61–70 of 71 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Bulgaria might have been compelled to send the troops for the invasions USSR might have started List of countries which happily participated in USA's invasion of Iraq wants to say hello!
Hello to the list too. How many Bulgarians died in Iraq? That would be 13 soldiers. Unfortunate but that's really not the same as being a tool of an empire. The American way works the other way around, they usually are for free market until you sell its enemies weapons or help finance the war. They also do questionable things but IMHO it's a much better deal overall.
And not without its own drawbacks, as discussed elsewhere.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hello to the list too. How many Bulgarians died in Iraq? That would be 13 soldiers. Unfortunate but that's really not the same as being a tool of an empire. The American way works the other way around, they usually are for free market until you sell its enemies weapons or help finance the war. They also do questionable things but IMHO it's a much better deal overall.
It does look like a better deal, but only quantitatively. Instead of being a sledgehammer of the empire you get to be a xylophone mallet. And not without its own drawbacks, as discussed elsewhere.
things worked when there was the state behind it.. Regardless of efficiency. cm601 CPU was exact copy of motorola-6800 (with ~10% yield - doesn't matter). Pravetz-82 was Apple-][, with M6502 imported. There was even some DEC micro-VAX being copied, EC-1055 AFAIR. Then came the PC... and things went more software-ish. There was "mikro monitor 1.0" which was.. MS windows 2.0 but all in cyrillics and encodings (none in…
Before the 90s, Bulgaria was manufacturing almost everything, it had its problems, but it functioned from what we've been told. Afterwards every single factory was shuttered, sold to individuals for the equivalent of a dollar. After the borders were opened up, we experienced a huge outflow and all the smart people left. We are now a fast shrinking country, poor and even today the political scene is a joke.
What is the agricultural scene like in Bulgaria? Thriving or is it mostly food imports?
However I can also say that because of climate change, certain regions are now experiencing drought, I can specifically mention the far South-East near the border to Turkey. Rural villages are dying, but also lacking water, there is almost no water underground and it rains less and less, and the winters are no longer even winters. Wells fill up only once during winter and are emptied out within a few weeks before the crops even grow and produce fruit.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It does look like a better deal, but only quantitatively. Instead of being a sledgehammer of the empire you get to be a xylophone mallet. And not without its own drawbacks, as discussed elsewhere.
The roles are not actually analogous, the soviet one is very predatory, the western one is structured more like a partnership. Bulgaria is part of EU and NATO and does have voting power that they did use all the time. The market is also a true open market, which means if Bulgarian companies have to truly compete and if the deal no longer work for Bulgaria one day, they can leave the partnership and not lose everythin…
The Soviet one that you have drawn in your head is predatory. In real life, USSR went into Afghanistan alone as far as I know. Bulgaria meanwhile could dedicate efforts towards making PCs.
In the USA-satellite open market situation, Bulgaria gets to send cheap workers to fill positions in the EU as well as offers for its brightest minds, treated as a flyover country. No PCs.
The voting situation WRT Warsaw pact and Comecon was likely the same. Bulgaria can't vote anything useful in either ones.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is the agricultural scene like in Bulgaria? Thriving or is it mostly food imports?
Food imports AND exports. Bulgarian farmers also heavily rely on subsidies. I know a few of them. Some drive very expensive cars, others 25 year old beaters. I cannot explain the discrepancy. However I can also say that because of climate change, certain regions are now experiencing drought, I can specifically mention the far South-East near the border to Turkey. Rural villages are dying, but also lacking water, ther…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The roles are not actually analogous, the soviet one is very predatory, the western one is structured more like a partnership. Bulgaria is part of EU and NATO and does have voting power that they did use all the time. The market is also a true open market, which means if Bulgarian companies have to truly compete and if the deal no longer work for Bulgaria one day, they can leave the partnership and not lose everythin…
> the soviet one is very predatory The Soviet one that you have drawn in your head is predatory. In real life, USSR went into Afghanistan alone as far as I know. Bulgaria meanwhile could dedicate efforts towards making PCs. In the USA-satellite open market situation, Bulgaria gets to send cheap workers to fill positions in the EU as well as offers for its brightest minds, treated as a flyover country. No PCs. The vot…
There's no an governmental institution in Bulgaria that collects Bulgarians from the streets and sending them to other countries to work work cheap, like they do with doctors in Cuba or workers in DPRK.
You find a job, get a plane ticket, go there and work, get paid like everyone else. That doesn't make you a cheap Bulgarian labor. They like to call it like that because the talent pool increases and they want to imagine that employers are hiring Bulgarian butchers that can't cut meat or Bulgarian developers that can't code just because its cheap. That's not the case, it's a free market.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the soviet one is very predatory The Soviet one that you have drawn in your head is predatory. In real life, USSR went into Afghanistan alone as far as I know. Bulgaria meanwhile could dedicate efforts towards making PCs. In the USA-satellite open market situation, Bulgaria gets to send cheap workers to fill positions in the EU as well as offers for its brightest minds, treated as a flyover country. No PCs. The vot…
I'm Bulgarian, we don't send cheap workers to EU. We have right to live and work in EU under the same conditions as everyone else in EU and a lot of Bulgarians happens to find employment in some EU countries under better conditions that they can find in Bulgaria and they go work there. There's no an governmental institution in Bulgaria that collects Bulgarians from the streets and sending them to other countries to w…
Which is almost always, as almost all EU countries have better conditions than Bulgaria. So in general you can assume a position with significantly worse social status than you had in Bulgaria, but if that position is in Germany, that is a net social benefit for you. So that's what you often do.
Bulgarian butchers in Germany, obviously, do not have native German to communicate with customers, and their butcher skills may be tailored to a different meat culture, so they are hired because Germany have more butcher positions than Germans want to occupy, and that German butchers will usually take the ones which pay more. Same for Bulgarian software developer in France: They have decent coding skills and English, but their French is no good, so they will be kept in more back-office roles, whereas French developers from France will be more customer-facing and paid somewhat more for this skill. That's pretty basic migration economy 101.
In Comecon, Bulgaria was one of more developed regions, which then got to host more prestigious industries.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm Bulgarian, we don't send cheap workers to EU. We have right to live and work in EU under the same conditions as everyone else in EU and a lot of Bulgarians happens to find employment in some EU countries under better conditions that they can find in Bulgaria and they go work there. There's no an governmental institution in Bulgaria that collects Bulgarians from the streets and sending them to other countries to w…
> happens to find employment in some EU countries under better conditions that they can find in Bulgaria Which is almost always, as almost all EU countries have better conditions than Bulgaria. So in general you can assume a position with significantly worse social status than you had in Bulgaria, but if that position is in Germany, that is a net social benefit for you. So that's what you often do. Bulgarian butchers…