Russia is kind of laughably put together

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Exposing Russia's Incompetent Design
Link to script:
docs.google.com/document/d/1H...
Support me on Patreon:
/ oliverbahl
Video by:
Oliver Franke
Research & Script:
Charles Street, Oliver Franke
Edit & Animations:
Kai v. Vuuren, Oliver Franke

[@elmerilaasonen7684]

When driving from Finland to Russia is literally like going back in time.

[@sonnymp1337]

It is mindboggling to see the death statistics of the battle of stalingrad. One major battle in WWII was deadlier than several wars, stretching for years or decades, after it. 🤯

[@Homer-OJ-Simpson]

The flat Plaines in western Russia mentioned at the beginning that made invading Russia possible also works in reverse - and more often it was russsia invading others.

[@vmusatov]

As a Russian myself, I confirm all in the video is true. I was waiting for a bridge to be build where it was really needed and it's only 1 km long. In summer there is a ferry, in winter an ice road, other times you need to take a very long route around another city. I'm talking about a place 3 hour drive from Moscow. And yeah, I left the country for a better life

[@scepter0143]

India and China, which have bought Russian weapons, have heavily modified them to keep up with other militaries. The Russian built Vikramaditya Kiev-class carrier is the flagship of the Indian Navy, even above the Indian-built Vikrant carrier. However, it is said that only 20% of the original ship remains, as it has been outfitted with modern weapons systems and went through billions of dollars of refurbishment. Additionally, both India and China have better military control structures, and better teams. That is just the weakness of the Russian military. Its economy's weakness lies in over two-thirds of their export revenue comes from fossil fuels.

[@yorktown99]

Russia looks and operates the way it does, not as a bug, but as a feature. The Muscovite core is not just where the largest population centers are, it is where those who shape policy are (both in the public and private sectors). The vast Eurasian landmass was so sparsely populated that Russia could easily post up parts of its massive army to limit the influence of outside powers. But developing the local economy there was never a priority: only where extractive industries (running on convict slave labor) or the military operated received state backing. Continued development was (and still is) seen as a threat by Moscow: become too rich, it might try to secede. Meanwhile, the kleptocracy and corruption is a tool to buy off potential rivals to Moscow, co-opting them to be part of the system, not advocate for reform. The system is totally incompetent, since it guarantees that Russia cannot develop its once inexhaustible human capital (something which is in terminal decline). But the system is perfectly logical for guaranteeing control from the Kremlin.

[@Agalofix]

Over the past twenty years, more bridges have been built and reconstructed in Russia than at any other time in history. Before criticizing Russian design, look at yourself, gentlemen of the Anglo-Saxons. The Arctic Circle in Russia is home to 2.4 million people. How many people live in northern Alaska and Canada? One hundred thousand?

[@wizzy-]

You guys do not understand the scale of corruption in Russia. For instance you win a contract to build something, a road or anything else. The people in power come to you and tell you gotta give up 50 to 70% of the money allocated to doing the job to them as a bribe. If you say no, they will take this project from you to someone else because as they say "you cant, others will for sure". It goes to the point you cant even make the project, let alone breakeven or profit. Also, it's not western part of russia (although it is definetly more developed than siberia) but literally only Moscow. St. Peterburg on paper is the 2nd city, developed and everything but it is not even close to Moscow. There is big gap between them and an immense gap between Moscow and Russia. There is even a saying in russian: "Moscow is not Russia". It simply is not, it is years in the future comparing to the country and the funny part is that you dont even need to drive a lot to see the difference. Once you are out of Moscow proper in the Moscow region (Moscow oblast) you already see how much poorer and worse the country is. The budget of Moscow is like the budgets of half of Russian subjects combined or something.

[@johnsullivan4049]

15 million dollars a year as his official salary and he still engaged in corruption. Damn, talk about greed. WTF. 😂

[@uninstaller2860]

Wait, casualties isn't the same as deaths. There aren't 200000 dead Russian soldiers in Ukraine (yet). Casualties included wounded, anyone who's not capable of fighting. A soldier can be a casualty several times, after healing

[@MoleMatis]

When he says that Russia has been horribly designed, remember that he said London has amazing design. So it's probably worse than he says

[@Anonymous-zu7dh]

A minor point, but you said Russia had been invaded 5 times from the west in recent times as far back as Napoleon. Napoleon could read in his history books about the Swedish invasion of Russia though.

[@BS-vx8dg]

I'm at

[@polinashulyar4968]

Bridges in Vladivostok significantly improved the situation with the transport accessibility of the Russky Island and the Cherkavsky peninsula, at the same time a low-water bridge was built across the Amur Bay, helping to cut off 20 kilometers from the airport to the city. Please don't talk about things you don't understand.

[@digriz85]

This video has a very strange depiction of the russian borders: the map presented here has nothing to do neither with the internationally recognized russian borders nor with the borders defined by the russian constitution. I wonder what has prevented the authors to check with the maps and be consistent.

[@galvk]

Recently I have made a car trip Miscow-Nizhny Novgorod-Cheboksary-Kazan-Almetyevsk-Yoshkar Ola-Moscow. I can state that all places are good and friendly, not worse than US. What middle Ages?

[@marcuslegion3654]

It's because 80% of the population lives in European Russia.......

[@floydtron]

FYI "Steppe" in "The Eurasian Steppe" at

[@diomuda7903]

My parents were Vietnamese who got scholarship to study in the Soviet Union before migrating to Czechia in 1992. They told me that, outside Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the rest of Russia stuck in the 18th century. You can understand why.

[@wvr653]

Reading the comment section of opinions of people that never have visit Russia, it's quite interesting.