Comments by "Nattygsbord" (@nattygsbord) on "Russia’s Military Power (2017)" video.

But but tanks and nukes don't kill people, people kill people! Everyone should be able to own a nuke. Because the onlything stopping a man with a nuke, is another man with a nuke. And a nuke ban would only be a law that good guys choose to follow, while the bad guys always will get their weapons illegally.
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The Russias military is developing many weapons that are superior to anything the west have. The Armata tank is the most modern tank in the world. The PAK-FA is the best fighter jet in the world - by far. And Russia also got other weapons that are if not the best, so among the best in the world - such as the Ka52 attack helicopter, the S-400 surface-to-air missile, the Kornet anti-tank missile, the T-80 tank, and the SU35 fighter is atleast on paper superior to any western fighter jet, and the MIG35 and even the old MIG31 is comparing well to the most modern European fighter jets. So considering Russias small size of the economy, one should not mock them for achieving so impressive technological achievments but rather applaud them. I am not a Russian fanboy, and much less a fan of Putin. But I can respect Russia for doing some things well, unlike retarded Russia-haters who say bad things about the country regardless if they deserves it or not. And yes, Russia is poor compared to Europe and USA. But Russias industrialization also started much later, and the country had its economy destroyed in a world war and a large chunk of its economy destroyed by the Germans and a large part of its population murdered by Hitler. And then in the 1990s Russia implemented neoliberal economic reforms under Yeltsin that crashed the economy, bankrupted 80% of the farms in Russia, and made the Russian GDP go down by 2/3rds. More Russians got killed Yeltsins corrupth economic reforms than the amount of Russians killed by Hitler. And HIV, drug-use and prostitution started to spread where it was previsously unknown. The hyperinflation ruined ordinary Russians while corrupth oligarchs and the Maffia made big money. So western powers share some of the blame for Russia's economic development after the world war and the economic policies pushed by the Washington consensus in the 1990s. The Soviet union also made disasterous economic decisions as we all know with its over-spending on the military and its creation of mass-starvation in Ukraine. But its economic development was none the less impressive in many aspects. And if one does not call the Soviet economic development a success, then I don't know what country one could then possibly call an economic success. Soviet started as a poor feudal country of farmers that became one of the largest industrial countries in the world and entered the atomic age. The average life-span for the population more than doubled. The country managed to win the space race against the richest country on the planet. It managed to defeat the mightyiest invasion army in history. It managed to industrialize the country in record short time, not only once, but twice after the Germans had wrecked most of the industrial centers in the country. The peasant country became a superpower. I think the development by the Soviets can be impressive in many aspects. But I don't think starving a million Ukrainians and censoring and killing political dissidents was a price worth paying. Nevertheless, did Stalins brutal industrialization financed by all stolen Ukrainian food save the world from nazi world domination. For without all those factories and machines that was built, Russia could never have defeated Germany.
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Ron Lawson, the media took the side of the IMF and portraited everyone opposing Yeltsins fascism as a backward communist. So if you just wanted democracy and a stop to Yeltsins harmful economic policies, then you were called a "commie" by the west. Even if you were just not supporting his bombardement of the Russian parliament you were seen as backward. That's why you never heard of it. And rightwingers of course doesn't wanna take the blame the failures of their own economic policies known as the chockdoctrine. The economic crisis and hyperinflation caused people to lose their jobs and everything the owned. Many got depressed and commited suicide. Some starved to death. Others got depressed started to drinking alcohol - which made the alcohol consumption in Russia to double those years. And people also started to taking drugs. The government closed down social services such as hospitals, which caused much death among Russians, and diseases that were non-existant before Yeltsins rule started to spread like wildfire such as HIV and Tuberculosis. Gambling, prostitution, drugs, corruption and maffia gangs were taking over the country, as young Russians were emigrating to other countries for a better future as the country went deindustrialized and destroyed. This is what economics professor Michael Hudson writes on his blog: "Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the neoliberal financial reforms foisted on Pres. Yeltsin’s regime by the Harvard Boys after 1991 caused a shortfall in population of about 20 million – as much as Russia lost during World War II." http://michael-hudson.com/2012/09/surviving-progress-transcript/ So Yeltsin killed as many Russians as Hitler did.
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The GDP comparison is relevant because it says a lot of Russia military capabilities and it strenght on the world scene. But of course does this number in itself not tell everything one needs to know about the country. In some aspects it is a superpower. It is for example still one of the largest oil producers in the world. And Russia do have strong technological capabities in software, nanotechnology, nuclear energy, aerospace, and armaments. But in other areas it can be a rather weak country. I guess things depend on what area you look at.
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