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[Sheb]

I dunno, the logo do remind me of the kind of logo you see on more traditionnal-branded french products, and Bremors sounds breton to me. Or do traditional Belarusian dresses look like Breton dresses? :p

[Guardian G.I.]

I dunno, the logo do remind me of the kind of logo you see on more traditionnal-branded french products, and Bremors sounds breton to me. Or do traditional Belarusian dresses look like Breton dresses? :p

The dress in the logo was designed to resemble the globe. I don't think they aimed to imitate some Breton fisheries, and their other brand names sound more Baltic than Breton (Matjas, for example).
As for traditional dresses, Breton dresses are completely different from Belarusian ones.

[Sinistar]

I can't help but think how Belorussian national dresses somehow look akin to every other Slavic national dress.

All glory to Pan-Slavic master race.




Also ptw as I have nothing smart to add.

[Helgoland]

The dress in the logo was designed to resemble the globe. I don't think they aimed to imitate some Breton fisheries, and their other brand names sound more Baltic than Breton (Matjas, for example).

Hehe, in Northern Germany we have Matjes - a certain kind of marinated herring which is rather typical of the region. Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if the Hanseatic League had evolved into a nation-state...

[Guardian G.I.]

The dress in the logo was designed to resemble the globe. I don't think they aimed to imitate some Breton fisheries, and their other brand names sound more Baltic than Breton (Matjas, for example).

Hehe, in Northern Germany we have Matjes - a certain kind of marinated herring which is rather typical of the region. Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if the Hanseatic League had evolved into a nation-state...

Oh, so that's why their herring fillets (very tasty, by the way, especially with potatoes) are called Matjas. I didn't know that.
Santa Bremor was co-founded by some Germans, though. I suspect they named it.

[FearfulJesuit]

I don't think Putin was expecting the almost inevitable sanctions to be THIS severe.

He doesn't have to care- his approval ratings are sitting at 87% (surely an inflated figure, but it can't be TOO inflated).

We'll see how long it lasts. He isn't up for re-election again until 2018, which is a long time that he doesn't have to care about the Russian economy. (And the economy is tanking fast- a dollar bought 39 rubles a month ago, and right now it buys 47, with half that slide in the last week.)

[FearfulJesuit]

Yeah, he might not have to care, but I imagine he cares a fair bit about the country he's running tanking. After all, he seems to be somewhat fond of power, and economic strength tends to give you more.

What's the point of having power if you can't use it? It's no fun being integrated into the world economy if doing so means giving up the ability to annex regions of Eastern Europe.

[Culise]

What's the point of having power when you can't do anything because your economy has crashed?

The power in itself, naturally.  Even a crashed economy can still give you scope for power domestically (witness the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or Zimbabwe), and even a poor economy is perfectly fine as long as you can still out-muscle your neighbors by sheer military power alone (Rwanda's and Uganda's interactions with Congo, for instance).  I doubt Putin's exactly using these as case studies, obviously, but in a choice between money and power, I'm pretty sure Putin will go for power every time.

[Baffler]

Clearly this is all part of the plan. The government will ruin the Russian economy, therefore proving that democracy doesn't work for Russia (to Russians), but keeping Putin popular and respected. The obvious next step will be for Russia to reform and become the New Soviet Union to better allocate its resources and to keep the nation united and stronk in the face of Western aggression. Former SSRs outside NATO will spontaneously rejoin the new Soviet Union under suspicious perfectly legitimate circumstances.

NATO will then break apart under pressure from the Baltic States (and the Finns) to do something on one end, and Western European powers on the other side who don't want to risk fighting. The New USSR sweeps through the East with no response by anyone but the US, who due to trouble fighting the equally improbable ISIS superstate that formed at some point is only able to commit a single predator drone and an F-16 with no pilot. Fortunately for the West, Poland had started preparing to resist a Russian invasion right after this happened. They repel the Soviets single handedly, and become the third first nation in history to take Moscow by horse.

Wait, what was I talking about?

[Culise]

The Polish branch of the SCA's glorious reenactment of the Polish-Muscovite War of 1605-1618.  Heck, we even have two Romanov pretenders to choose from. 

[alway]

Thing is, Russia's economy will rise and fall with the price of oil. If it continues dropping like it currently is, hedging his popularity with a cold war Us vs Them mentality is actually a pretty good idea.

Doing so won't even hurt their oil exports; they would basically have to, at the very least, invade a NATO country before their buyers started getting cold feet. Even with Ukraine, the question in Europe wasn't "how can we stop buying Russian oil," but rather "how can we ensure our flow of oil from Russia isn't interrupted?"

It's a classic case of the resource curse. Buying time politically is just about their only option.

[FearfulJesuit]

Kremlin bans paid adverts on cable TV, tightening the grip on news in the process.

[smjjames]

Kremlin bans paid adverts on cable TV, tightening the grip on news in the process.

I'm all for getting rid of commercials, but yeah, not if it means killing the independent stations and stuff.

[Sergarr]

...We have cable TV?

[miljan]

After the russian/chine deal for $400 billion for Power of Siberia pipeline, it looks like a second deal will be made for opening of the western route

http://rt.com/business/203087-putin-china-gas-deal/

Russia is pushing for aligning the reincarnation of a China-led Silk Road Economic Belt and the Eurasia transport and logistics passageway being built by Russia.

http://thebricspost.com/xi-putin-to-assert-united-front-at-apec/#.VFzBB2cXNR0

BRICS keep supporting Russia

http://theconversation.com/brics-keep-supporting-russia-in-bid-to-rebalance-world-power-31122

russia rouble hit record low
http://www.rttnews.com/2412944/russian-rouble-hits-all-time-low-against-u-s-dollar.aspx?type=cm