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Google to close engineering office in Russia

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Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better check how long/difficult is the settlement/citizenship process. Is it even achievable? There are fairer places to go, it should be a strategic decision not an opportunistic one.

I've done some checking and if you're going to settle there on a perm basis, I think it would be worth it. http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/becoming-a-citizen/29288376 Foreigners with no direct blood ties to Switzerland through either birth or marriage must live in the country for at least 10 years (reduced from 12 years by a new law passed in June 2014) before they can apply for citizenship. (Years spent in the country b…

> The other interesting thing is being born in the country doesn't mean you're granted citizenship.

That is quite common everywhere except the americas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#302
post #281
post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your country was of enormous help to Hitler while attacking the USSR, and the retribution you had to "endure", given everything you did, was astonishingly mild. So spare me your complaints.

A lot of the fascist collaborator countries, including Baltic states and Ukraine, are still proud of their support of fascism. The West turns a blind eye to this as its promotion of democracy is a political tool, which is a farce considering the dictatorships it creates and supports like Saudi Arabia.

To me such lines sound like the soviet propaganda we were listening to until the nineties. The communists basically needed enemies, like all good oppressors do and so they were blaming fascism and imperialism for everything.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NOT part of the EU is not to be considered lightly. It is possibly a great factor.

What's the advantage to being outside the EU?

Being free of a lot of oversized taxes, unnecessary legislation and the feeling of porwerlessness against a social chaste called "those at Brussels."

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Russian friends on Facebook love Putin. Why would they overthrow him? He's given them everything they wanted: revenge on West for the cold war, bullying neighbors, a toughguy image, punishing homosexuals, and up until recently a higher oil price (coincidental of course). Sorry I just don't believe that the Russian people are interested in peace or human rights. Putin reflects the will of majority. I think Russia's…

Isolation and sanctions would be acts of insane stupidity at this point. Take a dodgy regime and cut them off from the international community, mess up their economy, give everyone in the country a reason to believe the world really is out to get them, and it should be no surprise when the inevitable happens: popular opinion in the country becomes increasingly paranoid, support for the dodgy regime is solidified, and…

But what's the alternative when Russia is tramping over the sovereignty of another country in the EU's backyard? If not isolation and sanctions, what's left? Full scale war? I don't think there will be any winners in a WWIII.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#305
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> given everything you did Man, it's 2014, the people that did anything in WW2 on both sides are long dead. And in the context of that time, "the Allies" included Stalin's Russia (read some history, this tyrant killed more of his own people than there were victims of Hitler's holocaust!), so choosing to support Hitler's Germany against an alliance that included Russia was not necessarily a bad idea at that that time,…

"You try to rebuild countries and economies, regardless of what seems "fair" or not" The problem here: after the cold war, which Russia lost, nobody cared to rebuild its economy; instead everything was done to siphon people and resources away and to destroy industry. Obviously US really did not want to see Russia on the map anymore and so they did that. Guess what - 20 years pass, Russia is angry like a non-mortally…

First of all, the cold war wasn't a real war, but a competition between the US and Russia. Russia's loss was that they overspent resources they couldn't afford to spend. Russia is also really big and has all the resources it needs to recover from anything. In such a scenario I don't understand why would anybody assume that, if it had been given international help, they would be any different than what they are today.

Second of all, if they lost the cold war, I don't get why they'd want another one. Putin is only cautious because he knows that in such a scenario he will lose. And Putin's nationalistic behavior only happened because Russia was on the brink of another economic recession.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You try to rebuild countries and economies, regardless of what seems "fair" or not" The problem here: after the cold war, which Russia lost, nobody cared to rebuild its economy; instead everything was done to siphon people and resources away and to destroy industry. Obviously US really did not want to see Russia on the map anymore and so they did that. Guess what - 20 years pass, Russia is angry like a non-mortally…

First of all, the cold war wasn't a real war, but a competition between the US and Russia. Russia's loss was that they overspent resources they couldn't afford to spend. Russia is also really big and has all the resources it needs to recover from anything. In such a scenario I don't understand why would anybody assume that, if it had been given international help, they would be any different than what they are today.…

"Russia is also really big and has all the resources it needs to recover from anything"

Sure, but industries will be destroyed and people die, starve and be forcibly relocated. That's what happened to ex-USSR a lot because the rest of world did not see any reason to rebuild a country that in fact yielded to them.

You are free to "don't understand", but the damage I mentioned was done. Don't then be surprised when people you considered harmless want to nuke you for all the good. All the good that, strictly speaking, you did not have to do.

"Second of all, if they lost the cold war, I don't get why they'd want another one"

If Germans lost one world war, why would they want another one?

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isolation and sanctions would be acts of insane stupidity at this point. Take a dodgy regime and cut them off from the international community, mess up their economy, give everyone in the country a reason to believe the world really is out to get them, and it should be no surprise when the inevitable happens: popular opinion in the country becomes increasingly paranoid, support for the dodgy regime is solidified, and…

But what's the alternative when Russia is tramping over the sovereignty of another country in the EU's backyard? If not isolation and sanctions, what's left? Full scale war? I don't think there will be any winners in a WWIII.

Obviously going to war would be even more insanely stupid. The alternative is to realize that just because Russia is behaving badly is not a reason the US and EU should also start behaving badly.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#308
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those surveys are incredibly subjective and will vary person to person. There's not such thing as a "best" city for standard of living. When comparing cities I think it's best to use hard data and then compare them based on what's important to you personally. I usually use http://www.numbeo.com as a starting point for this.

Oh look! The site you linked to agrees with the study I linked to! Amazing! http://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/city_result.jsp?countr... (see that gauge? It's all the way to green!) EDIT: and here is their ranking. It's only number 4... http://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings.jsp

I don't think you got the "important to you personally" part of my post. Thanks for your condesending tone as well.
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