Quote Originally Posted by Hanna View Post
It's unbelievable how ignorant, arrogant and prejudiced some of the commentators on US TV sometimes are, and particularly when it comes to Russia.
It's THEIR loss, though. Who cares?
If they want to sit on the other side of the Atlantic and hate a country they never visited and don't have the true facts about.... then let them! It's particularly sad though since Russians absolutely seem prepared to give the USA and Americans a chance and some are really positive. Meanwhile Americans with very few exceptions are literally swimming in prejudice.
I care because it makes it uber study to learn anything about Russia. And it's a huge chunk of the planet that I want to know about. But the Russian newspapers and this site are helping tons.

Quote Originally Posted by Hanna View Post
The recent drama about gay rights in Russia is a worry though: Fingers crossed there will be no big gay pride manifestation during the Olympics and Russia overreacting. I think it would be much more dignified if Russia responded to a gay manifestation with a shake of the head and just let them do their thing. I think a lot of people just think it looks stupid and tasteless anyway, but it would be tons worse if the demonstrators were dragged off in handcuffs, and JUST the footage to fit with the prejudice.
No worries because it's the Obama administration that's doing all the over-reacting. President Putin has been really cool about stuff. We need a new President because President Obama is epic embarrassing.

Quote Originally Posted by Hanna View Post
Isn't that magazine the the mouthpiece of the elites in the USA, essentially? Not popular on this side of the pond at all, but I've come across it.
I mean, what they are writing isn't even objectively true!
And Obama isn't quite aggressive enough in his foreign policy for the journalists at Forbes clearly!
If they want to boycott the Olympic games they'll just look like a kid who has a trauma in the supermarket when he doesn't get the sweets he wants!
Dunno. It's just a financial magazine that dad reads. I only read it because I saw that article.

Quote Originally Posted by Hanna View Post
Didn't they actually boycott the games in Moscow too? I was too young wouldn't have known. Or did they just say they would..?
What if every country that had a complaint against the USA had boycotted the games there? Hardly anyone apart from the UK and a few arab emirates would have turned up....
Dunno. That was before I was even born. But I googled it and yeah, the US boycotted it. They really need to keep politics out of the olympics.

Quote Originally Posted by Hanna View Post
Since they can't find anything seriously wrong that Russia does, they are blowing this gay thing out of ALL PROPORTIONS. Don't fall for it, Deborski and others! I mean, anyone who wants to worry about gay rights should start in the US allied Saudi Arabia, just about any gulf state or any country in Africa. All that Russia does is prevents a parade. Meanwhile in the USA plenty of people are prevented from demonstrating about other things.
And in this, I have to say that Sweden is worse than the USA. People are totally up in arms about this. I just can't relate at all, but they had 12 years of pro - gay media while I've been out of the country, so I am out of touch. They now genuinely believe this is super important. Maybe I'm getting old or something, but I honestly think they have lost all sense of proportion. Fokus på Ryssland i Prideparaden - DN.SE
Tbh, I don't see anything happening in Russia that isn't happening in the US or other countries. The only differences are that Russians are easier to talk to, the culture is different, and the food is probably different too.
There's tons of human rights violations in the US so I don't get how we can make drama about other countries. It just makes us look stupid.
Anyway, I just want to see the Sochi Olympics WITHOUT political drama.

Quote Originally Posted by maxmixiv View Post
Omsk looks cool
Проблема последней мили - Омск - МаксМикс - Участники - Фотогалерея iXBT
DSC_2328_redu.jpg - Омск - МаксМикс - Участники - Фотогалерея iXBT

Sorry, I never visited Baikonur, never heard of anyone being there, and last time I watched Soyuz starting was on TV (First channel!), about 1978-1979 I think.
zOOmg! Those look way different than the pictures I saw! Thanks for posting them.
I've never seen a launch in real life but I always find something on youtube (NASA never has any ISS launch videos). This was the launch for Expedition Crew 36 on the Soyuz TMA-08M in March. It's kinda dark but it was 2:43 am in Baikonur. It would be so cool to see that in real life!