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Google to close engineering office in Russia

reuters.com

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Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#81

Post by happyscrappy »

osipov wrote: post #77
happyscrappy wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia is only a threat to its own citizens and border countries who are not members of NATO. The West was bringing Russia closer, now that trust is gone and will take a long time to repair.

>>The West was bringing Russia closer As part of bringing Russia closer, the West decided to shred Russia of its defense interests inherited from the Soviet Union. There was a systematic attack by the West on Russia's interests in Central Asia, Georgia, Syria, and now Ukraine. You can only bait the bear for so long until it bites you back.

The bear is rabid but toothless and can be largely ignored except for their actions Ukraine, in which they laughably pretend they are not involved.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#82

Post by osipov »

okatsu wrote: post #79
osipov wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very myopic view and here's why -- virtually all governments in the world are becoming increasingly authoritarian because of the global economic crisis and the civilian unrest that it provokes. For example, replace Putin in your sentence and you'll get "United States is increasingly cracking down on any possibility of dissent and threat to it power". You can support that statement with facts about police in…

I won't disagree that demonizing Putin is what the government wants us to do. I remember how the U.S. funded Saddam to use chemical weapons on Iran and then overthrew him "for the sake of the people." However, it should also be kept in mind that we're still far away from the Russian regime where speaking against the government (releasing classified documents doesn't count) or being a homosexual will land you in jail.…

The situation about gays in Russia, i.e. "being a homosexual will land you in jail" is a meme that Western Corporate Media wants you to believe. Read the facts: http://gallery.mailchimp.com/d0e55f3197099944345708652/files...

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#83

Post by nemanja »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #53

it is worrying what is happening in Russia but much less so than what is going in the USA. Google, Facbook etc tightly integrated with the nations intelligence agencies, mining the data found there to make secret lists that could result in assassinations, indefinite detention and torture. Russias actions are for the most part overt, and rightly criticized, what the US does, it does so covertly. If anyone speaks about…

I suppose what you are saying is that prosecuting someone for a trial by a jury of their peers (with access to the best defense you can imagine) is much worse than poisoning people with radioactive materials??

At the end of the day, Snowden was a member of the U.S. Intelligence community and entrusted with classified information and, for better or worse, he willfully broke the law. What do you expect, that he would not be prosecuted? Do you think if that happened in Russia, Putin would have any reservation from assassinating him before he managed to flee to his biggest foe and reveal who-knows-what to earn his welcome?

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#84

Post by [deleted] »

DangerousPie wrote: post #64
ThinkBeat wrote: post #53

it is worrying what is happening in Russia but much less so than what is going in the USA. Google, Facbook etc tightly integrated with the nations intelligence agencies, mining the data found there to make secret lists that could result in assassinations, indefinite detention and torture. Russias actions are for the most part overt, and rightly criticized, what the US does, it does so covertly. If anyone speaks about…

> With the exception of the possibility that a couple of them have been assassinated That's pretty much the point though, isn't it? Of course the US is going to prosecute someone who reveals their state secrets on such a massive scale. Every country would. However, what they don't do is routinely assassinate and imprison political opponents. In the same way, I agree with you that the cooperation between internet comp…

[deleted]

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#85

Post by tribaal »

evgen wrote: post #74
tribaal wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure it's expensive, but if you live there your salary is indexed to that cost (especially if you work for google), so it's not like it's a problem in practice. Of course, if you're just visiting... ouch :)

Of if, like Google, you are the one paying those salaries indexed to cost of living. Then your employees become rather expensive...

Well, it seems like Google salaries are very capable of sustaining a familly in Zurich: http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Salaries-E9079.htm

And that's US salaries (the website only offers a free preview.. yada yada).

I think Google generally thinks the cost of a talented enigineer is justified, and switching locations will of course represent a cost, but probably not such a big one in the great scheme of things.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#86

Post by aragot »

osipov wrote: post #62
danmaz74 wrote: post #28

Putin is increasingly cracking down on any possibility of dissent and threat to his power, whatever the consequences to the Russian economy, and this of course scares foreign companies who work there - even if, with the recent fall of the ruble, Russian talent is even more affordable now. I'm afraid (I have friends in Russia) that we're going to see more of this.

That's a very myopic view and here's why -- virtually all governments in the world are becoming increasingly authoritarian because of the global economic crisis and the civilian unrest that it provokes. For example, replace Putin in your sentence and you'll get "United States is increasingly cracking down on any possibility of dissent and threat to it power". You can support that statement with facts about police in…

> The real question is WHY is Putin cracking down on threat to his power?

Sounds like a rhetorical question but I don't guess the answer. Do you mean Putin is doing it because of the civilian unrest?

> Demonizing Putin is what your government wants you to do to avoid seeing the bigger picture.

No-one is demonizing Putin, they're telling facts. The bigger picture is, censorship is bad, and if US defends the freedom of opinion in Russia, it's good because we can turn those arguments back to the US gov.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#87

Post by osipov »

happyscrappy wrote: post #70
osipov wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very myopic view and here's why -- virtually all governments in the world are becoming increasingly authoritarian because of the global economic crisis and the civilian unrest that it provokes. For example, replace Putin in your sentence and you'll get "United States is increasingly cracking down on any possibility of dissent and threat to it power". You can support that statement with facts about police in…

Russia is only a threat to its own citizens and border countries who are not members of NATO. The West was bringing Russia closer, now that trust is gone and will take a long time to repair.

>>toothless

Don't know who you are but I'll happy if citizens of the West will be under an impression that nuclear weapons will never be used. For many reasons.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#88

Post by okatsu »

osipov wrote: post #82
okatsu wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't disagree that demonizing Putin is what the government wants us to do. I remember how the U.S. funded Saddam to use chemical weapons on Iran and then overthrew him "for the sake of the people." However, it should also be kept in mind that we're still far away from the Russian regime where speaking against the government (releasing classified documents doesn't count) or being a homosexual will land you in jail.…

The situation about gays in Russia, i.e. "being a homosexual will land you in jail" is a meme that Western Corporate Media wants you to believe. Read the facts: http://gallery.mailchimp.com/d0e55f3197099944345708652/files...

Speaking in favor of gay rights is considered propaganda and was made illegal last year.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#89

Post by osipov »

okatsu wrote: post #79
osipov wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very myopic view and here's why -- virtually all governments in the world are becoming increasingly authoritarian because of the global economic crisis and the civilian unrest that it provokes. For example, replace Putin in your sentence and you'll get "United States is increasingly cracking down on any possibility of dissent and threat to it power". You can support that statement with facts about police in…

I won't disagree that demonizing Putin is what the government wants us to do. I remember how the U.S. funded Saddam to use chemical weapons on Iran and then overthrew him "for the sake of the people." However, it should also be kept in mind that we're still far away from the Russian regime where speaking against the government (releasing classified documents doesn't count) or being a homosexual will land you in jail.…

> Speaking in favor of gay rights is considered propaganda and was made illegal last year.

That's false.

EDIT: Again, the statement above is false. It is legal to speak in favor of gay rights. It is illegal for adults to speak in favor of gay rights TO MINORS. Much like it is legal to have sex. And illegal for adults to have sex with minors.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#90

Post by mkhaytman »

muglug wrote: post #69
ThinkBeat wrote: post #53

it is worrying what is happening in Russia but much less so than what is going in the USA. Google, Facbook etc tightly integrated with the nations intelligence agencies, mining the data found there to make secret lists that could result in assassinations, indefinite detention and torture. Russias actions are for the most part overt, and rightly criticized, what the US does, it does so covertly. If anyone speaks about…

Espionage (what the US programs were for) is very different than the widespread victimisation of those who are seen as undesirable. The Russian government is actively conspiring to silence hundreds of thousands of people. Whether it's because they were unfortunate enough to have been born gay, or because they want to talk about Russia's annexation of eastern Ukraine, or whether they just don't think Putin should be i…

There's really no need for the comparisons. Both versions are terrible, who cares which is worse. How we go about fixing it should be the topic of discussion.
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