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Comrade, You Are So Not Getting a Dell

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the touchy-touchy dept.

theodp writes "At the World Economic Forum, Michael Dell's pitch to help Russia with its computers got the cold-as-Siberia shoulder from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. 'We don't need help,' shot back Putin. 'We are not invalids. We don't have limited mental capacity' (video — rant starts at 1:24). 'Our programmers are some of the best in the world,' Putin continued. 'No one would contest that here — not even our Indian colleagues.'"

4 of 600 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The Cold War Called ... by vivaoporto · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Failure to address the real issues (corruption, economy, etc) plaguing your society? Check.

    Playing up a sense of extreme national pride, isolation and bullheadedness? Double check.

    Burning a bridge? Triple check.

    Putin, you would have made a fine leader during the *past eight years* for either side.

    There, fixed that for you

  2. Re:The Cold War Called ... by Ninnle+Linux · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    They worked at giving us hundreds of billions in national debt, for sure.

  3. Re:The Cold War Called ... by MeisterVT · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    ... immediately wasted on fruitless 'refunds' that did nothing to strengthen the economy

    Would that be the refunds that the current President is trying to emulate on a larger scale?

    But come now, those refunds were really just welfare checks for everyone, something you democrats should just pee your pants with glee over.

    --
    Government - If you think the problems we create are bad, you should see our solutions!
  4. Re:TopCoder by gregorio · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    I've seen other people progress from junior to lead developer within 2 years because there were not enough properly experienced devs to fill all the lead positions.

    When your social class allows this kind of progression, or after years of hard work to achieve this possibility... Most people aren't born with all these opportunities and actually need to spend lots of years of their childhood working real hard. You mentioned lack of skilled/experienced workers: that's a bad sign. It's a sign that people aren't being given the proper opportunities. It's a sign that people actually need competitions and other kinds of events/programs to enter this specific job market.

    As for why the kids want to win competitions... I participated in some of the local/regional Russian ones myself at school, and it wasn't about getting job offers at all. It was because taking part in one was expected of all the bright students, and because winning one could help getting into a better university later on (they're free, even the better ones, but the exams are hard, and this could help).

    So you actually joined the competition to achieve a better life status. It means that you needed it. You were living a situation were your future was not a certainty and you tried your best to improve this situation.

    For your specific case, a direct job or scolarship offer wasn't an issue. But it is for a lot of kids.

    For some kids, winning a competition like this is necessary so their parents can allow them to study hard and avoid serving as cheap child labour. It's like a desperate scream of "please, daddy, leave me alone". At least that's what people from Russia, raised on different conditions than you, tell me.

    And yes, of course, merely the feeling of being the smartest kid on the block is worth a lot - but that's only if the culture you grew up in fosters that, which it does in Russia for some kids (not all of them, not by a long shot - but I think we still do better than USA with their overemphasis on physical sports in school).

    The fact that Russian culture fosters that kind of thing is not a good sign, actually. It's a good charateristic, but it's a symptom of other not-so-good things.