I hope this doesn't lead to poorly maintained planes falling out of the sky on a regular basis. We have already seen what an embargo can do to the vehicle situation in Cuba, where most cars are decades old. While a jet can last, it needs those parts. It would be horrible for a jet full of people to suffer for the ambitions of their leaders.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (31 children)

I'm sure a nuclear superpower that's one of the few countries that can launch stuff into space can figure out how to keep planes running. People in the west seem to have a profound misunderstanding of the technological capabilities in Russia.

Meanwhile, the last time planes full of people were falling out of the sky was when Boeing rolled out their new planes.

[–] mekhos@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 years ago

Russia has some amazing technical capabilities and brilliant engineers, the question is not going to be how to do it - the question is going to be how to afford to do it.

[–] DPUGT2@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Russia's problem has never been "figuring out how". It is a nation full of world-class scientists and geniuses.

Russia's problem (and the USSR before it) has always been to manufacture goods in the quantity and quality needed for mass produced consumer goods and a robust economy. They've never seemed to be able to do that.

The good news is that one problem solves the other. Who will be able to afford to fly on jets they can't maintain when their economy finishes imploding?

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago (23 children)

It's important to keep in mind that USSR never had a chance to develop peacefully. It got invaded in 1918, then it was plunged into WW2 a couple of decades later, and after that the Cold War. USSR was completely devastated during the war, while US emerged unscathed with a huge booming economy. The combined west had much greater resources, and this allowed the west to drag USSR into an arms race that was a huge drain on its resources.

If USSR could've devoted all the effort that was put into keeping up with the west militarily into domestic development, amazing things could've been achieved.

[–] DPUGT2@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It’s important to keep in mind that USSR never had a chance to develop peacefully.

This isn't about assigning blame, not for me. Yes, they did get a shit deal. Hobbled at first by the sort of royalty/nobility like out of some fucked up fairy tale right until and even into the 20th century, then almost nonstop warfare. For all the lack of fighting, even the cold war was nearly as bad.

Though I am not generally sympathetic to communism, I wince to think what might have happen if they had no developed nuclear weapons. But that cost dearly.

They had a shit hand.

If USSR could’ve devoted all the effort that was put into keeping up with the west militarily into domestic development, amazing things could’ve been achieved.

Possibly. Or they could have squandered it. Even if a person accepts that communism and marxism is a legitimate political ideology and in the right circumstances can flourish, it can also fail... and fail without any deliberate sabotage or harsh misfortune.

The funny thought is that, had they succeeded peacefully, that might have been most threatening of all.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

Thing is that even with all the external pressures, USSR managed to provide a good standard of living for the the people. Personally, I remember my time growing up in USSR very fondly and I think I had a far better childhood than most kids growing up today. Everybody had housing, food, healthcare and education. Everyone had a job guarantee without any grind and with over 20 days vacation. Nobody worried about losing their job and ending or on the street or not being able to retire in dignity. Life wasn't opulent, but it wasn't bad either, and after 30 years of capitalism it got significantly worse for the vast majority of the population in former USSR republics.

I think that the threat of a good example is precisely why capitalist nations are so hostile to any socialist experiments. Not a single socialist country has ever been allowed to develop free from threat of invasion, coups, or economic warfare.

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[–] kamikaze@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

It seems like your right, it's going to be the people on top with private jets making these unmaintable jets keep flying until an accident occurs.

https://www.bcaa.bm/international-sanctions-press-statement A lot of these planes are officially considered not airworthy