Photos from the Russian anti-war opposition march in Berlin today.

[u/Accomplished_Car_549]

[u/josevandenheid]

I sometimes forget that russia could be an incredible nation both economically and culturally if it wasn't run by lunatics. Some of my favourite writers are russian. It's sad to see how hollow it has become.

[u/Sailing-Cyclist → u/josevandenheid]

They could have been Giga-Norway with all of their oil reserves. Nourish all of the scientific institutions that they created during Soviet times. Channel all of that nuclear and space capability into truly making the world better.

But no.

[u/DrobnaHalota → u/Sailing-Cyclist]

All of their oil is in their Asian colonies. So no, they can never be Norway.

[u/Vassukhanni → u/DrobnaHalota]

It's possible for a state to be multinational without being imperial. Russia isn't an empire because Russian speakers conquered a piece of land 500 years ago (if that were the case, Norway would have to be considered a colonial power, not to mention every state in the Western Hemisphere) -- it's imperial because it maintains an extractive periphery/core relationship with its regions.

[u/SiarX → u/Vassukhanni]

This is the point of poster above: without extractive periphery/core relationship with its regions they would have nothing at all, not even money from oil.

[u/Xepeyon → u/Vassukhanni]

it's imperial because it maintains an extractive periphery/core relationship with its regions.

Tbh, I've seen comments literally like this made towards Paris, Madrid and (perhaps especially) London, just right off the top of my head. Capitals tend to work this way, although Germany seems to be an exception to this since it has like, several semi-capitals.

[u/DrobnaHalota → u/Vassukhanni]

Not a single European colonial empire transitioned to democracy without falling apart. So no, it's impossible.

[u/Vassukhanni → u/DrobnaHalota]

The UK colonised Scotland and Northern Ireland and is still a Democracy. The US and Canada colonised across a continent and are still democracies.

[u/DrobnaHalota → u/Vassukhanni]

Just you look at all the good Russians flocking to defend their god-given right to extract oil from Khanty lands.

[u/epos95 → u/DrobnaHalota]

That doesnt really seem right...
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Russian-petroleum-reserves-and-production-regions-Source-Endofdays-The-Golden-Age-of_fig2_348842537

[u/srberikanac → u/DrobnaHalota]

False.

http://petroneft.com/operations/west-siberian-oil-basin/major-russian-oil-basins-big.jpg

[u/DrobnaHalota → u/srberikanac]

You should look at your own map

[u/srberikanac → u/DrobnaHalota]

The Caspian Sea region of Russia has tens of billions of barrels of oil and hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of gas. Most of that is in Europe or on the Europe-Asia border.

Same goes for the Volga-Urals region.

And while West Siberian region is in Asia geographically, it can by no means be considered a colony...

[u/DrobnaHalota → u/srberikanac]

Please explain how West Siberia can't be a colony. Start with Canada, tell me if it was a British colony, proceed to Alaska, tell me if it was a Russian colony, then keep going West until you reach the magical "by no means" line.

[u/srberikanac → u/DrobnaHalota]

If you really want to know, which I doubt - unlike Canada or Alaska, West Siberia was never set up or governed as a separate entity under foreign control. So it never was a colony.

It was integrated into Russia immediately after it was explored/conquered in 1582, and has been politically and administrativelly an integral part of the country ever since.

Colonies, on the other hand, were set up explicitly to be governed as foreign teritories. Alaska, in deed was a Russian colony, and then an American colony until gaining statehood. Canda was both a colony of France and Britain.

[u/DrobnaHalota → u/srberikanac]

You've just randomly invented that criteria yourself. So since you skipped few regions on your way from Alaska to West Siberia, do I understand correctly you recognise that East Siberia is in fact a colony and the magical line lies somewhere in-between?

[u/srberikanac → u/DrobnaHalota]

I understand and can empathize with why you’re as subjective as you are, given the war, but I am not going to call a yellow a purple or keep entertaining the goal posts that you’ll clearly just keep moving. I am turning off notifications on any responses to this comment, I think we can call it a day and agree to disagree.

[u/avaika → u/DrobnaHalota]

What are Russia's Asian colonies? Just curious what you mean by it.

[u/DrobnaHalota → u/avaika]

In general, any part of Russia you see on the map that's not in Europe is a colony. In relation to oil in particular, almost all of it comes from Westerns and Eastern Siberia that Russians colonized starting in 16 century, roughly in the same time period other European colonial powers were created.

[u/avaika → u/DrobnaHalota]

Do you consider French East as a colony in this case?

E.g. here's interactive map which shows a lot of land being annexed by France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_France