As i’ve said before, i think, these ex-vassals of Nazi Germany don’t know what the real brutality is. Oh, wrong words – they know what is the real brutlity – just not as victims of it, but executioners.

So again, they don’t know what brutality is and they need Russia to explain it to them. :rolleyes:

Yet you still don’t get why Russia is hated and feared to the extent that it is… The average Russian’s brain is so soaked in propaganda that they think they can lecture the peoples they oppressed on how it wasn’t that bad.

[irony] No, just ebil regular German commies who love to shoot their co-citizens.[/irony] :rolleyes:

What, if not evil, would you call shooting unarmed civilians as they flee your gentle oppression?

Yes, we’re heroes. Whatever was after and been made by politicians(including Western ones) doesn’t change this fact. So, it’s a pure lie – about “brutal occupation”. It was unrightful, it was opressing political freedoms and dessidents, but fact is – it never was brutal, especially if to compare it to brutality, demonstrated by the West.

Never brutal huh? You think the Czechs and Slovaks would agree? How about the Hungarians? What about the East Germans murdered while trying to reach freedom?

Let me guess, politicians, right?

Well, then we can’t say Europe don’t have their own 5th Gen, right? 🙂

In a sense that is true certainly… the F-35 is a multinational project with a great deal of European technology and manufactured content.

Yes.. Especially now that we have Fiat/Chrysler.. 🙂

Depends how you define “we.” Last I checked Norway was not in Italy…

…but you are starting to grasp the problem. From an economic standpoint what matters is where the work is done. Opels built in Germany count as German while BMWs built in the US count as American. Obviously the reality is more complex than that but for the purposes of this discussion (which you seem to be forgetting was a comparison between NATO and Russia) it will do.

Well, no. The demand for US made cars is traditionally concentrated on NAFTA countries (Canada, Mexico make up to 50%), the rest goes to the Middle East (Saudis, Kuwait, Qatar) and Asia (China, I’ll never understand the Chinese crush for Buick 🙂 ).. European imports are quite insignificant.. Overall, the US export about 2 million vehicles in a year (incl. foreign brands), while in Europe, the tiny Slovakia alone does half of that number..

You have to understand the way the auto industry is structured in North America, as a result of NAFTA (and much older US/Canadian collaboration) all of N. America’s auto industry functions effectively as a single unit, principally supplying the USA. If you look at a label on a car here that is even how the content is represented, N. America versus everywhere else.

See here for example where you will find that several cars with the greatest percentage of N. American content are actually “Japanese.”

http://www.motortrend.com/news/15-cars-with-the-most-north-american-made-parts/

All of this is increasingly tangential to the main point, that being that Russia’s economy is one of resource extraction with a far smaller and uncompetitive manufacturing and high-tech sector.

Testy? Nope.. I was just enjoying shooting you down.. The guy is right, US cars are extremely unpopular here and even those few you can see on the road are strange incarnations (Chevrolet Malibu) of European types (Opel Insignia).. It would be interesting to know how many of those rare Yanks are actually original US models.

So, a Cameri-built F-35 is no more an American plane, you say? :confused:

Well, Opel is owned by GM. Does that make Opels American cars?

If we are discussing manufacturing from an economic standpoint then what matters is where the cars are built. BMWs built in the US count as US manufactured cars. (and yes, an F-35 built in Italy would count as a European manufactured plane)

If you want to start pulling the thread on brands, and whether a BMW built in the US counts as German or American… that is a separate discussion.

The point in either case remains the same… the US exports plenty of cars to Europe where Europeans happily buy them. The same can’t be said of Russia, which exports essentially zero cars and those only to its former colonies.

10,600 Tesla S sold in nine months, that is revenue of some €700 mil.. The whole EU/EFTA market for the same period was 11.4 million new registrations totaling €220-230 billion..

So, once again, you are talking about 0.3% of EU market here.. Yes, 0.3%, you little clueless clown..

My my, getting a little testy are we? He said “A European wouldn’t be caught dead driving an American car for example.” I was just enjoying shooting him down.

What is amusing is that many of the “European” cars you see on the road on the continent were built in the US:

https://www.bmwusfactory.com/bmw_articles/bmw-manufacturings-2015-export-value-reaches-nearly-10-billion/

Before 1991, there was no such a country – Ukraine. There was only Ukrainian Soviet Socialistic Rupublic(USSR, do not counfuse with Soviet Union’s abbreviation).

No, no true country, but they are rather enjoying having one now…

Pay attention. I said the US. Not Nato.

Ignorance..ignorance, ignorance…

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea was created on 12 February 1991. It has its own constitution and its own Separate parliament from Ukraine.
WHICH GIVES IT THE RIGHT TO SELF DETERMINATION UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW.

No it doesn’t.

No no.. Your ignorance stands.

From Wiki

Automotive industry in Russia
From Wikipedia,

Since the 2000s, foreign companies have been flocking to enter Russia, seeing it as a local production location and export powerhouse.

Russia is an automotive “export powerhouse?”

Funny how one can spin news isn’t it?

Foreign carmakers in Russia are looking to ramp up production and export locally-made vehicles to compensate for plunging domestic sales, having taken steps to reduce their dependence on costly imported parts.

After a decade of annual sales growth in excess of 10 percent, the Russian car industry has become a casualty of an economic crisis fuelled by lower oil prices and Western sanctions over Moscow’s role in the Ukranian conflict.

While some foreign carmakers like U.S. General Motors Co have quit Russia, stung by a low level of local manufacturing, others are intent on riding out the storm and even ramping up production for the export market.

Volkswagen, Ford, Nissan and Renault all told Reuters they were considering increasing exports from Russia, though no final decisions had been made.

Pursuing exports is an unusual strategy in a country which depends on costly imported parts and whose neighbouring economies are also struggling.

“It’s a mark of desperation,” said IHS Automotive analyst Tim Urquhart.

“They’ve got factories that are running at very low capacity levels,” he said. “They’ve got to try and come up with ways to improve the … economic rationale of those plants.”
…
Auto exports to CIS nations from Russia fell 26 percent year-on-year to 54,800 vehicles in the first 7 months of 2015, customs data showed, while total sales abroad dropped to 58,200, down 25 percent.

http://www.reuters.com/article/russia-autos-exports-idUSL5N11U1T620150925

Less than 60k cars exported, 55k of which went to CIS countries.

Export powerhouse.