Slashdot Mirror
Comrade, You Are So Not Getting a Dell
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.'"
... aren't part of this story, but they really ought to be.
sig has been sent away for a few small repairs...
But why did you mention Europe? The parent post was talking about Russia and the economic situation there. You may as well have said, "Not quite as tough a spot as those starving Ethiopians!"
Maybe if you went somewhere with it, but you didn't... just left it at "Europe is worse off," which even if true isn't at all on topic.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
If you listened to the whole thing, it seemed pretty clear that Russia under Putin is still very much a controlled economy (I realize I am likely stating the obvious to a lot of people and to those I apologize). Dell's statement was in fact fairly demeaning, and if Putin wanted to tell him to F***-off, to a large extent I do not blame him.
There has been much discussion on this article also though, that Russia is unwilling to buy technology that they do not manufacture. However, later in the interview Putin states quite the opposite. As I recall in reference was to tariffs, he admits to having tariffs on goods competing with Russian manufacturers that are still developing, but not having tariffs on the very high tech they do not have to allow these sectors to develop.
He is also fairly frank Russian problems regarding issues with distribution and available capital.
Putin may be a hair-breadth from an old-fashioned USSR dictator, none the less, he's one of the sharpest. He is likely no friend of ours, and his astuteness makes it all the more problematic.