The Russia is getting more evil thread

[anonymgeist]

I think that’s a fair distinction! I suppose I was looking at it from the angle of “additional compensation that is expected and practically required, even if not legally required, due to inadequate official compensation.”

[Houngan]

Ah, gotcha, that’s a whole other ball of wax, and a correct one. The broad idea of the tipping world is extremely suspect and never more so than in the US where you can drastically underpay tipped employees way below minimum wage on the expectation of tips. I’ve done it, it sucks, and there’s a whole 'nother underlying hierarchy that keeps the newbies from being able to put food on the table until they kowtow to the scheme for years.

[jpinard]

@KevinC

After pummeling his own junk for the past year, Scholz asks himself “What if instead, I were to punch someone else in the dick?”.

Scholz chides partners to step up tank deliveries to Ukraine – POLITICO

Speaking during an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, Scholz told reporters that Berlin had been “very fast” in supplying Kyiv with modern Leopard tanks — and now others needed to follow, especially those who had once been pressuring Germany.

“Germany is making a very central contribution to ensuring that we provide rapid support, as we have done in the past,” Scholz said.

He added: “We are striving to ensure that many others who have come forward in the past now follow up on this finger-pointing with practical action.”

“Finland has yet to indicate whether it will provide tanks or other forms of assistance, such as maintenance,” a Finnish official told POLITICO.

Sweden, another partner that initially seemed open to sending Leopards, also hasn’t yet decided what to do. Spain said it is currently refurbishing older Leopard 2 A4 tanks, but it is unclear when they will arrive in Ukraine, and how many of them. Meanwhile, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said Wednesday his country would deliver three Leopard 2 tanks — less than Berlin had hoped for. Canada said it would send four Leopards.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had similarly previously raised the possibility that The Hague could buy some of the Leopard 2 tanks it currently leases from Germany and send them to Ukraine. But Rutte was evasive at the EU summit on Thursday, saying only, “that’s something we’re [still] discussing with our partners.”

Can I just ask, WTF is wrong with Scholz?

[ShivaX]

@Houngan

To get back onto the subject, my take would be that bribery happens before an act, and a tip happens after.

While true, bribery is also often connected to avoiding things happening to you.

One goes into a place to eat in a tipping country knowing that the tip exists. And also that they don’t have to pay it, even if that makes them shitty people.

With bribery, well maybe that cop wants you to buy his lunch today. Now if you’re say smuggling weapons, the bribe is more a cost of business thing you’re happy to pay, but for a lot of people it’s just extortion.

[ChrisPal]

Scholz is a schwanz.

[Timex]

@TheWombat

I would say, nope, not very different at all. Just a different framework. I mean, I feel coerced into tipping all the time especially by the POS systems that automatically prep tips for you in set amounts.

I would say that the big difference between tipping and bribery is that generally in the case of bribery, you are paying someone who holds power over you, in order for them not to abuse their power.

Or, alternately, you are paying them to abuse their power in your favor.

That makes it pretty different from tipping, to me.

If someone is simply doing their job, as defined by their society and laws, then bribery isn’t really a thing.

If bribery is widespread, then that means there is systemic corruption, and I think we can evaluate that in a pretty universal, objective manner, because it’s essentially people paying to go around the rules that society had set up for itself.

[Strollen]

@TheWombat

I spent a good bit of time back in the bad old days studying the USSR in grad school and afterwards, though I certainly do not have the sort of knowledge someone who lived there or among Russians might have. I can say though that in the days of the Commissars, the USSR sure seemed to have less inequity in its society than Russia does today, at least, the gaps were quite a bit smaller as @alekseivolchok says. Indeed, when the whole thing toppled over there was a period of years where older Russians often pined for the days of the USSR, because at least then there was law and order and you could get food on a regular basis.

Of course, from the perspective of someone who sees legalized baksheesh or any informal application of bureaucratic power in exchange for equally informal compensation as corruption, the USSR was corrupt. But that viewpoint is not, as I said, some universal truth. It is a product of societies that privilege property above all else, primarily, and it serves the interests of those with property. Not saying it’s a bad way to look at the world, but it isn’t one that has sprung up out of whole cloth.

Inequality can be measured in different ways. Sure by American standards almost everybody in the Soviet Union was poor. The top .01% in the USSR, didn’t have jets, yachts and only 3 or 4 modest size houses. But the huge inequality in the Soviet Union, wasn’t material inequality but power. I’m less likely to be shot, or thrown in jail on BS charges than young black man, but not significantly different than someone with 1/10 or 10x my wealth. Crossing a midlevel KGB, cop, or high-ranking politburo member was dangerous because of the huge power imbalances.

Besides being billionaires Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, and Mark Benioff share one thing in common, their plans for their Hawaii properties have been stymied by local citizen groups and neighborhood boards for years. It is hard to imagine the head of major factory or a politburo member facing a similar problem in the Soviet Union, or Russia today.

[scottagibson]

There’s a lot of energy being spent here on likening the Putin regime to the Soviet regime, and I don’t really know why. It’s true they’re both authoritarian and — in their own different ways — corrupt, but otherwise they’re very different. The Putin regime seems much more like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to me than like the USSR.

[Houngan]

@ShivaX

While true, bribery is also often connected to avoiding things happening to you.

I think that’s either extortion when it’s avoiding a bad action, or blackmail when it’s avoiding bad information.

[KevinC]

Russia's Wagner mercenary group says it's no longer recruiting convicts. This...

[Strollen]

@scottagibson

There’s a lot of energy being spent here on likening the Putin regime to the Soviet regime, and I don’t really know why. It’s true they’re both authoritarian and — in their own different ways — corrupt, but otherwise they’re very different. The Putin regime seems much more like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to me than like the USSR.

Given that Putin’s biggest regret is the collapse of the Soviet Union and his stated goal is to restore Russia’s status as a superpower the comparison seems pretty logical to me. Why do you think Saudi Arabia is a better comparison?

[Grifman]

Bribery is an inducement to get someone to do something that they shouldn’t and would not do otherwise, and often benefits the person offering the bribe at the expense that those who do not bribe (such as bidding for a contract).

Tipping is thanking someone monetarily for their providing good service after the fact. The tipper and non-tipper and in the same position benefit wise because the tipping is after the fact.

Very different.

[Grifman]

Like I said, heavy losses:

Visegrád 24

[ShivaX]

Zelenskyy: Ukraine caught Russian plan to 'destroy' Moldova

[Woolen_Horde]

@Grifman

Like I said, heavy losses:

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1623852522216587273?s=46&t=BC5cuX4cQiUN4NU2dVzGAQ

Most of those tanks look like they were abandoned.

[KevinC]

February and abandoned Russian armored vehicles, name a more iconic duo.

[Calelari]

@KevinC

name a more iconic duo

Ukrainian tractors and Russian tanks?

[Canuck]

Why are all those tanks so close together? That looks like the videogame RTS version of the war. Maybe CoH?

[Tortilla]

@Canuck

Why are all those tanks so close together? That looks like the videogame RTS version of the war. Maybe CoH?

Presumably because they weren’t destroyed in the field of battle, but rather parked at a base/camp/depot/etc that got targeted by arty or missiles or airstrikes.

[jpinard]

NOËL 🇪🇺 🇺🇦

No @Tortilla they were caught in artillery strike and condensed.