Replies

I'm glad you are so forgiving. I'm forgiving too, RusIvan.++

It was just matter of expression. Sorry I didn't want to
offend you.

It's always been my understanding that about 80% of Russians are eastern Slavs and are not descended from Vikings. Are you sure about this, IvanRus?+++

Etnically russians are nothern europians. Slavs are southern europians so. You see difference?
Of cause modern russians are mix of both. But nevertheless ethnically we are more relative of those nothern europian nations like finns, estonians, swedens, norgeans. Same way the belorussians.
There 3 russian nations now. Russians, belorussians and ukranians. All has very relative connections like brother nations. But only ukranians are mostly slavs.

Maybe it played role to today situation when there are some kind of allience between Russia and Bellorussia but Ukraine stays aside.

Romanov line are very noble so. They was ELECTED on throne.
By other noblemans. They were maybe not direct but relatives of Rurik line so.
Given the old tradition to take the brides for russian czars from german duke houses one may say that Romanovs were half germans ethnically to the end:).

Looking at the economic facts, about 35% of Russia's population is already going hungry. These people live in poverty, below the minimum subsistence level. Much of the funding for decommissioning many of your old missiles and safely disposing of your nuclear waste has been coming from the United States. We have given and loaned your country billions of dollars in the past decade so that Russia can accomplish this.+++

Yes I know that thank you. But USA did that for her own security too.
When russia destroys 40000 tonns of chemicals which she inhereted from USSR and don't need then she uses american funds. It is kind of recuperation after cold war. Which USSR did with USA but Russia was compeled in it.
So it is just to use american money to clean up after war.

About economical situation in Russia one cann't use goverment statistics. Better to go there and see by own eyes. I tell you what I know.
Goverment statistic very unprecise. Lot of enterprises in Russia simply don't give real numbers in order to avoid taxing. SO as people.
So even russian goverment don't know how is there.
Last census opened very surprising fact for example. The population of Russia increases not decreases as statictics thought.

I know one thing. If one will analyse the comsuptions of electricities or oil export he might see that they almost on same level as of Soviet union.
And all that comsuptions are payed for.
But as we all know the GDP fo Soviet Union wasn't very much lesser the USA's. So truth somewhere nearby.

As one wise foreigner said many years ago. "Russia never weak as she seems and Russia never strong as she wants".

Most AKs are very reliable weapons, although I prefer my FAL .308 as a primary combat weapon. +++

My point is that russian missiles builded same way of reliability as AK 47. They stored in containers. What you need is simply support the enviroment conditions. They are very rugged so. Then one day you push button it starts and then hits the target. At least many tests was done with always successes.

BTW there are versions of AK47 type for 308. But you probably know.

RusIvan: "Etnically russians are nothern europians. Slavs are southern europians so. You see difference? Of cause modern russians are mix of both. But nevertheless ethnically we are more relative of those nothern europian nations like finns, estonians, swedens, norgeans."
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From Purdue University (US):

*Peoples of Slavic descent:

The Slavs are made up of Russians, Serbs, Croats, Bulgarians, Rumanians, Slovacs and Poles. The Slavs are usually subdivided into East Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, and Belorussians), West Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and Lusatians [Sorbs]), and South Slavs (Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, and Bulgars).

The following is from the Center For Russian Studies of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs:

In the pre-Christian era, the region that is today called Russia, was inhabited by a variety of nomadic tribes. The Slavic tribes resided in the north. In the 6th c., they started migrating. Gradually they evolved into three basic groups, from which with time different sub-groups would evolve; the western Slavs (Poles, Slovaks, Czechs), southern Slavs (Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, Bulgars) and eastern Slavs (Belarusians, Russians, Ukrainians). The eastern Slavs expanded easily from the Baltic to the Black Sea, with Kiev and Novgorod as the most important centres.

According to Russian tradition, the first Russian dynasty began as warring Slavic tribes in 862 invited Rurik, a Scandinavian leader, to rule over them.

This comes from scholars who are the modern day descendants of the Vikings.

But maybe all these people are wrong, along with our US Department of State which tells us the following:

Most of the roughly 150 million Russians derive from the Eastern Slavic family of peoples, whose original homeland was probably present-day Poland.

By the ninth century, Eastern Slavs began to settle in what is now Ukraine, Belarus, and the Novgorod and Smolensk regions.

IvanRus, maybe you can help me here because I'm very confused now. Here is the Official Russian Website, maintained by the government of your country. The English version link there does not seem to work, unlike your Russian missiles which are state-of-the-art and fool-proof. Will you go to this website and tell me what the Russian government says about the origin of the Russian people? Does the government say they are slavic or does the government say they are nordic like the Vikings?