[Rumour] Agent denies Datsyuk 'holed up at monastery with Russian priest

[Pointman]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Well I suppose you could say most of his smarts were hockey smarts.

I recall how about 15 years ago I was lambasted here by claiming that most hockey players are not very bright and playing professional sport is not a very smart life decision.

That being said, this connection of Datsyuk with the monk appears ti be more of a motivational rather than intellectual nature. And top hockey players need every ounce of motivation they can get.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Wow, well done. The rare quadruple post.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Pointman

I recall how about 15 years ago I was lambasted here by claiming that most hockey players are not very bright and playing professional sport is not a very smart life decision.

You can hire a brain for every chore when you have made $80 million

[Knut]

Story out of Russia untrue ?? Shocker.

https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/p...st-in-annexed/

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Knut

Story out of Russia untrue ?? Shocker.

https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/p...st-in-annexed/

Sometimes I think there's not much of a difference between Russia and the USA.

Except that Russia doesn't pretend to be some great beacon of freedom.

[lambeburger]

Originally Posted by Knut

Story out of Russia untrue ?? Shocker.

https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/p...st-in-annexed/

It's almost as if RT is Russian state funded propaganda.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Sometimes I think there's not much of a difference between Russia and the USA.

Except that Russia doesn't pretend to be some great beacon of freedom.

So you are saying if you had to live in the USA or Russia it would be a coin flip decision?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

So you are saying if you had to live in the USA or Russia it would be a coin flip decision?

Last I checked...half of Russia isnt rioting and/or on fire or having a veritable crisis against the basic principles of law and order.

Say what you will, but theres something to be said for firm leadership of one form or another.

#devilsadvocate

[Pointman]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

So you are saying if you had to live in the USA or Russia it would be a coin flip decision?

There are obviously way more Russians that immigrate to the USA than the other way around. My grandmother, aunt and her children live in USA. Both my kids were born in Houston so they could get USA citizenship. Before covid, russian women were flocking to deliver in USA for this very reason. Because of this, I have relatively decent grasp of what USA is and I also never deny that USA is far superior country.

That being said, the difference between USA and Russia is nothing but money. USA is way more rich, and has better climate, and that's it. USA is in no way more "free", "moral" or superior in any ethical way. USA have changing government, but their presidents are a joke. Russia is effectively a monarchy - not dictatorship, as some paint it to be - but Putin at least has a clue on how to run a country.

Moscow is one of the better and most liveable cities in the world. Public health care in Moscow is excellent and free. Public schools are miles ahead of USA. I had to deal with USA administrative units, such as social security centers, to do paperwork for my kids. Moscow administration / government departments work a bit better. Moscow public transit is miles ahead of New York 's. It's safer in Moscow, than it is in Houston.

More importantly though USA appeared to be in no way any more honest, dignified, and free than Russia. It's very much a liar country, for lack if better word. I mean, normal people in USA were nice and friendly, but they are so in Russia and arguably everywhere. But USA as a country is just very rich. It didn't appear to be any better than Russia in other aspects, particularly in moral/ethics /freedom aspects.

[Red Slinger]

^I was born in Moscow but moved to Canada when I was quite young. That said, I was very much exposed to Russian culture growing up, I still have family there and I've visited Russia a couple times as an adult.

I think you're right in certain respects. I can only speak about Moscow and St.Pete since that's my only experience. In that experience I found Russian culture to be more culturally rich, intellectual, educated, historically astute and globally aware. As you mentioned, the education system and healthcare are better (at least in certain respects) in Russia.

However, I've found modern Russian culture to generally be shallow, insecure, petty and with a bit of a 'daddy complex'. Also, even the social safety net is the US seems better than that in Russia. In terms of safety, both nations are dangerous. The violent crime and rate of murder for both nations is very close to one another.

Both nations have a long history of global meddling and human rights atrocities for the betterment of their elite. They are both 'liar countries' as you mentioned. The US has just done it more covertly while trying to paint themselves as white knights publicly. Russia has never dropped atom bombs on civilians.

Freedom of speech, freedom of press, LGBTQ+ rights, institutional racism I would argue are all better in the US. However, apropos of this thread, religious extremism is much more common and accepted in the US.

Honestly, I wouldn't choose to live in either country unless I was filthy rich.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

So you are saying if you had to live in the USA or Russia it would be a coin flip decision?

There is some major corruption in the USA. Look up Affluenza kid who's dad literally paid off the justice system to have his son go free after drunk driving causing multiple deaths.

I've lived in the USA and I genuinely loved it, and I love many aspects of American culture. However, I lived in nice areas of SoCal, and I am a white male so it was great for me there. I've traveled the US extensively and there are some seriously depressing and horrible parts to that country.

Coin flip for me personally? No, since you can make way more money working in the USA vs Russia. But I'd say these days both are roughly equal in the corruption scale.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I feel like we might want to get some Russian LGBT people to weigh in on this debate... You know, if they're actually willing to identify themselves.

If you're gay in the United States, you might have more trouble buying a wedding cake, and you'll face other challenges in certain parts of the country, but you're pretty unlikely to be systematically tortured and murdered.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

There is some major corruption in the USA. Look up Affluenza kid who's dad literally paid off the justice system to have his son go free after drunk driving causing multiple deaths.

I've lived in the USA and I genuinely loved it, and I love many aspects of American culture. However, I lived in nice areas of SoCal, and I am a white male so it was great for me there. I've traveled the US extensively and there are some seriously depressing and horrible parts to that country.

Coin flip for me personally? No, since you can make way more money working in the USA vs Russia. But I'd say these days both are roughly equal in the corruption scale.

I'm sorry, but I'm not buying that. There's no corruption scale that exists where they're in the same stratosphere.

The USA has been hypocritical in human rights in some areas, and systemic racism for black Americans especially is egregious. But Russia is controlled by a dictator that actively funds white supremacy as a tool. He surrounds himself with an oligarchy that is quite literally an arm of a conspiratorial mob. This just isn't something you can say is comparable. Putin himself is likely the richest man on the planet, funded entirely by Russian taxpayers

[Macindoc]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

There is some major corruption in the USA. Look up Affluenza kid who's dad literally paid off the justice system to have his son go free after drunk driving causing multiple deaths.

I've lived in the USA and I genuinely loved it, and I love many aspects of American culture. However, I lived in nice areas of SoCal, and I am a white male so it was great for me there. I've traveled the US extensively and there are some seriously depressing and horrible parts to that country.

Coin flip for me personally? No, since you can make way more money working in the USA vs Russia. But I'd say these days both are roughly equal in the corruption scale.

I have to agree with Corsi and Street Pharm here, there is no comparison between the corruption in the USA and that in Russia. The latter is run by a totalitarian dictator who has successfully merged the KGB and the Russian mafia into the perfect fascist state. Putin's power is absolute and guaranteed by the poisoning or disappearance of any credible political opponent. Only oligarchs with ties to Putin have any economic power. Dissidents and gays are murdered or disappear on a regular basis, but the people are not in the streets demonstrating because it could result in their own deaths. Neighbouring states are invaded and annexed for their resources or for access to tidewater. Russian-friendly dictators in other countries, such as Syria, are given military support to commit genocide on large portions of their own populations. Cyberwarfare units do their best to cripple western economies, sow distrust of western democratic institutions, and kill as many citizens of western democracies as possible by widely disseminating disinformation (for example, promoting conspiracy theories about COVID-19 in order to cause distrust of our health authorities, and actively supporting the anti-vax movement).

Frankly, the similarities between today's Russia and early Nazi Germany are downright frightening.