Made in Russia?

Good question. They must make all the usual products, yet we see none. Not even Russian cars anymore. Has the West ceased trading with them altogether?

I use mine every day, and I recently bought another set.

Yes, they are doomed to repeat... However, one can only repeat an action if one survives the drawback of that action. I guess you could call this a corollary to Santayana's famous aphorism.

Well, Crimea was part of Russia and Khrushchev "gave" it to the Ukraine, even though it's Russian majority complained at the time, so Russia took it back. Will they try for more? They say "how far is Kalinn from Russia?" the answer is 20 minutes by tank.

As for Trump, will he tell Putin in private that he will not object to Russian regaining Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia? I doubt it.

Will Trump go to war for them? I doubt it, but the UK will

Cyrillic alphabet, long distance for freight

China, SE Asia, Brazil, India are closer?

As for quality? Ask me in 50,000 miles...

What else do they make and export?

China, SE Asia, Brazil, India are closer?

In terms of established shipping routes and facilities, they are. The Soviet bloc did not seek or have much need for trade with us. They had little hard currency, and reserved what they gathered for elite and military purchases (which we restricted = cost more $$).

As I stated, look in Poland, Ukraine etc and you will find more Russian goods as Russia slowly enters world commerce.

Russian commercial goods were of low quality, they have improved a lot. Ikea has a fair number of items they sell that are made in Russia

I recently had the chance to view a Fialka,

certainly not intended for export.

The tires were made in Leningrad Oblast, under 900km to Stockholm.

I want one of these....

And just what would you do with it if you got one?

Stop dragging reality into my fantasy! Why we'd live happily ever after, what else...

Kinda like yesterday, we were having a family gathering, and someone brought up she wants a Star Trek teleportation machine, but one that will cure all ills. I replied I just want one that will mix up my old body with a 25 year old male body, and leave my mind scrambled just like it is now. She then quipped, "What would you do with a 25 year old body?..." I was speechless.

Another angle on the teleporter story: If it cured all ills, I would simply vanish...

As the saying goes, one wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers.

I would certainly kick her out - those things scratch when trapped

Watch out for those discus-throwing shoulders.

You on waiting list No.200000002

How very Presidentially minded of you.

How's it working out fredski?

..."Russia has an upper-middle income^[25] mixed economy with state ownership in strategic areas of the economy. Market reforms in the 1990s privatized much of Russian industry and agriculture, with notable exceptions to this privatization occurring in the energy and defense-related sectors.

Russia's vast geography is an important determinant of its economic activity, with some sources estimating that Russia contains over 30 percent of the world's natural resources.^[26][27][28] The World Bank estimates the total value of Russia's natural resources at $75 trillion US dollars.^[29][30] Russia relies on energy revenues to drive most of its growth. Russia has an abundance of oil, natural gas and precious metals, which make up a major share of Russia's exports. As of 2012 the oil-and-gas sector accounted for 16% of the GDP, 52% of federal budget revenues and over 70% of total exports.^[31][32]

Russia has a large and sophisticated arms industry, capable of designing and manufacturing high-tech military equipment, including a fifth-generation fighter jet, nuclear powered submarines, firearms, short range/long range ballistic missiles. The value of Russian arms exports totalled $15.7 billion in 2013—second only to the US. Top military exports from Russia include combat aircraft, air defence systems, ships and submarines.^[33][34]

In 2015, the Russian economy was the sixth largest in the world by PPP and twelfth largest at market exchange rates. Between 2000 and 2012 Russia's energy exports fueled a rapid growth in living standards, with real disposable income rising by 160%.^[35] In dollar-denominated terms this amounted to a more than sevenfold increase in disposable incomes since 2000.^[36] In the same period, unemployment and poverty more than halved and Russians' self-assessed life satisfaction also rose significantly.^[37] This growth was a combined result of the 2000s commodities boom, high oil prices, as well as prudent economic and fiscal policies.^[38] However, these gains have been distributed unevenly, as the 110 wealthiest individuals were found in a report by Credit Suisse to own 35% of all financial assets held by Russian households.^[39][40] Poor governance means that Russia also has the second-largest volume of illicit money outflows, having lost over $880 billion between 2002 and 2011 in this way.^[41] Since 2008 Forbes has repeatedly named Moscow the "billionaire capital of the world".^[42][43]

The Russian economy risked going into recession from early 2014, mainly due to falling oil prices, the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, and the subsequent capital flight.^[44][45] While in 2014 GDP growth remained positive at 0.6%,^[46] in 2015 the Russian economy shrunk by 3.7% and was expected to shrink further in 2016.^[47] However, the World Bank and the IMF estimated that Russia's economy will begin to recover by 2017.^[48][49]"...

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Russia}

We buy some components from Russia, they are comparable to the ones available from France, the US or Japan but much cheaper.

Never knowingly.

See above.

I can't really understand why you would ask such a question in the first place, unless you are selling Russian tires.

I am curious how one defines a "food grade" paint thinner though, unless you mean a thinner for acrylic paint.

I did not post a link to tire brand, though I would buy them aqain, based on my experience so far.

paint thinner

After I noticed the country of manufacture of my tires, I started thinking about the relative absence of Russian products in US.

You might consider the political history of the two countries over the last 50 years as a good part of the reason that not much [legal] trade between the two countries has taken place.

However, last year we imported 129 million barrels of crude oil from them.

Trade between the two countries may increase after the new administration takes office.

<...imported 129 million barrels of crude oil...> Yep. That gets used every day.

Ham radio operators, antique-radio & tube-amp enthusiasts, collectors and so forth can still buy vacuum tubes made in Russia.

Some years ago I saw some at the Dayton Hamvention marked "Hecho en U.S.S.R."

AK 47 or 74 and Saiga 12 can be decent.

I have seen at least one Ural motorcycle around town.

Due to a Russian wife at the time and a number of Russian engineers friends I did purchase some great items, #1 was a MIG, stick and TIG welder that once set up was from my point a fantastic welder however I paid good money to an agent to ensure that it was labeled in english as well as a translated manual and none of this was done. I still have the welder and the transformer to operate on 380V 3ph. #2 was a wood burning stove called by brand name Breneran, great stove I could fill it at night and it had a healthy bed of coals for quick start in the morning, it had 8 tubes wrapped over the outer circumference that provided a lot of heat.,I cannot make a generalized statement but the Russian wife my #2 was a wonderful person but as most females of human species a bit goofy. I found that with most immigrants if you treat them with fairness they become very good friends. This especially of the East Europeans as it appears they have a very different social structure. Yes there are some bad apples. I have found there engineers for the most part very good at thinking and keeping things simple. My experience.

I still have a pocket watch purchased by a friend for me at GUM many years ago and I use it. It functions very well.

A portion of my career was spent researching literature from older industrial technologies for potential modification/upgrade for use at the steel manufacturing firm I worked for. As a part of that job I looked at Russian technologies as well as those from many countries. I found the Russian engineers were quite good at developing processes that would work in their existing conditions with their available Raw Materials. After WWI, their technology started to lag a bit behind Germany and the US.

I suspect that with the development of the Internet, the Russians are Reverse Engineering some of our technologies. I wonder if that is a major reason for all the suspected "hacking" they are blamed for in our news.

From my perspective there is a lot of technology in Russia and the East European community and they have a knock of keeping things simple but very effective. The technology from USSR and today is quite startling and for the good.. I think the big guys know how to do business but the small players have no idea based on my experience. Why would a manufacturer give up a large export deal over labeling and translating.

Should Russia in particular ever get rid of the corruption and encourage industry big and small I think with their education system they can prosper.

Define Russia,...

There are Belarus Tractors yet... (Minsk Tractor Works) But I believe The country of Belarus has splintered from Mother Russia.

On thing also, is the difference of the meaning of productivity Between Communist Russia (something that was left over from the former USSR) and say The United States.

While the US productivity is measured in Units produced, Russia measure of production was raw materials consumed.

The problem with that is Russia's equipment was always heavy. Whether it be tractors (The weight compacted the soil) , or camping equipment (Very Heavy to carry).

They have since trying to evolve to be more competitive.

Only thing I can recall seeing that was made in Russia, were some old plates my Mother owned. But they were made in Russia when they still had a Tsar.

I know the company I work for has managed to sell some tanks to them, but we don't buy from them. (tank - the kind you put liquid in - not the kind to run over peasants)

I think they have a suspicious web site for finding out what kind of doggie you are. Something like vatkinddwoggie.ru, and all they need is your name, your social security number, credit card information, whether or not you are home, and when you plan to return, oh....and is that food in the plastic container in the refrigerator still safe to eat?

If you hyave cat, then cat vill be eliminated during entry.

Nationality is such an outdated concept.

You do have it mixed up, Texas is really better than everywhere else, and not for just one or two reasons, but an entire mountain of reasons. It is partly the people, partly the land, and the two are inseparable. Texans come from every nation, race, and nationality, so knock it off with the race baiting on that.

I was raised in Bexar County, myself....so if I'm baiting, I'm doing it to myself as well and while there isn't anything inherently wrong with baiting myself, I am not comfortable with your monitoring of said behavior.

Nothing could be further from my mind. The last thing I want to see is your masterful baiting of yourself.

I worked with a guy named Bader. I always referred to him as Mister Bader.

Texas is also windy, Go fly a kite...

Doesn't Donald Trump buy into Vlad Putin ?

No. Vlad owns Donnie Boy.

Not hardly. Sounds like fake news to me.

No comment.