

If he's destroying Putin's military assets, then he is still fighting fascism QED

Guess what joke he was making.

# ? Dec 5, 2016 18:59

AceRimmer: Mar 18, 2009

cinci zoo sniper posted:

Guess what joke he was making.

That'll teach me to phone post.

Wow, you know things are bad when even ~~Pravda~~ Sputink is saying things like:

quote:

"I�d call it the �bitter Syrian lessons. Despite its cute name, Svetlana, that arresting gear became a real gravedigger for our planes. It is a very cumbersome and complex system, and we�re not the only ones suffering from such problems � some US aircraft too ended up dropped into the sea by an arresting gear cable. This is a global military-technical problem, so to speak, as there has never been an absolutely perfect landing on any aircraft carrier. What happened now was exactly what President Vladimir Putin spoke of: the Syrian operation exposes strengths and weaknesses of our military hardware," Baranets explained.

AceRimmer fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Dec 5, 2016

# ? Dec 5, 2016 20:20

Punkin Spunkin: Jan 1, 2010

yeah but that's still a pretty funny Sputnik take
*glances at giant cloudy haunted house of death towed across the ocean *
"Well you see, everyone has mistakes with aircraft carrier! No one has perfect aircraft carrier!"

# ? Dec 5, 2016 22:08

Dodoman: Feb 26, 2009; A moment of laxity
A lifetime of regret; Lipstick Apathy

cinci zoo sniper posted:

To translate that bit accurately, since Google Translate did mutilate the sentence, the plane rolled off the deck during the landing as the arrestor cable did tear apart.

Did the pilot make it out?

# ? Dec 5, 2016 22:16

AceRimmer: Mar 18, 2009

Dodoman posted:

Did the pilot make it out?

Yeah, he ejected.

Punkin Spunkin posted:

yeah but that's still a pretty funny Sputnik take
*glances at giant cloudy haunted house of death towed across the ocean *
"Well you see, everyone has mistakes with aircraft carrier! No one has perfect aircraft carrier!"

How many planes has the United States lost during GWOT et al. during carrier ops, because I'm pretty sure the answer is, not that many.

That Svetlana thing really made me wonder what the nickname for the engines is, Mordor perhaps?

# ? Dec 5, 2016 22:22

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

AceRimmer posted:

Yeah, he ejected.

How many planes has the United States lost during GWOT et al. during carrier ops, because I'm pretty sure the answer is, not that many.

That Svetlana thing really made me wonder what the nickname for the engines is, Mordor perhaps?

No, Mordor is already taken by Moscow.

# ? Dec 5, 2016 22:38

Cat Mattress: Jul 14, 2012; by Cyrano4747

AceRimmer posted:

How many planes has the United States lost during GWOT et al. during carrier ops, because I'm pretty sure the answer is, not that many.

But probably not zero.

The US has used a whole fleet of carriers and has built a large institutional knowledge of how to operate them reasonably safely. In the process they've lost over 12 000 aircraft to the seas...

Russia has just one, and to be honest they have pretty much zero idea what they're supposed to do with it.

# ? Dec 5, 2016 22:46

TasogareNoKagi: Jul 11, 2013

Punkin Spunkin posted:

yeah but that's still a pretty funny Sputnik take
*glances at giant cloudy haunted house of death towed across the ocean *
"Well you see, everyone has mistakes with aircraft carrier! No one has perfect aircraft carrier!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-EHwYOfY94

And yet the most recent occurrence I can recall, the bit with the plane ending up in the water didn't happen.

# ? Dec 5, 2016 22:49

Paladinus: Jan 11, 2014; heyHEYYYY!!!

dex_sda posted:

Dem is the only good polish youtuber

SA Wardega is also good, imo.

# ? Dec 5, 2016 23:25

AceRimmer: Mar 18, 2009

Cat Mattress posted:

But probably not zero.

The US has used a whole fleet of carriers and has built a large institutional knowledge of how to operate them reasonably safely. In the process they've lost over 12 000 aircraft to the seas...

Russia has just one, and to be honest they have pretty much zero idea what they're supposed to do with it.

Something that people should keep in mind when they freak out about India and China's aircraft carriers.

In other Eastern Europe news, the first day of closing arguments in the case against Ratko Mladic.

# ? Dec 6, 2016 02:36

Qtotonibudinibudet: Nov 7, 2011; Omich poluyobok, skazhi ty narkoman? ya prosto tozhe gde to tam zhivu, mogli by vmeste uyobyvat' narkotiki

Kopijeger posted:

I looked it up: the Polish equivalent is jebać, pronounced approximately like ебач. Also, shouldn't the phrase "15 minut p�zniej na Dyskotekowej Planecie" be dechiperable?

oh, I can read Polish pretty much fine and get a decent idea of what's going on (not nearly as easy as Czech, but doable), but listening to it? poo poo's impossible.

# ? Dec 6, 2016 06:55

CeeJee: Dec 4, 2001; Oven Wrangler

Cat Mattress posted:

But probably not zero.

There are around 10 'Class A Mishaps' which cost more then a million dollars in damage to a plane per year in the Navy : http://www.public.navy.mil/NAVSAFECEN/Documents/statistics/StatsPrevYrs/AviationTables.pdf

quote:

The US has used a whole fleet of carriers and has built a large institutional knowledge of how to operate them reasonably safely. In the process they've lost over 12 000 aircraft to the seas...

Russia has just one, and to be honest they have pretty much zero idea what they're supposed to do with it.

Russia is still in the part where the chart goes off the chart in carrier aviation safety.

# ? Dec 6, 2016 07:19

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Belarus Is Emerging as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe

quote:

MINSK, Belarus�Belarus is run by a former collective-farm manager and is known for manufacturing tractors. Now, the former Soviet republic wants to be known as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe.

The nation of 9.5 million people sandwiched between Russia and Poland has a well-educated population and relatively low labor costs. And it has become one of the largest and most established information technology outsourcing providers in Europe. In 2015 exports from Belarus�s main IT hub totaled $705.6 million.

Industry insiders credit the country�s Hi-Tech Park, a 123.5-acre haven for IT companies in eastern Minsk, the capital, for helping pave the way with tax breaks and a vibrant ecosystem. They say the Hi-Tech Park has created an environment that fosters innovation, despite the government�s reputation for tolerating little dissent.

�It�s a relatively cheap place to develop,� said Piotr Iwanicki, game director at Superhot Team, a Polish company that has developed a first-person shooter videogame called �Superhot.� �It is a perfect place to develop games.�

Belarus, often called Europe�s last dictatorship, still has a state-dominated economy, and President Alexander Lukashenko maintains a tight grip over political life. But the country has been opening up: Early this year, the European Union lifted most sanctions against the country, despite continued concerns about human-rights abuses.

One of the Hi-Tech Park�s biggest successes is Game Stream, a Minsk-based company that develops Wargaming Group Ltd.�s signature videogame, �World of Tanks.� Launched in 2010, the game allows players to face off against other players in tank warfare; in October, it had nearly 12 million monthly active users on PCs and consoles, according to SuperData Research Inc.

Wargaming, now based in Cyprus and with 16 offices world-wide, was created in Belarus 18 years ago and made a few niche games that gained limited popularity. But it wasn�t until the company created �World of Tanks� that the company achieved success.

Nikolai Nebyshynets, who heads publishing for Wargaming in the regions that include Russia, said Hi-Tech Park played a �huge� role in the company�s success, by providing tax breaks and other benefits.

Today, 164 companies and more than 25,000 employees are residents of Hi-Tech Park; the bulk of the software developers are Belarusian. All told, 41% of the companies have been established by Belarusian investors, 35% have been set up by foreign investors and 24% are joint ventures.

Among other successful tenants are Epam Systems Inc., a global provider of software engineering and IT expertise; Viber Media, the creator of a successful messaging app with a software development office in Belarus; and Masquerade Technologies Inc., a Minsk-born collective that recently sold its selfie app MSQRD to Facebook Inc.

�We�ve liked working in Belarus more [than in other countries] because work culture and work ethic and education and quality of people were on a very high level,� said Igor Magazinik, founder of Viber and Juno Inc., an up-and-coming ride-sharing app that wants to challenge Uber Technologies Inc.

�It�s a relatively cheap place to develop,� said Piotr Iwanicki, game director at Superhot Team, a Polish company that has developed a first-person shooter videogame called �Superhot.� �It is a perfect place to develop games.�

The idea for the park stems from a visit to Silicon Valley by Valery Tsepkalo, its current director. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was Belarus�s ambassador to the U.S. and saw the need to keep talent in his home country.

�It was insulting that to become successful one needed to leave Belarus for Silicon Valley,� he said.

Insiders here say Belarusian companies have an advantage over neighboring Russia: They look to global markets for their products from the outset. And unlike their Russian counterparts, many Belarisian software developers speak fluent English.

Dmitry Matveyev, a partner at the law firm of Aleinikov & Partners in Minsk, notes another factor. While Belarus may have a political image that deters some investors, it has a legal system offering solid protection, he said.

Belarus has its share of hackers, numbering among other Russian-speaking actors known world-wide for large-scale cybersecurity breaches.

That said, software developers and entrepreneurs alike are betting on Belarus. At the recent DevGAMM gaming conference in Minsk, over 1,300 participants gathered from Belarus, Russia, Poland and other countries to network, exchange ideas, show off their games and look for talent.

"Belarus�s [IT] community is very good, very friendly,� Sergey Gonchar, MSQRD�s chief technology officer and now software engineer at Facebook, said at the conference. �It�s small but everybody helps each other and knows each other. I think the climate here is very favorable.�

And many in Belarus said the country�s reputation as Europe�s last dictatorship is no hindrance to their work.

�Success stories and a business�s scalability are more important than politics,� said Nick Vyhouski, a co-founder of MeetnGreetMe, a small concierge-services startup. �Success stories like Viber, Wargaming are inspiring.�

Now this story just seems really strange.

http://www.lsm.lv/en/article/defens...ium=like_button

Latvia and Belarus to sign defense agreement

quote:

Belarus Defense Minister Lieutenant General Andrei Ravkov is coming to Latvia for a three-day visit during which time the neighboring countries will sign a defense cooperation agreement, the Latvian defense ministry announced December 5.

As well as visiting military facilities including the National Armed Forces instructor's school in Cesis, Ravkov will meet Latvian Defense Minister Raimonds Bergamanis December 6.

"During the visit it is planned to sign an agreement on defense cooperation between the Latvian Ministry of Defense and the Belarus Ministry of Defense. The agreement is intended to promote cooperation between both countries in the fields of international security and defense policy, airspace surveillance, arms control, NATO's Partnership for Peace program activities, military medicine, as well as environmental protection, cultural and sports activities in the armed forces," the ministry said in a press release.

The two countries have enjoyed "fruitful cooperation" since 2004, the ministry said, with a series of exchange visits and inspections taking place on both sides of the border.

The text of the agreement that will involve NATO member Latvia and Belarus will not be released, the ministry told LSM, saying that this was standard practice..

Large joint annual exercises involving Russian and Belarusian forces working together have in the past raised tensions between Belarus and its Baltic neighbors.

And the current oil feud with Russia seems to have really gotten under Batka's skin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL08v4ZkWDE

HUGE PUBES A PLUS fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Dec 7, 2016

# ? Dec 7, 2016 02:45

Kurtofan: Feb 16, 2011; hon hon hon

Russian is a really cool language to listen to

# ? Dec 7, 2016 07:51

AceRimmer: Mar 18, 2009

Kurtofan posted:

Russian is a really cool language to listen to

I'm embarrassed I've never gotten off my rear end and learned it, at least to better appreciate great movies like Wings or Come and See (speaking of Belarus)

# ? Dec 7, 2016 08:02

jonnypeh: Nov 5, 2006

Estonia also getting sugar tax and car registration tax (which applies every time the car gets a new owner in the registry, that also means used cars). I'm sure we'll have a dozen more by the end of this decade so we don't get too much of a budget deficit. I already mentioned the excises anyway and luckily there's Latvia.

Oh boy, this tax experiment will be so exciting. I still haven't heard much of their plans to make the economy grow again. Other than reducing income tax on dividends by 6% (20%->14%) if dividends are paid at least annually. And loaning 300 million, and selling off some state owned firms.

At least the new minister of agriculture finally resigned, two last things brought up against him included not paying back the insurance company for filing a false claim and loaning money from another politician that he didn't declare. In addition to numerous other things.

jonnypeh fucked around with this message at 10:14 on Dec 8, 2016

# ? Dec 8, 2016 10:01

Nenonen: Oct 22, 2009; Mulla on aina kolkyt donaa taskussa

TasogareNoKagi posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-EHwYOfY94

And yet the most recent occurrence I can recall, the bit with the plane ending up in the water didn't happen.

One funny thing about AWACS planes is that the radome saucer thing creates some lift of its own, so while it's not exactly a biplane it might still improve the chances of pulling up after a failed landing.

# ? Dec 8, 2016 10:17

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

File this one under bizarre. Amateur researchers from NASA found an abandoned city on the surface Mars, according to this Russian website.

quote:

Businesses are trying to figure out the cause of the disappearance of the Martian civilization and the destruction of the city found.

The space agency NASA announced the discovery of an unusual structure on the surface of Mars.

Researchers amateur reported that found on the surface of the Red Planet city, stretching for hundreds of kilometers and consisting of devastated as a result of some unknown catastrophe buildings.

There are suggestions that the "Martian city" could suffer as a result of the war on the planet. The buildings themselves are 630 meters long and reaches a height of about 800 meters. Also, he could have been killed because of a nuclear war on Mars. The assumption of the possible war of the Red Planet citizens with a hostile alien civilization advanced plasma physicist John Brandenburg. In some places between the houses stretched galleries or tunnels.

According to ufologist Scott C. Waring, the city is quite heavy. According to estimates of ufologists, in a city could accommodate up to 500 000 people. "These buildings look almost untouched."

discussions are already underway among scientists about the fact that the same could break the big city.

Thank goodness for Russian journalism.

# ? Dec 8, 2016 18:01

GABA ghoul: Oct 29, 2011

I like how people are already estimating the population of a fantasy city inhabited by fantasy aliens. Any thoughts on their political affiliation and where they land on the Pepsi vs. Coke question?

# ? Dec 8, 2016 18:07

A Buttery Pastry: Sep 4, 2011; Delicious and Informative!

Who says they were aliens, could have been time traveling Soviet cosmonauts destroyed by capitalists saboteurs.

# ? Dec 8, 2016 18:12

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

A Buttery Pastry posted:

Who says they were aliens, could have been time traveling Soviet cosmonauts destroyed by capitalists saboteurs.

Looking forward to an explainer from a pro-Kremlin think-tank on how Russia has a historical claim to the Martian city.

# ? Dec 8, 2016 18:15

az: Dec 2, 2005

cinci zoo sniper posted:

Looking forward to an explainer from a pro-Kremlin think-tank on how Russia has a historical claim to the Martian city.

Is not called red planet for nothing tovarish.

# ? Dec 8, 2016 18:29

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

az posted:

Is not called red planet for nothing tovarish.

# ? Dec 8, 2016 18:49

Dwesa: Jul 19, 2016

HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:

File this one under bizarre. Amateur researchers from NASA found an abandoned city on the surface Mars, according to this Russian website.
Thank goodness for Russian journalism.

Hah, other popular stories are funny too. Something about Russian kid adopted into USA killed by parents and then some article about discrimination against Russian media by the West. That's like neo-nazi with swastika on his forehead complaining about being called racist.

# ? Dec 8, 2016 19:31

Cat Mattress: Jul 14, 2012; by Cyrano4747

HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:

File this one under bizarre. Amateur researchers from NASA found an abandoned city on the surface Mars, according to this Russian website.

Thank goodness for Russian journalism.

Everyone knows what caused the ruin of this city and the death of its inhabitants, it was the demon invasion.

We need to send a guy with a shotgun to fix this problem.

# ? Dec 8, 2016 19:46

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Dwesa posted:

Hah, other popular stories are funny too. Something about Russian kid adopted into USA killed by parents and then some article about discrimination against Russian media by the West. That's like neo-nazi with swastika on his forehead complaining about being called racist.

The adoption one's likely related to actual findings of abuse of adoption programs operating out of Russia from a couple years ago.

# ? Dec 8, 2016 20:07

3peat: May 6, 2010

I haven't posted one of these in a long time; here's the latest iteration of who romanians like/hate

# ? Dec 8, 2016 20:21

AceRimmer: Mar 18, 2009

cinci zoo sniper posted:

Looking forward to an explainer from a pro-Kremlin think-tank on how Russia has a historical claim to the Martian city.

RT: Putin and President Trump Formally Dissolve the Outer Space Treaty

quote:

The treaty explicitly forbids any government from claiming a celestial resource such as the Moon or a planet. Art. II of the Treaty states that "outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means". However, the State that launches a space object retains jurisdiction and control over that object. The State is also liable for damages caused by their space object.

# ? Dec 8, 2016 21:55

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

3peat posted:

I haven't posted one of these in a long time; here's the latest iteration of who romanians like/hate

These are always sweet.

# ? Dec 9, 2016 01:29

Cugel the Clever: Apr 5, 2009; I LOVE AMERICA AND CAPITALISM DESPITE BEING POOR AS FUCK. I WILL NEVER RETIRE BUT HERE'S ANOTHER 200$ FOR UKRAINE, SLAVA

3peat posted:

I haven't posted one of these in a long time; here's the latest iteration of who romanians like/hate

Wow, what did Iran do to Romania?? I wonder how they rank vs. Saudi Arabia.

# ? Dec 9, 2016 01:52

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# ? May 14, 2024 09:18

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

Romanians hate Iran more than Hungary, that's insane.

# ? Dec 9, 2016 05:18

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