Russia willing to consider loans to Greece

[Nemo1024]

Why are the Baltic states going to encounter problems?

The Baltics (I can speak mostly for Lithuania) have gone through the same process of de-industrialisation and and de-agriculture that Russia after 1992 and Greece after it joined EU. If you take a ride outside Vilnius, you'll see a lot of neglected fields. Abandoned factories are everywhere. Our family's friends worked at a drills factory in Vilnius, which supplied USSR with high-precision drills. The factory got privatised/turned into a cooperative in 1990, and in 1992 it got sold and closed down. The country has been turned into a good consumer, but for work, people look outside of the country. While bashing everything Soviet, Lithuania still lives on the dwindling heritage from the Soviet time. There is one indicator that i found funny: the manhole covers in the streets. If one cares to pay attention to such details, they are all from before 1992, some are as old as from 1970s - it feels like time stopped and no new constructions/repaiers of infrastructure has been done since then. The public transportation park is also largely from the 80s. What I didn't find in Lituania, is antagonism between common Lithuanians and Russians. You hear Russian and Lithuanian speech everywhere, often within the same conversation...

EDIT: And the most important bit. Lithuania switched to Euro this January. From what I've been told, prices are silently creeping up since then, as many sellers simply switch the Lit sign to €, leaving the amount on the tag unchanged.

Here are some pics that I took in Vilnius, just 10-15 minutes walk away from the tourist centre. These are like they are coming strait out of Half-Life 2's City17...






And here is a manhole lock, one of many, from LitSSR, the last 2 numbers is year - 1974:


PS: And there are long queues in front of the Belorussian embassy - people going there for work or to visit families. Belorussia, being the only USSR's republic that didn't get plundered and didn't succumb to the post-Soviet syndrome.

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[Sithara007]

This two-dimensional financial analysis focuses only on a single metric, and ignores the most important factor: ability to borrow / creditworthiness. Until the US government cannot borrow or has as much trouble borrowing as Russia does, it cannot be said to be in financial trouble.

The United States's ability to borrow will diminish, as the net debt mount beyond a certain limit. And the Russian troubles are just temporary.

[Lauda]

The Baltics (I can speak mostly for Lithuania) have gone through the same process of de-industrialisation and and de-agriculture that Russia after 1992 and Greece after it joined EU. If you take a ride outside Vilnius, you'll see a lot of neglected fields. Abandoned factories are everywhere. Our family's friends worked at a drills factory in Vilnius, which supplied USSR with high-precision drills. The factory got privatised/turned into a cooperative in 1990, and in 1992 it got sold and closed down. The country has been turned into a good consumer, but for work, people look outside of the country. While bashing everything Soviet, Lithuania still lives on the dwindling heritage from the Soviet time. There is one indicator that i found funny: the manhole covers in the streets. If one cares to pay attention to such details, they are all from before 1992, some are as old as from 1970s - it feels like time stopped and no new constructions/repaiers of infrastructure has been done since then. The public transportation park is also largely from the 80s. What I didn't find in Lituania, is antagonism between common Lithuanians and Russians. You hear Russian and Lithuanian speech everywhere, often within the same conversation...

EDIT: And the most important bit. Lithuania switched to Euro this January. From what I've been told, prices are silently creeping up since then, as many sellers simply switch the Lit sign to €, leaving the amount on the tag unchanged.
-snip-

While this might be a interesting subject, I'm afraid that we might be straying away too far from the original subject. It's quite unfortunate to see some countries slowly dying. It's not just a matter of the EU, it is also a problem with some countries outside of it. The justice system isn't doing their job properly in addition to a high amount of corruption. That can't lead to good things.

I actually have a friend who lives in Greece. I remember us talking, even a few years back he was complaining about the situation. His family was barely able to survive due to the conditions and they were making huge salary cuts to everyone. Unfortunately, also people with huge potential get affected by this and they probably don't have possibility to use it.
I've just read something about Russia having a low life expectancy, and that their population is shrinking.

[Nemo1024]

While this might be a interesting subject, I'm afraid that we might be straying away too far from the original subject.

...

I've just read something about Russia having a low life expectancy, and that their population is shrinking.

Official statistics for demography dynamics:
http://www.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat_main/rosstat/ru/statistics/population/demography/
Blue: number of births, red: number of deaths

Population for RF in total and by region:
http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/generation/dem1.xlsx
Totals:
2012: 143056400
2013: 143347100
2014: 143666900

Life expectancy for men and women after reached 60 and after reached 55 (2005-2013):
http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/generation/dem2.xlsx

[BillyBones]

Arms industry is important for the Russian economy, but it is not one of the top revenue earners for Russia. Russia produces some 10.7 million barrels of crude oil every day, and exports crude and products worth 8.1 million barrels every day. They earn a tax revenue of $42 per barrel from the exports, amounting to $340 million per day or $124 billion per year. They also export vast quantities of natural gas, in addition to other resources such as timber, coal, nickel, phosphate, copper, aluminium, and gold.

Besides that Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of Russian exports abroad. According to famous news channels, Russia is considered well ahead of most other resource-rich countries in its economic development, with a long tradition of education, science, and industry.

[JarvisTechnology]

I think Russia here plays a very clever game.
Currently, Russia is quite isolated in Europe and this is an excellent opportunity for them to deepen their ties with an important member of the EU and NATO and make Greece financially dependent on Russia.
Another important objective of Russian policy is likely to bypass the blockade of the EU and to build their pipeline of alternative route: Turkey- Greece- Makedonie- Serbia and Hungary, through the countries with whom they have built excellent political and economic relations.
However, Russia is also in financial problems and the question is how much they can really financially help Greece.

They provide loan to Greece for the extension of gas pipeline which will pass through Turkey to Europe.

[jaysabi]

This two-dimensional financial analysis focuses only on a single metric, and ignores the most important factor: ability to borrow / creditworthiness. Until the US government cannot borrow or has as much trouble borrowing as Russia does, it cannot be said to be in financial trouble.

The United States's ability to borrow will diminish, as the net debt mount beyond a certain limit. And the Russian troubles are just temporary.

The first part of this is certainly true in theory, however people have been promising it for a looooooong time and it hasn't proven out in the slightest so far. You can always claim time is on your side, however you have no evidence to support the claim right now. The second part of this is opinion I don't care enough to rebut.

[bryant.coleman]

I've just read something about Russia having a low life expectancy, and that their population is shrinking.

The life expectancy in Russia is a little bit lower when compared to its neighbors. For example, the life expectancy was 70.9 years in 2014, compared to 77 years in Poland, and 74 years in Bulgaria. But it has improved quite a lot during the recent years. And the Russian population is not shriking. It is growing at a rate of 300,000 per year.