Is Russia really that bad?

[Dinner]

I was under the impression that the Russian economy is improving as is the standard of living in Russia, however, a young Russian woman I know from another web forum recently posted on her Facebook page about a job she landed in London, UK: "I have now realized the dreams of every Russian woman. Getting the hell out of here and moving to the west."

Russian posters of Apolyton, is it really still that bad in Russia? Is it true that most young people still want to immigrate?

[SlowwHand]

If you fall in a dung heap and upon rising, wash your hands, you're better off than you were, but you're still covered in crap.

[Jon Miller]

I was under the impression that the Russian economy is improving as is the standard of living in Russia, however, a young Russian women I know from another web forum recently posted on her Facebook page about a job she landed in London, UK: "I have now realized the dreams of every Russian woman. Getting the hell out of here and moving to the west."

Russian posters of Apolyton, is it really still that bad in Russia? Is it true that most young people still want to immigrate?

I have heard that the answer is yes.

JM

[Az]

I was in Russia just two weeks ago. The answer is - yes, but it is complicated.

[onodera]

It's the middle class that wants to emigrate. We've been abroad, we've talked to foreigners, we get our news from places other than state TV, there's no party that supports our views, no wonder we want to emigrate.
I bet Serb doesn't want to emigrate.

[Dinner]

I was just kind of surprised she put it so bluntly because she's well educated with an advanced degree, has great professional work experience, and is smoking hot to boot so it's no wonder she was able to land a good job in the UK. I can't help but feel people like her are exactly the type of young urban professionals Russia should be trying to hold on to though she claims there are social barriers for women advancing up the corporate ladder in Russia so she moved over seas for better opportunities (well, among other things).

[Provost Harrison]

Dammit, more bloody Ruskies clogging up the West End

[onodera]

I was just kind of surprised she put it so bluntly because she's well educated with an advanced degree, has great professional work experience, and is smoking hot to boot so it's no wonder she was able to land a good job in the UK. I can't help but feel people like her are exactly the type of young urban professionals Russia should be trying to hold on to though she claims there are social barriers for women advancing up the corporate ladder in Russia so she moved over seas for better opportunities (well, among other things).

That's the problem. People like her are the least wanted by the modern Russian state. They do not fit into the system Putin is trying to build. Too self-sufficient, too demanding.

[Dinner]

Well, that makes sense.

[Hauldren Collider]

That's the problem. People like her are the least wanted by the modern Russian state. They do not fit into the system Putin is trying to build. Too self-sufficient, too demanding.

I take it you aren't a big Putin fan.

[onodera]

I take it you aren't a big Putin fan.

I'm not that big of a hater, but my position in the last year or two has changed from "I want my children to grow up in Russia!" to "I wonder what country I should move to?"
Putin was a welcome break from Yeltsin's vodka-fueled incompetence and his clique of oligarchs back in 2000. By 2010 he has replaced them with his own clique. As for the incompetence... We had seven years of sky-high oil prices. What have we achieved? At the very least, the money could've been reinvested into the oil industry that is still exploiting the old Soviet wells. I have seen no new shiny American-style highways. I have seen no army reform. I have seen no new power stations built. I haven't heard about any scientific breakthroughs made by Russian scientists in Russian institutes.
On the other hand, I have seen a road from Moscow to Vladimir that has more potholes than tarmac and is considered a good one. I have seen that it took our army several days to curbstomp an insignificant country like Georgia. I have seen a terrible accident on the largest hydroelectric power station in Russia that happened because there were no competent engineers left to watch the old equipment made in USSR. I have heard a Russian-born Nobel Prize winner tell the Russian government to **** themselves when they invited him back to lead the new pet project of the president.
I know that it would be impossible to do all of this at the same time with our oil money, but whither has it gone?

[Hauldren Collider]

Yet Putin's very popular in most of Russia. Why is that? By the way, I'm not sure if you're implying you support Russia's attack on Georgia (I hope not).

[Theben]

Sounds like the us, only we aren't all ready to immigrate yet

[Riesstiu IV]

How vast are Russia's oil reserves? When is oil extraction expected to peak or has it already?

[onodera]

Yet Putin's very popular in most of Russia. Why is that? By the way, I'm not sure if you're implying you support Russia's attack on Georgia (I hope not).

The combination of good PR and trickles of oil money reaching the parched provinces work wonders. And his AR is around 50% atm, so it's not Kim Chong-Il-high.
And yes, I support our retaliatory attack on one of our ancestral stomping grounds. Although I'd have preferred a finer approach.