Article

2015-10-30 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

On October 22, Ekho Moskvy radio station in Moscow reported that in an act of desperation a local political activist in the Ural Mountains region, Vladimir Chukavin, managed to have a thoroughfare renamed "Putin StraĂe." The new name is now written on street signs in Germanic Latin script above its former name, still shown in the original Cyrillic.

The renaming of this stretch of road was reportedly an effort to embarrass the region's administrative apparatus into doing something about its abysmal condition. Given the near-deity status Putin is now accorded, Chukavin and his associates reasoned, no street named for Russia's one-time KGB Lt. Col. turned president-for-life could be allowed to remain riddled with potholes.

Anyone who has driven in regions outside of either Moscow or St. Petersburg can tell you that roads rendered almost impassable due to potholes are anything but a rarity in Putin's Russia. But what makes Putin StraĂe stick out is its location: running from a cemetery (which is why the original name of the street was Heaven's Road) to a railroad crossing outside the city of Nizhni-Tagil.

Nizhni-Tagil is home to none other than one of the most famous defense enterprises in all of Russia, the UralVagonZavod (UVZ) battle tank design and production centre. The firm's latest product, the T-14 Armata tank
the Armata offers much-better crew survivability than any previous Russian or Soviet tank-assuming all of its features actually work,
was (despite one of them breaking down during a dress-rehearsal
ahem, actually work)
the centerpiece of the lavish May 9 70th Anniversary Victory Day parade in Moscow. It is billed as one of the key, new-age weapon systems in a massive military modernization. The plan, at a cost of hundreds of billions, aims to increase by the year 2020 the number of weapon systems in Moscow's arsenal that could be categorized as "modern" in their design from the 10 percent today to 70 percent.

Posted by Sven the pelter 2015-10-30 04:56|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 It was already on the road to ruin. They had one brief opportunity to break out in the 90s, and then the usual suspects of corruption and power made sure that wasn't going to happen. The Beltway here just has a lot of resources still to burn through before we all get the same experience.

Posted by Procopius2k 2015-10-30 08:40|| 2015-10-30 08:40|| Front Page Top

#2 The Beltway here just has a lot of resources still to burn through before we all get the same experience.

They are working on it as hard as they can.

Posted by JohnQC 2015-10-30 10:53|| 2015-10-30 10:53|| Front Page Top

#3 The economic decline is a straight line with negative slope, then we reach the knee of the curve, where the slope changes rapidly and we head in a power dive for the bottom. It will happen to the Russian govt, as well as the US govt, if we continue on the course of economic irresponsibility we have set.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2015-10-30 11:24|| 2015-10-30 11:24|| Front Page Top

#4 The renaming of this stretch of road was reportedly an effort to embarrass the region's administrative apparatus into doing something about its abysmal condition.

Maybe Detroit should consider renaming the city Obamaville.

Posted by Sven the pelter 2015-10-30 11:52|| 2015-10-30 11:52|| Front Page Top

#5 Chukavin and his associates reasoned, no street named for Russia's one-time KGB Lt. Col. turned president-for-life could be allowed to remain riddled with potholes.
That's funny. If it works I expect every street to be named after Putin before long and navigating anywhere will be impossible.

Posted by rjschwarz 2015-10-30 14:56|| 2015-10-30 14:56|| Front Page Top

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