Ask me questions.

[Patroklos]

You've never had Baltika before?

No, is it worth the search through the local specialty shops?

[onodera]

What's the best way to flirt with hotty Russian chicks?
Do they like being called chicks? How about hotty?

No, is it worth the search through the local specialty shops?

No.

What's the best ta....nah, forget that.

Does Lada still build cars? Some years ago, shortly after the Berlin Wall fell my brother had its first car - a Lada Samara (dunno if they call him that anywhere of if the name was just for the German market). Then it was stolen. Today he changes cars all the time, everytime we meet he has another one - currently a VW I believe

Yes, they do. They have renewed the model range, but the cars are still sh*t.

Is the government using the crisis and the money from oil revenues to buy up companies from oligarchs?

Would you (personally) rather have Russia be an insignificant country in politics but among the top in standard of living (think, say, Netherlands) or vice versa?

Not directly. The state-run banks are issuing loans and taking stocks as collateral.

I've read an article that said that power of the country and the standard of living are completely orthogonal concepts, but moving from one quadrant to another takes heroic amounts of effort. So I guess we are stuck in the "powerful country, poor people" one. Also, it's kinda hard for me to understand what can drive a person from a village in Slovakia, for example. His country is an insignificant blot on the map, and his village is even less important.

Why are appartments in Moscow so expensive given that the city is situated in a plane? Shortage of building permits? A green belt? Corruption?

Are internal passports still neccessary? Can anyone move to any city and live there? How about Moscow?

What do you think about the protests of car importers in Vladivostok, government response to it and Russian protectionism in general?

Have Russians finally found faith? Is atheism in decline?

Moscow is surrounded by Moscow oblast, which is a completely different region. You can rent there, but our road network is web-shaped, not grid-shaped, and this means huge traffic jams. Everyone who can afford an apartment in Moscow tries to rent there, close to the subway. Demand and oil-inflated salaries have driven the prices up.

Internal passports are still necessary. You can move to any city and live there, but you need to prove that you have a place to live there. Most people who rent flats in Moscow do so without any legally binding contracts.

Russian car industry is a mess. We make good trucks, but regular cars are shoddy and outdated. I did not approve of sicking riot police on the protesters.

Faith? Don't expect American levels of faith, with people visiting their local church every Sunday. Yes, most are nominally religious, but only a handful of them are true believers. Other either do not care, or believe in a huge mess of religions, spiritualism and occultism. I'd rather we stayed atheists.

What plans does Russia have for the Russian Far East? I've heard many rumours of a sale to the Chinese.

No. Most plans for the Far East include some sort of a way to protect it from China.

[Cort Haus]

How good is Andrei Arshavin?

[onodera]

How good is Andrei Arshavin?

Not bad at all.

[Cort Haus]

Do you like chanakhi? I had a delicious one last night.

[onodera]

Do you like chanakhi? I had a delicious one last night.

They don't sell them in Moscow.

[Cort Haus]

hehe - a dish non-grata I expect

[onodera]

hehe - a dish non-grata I expect

I guess Azeris and their shawarma do not like competitors much.

[Zkribbler]

Was there ever a movie made about the Communists' coup attempt on Gorbachev?
If not, there should be. It's high drama.

[onodera]

Was there ever a movie made about the Communists' coup attempt on Gorbachev?
If not, there should be. It's high drama.

I don't think there is one.

[Alinestra Covelia]

How well is Boris Yeltsin remembered by Russians? For the West he was the one who tried to bring Russian "in from the cold". But Putin seems like a popular guy in Russia (the West don't like him) and he is quite different from his predecessor...

[onodera]

How well is Boris Yeltsin remembered by Russians? For the West he was the one who tried to bring Russian "in from the cold". But Putin seems like a popular guy in Russia (the West don't like him) and he is quite different from his predecessor...

Yeltsin? A drunkard who has trampled the constitution with tanks, who got reelected only through massive electoral fraud, who let a handful of robber barons privatize the industry, who defaulted our economy and lost a war to a small nation of hereditary bandits, not necessarily in that order.

[Q Classic]

Why won't Russia restart the Buran program?

[onodera]

Why won't Russia restart the Buran program?

It would basically mean starting the whole program from scratch. I think that'd be our Clipper space vehicle program.

[Zkribbler]

Bush? A dried-out drunkard who has trampled the constitution with lawyers, who got reelected only through massive electoral fraud, who let a handful of robber barons privatize the industry, who defaulted our economy and lost a war to a small nation of hereditary bandits, not necessarily in that order.

Fixed