For those not keeping up with the latest Financial and Economic news, the Russian economy has taken a massive beating. The central bank increased interest rates 7% two nights ago, and the Russian Rouble has collapsed.
http://www.exchange-rates.org/history/RUB/AUD/G/180
Apple have stopped selling product in Russia due to the currency volatility, but I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge or experience in purchasing items from sites in Russian currency and then being shipped to Australia?
In Soviet Russia, ozon.ru sells you!
Great. Time to stock up on some dashcams…
I was wanting to get a comment in about being shirtfronted.
The Age had this - ..reality shirtfronts Putin
Vodka and Caviar - there must be other potential bargains.
Sorry, but according to
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-12-16/no-caviar-is…
Silver lining: Caviar's going to get really cheap, right?
Nope. Because of overfishing, there has been a ban on wild black caviar in Russia since 2007. Almost all caviar is now farmed, and it's imported from California, Japan, and other places. Vodka isn't getting cheaper, either: The international brand of Stoli is bottled in Luxembourg by SPI Group, Smirnoff is owned by Diageo, and almost all the brands you think of as Russian are owned by international conglomerates that are doing just fine.
What about those big furry hat things ?
Or ditch the PF-35 Joint Strike Fighters and pick up some Sukhoi T-50's instead ?
Ushanka?
http://www.sovietarmystuff.com/Category_67_"Ushanka"_Fur_Hat…
I placed a pre-order on the Su-47's instead, hopefully it will be shipped end of 2015.
You mean F-35? Be fair, T-50 is still in development. I've never understood why Australia needed stealth fighters, I probably never will.
They are expensive to run, it sacrifices a lot of weapons for it etc etc.
@scrimshaw: Berkut sorta like a prototype, they've only produced a few and even though it is functional, I don't think they will produce more. I still think it looks very purrty.
@scrimshaw: My last ushankas came from, and were made in, Belarus. Exchange rate looks pretty flat at the moment to me: http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=BYR&to=AUD&view=1M.
@Wampus: Nope, I bought one from a surplus outlet years ago but I wasn't that happy with it (thickness and sizing). After a bit more research, it seems the more reputable suppliers get them from Belarus. My last ones were new, thicker and excellent quality. I wear them around the house in winter along with my duvet suit. And to mix up nationalities even more, I wear them all with my Swedish "dun sockar" feather down slippers.
If you can wear it indoors you probably have one of the crappier ones.
The couple I brought back from Russia simply cant be worn around Melbourne even on the coldest winter day. They are just too damn hot, my head starts to sweat after about two minutes.
Mind you mine was hand made from wolf fur, a wolf that we caught ourselves.
@endotherm: You are my hero in more ways than one! Love the dress code! Love the fitting name even more! :)
Unless of course you are based at an Arctic outpost, in which case it's to be expected and not nearly as fun.
But yeah, if I had a couple of hundred to blow I'd surprise my wife and buy myself a Duvet Suit, Dun Sockar and the Ushanka!
@Drew22: Yep, not quite the sable one I always wanted, but pretty good for a synthetic mix. It helps that I'm next to bald but I stayed away from real animal fur for just that reason. Still gets toasty though.
Make sure you don't get the hat made out of Neutria rat fur - no one wants a rat hat, especially a poorly made one.
@Drew22: Here you go:
http://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/41411/27342/ushanka1.jp…
http://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/41411/27343/ushanka2.jp…
http://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/41411/27344/ushanka3.jp…
http://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/41411/27345/ushanka4.jp…
http://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/41411/27346/ushanka5.jp…
Not sure what is going on here with the image rotation, it's not what I uploaded. Note the inside of the hat is a quilted wool-lined body. I find if I start to get too hot, I just raise it a bit and let my ears out, it regulates the heat nicely. Not sure if it is allowing cool air through or it is escaping body heat from my ears.
@Drew22: I'm thinking it's more the leather skull-cap that is holding the heat, fur tends to breathe a bit and lets hot air circulate. You might benefit by the introduction of a few air breather holes in the leather, e.g. http://www.naivenomads.com.au/wordpress/akubra-territory/. They are either a metal hole rivet, or an embroidered circle like a button hole. Perhaps a quick visit to a milliner? I doubt it is of a lot of value to the Russians in their climate, but we've been putting them in everything from Akubras to cricket hats for years.
The leather probably help, but the wolf fur really holds the heat well.
I remember back when I lived in Moscow these were really hot even in -20c
I've had this one for nearly 10 years now, not going to modify it as its pretty novel to me.
There are about two or three Made in Russia vodkas you can get in Australia easily.
The rest are either French or British vodkas made to look Russian.
You can still get Russian black caviar, if you don't mind dishing out $200 odd on 100 grams.
Locally available Stolichnaya is bottled in Latvia, an Euro currency member. No dice. Polish vodka is better anyway.
Caviar is, depending on who you ask, quite overrated. As our good friends Public Enemy said, "Don't believe the hype!"
Although, having never tried it, and not wanting to, I'm happy to hear different. I've read that pink salmon roe is nicer.
I've had those orange things they put on sushi. Crunchy.
XB1 + FIFA + Forza for AUD$367 + Shipping
http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/27924538/
EDIT: It appears that only books can be shipped to OZ from ozon
Is there a mail forwarder we could use?
Buy games for Steam in Russia?
Steam has put in region locking for a number of countries due to the currency volatility. A VPN may be used but then you also face being permabanned.
AK-47 group buy?
I'm in. I'll need it to protect my new bride - if she's anything like her online photo I'm going to be fighting 'em off
If she is real Russian, she might be the one protecting you.
'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge or experience in purchasing items from sites in Russian currency and then being shipped to Australia?
Obviously you don't have any Ukrainian in your bloodline.
On the contrary, if the rate keeps slipping we could eventually buy the entire country and give it all to the Ukraine
We people of oz bargain charity could buy as gift for people of ukraine.
What's shipping like from Russia these days (time and cost)? If it's anything like here it would negate any potential savings:(
Quicker cycling up there to pick it up and walking back.
Most likely shipping would be with a private courier as I hear the postal system is next to useless.
Guys, I can't buy from Ozon.ru because when I go to checkout on a plush lamb, it states
"Вы собираетесь оформить доставку за пределы России товара, отличного от книгопечатной продукции. К сожалению, сейчас это невозможно, поэтому, пожалуйста, удалите из корзины товары, не являющиеся книгами, чтобы продолжить оформление заказа. В настоящий момент мы работаем над увеличением ассортимента, доступного для продажи за границу и надеемся, что в ближайшем будущем сможем предложить Вам больший ассортимент с лучшим сервисом."
I think this means that they can only ship books, but the books actually come from one of the satellite countries that surround Russia.
Anyone had any luck? I know shipping shouldn't be more than 10AUD per kilo, so there should be bargains, but are they accessible?
Oh and I don't believe this actually affects anything regarding the currency wars. This is because like people that use bitcoin, the receiver will just resell any rubles that they pick up. Therefore, it is quite safe to do this and not influence the political side of things.
Google says…
" You are going to arrange the delivery of goods from Russia , a non- typographic products. Unfortunately, this is not possible , so please remove the basket of goods , is not a book to proceed with the order . We are currently working to increase the range of available for sale abroad and we hope that in the near future be able to offer you a wide range with the best service . "
I'm guessing your plush lamb is not a non-typographic product. ie. not a book. But a plush lamb does sound interesting.. care to share the link?
Plush lamb sounds adorable
Try buy digital games that have russian currency as an option, like on GOG, which if you do it right, The Witcher 3 is only 15AUD
Could import a cheap Lada.
Yeah, remember those little Niva 4x4's they imported in the early 90's?
They were great.
Best mini TANK that one could get…indestructible once you got them going.
yes, once you got them going.
The obvious buy would be Rubles! Would obviously be a very ballsy move but surely it's somewhere near the bottom.
It's not the bottom until it's worthless
And the rate they are going, it's not long before Russia defaults and go bankrupt
I'm not sure that's going to happen. Putin is too smart for that, they will put capital controls in place to prevent any further declines… build stronger alliances with BRICS nations and move away from the Petro dollar (US) all together… unless they assassinate him first and get a pro western puppet to dethrone him which is what they ultimately want.
Yikes. Capital controls just makes it worse.
They're propping the currency up by raising the Interest Rate.
Hopefully they'll wake up and see he's just a nutter and dethrone the poof. He's most likely going to be there 'til 2020 or so I think.
They'll fight a war before they declare bankruptcy. A real one, bringing NATO and US in.
@Bullion78: Putin not a nutter ehh? RT tell you that? RT is just a Kremlin front, as good as blatantly state sponsored propaganda we have in the modern era. They make VoA look like boyscouts (and Fox during Bush 43).
Given a choice of G20 leaders to run Australia or anything I'd put Vlad last. He's a freaking fruit cake.
Actually knew he was nuts before the west caught on. Russia is a joke and laughing stock of world, he's just strutting around fermenting nationalism and pretending they're tough. Yeah they got nukes so what. Doesn't make you strong. Imprisoning opponents and killing journalist is cowardly and weak.
Israel without nukes would be stronger than Russia with nukes. It's the economy and strategic power that matters now.
Political and foreign policy discussions online with randoms bore me and this is more an economic type site than political.
Israel without nukes would be stronger than Russia with nukes.
Geo-politics is not Mortal Kombat. Please stop talking about this stuff like you read it in a comic book and degenerating to 1950's "Red Scare" hysteria.
Russia is indeed a paper tiger; controlled opposition that acts as a lightning rod for the rest of the world to project their tribal insecurities onto. Antony C. Sutton long ago illuminated the critical role the Allies played in building, quite literally, the best enemy money could buy (the title of his seminal book), even before the Cold War got started.
The same old, tired script that has played out time and time again; you build them up so that you can knock them down, ala all of those one-time former bum buddies of the West like the Shah, Saddam, Noriega, the Afghan Mujahideen, Mubarak, Assad, etc.
Anglo-American Globalists always have and always will pull strings in this world; the real enemy hides in plain sight.
Given a choice of G20 leaders to run Australia or anything I'd put Vlad last. He's a freaking fruit cake.
Given a choice of G20 leaders, I'd have them all put to the firing squad as they are all cut from the same cloth and are all colluding to make manifest their dystopian, Globalist wet dream upon all the peoples of the world.
Where you see diversity and antagonism amongst heads of state, you should be seeing a pride of Lions play-fighting for first dibs on their doomed prey.
People who believe in any kind of East/West or Left/Right paradigm are sleep-walkers and zombies.
@Amar89: Yikes! The only leading worthy of death is those running DPRK.
The G20 was just an example of the main countries not their concept or ideology. Just clearing that up.
Humans aren't that clever in groups. We have egos and other stuff gets in the way of politics and conspiring to do ill. So that Sutton guy seems to forget that.
The East just has a long sordid history of not being trustworthy. They get greedy with their oil etc. We had and still have the tech, biz and money to extract and market the oil etc. They get jealous and think they can pull it all back or go it alone. Of course that upsets America and they make them pay.
There is an east west paradigm, it's culture and geography. It's history. You can't deny that.
Left right is another deal, it's all advancing to the same conclusion but it's just a matter of lesser of two evils really. It sucks so I vote Independent and minor parties more now.
You talk a lot comical there with zombies. I haven't read or seen a comic book since I was about 10, and it was some random one in a show bag, that I didn't care to get.
I'd be more worried about the TPP and sovereignty loss than the G20.
@adamren: Sometimes is not whether they think they can win but whether they want to fight. Russia has people and a very strong nationalistic identity. It depends if they common folk value the ruble more or their pride (I'm really not sure). We know the rich value the ruble for sure but russia has way more common folk.
These common folk think very differently from us, they do not worry about pretty things like geopolitics, macroeconomics, human rights and inequality.
History has shown us what common folk with nothing to lose are willing to do (whether or not they succeed).
@adamren: Nope the BBC, ABC and zionist press already have that mantle well and truly covered. Say… you wouldn't be jewish at all?
@Amar89: Totally agree. US/NATO have realised they cannot afford another conventional war, so they are opting for an economic and media war.
Seems like people are lapping up the media war and making the Russians the enemies. Last I checked it was us who invaded countries on their doorstep and killed over 150,000 people based on fraud / WMDs.
What would the situation look like if Russia or China had invaded and occupied Mexico City? (which is also about 2,000kms from the US as Baghdad is to Russia).
As far as I'm concerned, it's the US invading Ukraine and all Russia has done is put their foot down to our advances in their region. Where did all Ukraine's gold go? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-18/ukraine-admits-its-…
killed over 150,000 people based on fraud / WMDs.
Try 1 million and counting for Iraq alone, as per the Lancet Study, but yes I agree in principle.
Russia's comical posturing and the carefully stage-managed "Glorious Leader" role that Putin plays is a complete farce (as was George Bush's "hurrr-durrr-Redneck-Dumb-&-Dumber" act); the guy's a life-long intelligence operative and the intelligence community globally is basically one big fraternity or Old Boys Club. The West had planned to topple 7 or more nation-states before the decade was out while the rubble of the WTC had barely settled on lower Manhattan and before the intelligence community had formulated any analysis of Iraqi WMD capability, let alone put Libya, Syria, or Yemen on the radar.
The past decade's foreign policy was a long-held prophecy probably formulated in the dying days of the Soviet Union, when it was realised that new ghosts would need to be drafted into the fight against ideas, words and ways of thinking deemed undesirable for tyrants, as Communism had outlived its usefulness and astronomical defense-spending could not be sustained without scaring everyone sh*tless before the new Millennium was in full swing.
After all, Former 9/11 Commissioner Bob Kerrey publicly described 9/11 as a the culmination of a 30-year long conspiracy in the making.
I wrote a bit more about this here and about what's really going on in Ukraine here.
Humans aren't that clever in groups. We have egos and other stuff gets in the way of politics and conspiring to do ill. So that Sutton guy seems to forget that.
Who said we were dealing with lowly humans like you are I, or the other 6 billion eaters and feeders in the world?
Comparing yourself to men of the Rothschild/Rockefeller/Warburg/Murdoch/DuPont/Morgan/Bush ilk is literally placing pearls before swine; and that's what trips most people up when trying to understand deep Geo-politics is because they are so used to seeing these talking heads on the MSM that are gaff-making, face-planting, cringe-inducing, caked-on with makeup cheese puffs who embarrass and amuse us, they cannot reconcile that with the subtle, calculating, methodical, life-long oligarchs and ruling dynasties, with centuries of inter-generational know-how in the totality of control, who stand behind these talking heads, in the shadows, and dictate world affairs by proxy.
The men who run the world transcend much of history and assumed, public knowledge.
Their secrecy and audacity are their strengths; nothing is recorded, planned or materialised aside from in action alone and everything they do is simply beyond our imagination.
@Amar89: So tell me about the Chinese Triads, the Yakuza, the Saudis and Israelis? Are the Western groups the only ones with power and influence?
This One World talk is silly. It's their fantasy and yes they're probably getting closer and closer to how they want it but if they really had all that power they'd have it already. They still must influence and brainwash the masses to get what they want.
They're still human, they slip up and make mistakes and squabble amongst each other. Bruised egos and vendettas. They don't all get along no matter how many times they meet for drinks and dinner at Bilderberg events etc.
We as the mass population are the ones with the real power but we just can't coordinate often enough to rid them once and for all. It's much harder now with mass surveillance. But their system is unsustainable and will just have to collapse eventually on it's own weight. The Internet is in another way helping that with cryptocurrency and encryption now.
Look at the protests around the world. Some work, some don't. Look at the Internet Tax proposal that Hungry tried.
@Bullion78: Yep, got the foreskin and horns to prove it.
Shh don't tell anyone, the real powerful Zionist don't cut, we laugh at them and the Muslims. Plus we made their religion ban grog and pork so we could have it all for ourselves at foreskin comparing secret meetings as we cackle like hyenas.
Happy?
So, say what mantle does the 'zionist press' have covered? The elites want TPP but some media outlets have reported against it and aired the veiws of opponents.
No such thing as bias-free media. Nothing is bias-free as we have words and terms as shortcuts to collectively describe large groups. Mind viruses/memes stick and perpetuate the bias.
So tell me about the Chinese Triads, the Yakuza, the Saudis and Israelis? Are the Western groups the only ones with power and influence?
Yes, the Triads and the Yakuza. I remember when those tattooed loansharks and brothel pimps mounted full-scale invasions of 3 Middle Eastern countries and coaxed the willing or unwilling consent of the entire world along with them, because they were fed up with the local cops busting their drug caches, and decided that all that sand is just the perfect hiding place for speed, meth and coke.
Saudi Arabia and Israel would quite literally not be on the map if it were not for the United Nations illegally creating the state of Israel and the Brits putting the Ibn-Saud dynasty into power.
What seems to escape you is that firstly, physical force is largely irrelevant in Imperialism today and functions in a perfunctory, psychological role and a war-profiteering role (ownership of Central Banks and national debt is far more potent) and secondly, most publicised displays of political one-upmanship are all smokescreens for collusion.
The world's a stage as Shakespeare said.
Which seems more likely to you? That Israel is actually going to bomb Iran, or that Israel has been crying wolf about bombing Iran for the past 8 years now, to deflect outrage from the actual ordnance that has been dropped by US/NATO aircraft all over Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and now Syria?
This One World talk is silly. It's their fantasy and yes they're probably getting closer and closer to how they want it but if they really had all that power they'd have it already. They still must influence and brainwash the masses to get what they want.
The first of two things you've said that are actually relevant.
It's axiomatic that global governance can't happen overnight. More to the point, it has only been a reality since the Industrial Revolution, so we have a timeframe of roughly a hundred years in which the unseen puppeteers of the world have advanced this agenda. A hundred years is a blink in historical terms and in terms of their patience, they can bide their time because they have confidence in the broken record of human history that shows people will stop giving a sh*t and lay down; humanity doesn't have that luxury.
The idea has circulated for longer than we care to imagine, it is after all, the original problem of humanity (states versus people); the practical implementation has just become possible.
Framing the concept of the few oppressing the entire world in anything other than an eternal struggle for survival itself is not doing justice to what's at stake and the utterly inhuman motivations behind it.
They're still human, they slip up and make mistakes and squabble amongst each other. Bruised egos and vendettas. They don't all get along no matter how many times they meet for drinks and dinner at Bilderberg events etc.
They do indeed make mistakes and screw each other over for a percentage, but they're playing Chess, while humanity is fumbling with Checkers.
We might block passage of a law or expose an obvious engineered crisis; they might take down the Internet tomorrow or let slip the Nuclear football.
You don't grasp how precarious the balance of life on Earth is and always has been. The consequences of their "mistakes" are measured in hundreds of thousands or millions of lives claimed, typically.
We as the mass population are the ones with the real power but we just can't coordinate often enough to rid them once and for all. It's much harder now with mass surveillance. But their system is unsustainable and will just have to collapse eventually on it's own weight. The Internet is in another way helping that with cryptocurrency and encryption now.
The second of two things you've said that are relevant.
When the stakes are essentially slavery from the cradle to the grave and continual depopulation for all foreseeable human generations, you can't really leave that up to the hope that a big pissing contest between some old farts engenders the downfall of the most diabolically supreme threat to human existence ever to be faced.
Look at the protests around the world. Some work, some don't. Look at the Internet Tax proposal that Hungry tried.
I think you'll find pipes, rocks and glass does poorly against tear gas, water cannons, non-lethal rounds and just plain old full-metal jacket.
In more cases than not, the protests work in their favour. One or two agent provocatuers in the crowd gives them all the justification they need to enforce martial law or snatch-&-grab names on a hit list ala the G20 protests in Toronto or the Odessa Massacre in Ukraine.
A yes it's all agent provocateurs. Every one on the other side is bad.
Ends justify the means, unless it's the other side's ends.
It all comes back to the idealist dream that everything must be equal. Which in itself is unequal as unfortunately the worlds controllers haven't yet worked out how to make everyone uniform.
When the genetic modifications create humans that are non sexual and unable to mutate past the equal created being, then we will have utopia, or will we?
Meanwhile the rest of us will just keep reminding ourselves… When elephants dance, ants get squashed. Survival means get off the dance floor when they dance.
@Amar89: I'd wager it's been going on longer than 100 years.
If it's not the Saudis it'd be another group. He who has the oil controls the world. America did that and voila, they're the superpower. I don't buy this whole fantastical talk about they're playing chess. It looks good on paper and fun to feel superior intellectually and enlighten a few pubmates that don't really care about it.
Not sure Israel was illegal so much as a very brilliant scheme and very underhanded with lots of influence, coercion and bribery. They planned it out, and the odds were stacked in their favour. They're still good at it to this day. But heck even AIPAC stumbles and stuffs up sometimes too. It'll never really change until the Christian wingnuts wake up and realise.
They're just playing the game as best to their advantage for money and power. Of course they have to collude, how else can they pass it on from generation to generation. It's inevitable, they intermarry.
They've got a distinct advantage in controlling the gold and making the laws.
Australia is certainly a testing ground (along with NZ) with what to then bring in with UK and US. The gun control scheme is a good example.
They don't exactly have the true power, we do. We just need to see it. But now that we don't have a means to resist or fight back we're pretty mute in protest. They've brainwashed and dumbed down the masses to underestimate their civic power and overestimate the elites superiority and power etc.
I can't even be bothered myself anymore, too many sheep. Best to just be a wolf or sheepdog. It'll happen eventually it's just too hard to predict. A few cataclysmic events is all it requires. I used to read lots of history and strategy but what's really worth reading is the classics and how to change the system. How to think better. Jon Rappoport is a good writer on this.
Savvy Russians are running out and buying whatever they can. Furniture, electronics, appliances. Doesn't matter. Exchange pieces of paper for hard goods before the paper becomes worthless. They'll gladly exchange rubles for Australian dollars. There's one clear winner there, and it's not the guy holding the plastic.
Russians have seen defaults before and they'll see another one again soon. All signs point towards it.
They could revalue the currency 2:1 or something. Wipes out domestic savings but also brings inflation down (maybe, I think Zimbabwe revalued their currency several times).
I remember visiting my family in Zimbabwe in 2006. Leaving Harare airport Customs asked me what I would be doing with the left over Zim dollars from my holiday. I told them I'll be giving my wads of cash to my daughter to use as she likes playing shops! Long story short Customs was not amused! The currency was worthless at that stage anyway!
No idea what they're called but is anyone selling those magic boomsticks the Spetsnaz use for demolition?
For all those folks looking for a possum removal solution; you can thank me later.
Wow.
Flash
I'm fairly certain that is just a stick with plastic explosive strapped to it. Possibly with a sling on the end so that the payload can smash through the bus's window and then explode once it contacts the other side of the wall.
But that sends the shrapnel flying towards you so I guess you wouldn't want to be the guy ridin' the boomstick.
I guess you wouldn't want to be the guy ridin' the boomstick.
That's definitely got to be the squad newbie's job. I can imagine the conversation when the boomstick's produced:
"Hey, where's the boot? Somebody go find him, blindfold him and bring him over here."
On a serious note though, that guy is probably wearing some EOD type armour on his extremities as well as his vitals.
So…. what happened to the guy with the stick…
You can see him getting up and walking it off, the video uploader annotated a gray box around him, to the left of the video, after the explosion (if you turn annotations on).
He does make a tactical dive and roll just after he deploys the magic stick; if he were just standing perfectly still right next to a glass window that violently shatters, that probably wouldn't be so good for him.
In any case, the Spetsnaz motto has always been:
No. of hostages + No. of terrorists = Number of bodybags = Mission Accomplished.
I don't think SF, even Russian psycho ones like killing people, certainly not innocent civilians or hostages in large numbers. They're given a mission to complete.
The reason that operation resulted as it did was an experimental nerve gas to put them to sleep. Innovative, just that their interagency communication was still stuck in Soviet Russia as they didn't give out the antidotes to the rescue and medical teams. Reminds me of 9/11 and the Lindt cafe Sydney seige, they let the nutcase out and about and struck him off the watch list.
Poorly trained paramedics left the unconscious keeled up blocking their airways so they suffocated them. If they put them in the proper cleared airway position they would have survived.
So was actually quite a success given the circumstances.
@adamren: I was being semi-humourous, just for your info.
That being said, deploying an extremely powerful, aerosolized opiod like KOLOKOL-1 in such a confined space with no real prior testing or evaluation done of that agent and its effects isn't very smart, to say the least.
An antiodote isn't much good if someone's been hypoventilating for 10 minutes or longer and they're getting dangerously close to being in an apnea state; the oxygen deprivation and lack of ventilation in a confined space only intensifies the effects of aerosols or gaseous agents (especially if you're dealing with kids, the infirm or the elderly). Even a so-called, "non-lethal" agent like CS Tear Gas can be fatal in high concentrations in a confined space.
That said, the idea of neutralising everyone in a space with a reversible, fast-acting, incapacitating agent seems like a great room-clearing tactic in theory.
@Amar89:
Given the circumstances and the fanatics that they had to deal with it was a good outcome (ie 15% fatality rate). Using unconventional tactics to overcome extremely complex situation, IMHO even top notch western CT groups would struggle to get that figure much lower.
This was very much on par with the Sydney situation that we had (11%).
If you want to criticise them then point to the Beslan school siege where the fatality rate was nearly 35%!!
@gtech: Exactly.
But 11% of 17 isn't much of a fair comparison to 15% of hundreds. Sampling error margins there. Plus they had more thugs and more weaponry etc. Apples oranges.
@adamren:
Not really mate a 20-10% casualty rate is the "norm" in these kinds of operation.
(ie hostage rescue…..you may be dealing with different threats but the objectives and deliverables are the same)
It may be more casualties when you deal with 100's of people, but then rise in operational complexity which is usually exponential !!
All I'm saying is that people are quick to criticise non-western countries for their efforts however not realising that in fact, their performance is actually pretty impressive.
@gtech: A 10% loss for dozens of hostages is worse than a 15 to 20% out of hundreds due to complexity and that smaller groups are usually held hostage by less thugs.
The only item I remember direct buying from Russia was a geiger counter. It was priced in US$ so there would be no joy today on the exchange rate.
Also note that while the official exchange rate is currently 61.5, by the time your transaction gets processed in a few days time it could be 50 or 90. Only Mr Putin knows.
Costco Adelaide stocks Russian imported crabs. Maybe give some crabs to the wife.
Maybe give some crabs to the wife.
If I remember correctly the mail-order bride agency said my new bride already has some. Hopefully she brings them with when she arrives! Although I feel sorry for her, having to carry all those heavy tins on the plane…
Maybe give some crabs to the wife.
I can picture the Scary Movie 2 anguish scream… "YOU GAVE ME CRABS!"
Hmmmm travelling to Russia soon… I wonder if it's worth buying a few iPhone 6's or iPods to sell?
i think its a good idea! things went really crazy over there… ((((
Apple has suspend sales citing "It needs time to adjust".
I wonder if any other multi nationals are pulling products as well?
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/apple-halts-online-sales-i…
I am russian)) i will brainstorm about something that you can order from there)) mmmm)))
Well Mother Russia has lots of nuclear warheads and ICBM collecting dusts in the silos. Perhaps Al Qaeda or ISIS could pick up some cheap U235s or even one or two old nuclear warheads. Bargain price since Ruble value has dropped by around 50%.
The Ruskis would probably give the buyers more discount if they promise to aim the warheads to US soil sonce everyone seems so pissed off at Uncle Sam.
Don't think you can get much. The chinese already gone over the borders taking everything luxury bags, iPhones, etc even their Apple store stopped selling stuff
Considering buying an index fund ERUS that buys up russian companies (represents 80% of the whole market). Its a bit of a f around though if you don't have a US broker, and u need to convert your AUD to USD which has obviously dropped. I use optionsxpress.
It's half price - trading at a price to earnings of around 4-5
Could be another Greek scenario - if you bought Greece in the midst of the complications, you'd have a very strong return over the years
There are more instances of this working well then it not (but it can fail). Read a paper on the shiller p/e approach to value inesting
Be warned, Steam is region locking Russian titles in response to this market crash.
I tried make a Russian PSN account, it was blocked.
Wow it's bad enough that this site has become a place of random investment advice and now we have silly armchair general talk. It's fantastic! /sarc
On Ozbargain, Everyone is a Professional. Just ask Gerry.
Looking at the 6m chart this drop looks like a common knee-jerk fx correction to bad news after an intentional artificial spike was create by 'them in the know'(my opinion). It has actually risen in December from about 39 to 50.
So whats the biggie? Where is this Ruble COLLAPSE?
Unfortunately it is very unlikely that you'll find any online store shipping goods to Australia. Try ozon.ru - one of the biggest online stores.