There are some cracking stadiums lined up for the World Cup

Discussion in 'Bulletin Board' started by Dragon Tyke, Jun 10, 2018.

  1. Dragon Tyke

    Dragon Tyke Well-Known Member

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  2. fit

    fitzytyke2 Well-Known Member

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    They've been busy haven't they?
     
  3. Durkar Red

    Durkar Red Well-Known Member

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    I remember a conversation I had with a Russian bloke in a hotel bar in Barcelona before they'd decided who was getting the World Cup. he was adamant that Russia had already got the 2018 World Cup, because they had already started building new stadia.!!
     
  4. wak

    wakeyred Well-Known Member

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    Busy giving the country a veneer of economic success - in reality the countries GDP has not changed since the 1990s - in that time China's has quadrupled and America's has doubled. Putin's mate Trump has bailed him out of the sh*t by putting sanctions back on Iran and pushing the oil price back up - the only way they've got of generating money - Russia is a modern kleptocracy with a crumbling public service - the number of schools and hospitals are in steep decline. Its a pity that the world cup will be used to show Russia in a different light to the reality.
     
  5. Sco

    Scoff Well-Known Member

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    Disappointed we are not getting any group games in some of the more interesting Russian cities. Vladivostok, Irkutsk or Khabarovsk would have been fun for some of the pampered millionaire teams :)
     
  6. Merde Tete

    Merde Tete Well-Known Member

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    I think they'll find Saransk and Saratov basic enough! Apparently in Saransk there are nowhere near enough hotels, so they've built a makeshift one out of portakabins on the outskirts of the city. Sounds awesome! Ahem.
     
  7. Merde Tete

    Merde Tete Well-Known Member

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    While what you say is largely true (especially the kleptocracy bit, sadly), Moscow and St Petersburg are truly awesome modern cities. I do feel very sorry for the residents of the provincial cities though, whose taxes have been poured into stadiums which will by and large be very expensive white elephants when the tournament is over. On the other hand, the transport infrastructure has been given a much needed boost in these places, and has undergone significant improvements in Moscow and St Pete, where it was already pretty good to start with. There is no such thing as a late train in Russia, and the underground runs absolutely like clockwork, at a maximum interval of two minutes. I flew back in last night and the airport was busier than I've ever seen it. Yet it still seemed to work more efficiently than Gatwick or Heathrow on a regular day.

    The school and hospital situation is a bit of a disaster here in many cases, that much is true. But the country is absolutely huge, and generalisations don't hold everywhere. Just for comparison, I was in the Deep South of the USA earlier this year, where I saw poverty on a level that I've never seen in a European country. The small towns looked eerily similar to Russian villages in many ways bar the proliferation of confederate flags. Yet on the same trip, I spent time in New York, and Miami. Hard to believe they're in the same country. And as for New Orleans - stinkingly rich, on one level, yet full of obviously very poor people, and without any proper modern sewage system despite being in an area prone to flooding. On speaking to the locals, they words "kleptocracy", "nepotism" and "corruption" popped up time and time again. And all I could think of was "I'm supposed to be on holiday from Russia!". Having visited the US twice in the last four years, I've come to the conclusion that Russia and America are far more similar than either country would ever wish to admit.
     
    wakeyred, Afies Dad and Carlycu5tard like this.

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