Russian ‘colossus’

http://golos-dobra.livejournal.com/247067.html

### Russian ‘colossus’

During 1913 and 1914, the policy-makers in Paris became increasingly aware of the growth of Russian power. French military observers reported that the Russian army had made huge advances since the setbacks of the Japanese war; the Russian soldier was ‘first class, tough, well trained, disciplined and devoted’ and the Russian army was expected to prevail against its ‘eventual enemies’. French financial experts corroborated this view of Russia’s prospects.
One keen student of the Russian economy was M. de Verneuil, a syndic of the brokers at the Paris Stock Exchange with the power to veto the admission of securities to the Paris Bourse. Verneuil had long been involved in Russo-French business ventures when he travelled to St Petersburg to discuss the terms of the new French loan with premier Kokovtsov. In a letter of 7 July 1913, he reported his impressions to Foreign Minister Pichon. Verneuil had already formed a very favourable opinion of Russian economic progress, he wrote, but his recent visit to the Russian capital had convinced him that the reality was far more impressive:

There is something truly fantastic in preparation, whose symptoms must strike the mind of even the most informed observers. I have the very clear impression that in the next thirty years, we are going to see in Russia a prodigious economic growth which will equal – if it does not surpass it – the colossal movement that took place in the United States during the last quarter of the XIXth century

Verneuil was not alone: in 1914, the reports of the French military attaché in St Petersburg, General de Laguiche, evoked a Russian ‘colossus’ supplied with ‘inexhaustible resources’, armed with ‘first-class’ soldiers and wielding a ‘limitless power’. After attending the spring manoeuvres of that year, Laguiche positively bubbled over with enthusiasm: ‘the more I go, the more I admire this material, the Russian man is superior to any I know. There’s a source of strength and power there that I have never encountered in any other army.’ Press reporting tended to reinforce this impression. In November 1913, Le Temps ran an article in which the paper’s Russian correspondent Charles Rivet declared that

We cannot admire too much this great Russian [military] effort. It is produced without creating the slightest trouble of inconvenience to the prosperity of the country. [. . .] whereas in France, new military expenses posed a budgetary problem, Russia has no need to go in search of a new source of revenues. [. . .] In this arms race, Russia is thus better placed than anyone to sustain the competition. The development of its population is accompanied by a growth in wealth; the circumstances permit it to confront – even over the long term – the constant expansion of military contingents and expenses.

Французы грамотно уложили Россию на эшафот - под германскую непобедимую военную
машину против лапотных безграмотных крестьян с бездарными генералами и никчемным дворянством,
ничего не скажешь.
Балканы по сути та же Сирия с прочим Левантом сегодня.
Главный игрок как и тогда - Франция, у штатов ровно никаких интересов нет.
И опять один сюрприз за другим, в ЦРУ и прочих "агенствах" рассчитывали,
что Ассад финансово не выдержит осады, начнется инфляция, потеря главного средства
управления страной то есть. А нифига, вот ведь парадокс, никакой инфляции.
Более того, умные люди рядом с Ассадом еще и довольно ловко спекульнули на форексе,
благо навалом долларов и прочих евро в стране из-за купленных наемников - не карнавальных,
с серьезным оружием. И куда они с этими евро сунутся? Если везде в ходу свой ценный духовный рубль в магазинах с водкой и куревом.
Еще интереснее, бизнес в стране неплохо процветает, источников доходов у режима ДАЖЕ
с выключенными поступлениями от нефти и прочего туризма - НАВАЛОМ.
Практически невозможно ничем его свергнуть, более того - это и не нужно, см. DLC "The Pitt" в третьем фоллауте.
Фоллаут дает прекрасный и непровзойденный пока никем геймплей, практически та же Сирия,
и далее везде.
Сирия - это же по сути полигон, экспериментальная площадка, наблюдать все это с хорошим разрешением деталей крайне занимательно.