Talk:Essay: Russia's decline and some Roman Empire decline parallels
If you taken exception to this essay, please feel free to create the counter essay at Essay: Russia is NOT declining in any way and there are NO Roman Empire decline parallels. Godspeed. Conservative (talk) 00:52, January 1, 2025 (EST)
- See also: Essay:Are ignorance, stubbornness and stupidity conservative values - Unsigned User: RobSmith
- Ad hominems (personal attacks) are a logical fallacy.
- In addition, as far as the personal attacks, the burden of proof is always upon the claimant. Conservative (talk) 01:52, January 1, 2025 (EST)
- Where's the ad hominems? If you're referring to the Essay:Are ignorance, stubbornness and stupidity conservative values, the burden of proof is fulfilled in the References.
Uh duh, ever hear of the Byzantine Empire or the Great Schism? I guess not.
Question: Did Rome have indoor flush toilets?
Russia's roads
Transport Minister Roman Starovoit tells us the current situation: [2]
R. Starovoit: Allow me to report on the results of the transport complex's work and our plans until 2030.
Of course, as for the whole country, our main task now is a special military operation. That is why we are working to ensure that the country's transport system operates smoothly and safely. And of course, we take part in humanitarian missions, regularly send aid to our children on the line of contact, to our new regions and to those who live in the borderlands. In these circumstances, our task is to make sure that the enormous funds allocated by the Government of the Russian Federation for transport on your instructions are spent efficiently. We traditionally show close to 100 percent box office performance.
By road: of course, we also work in new regions. A ten-kilometer section of a four-lane road has been introduced in the Donetsk People's Republic. The long-awaited opening of the Tver bypass was more than 62 kilometers, thus completing the construction of the new M-11 Moscow – St. Petersburg highway. And also a long-awaited object in the Moscow region, 11 kilometers away, is a bypass of the village of Oktyabrsky on the M-5 Ural highway. This, by the way, is part of your assignment to build city bypasses.
Starting from 2022, about three trillion rubles will be allocated to highways. [Overall Russian budgets from 2022 through 2024 were 75 Trillion rubles.]
Aviation: the construction of the platform and auxiliary infrastructure of Yelizovo Airport, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, has already been completed.
Vladimir Putin: In Tomsk…
New Tomsk Terminal building.
Starovoit River: Yakutsk – 3600 [meters] new runway, new terminal in Tomsk, Stavropol, Ulan-Ude, Magadan. These are iconic objects that, of course, are waiting for our residents of the country.
Despite all the difficulties in maintaining the flight fleet, we are performing better than in 2023.
Railways: Of course, the task is not only to build new lines, but also to create infrastructure for railway stations. The railway station in Mariupol has been restored, and the second track on the Kuanda – Kuandinsky stage has been put into operation along the BAM-2 line.
I think it is very symbolic that almost every day on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of BAM, a concession agreement was signed for the construction of the Moscow – St. Petersburg HSR, and we are also working on it. It's a very complex project, but we're still on schedule. I head the project office on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation, so I think that this line will be built on time.
On passenger traffic: As I have already reported, we transported 688,500 children in organized groups during the summer holidays. This figure is also higher than in 2023. In general, the Government of the Russian Federation provides almost 17 billion rubles in support to passengers of reserved and shared cars. And of course, this is a popular service, so we plan to stay within the same framework.
We see an increase in the transportation of containers, including containers from the Far Eastern Federal District. You, Mr Putin, keep this indicator under your personal control, so we pay special attention to it. The headquarters of the Russian Ministry of Transport and Russian Railways is open daily.
By sea: we have already opened a coal terminal in Primorye this year, berth No. 2 of the Murmansk Commercial Sea Port has been reconstructed in Murmansk, and the first start-up stage of the Pionersky sea terminal has been commissioned in the Kaliningrad Region. It is a very important object that allows you to increase both passenger transportation and ferry transport by car.
River: I would like to consult you a little later, but in general, limiting sections in the Yenisei, Moscow, Volga, and Ob-Irtysh basins have already been eliminated for 1,756 kilometers [for additional navigation]. We have increased river transportation by 13.5 percent, to 10 million passengers. In general, we have 101 thousand kilometers of river highways, and we occupy the second place in the world in this indicator.
Checkpoints are a very important part of your work, and you also keep them under your personal control. The Yarag-Kazmalyar checkpoint in the Republic of Dagestan has been put into operation; the works have been completed, a very complex engineering facility, 39 lanes on the Upper Lars with Georgia; and the checkpoints with our new regions. We have increased the ability to search passing vehicles many times over. In general, the capacity of the Russia – Azerbaijan border crossing points has been increased five times in recent years, Russia – China has doubled, and Russia – Georgia has also doubled. Your goal of reducing the screening time to 10 minutes by 2030 will be completed. On behalf of the Prime Minister, an additional 150 billion rubles were allocated for this purpose.
BKD – according to social surveys, the most recognizable national project, we are going exactly according to plan. And a little later I want to say that the BKD is being transformed into the national project "Infrastructure for Life". We have already done a lot of work with the Government in this regard. [BKD—Safe high-quality Roads: Безопасные дороги высокого качества]
Also, within the framework of the BKD national project, a large-scale renewal of public transport is taking place: buses, trolleybuses, trams. This, of course, changes the appearance of our cities. First of all, it is the convenience and safety of passengers who use public transport.
By 2030, we have formed two national projects under your Decree. "Efficient transport System" – there will be nine federal projects, as well as the national project "Infrastructure for Life" in the part of the Ministry of Transport. I have already said that the BKD will move to this national project, and everything is also structured and coordinated. In general, more than nine trillion rubles will be allocated to these two national projects by 2030. So thank you so much for this support.
Of course, such large-scale work cannot be performed without reliable personnel. Therefore, for the first time, a federal project for the development of human resources in the transport industry is approved. I would like to inform you that today the Ministry of Transport has 19 universities with branches, and more than half a million people are studying. I would like to thank you for signing the Decree on awarding the Order of Naval Merit to the Admiral Ushakov State Maritime University in Novorossiysk. Thank you very much.
And I would like to consult you, Mr President…
Vladimir Putin: I have a question: everything is fine on the railway transport, but loading is a little slow, how do you explain this?
R. Starovoit: Loading has fallen by four percent, but we saw that loading will fall by five percent, which is lower than we expected. There is a complex of reasons: subjective and objective. We are working on this together with Russian Railways, shippers, and car operators. Very difficult task. I do this almost daily. At the site of the Ministry of Transport, the headquarters works together with Russian Railways and carriers.
Vladimir Putin: Good.
R. Starovoit: I wanted to consult you. Of course, I am engaged in all types of transport, but we see that the river has been undeservedly ignored since the end of the 90s, and this is very much in demand, including in terms of passenger transport, interregional. Therefore, I would like to consult with you and inform you that we have formed the project "River Highways". Here we have five stages until 2030. This is the Volga-Kama basin. We involve the regions of the Russian Federation and provide them with assistance in order, as they say, to roll out routes.
Vladimir Putin: The potential is very good.
R. Starovoit: Very good, yes, it was undeservedly in the background. This year, we are sending about 150 million rubles to carriers in our pilot regions on subsidized routes.
And, of course, in addition to passenger traffic, we analyze the presence of berths in the regions. We plan to sign an agreement with the subjects of the Russian Federation who are interested in implementing this project, and it is also necessary to perform dredging works. We have purchased 18 dredgers. We are working on the construction of the Bagaevsky hydroelectric complex on the Don River, Gorodetsky locks on the Volga River. And of course, not only passenger traffic, but also cargo traffic should go to the river. If converted to tonne-kilometers, then approximately the same amount is transported by all road freight transport during the season. Therefore, the potential here is very large, and I would like to get your support to work more closely on this project with the Government and come back to you with suggestions.
Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you.
Here, for example, is a problem with granting John Mearsheimer with the level of credibility [[User:Conservative] has given him in Conservapedia: [3]
| “ | [Trump]'s dead wrong on both World War I and World War II. I won't talk about World War I, but I will talk about World War II where of course he's dead wrong. And also I think he's showing great disrespect to Russia and to the former Soviet Union for the enormous price that they paid in defeating the Wehrmacht in World War II. | ” |
RobSZelensky Must Go! 16:24, May 8, 2025 (EDT)
- I warned against spamming too much of making Mearsheimer a credible and authoritive expert into dozens and dozens of Conservapedia mainspace and talk pages for several years. Now Mearsheimer says President Trump is delusional and his so-called "peace" efforts are doomed to fail. So here we created a problem for ourselves which now has be dealt with for the remainder of Trump's term.
- And to argue against Mearsheimer is to place oneself into the warmonger and advocate of perpetual war camp.
- As to the guns and butter argument, I can't remember how many decades ago I last ate butter. Butter was knocked of the market in favor of oleamargarine during the Vietnam war, which old timers then explained it was the ongoing legacy of World War II & the Korean war. In another 40, 50, or 80 years, maybe the predominantly rural & agrarian Ruassian Federation may have to convert to oleomargarine. RobSZelensky Must Go! 01:55, May 11, 2025 (EDT)
I finally had the opportunity to read this "ButterGate" article which was spammed into at least 17 Conservapedia pages. The Newsweek report was built around a single instance of 2 shoplifters who were apprehended, armed with knives. The information was first posted to X by Anton Gerashchenko, the notorious neo-nazi webmaster who maintains Myrotvorets, better known as the Ukrainian kill list. Sen Rand Paul & DNI Tulsi Gabbard are included in the list.
Next time you hear Conservapedia is Nazi propaganda, don't laugh. A senior Admin made it so. RobSZelensky Must Go! 06:33, May 11, 2025 (EDT)
Conservapedia needs stronger anti-spamming enforcement. When an editor adds content, it should be in only one place - not 17 - and time given for other editors to vet the content. RobSZelensky Must Go! 14:18, May 11, 2025 (EDT)
- I read the Newsweek article in question and the video in question was merely one data point and there other data points in the article that were stronger. Additionally, the Newsweek article clearly states that author of the article attempted to verify the video via the Russian government, but failed to do so. Furthermore, I have used multiple articles to indicate that butter and other food prices have had big inflation in Russia.
- Do you seriously deny that the price of butter, potatoes and other food items have seen big inflation in Russia? If so, why?
- Next, you use mainstream news sources at Conservapedia when you agree with them. So I will say again, rules for me, but not for thee. In short, you are being inconsistent. In addition, I will add that the sourcing of your material/contentions is often not good. For example, you asked me to look at a video by some YouTube leftists saying the economy of China was good and this is was while the China was in the midst of some major economic troubles such as their real estate crisis.
- At the end of the day, I forecasted the current economic troubles of China/Russia which you took issue with. I was right and you were clearly wrong. Conservative (talk) 04:27, May 13, 2025 (EDT)
- By the way, here are two other reports that the price of butter has soared in Russia: Record 82.5% rise in butter prices in Russia halted, Dairy News Today, 9-24-2024 and Russian Butter Squeeze Highlights Growing Economic Toll From War | World Business Watch | WION, 2024 Conservative (talk) 04:42, May 13, 2025 (EDT)
Looks like User:Conservative is about 0-6 in just the past 48 hrs. RobSZelensky Must Go! 11:05, May 31, 2025 (EDT)
I could be adding meaningful content right now, but can't because of all the liberal claptrap User:Conservative has spammed into Conservapedia over the past 3 years. RobSZelensky Must Go! 11:06, May 31, 2025 (EDT)
| “ | In Moscow I didn't encounter, for a British person it seems to be an obsession, a single pothole. Of course if you come back to England as so many people say 'Welcome back to the Third World', it is shocking the state of our roads. the state of our public sphere. the state of the physical environment with graffiti, with dirt, with rubbish scattered and so on. And you go to any Russian provincial town nowadays, and Moscow .it's well governed. | ” |
—Prof. Richard Sakwa, July 12, 2026. | ||
The reason why Russian roads are in so much better shape than the UK is simple and easy to understand. However, I am exhausted with responding to User:Conservative's obtuse and inane questions, only to be bombarded to the nth degree with more inane, obtuse, and obstinate rhetoric and discussions. RobSDo straight normies spend 20 yrs obsessing over gay bars, bathhouses and drag queens? 17:14, July 18, 2026 (EDT)
User:Conservative proven wrong, AGAIN
User:Conservative never heard of the Byzantine Empire, which is a more appropriate parallel for Russia than his parochial view of the world through a Western Protestant lens (I doubt if Andy even takes User:Conservative's pretentions to an understanding of Roman Catholicism, (whom he describes as "a corrupt joke" and stands by the statement) seriously. RobSDo straight normies spend 20 yrs obsessing over gay bars, bathhouses and drag queens? 15:33, July 18, 2026 (EDT)