I'll see you the Russian kleptocracy and raise you the American right-wing epistomophobiacs that run our government. It is hard if not impossible to innovate when belief is more important than science. In Russia, at least, science is understood to be of value in and of itself. In this country, anything that the Lamar Smith/Scott Pruitt/James Inhofe/Louie Gohmert gantlet of spiritual and economic blockheads doesn't like gets strangled in the crib.
7
I could tell an interesting story about this problem, a longstanding one that predates Putin's hideous criminal regime -- but why bother? Over the past few days three of my comments out of seven were censored. Three out of seven. And they were good ones. I spent no small amount of time carefully composing each and nothing about or in them was particularly scandalous or nasty.
Censored anyway.
Obviously, there's a management problem at your end. A vendetta? Are certain people on an informal in-house black list? Have covert Republican operatives infiltrated your organization, there to throttle certain people? Do trolls target specific people and flag their comments as "inappropriate", or some such rot, to silence them? Or is it just stupidity on your part? Rank stupidity? Some new policy discriminating against older commenters, keeping them out of your winners' circle, your silly little gold shield list? Silly, because your criteria for awarding those little insignificant kudos are as unintelligible, arbitrary and capricious as your censorship policies.
Who knows? But since my output is simply thrown away willy-nilly perhaps I shouldn't bother to offer it. Take a hint and go elsewhere, cancelling my subscription as I go. Be done with you idiots.
Censored anyway.
Obviously, there's a management problem at your end. A vendetta? Are certain people on an informal in-house black list? Have covert Republican operatives infiltrated your organization, there to throttle certain people? Do trolls target specific people and flag their comments as "inappropriate", or some such rot, to silence them? Or is it just stupidity on your part? Rank stupidity? Some new policy discriminating against older commenters, keeping them out of your winners' circle, your silly little gold shield list? Silly, because your criteria for awarding those little insignificant kudos are as unintelligible, arbitrary and capricious as your censorship policies.
Who knows? But since my output is simply thrown away willy-nilly perhaps I shouldn't bother to offer it. Take a hint and go elsewhere, cancelling my subscription as I go. Be done with you idiots.
6
Nothing gets done in Russia without having your "крыша" or the "roof" to protect (and extort from) you. You always a need a Mr. Big (very rarely a Ms. Big, though a few wives of really big Mr. Bigs might count) to take his cut and look benignly on your business. Problems emerge when your Mr. Big is muscled out by another Mr. Big and disruption and paralysis ensue until fiefdoms are settled and re-established. A lot of time and energy (and money) has to be spent to keep repairing your roof and it's no wonder that talented Russian inventors and entrepreneurs may throw in the towel and take their talents overseas.
1
Over the last ten years I have run into many Russian ex-pats working in varying technology roles. They are always very capable and astonishingly decent people. This reinforces my view that most nations hold on to their worst.
2
Anyone hear of the Magnitsky Act? Did anyone of you know Russia is ranked as the most corrupt country in the world. Hard to believe? Well, watch out if you are a journalist, entrepreneur or political activist that defies the will of the state. Death, period.
This is no surprise. Putin is ex KGB and his goals are power and control via any effective means. There is no justice, no freedom in Russia. Only Putin.
This is no surprise. Putin is ex KGB and his goals are power and control via any effective means. There is no justice, no freedom in Russia. Only Putin.
2
Considering Putin has an iron grip of Russia and the guy would blatantly kill his enemies openly, this is nothing new. But what about the West?
Even if Marcus Hutchins has done something wrong in the past, he has helped to prevent a great calamity known as the Wannacry ransomware. Instead of approaching him quietly to use his talent for the good of the world, FBI publicly arrested him and now impose draconian terms on him. It is rearguard actions like this that people like Edward Snowden would justify their actions: instead of making complaints through the channels they risk it all by going in bed with Wikileaks, an anarchistic organ under Assange hellbent on destruction.
So yeah, Putin's thievery is bad but sometimes we don't smell so good either
Even if Marcus Hutchins has done something wrong in the past, he has helped to prevent a great calamity known as the Wannacry ransomware. Instead of approaching him quietly to use his talent for the good of the world, FBI publicly arrested him and now impose draconian terms on him. It is rearguard actions like this that people like Edward Snowden would justify their actions: instead of making complaints through the channels they risk it all by going in bed with Wikileaks, an anarchistic organ under Assange hellbent on destruction.
So yeah, Putin's thievery is bad but sometimes we don't smell so good either
5
Russia is a mafia disguised as a country.
7
Clearly, one of Russia’s major problems is a severe case of arrested development.
4
Just because something is called "innovative" it does not automatically make it good. Think about VW's "innovation" in diesel testing technology. The fact that VW engineers thought of a very cool way to cheat EPA and the public, did not give VW immunity.
Thie case in Russia is similar - the manufacturer is accused by the court of circumventing regulations to make the air-purifiers cheaper. How is this unjust?
Thie case in Russia is similar - the manufacturer is accused by the court of circumventing regulations to make the air-purifiers cheaper. How is this unjust?
4
I lived in St Petersburg last year, Russia is an amazing place.
Somehow I think Mr Tribitsyn would have avoided these troubles if the energy savings were used to 'compensate' someone for something they didn't deserve. Unfortunately that's still how Russia operates.
Somehow I think Mr Tribitsyn would have avoided these troubles if the energy savings were used to 'compensate' someone for something they didn't deserve. Unfortunately that's still how Russia operates.
9
“For years we were praised as a success story,” he said of the company, “and then all these strange things suddenly started happening.”
Time to rewatch the movie LEVIATHAN.
Time to rewatch the movie LEVIATHAN.
1
"Natalia Pinus, Akademgorodok’s elected representative to the regional council..."
I've met her husband, Richard.
I've met her husband, Richard.
Why is it a surprise?
That's what Russia is infamous for... In various forms, long ago not allowing any free enterprise and now "allowing" only to the extent it doesn't trigger interest of someone in power or his/her offspring who wants to "buy" it out at fire sale price and take it over...
Country with no laws and liberty can have no future...
Don't tell it to Putin... or Yulia here they'd sarcastically "whataboutit" to show how Russian diesel rockets manage to keep NASA afloat... ;))
That's what Russia is infamous for... In various forms, long ago not allowing any free enterprise and now "allowing" only to the extent it doesn't trigger interest of someone in power or his/her offspring who wants to "buy" it out at fire sale price and take it over...
Country with no laws and liberty can have no future...
Don't tell it to Putin... or Yulia here they'd sarcastically "whataboutit" to show how Russian diesel rockets manage to keep NASA afloat... ;))
2
This is a perfect example of what happens in Russia when one fails to silently submit to the unwritten but all too real shakedown system of kickbacks, bribes, and payoffs for the collection of "connected" freeloaders that plague the advancement of this incredibly-talented society.
4
Lock up the entrepreneurs who are a threat to the "fatherland"
1
Trump and the right wing will kill the American economy by doing the same sort of ideological based suppression of thought that Putin's doing in Russia. Entrepreneurial success is fundamentally rooted in freedom of thought. The growing theocracy being nurtured by Trump and Putin's paranoia on any competition ensure that both our nations a going to fade from any real prominence. We'll have our respective military might (and nuclear weapons) and we'll the influence that comes from that but.... The real power of a healthy and vibrant economy will be lost to us for a few generations. In both our cases that damage will have been entirely self-inflicted too.
8
Putin and Trump want the same type of economy: extraction industries and finance run by the few.
In both Russia and America scant attention is paid to science, research and development in the making of high value-added goods which could not only add to the GDP and employ people, but raise our standard of living and knowledge.
This state of affairs was brought to us by the fossil fuel industry, bankers, and corporate raiders. Science is for nerds and people who like to use their hands in concert with their minds. In addition, it does not pay as well as trading equities and buying mature businesses.
Russia has a rich history in the last century of producing scientists, engineers and mathematicians. Witness Sputnik and putting the first man in space. At this time, the only space pad with heavy booster rockets is located in Baikonur Kazakhstan/Russia.
Russia is now run by a criminal syndicate. The U.S.A. is run by improvident MBAs and lawyers, not people who follow science or actually make things.
In both Russia and America scant attention is paid to science, research and development in the making of high value-added goods which could not only add to the GDP and employ people, but raise our standard of living and knowledge.
This state of affairs was brought to us by the fossil fuel industry, bankers, and corporate raiders. Science is for nerds and people who like to use their hands in concert with their minds. In addition, it does not pay as well as trading equities and buying mature businesses.
Russia has a rich history in the last century of producing scientists, engineers and mathematicians. Witness Sputnik and putting the first man in space. At this time, the only space pad with heavy booster rockets is located in Baikonur Kazakhstan/Russia.
Russia is now run by a criminal syndicate. The U.S.A. is run by improvident MBAs and lawyers, not people who follow science or actually make things.
11
catching up and then falling behind has been a theme since Peter the Great. In each case, the government is unwilling to trust individual initiative and it is easier for people with government contacts to sabotage others for their own gain.
1
Paper Bear: "Russia’s faltering economy — now smaller than that of Italy and 11 other countries".
1
With a land mass 57 times the size, Russia's economy is smaller than Italy's. That is surely something to ponder.
6
some of us live in countries with a huge land mass that is nothing but rocks - take your Canadian Shield. Land mass is not necessarily a yardstick for what humans would consider 'a contributor to GDP'.
1
I know of another country about the size of Russia with the economy smaller than Italy's. Just look north of the 49th parallel. (hint - Canada)
2
Must say, I was surprised by the Canada stats. Thanks.
Russia's problem is an old one, especially for them. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. If they survive Putin, they need to revise their constitution to prevent any future presidents from serving more than two terms, period. If they still have a constitution by the time Putin is done.
1
If there is a problem, it is clearly not for us. Rather, it is a problem that prevents American exceptionalism. Oh yeah, Russia is not American democracy, where their orders... As in half the world. I'm afraid my friend your Empire is not to achieve greater expansion. Understanding the current situation makes you lose positions one by one. If I was a fierce opponent of the American nation, the current state of Affairs I was more than pleased, but your politics are not American interests but the interests of Finance capital. They do not think about the nation, they think about profit.
2
It has always been the case that Russia in any of its forms from before the Tsars to whatever the current form is called has had the necessary ingredients of natural resources and human capital to be the richest and most economically influential nation in the world.
As far as I can tell the only reason that Russia has never lived up to this potential is because they cannot seem to create a government that is not in its very essence a criminal enterprise run by insecure selfish people who do not have the intelligence of even the average Russian to be able to see these facts and realize they would be very well off indeed if they would just be honest and honorable in the doing of their duty.
It is not unlike how so many American republicans cling to the idea that climate change is not caused by humans so they can keep the money of the industries that have to change or end to fight it rolling in. The fear of change to something different is more powerful to them than reason even if that leads to utter destruction. Hence the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. reagan had nothing to do with it, they were going to collapse regardless of what any nation did to counter communism as will this new system.
As far as I can tell the only reason that Russia has never lived up to this potential is because they cannot seem to create a government that is not in its very essence a criminal enterprise run by insecure selfish people who do not have the intelligence of even the average Russian to be able to see these facts and realize they would be very well off indeed if they would just be honest and honorable in the doing of their duty.
It is not unlike how so many American republicans cling to the idea that climate change is not caused by humans so they can keep the money of the industries that have to change or end to fight it rolling in. The fear of change to something different is more powerful to them than reason even if that leads to utter destruction. Hence the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. reagan had nothing to do with it, they were going to collapse regardless of what any nation did to counter communism as will this new system.
5
Solzhenitsyn - in the Gulag Archipelago - wrote about being spuriously charged as an "organization" despite being an individual, back in the forties under Stalin. The organization charge made him liable to additional punitive measures such as internal exile.
Now this man, Trubitsyn, is charged for a conspiracy with no co-conspirators in order to pad the sentence?
Sounds like some things haven't changed all that much in seventy years.
Now this man, Trubitsyn, is charged for a conspiracy with no co-conspirators in order to pad the sentence?
Sounds like some things haven't changed all that much in seventy years.
8
Probably one of Mr. Putin's cronies wants to seize control of the company.
2
wow, scary. I guess a friend of Putin's with connections decided they wanted to be in the same business and Trubitsyn would not pay, so they jailed him and will take his company and make money with it, he will either be killed or spend enough time locked up that he will have nothing to go back to and will then be deported
This story plays out daily in the Soviet.......
This story plays out daily in the Soviet.......
4
Read Solzhenitsyn in The First Circle.
Contemporary fascist Russia is the new Soviet Union.
Contemporary fascist Russia is the new Soviet Union.
8
Fascism is the hatred of other peoples. In Russia lives more than 100 nationalities. As people and the government absolutely normally concern to all countries and peoples without exception. Can't say the same about your country, where suggests a controversial conclusion...
Hardly different than here in the US. Innovators everywhere are targets for old industries and corrupt politicians. Innovation is only good if the tech belongs to an oligarch. That is true everywhere. Those in power make sure that it is so.
9
No, that's inaccurate. It's quite different in the US. We have a thriving business community with rapid innovation and less regulation than most countries. I've heard many similar stories to this about what happens to entrepreneurs in Russia.
3
Did they miss a payment?
20
The more things change...
During the Gorbachev era, as the internet (Arpanet) was allowing scientists from all around the globe collaborate, the Soviet Union was being left behind. Glasnost was to help ameliorate the situation, to allow the USSR to compete with technological innovation.
We all know how that ended.
So, Putin is now the one caught on the horns of a dilemma: Allow freedom of collaboration, which leads to (gasp!) freedom of thought, or, keep tight control of research and innovation which in turn stifles the very thing it's meant to promote?
During the Gorbachev era, as the internet (Arpanet) was allowing scientists from all around the globe collaborate, the Soviet Union was being left behind. Glasnost was to help ameliorate the situation, to allow the USSR to compete with technological innovation.
We all know how that ended.
So, Putin is now the one caught on the horns of a dilemma: Allow freedom of collaboration, which leads to (gasp!) freedom of thought, or, keep tight control of research and innovation which in turn stifles the very thing it's meant to promote?
17
We know exactly how Gorbachev's era ended. Destruction of the country, economy and science, civil wars, chaos, crushing poverty of the population, rampant corruption. Whatever solution is repeat of Gorbachev's era is not a solution
The corruption - official and unofficial - in that region is astonishing when seen first hand. New successful businesses are seen as new sources of income for the security and regulatory services as opposed to growth opportunities for the economy. A new business typically faces numerous, unconnected demands for payments, protection money and bribes to stave off regulations. The more successful they are, the more they get attention and demands from higher levels of government. One means of survival is to find a powerful, politically connected protector to whom you make unofficial contributions in exchange for protection. Russia and its former republics have little chance of diversifying their economies absent serious reforms to end this corruption.
24
Where were the certifiers of prison regulations by state officials when Sergei Magnitsky was being tortured then murdered by criminals of the FSB?
12
The key info here is that many locals see these troubles as rooted in a business rivalry in which the competition has bribed law enforcement - and Tion has not - thus Tion is being singled out. Maybe it isn't the competition, and merely that Tion refused to pay bribes period. That would be enough to bring about this result.
19
"That has turned even relatively small companies into attractive targets by the police and the courts operating in partnership with business."
---
This is the William Browder/Sergei Magnitsky story all over again. How can Russia pretend to be a big player in world affairs when it cannot even police its own corrupt officials?
---
This is the William Browder/Sergei Magnitsky story all over again. How can Russia pretend to be a big player in world affairs when it cannot even police its own corrupt officials?
14
"Mr. Amelkin, Tion’s chief technical officer, said he and his staff had been unable to figure out who or what was behind the investigation. “If you try to find out who is responsible for anything in this system you will only find an echo in the cave,” he said, adding that the Russian state “is not a single organism with one brain” but a sprawling mass of separate and often competing fiefs." It looks like Mr. Amelkin understands the problem. It's endemic to the Russian state as it has become under Putin.
In any case, the Russians had better hurry. Oil and natural gas for energy use are on the way out, and the change world-wide could accelerate faster than Russia can change its ways. And, a country with great intellectual talent could find itself in 'donut hole' between one prosperity and the promise of another that doesn't materialize fast enough. And the country falls into a baffling poverty with the "competing fiefs" scrambling for power and rubles.
In any case, the Russians had better hurry. Oil and natural gas for energy use are on the way out, and the change world-wide could accelerate faster than Russia can change its ways. And, a country with great intellectual talent could find itself in 'donut hole' between one prosperity and the promise of another that doesn't materialize fast enough. And the country falls into a baffling poverty with the "competing fiefs" scrambling for power and rubles.
15
This cannot be the whole story. I don't believe that the current nationalistic, corrupt, autocratic Russian government that so selectively enforces the law would jail this entrepreneur over a certification. A hefty fine and an order to apply for certification? That seems reasonable. The jail sentence seems more fitting for an oligarch with mild political ambitions. Something is iffy here ...
3
Excess ideological nuttery, or insufficient bribery. Either explanation suffices. If we're not careful we could go into the same toilet.
13
Fear is not rational. I refer you to the Roman Empire and the City of Rome. They had a huge fire problem yet if anyone had tried to set up a fire fighting system they would have been killed by the leadership. Why? Because anyone whom had managed to provide that service would have had such widespread support and love from the people they would have gained political advantage over anyone else in the Empire.
It is not rational but it is basically this sort of selfishness that limits them. In our system the GOP would have you believe that greed and avarice and selfishness is what drive our economy to be the best but that is not so. The fact is it is placing or a premium on doing what is best for all not just ones self that let our economy thrive in spite of the greedy people like the Rockefeller's and Trumps.
It is not rational but it is basically this sort of selfishness that limits them. In our system the GOP would have you believe that greed and avarice and selfishness is what drive our economy to be the best but that is not so. The fact is it is placing or a premium on doing what is best for all not just ones self that let our economy thrive in spite of the greedy people like the Rockefeller's and Trumps.
The system of corruption starts locally and broadens out as a company gets bigger and more successful. I am fairly certain that no one in Moscow ever heard of this company. Rather, locally corrupt actors or investigators bribed by a competitor likely acted unilaterally. But now that the case has generated notoriety, Moscow will take notice and it may actually be helpful for the company since Putin does not like this type of corruption to create notoriety. I suspect the charges will be dropped in a week or so.
Why be surprise. just look at Russia history they have NEVER produce anything put trouble. These people don't look to fix or solve any problem. Give them a boat they don't fish but instead look for trouble. This is the Russian people history and don't look for change from these fools.
5
Bad people, eh?
2
really? I've heard Russia has a number of Nobel prize winners in many areas. They must get all these prizes exclusively for creating troubles.
You need to travel, friend. Russia has an amazing, educated, talented population, forever held back by extremely poor, deeply corrupt government.
2
"Russian government undermining its own stated economic goal — to nurture enterprises that harness Russian brain power instead of just sucking oil, gas and minerals out of the ground."
No different than Republistan, the American Republic where Gas Oil Pollution does the same thing using slightly different destructive methods.
Don't let your children grow up to be Russian-Republicans with coal, oil, gas and other fossil fuels on the brain, happy to flush the Earth's climate down a their toilets of greed.
The greed and stupidity of right-wing humanity is fatal to the human species.
No different than Republistan, the American Republic where Gas Oil Pollution does the same thing using slightly different destructive methods.
Don't let your children grow up to be Russian-Republicans with coal, oil, gas and other fossil fuels on the brain, happy to flush the Earth's climate down a their toilets of greed.
The greed and stupidity of right-wing humanity is fatal to the human species.
30