I don’t know if you heard it there, but apparently the Russian news video of this event “borrowed” some scenes from the movie “Titanic” (I guess they didn’t think anyone would notice).

By the way, I really don’t understand why your blog has a photo of Lassie having a shit on it.

Nope. Wrong again. You leave comments on my blog, I respond. Nothing sore about it.

For your information I worked in Sakhalin 2005 – 2006 and so do know a bit about the place.

Oh, so you were here for a year. Big deal.

Spent much more of my time outside of Yuzhno than you seem to do

Where, exactly? In an oil company compound in Chayvo or SEIC’s OPF? Yeah, that’s representative!! If you want to play a game whereby we list the number of towns and villages we have visited in Russia in order to see who has a better idea of life in Russia, let’s play.

With regards to money, I don’t give a sh*t how much you earn but I do think you’re being a bit disingenuous. Of course pay is higher in Sakhalin than in other parts of Russia. For two main reasons – oil and location. But it only applies to those with a job and there are plenty of Islanders who aren’t employed and have no chance of ever being so.

Really? Why don’t they have a chance? Are they incapable of relocating?

Go to somewhere like Poronaysk or Makarov and see what real life in Sakhalin is all about.

Have you actually spent any time in either of these places? What language did you speak to the locals?  Life is crap in these places, and the responsibility for improvement lies solely with the locals who, as I’ve said in the post, seem to put planting flags beneath the North Pole higher up the list of priorities than getting their water supply fixed.

Also, how many of your “department managers, engineers, planners, production superintendents, project managers, project administrators, contracts managers, cost controllers, yard formen, wellhead technicians, drillers, HR managers, financial managers, senior accountants, safety officers, and several dozen other skilled or managerial positions” were filled by Islanders?

I don’t know. But speaking about my operation, which employs about 40 people, about 35 of them are from Sakhalin. And from what I can gather, most positions are filled by Sakhalin Islanders.

Vast majority of these Russians are mainlanders – not many locals amongst them as I seem to remember.

This isn’t really the question though, is it? The question is not how many of the employed on Sakhalin are locals, it is what percentage of Sakhalin Islanders are employed. From what I can gather, which I suspect is more reliable than your memory, it is somewhere above 90%.

As for Sakhalin, been there, done it and moved on and up to better things.

I very much doubt you have ‘done it’. How much Russian do you speak now? How many male Russians outside of your immediate work do you know? How many Russian homes did you visit? Did you actually speak to any Russians about their opportunities, or are you just going on observations?

You seem to believe the corporations have some sort of hiring obligation to the local workforce, no matter their qualifications for the job or projected benefit for the Company. I’m surprised you ever held a job, with attitude like that. I certainly wouldn’t hire you (and I’m in the position to hire people).
Why Tim’s wife has to be from Sakhalin to get her job – are you subscribing to necessity of “propiska” theories? Have you ever heard of freedom of movement, both physical and movement of capital?

Also, your understanding how economy works is below 5th-grader’s level. Where do you think the employees of the Big Oil are spending their money? Who’s paying to taxi-drivers and janitors – people without skills, I remind you, who would have no job prospects at all if not for Big Oil. Ever heard of money trickle effect?

For your information I worked in Sakhalin 2005 – 2006 and so do know a bit about the place. Spent much more of my time outside of Yuzhno than you seem to do – overnight train trips don’t really count as anything other than jollies for the office-wallahs.

With regards to money, I don’t give a sh*t how much you earn but I do think you’re being a bit disingenuous. Of course pay is higher in Sakhalin than in other parts of Russia. For two main reasons – oil and location. But it only applies to those with a job and there are plenty of Islanders who aren’t employed and have no chance of ever being so. And through no fault of their own. Go to somewhere like Poronaysk or Makarov and see what real life in Sakhalin is all about.

Also, how many of your “department managers, engineers, planners, production superintendents, project managers, project administrators, contracts managers, cost controllers, yard formen, wellhead technicians, drillers, HR managers, financial managers, senior accountants, safety officers, and several dozen other skilled or managerial positions” were filled by Islanders? Vast majority of these Russians are mainlanders – not many locals amongst them as I seem to remember.

With regards to your wife, all I can say is Well Done and I do mean that. By the way is she from Sakhalin?

As for Tatyana. Who rattled your cage? I’m certainly not drooling after Tim’s money or anything of Tim’s for that matter. But it certainly sounds like you have the hots for him. As for Sakhalin, been there, done it and moved on and up to better things. Had a good time while I was there but life moves on and so did I.

No, it’s not: salaries on Sakhalin are much higher than the national average. This is fact, not opinion.

Try saying that to any of the Sakhalin Islanders outside your cosy little Peyton Place world in Yuzhno and see what reaction you get.

Oh, I do. I even say it in Russian. How did you communicate with the locals, assuming that you’ve ever been here?

If by improving their lot you mean working as taxi drivers, barmen, waiters, security men or secretaries for expats then you’re spot on.

And department managers, engineers, planners, production superintendents, project managers, project administrators, contracts managers, cost controllers, yard formen, wellhead technicians, drillers, HR managers, financial managers, senior accountants, safety officers, and several dozen other skilled or managerial positions. And I’m sure it’ll be news to my wife that the only opportunity she has in Sakhalin is to work as a waitress or secretary for an expat! I guess she should quit her job as sales and marketing director for a Russian-owned hotel and get with the program, eh? Uppity wife!

Get real and start looking at the facts and not what you see through the bottom of a beer glass or out of your nice expensive apartment windows.

Erm, who do you think is the beneficiary of the rent for my nice expensive apartment? And for what it’s worth, my view of Sakhalin is gained largely by living with a Russian, speaking Russian, drinking with Russians, and hanging out with Russians. Assuming you were here, which given what you know about the place is in more than a little doubt, how did you go about forming an impression of what the locals think?

By the way, if I’d known that talking about pay would hit such a sore spot, I’d have made more of it.

It’s not a sore spot. I simply told you to change the record, and – as a cursory glance at the thread will reveal – nothing more. As Tatyana has pointed out, it is you who seem to have the hang-up about money, having first brought the subject up and now continues to pursue it.

If anybody has a sore spot about pay it sure looks like you do: Tim comes out as perfectly satisfied with his financial setup, you’re the one drooling for his kinda money.

As for “Russians have plenty of opportunities for improving their lot, particularly on Sakhalin where salaries are several times the national average.” What a complete load of bollocks!!! Try saying that to any of the Sakhalin Islanders outside your cosy little Peyton Place world in Yuzhno and see what reaction you get. If by improving their lot you mean working as taxi drivers, barmen, waiters, security men or secretaries for expats then you’re spot on. Get real and start looking at the facts and not what you see through the bottom of a beer glass or out of your nice expensive apartment windows.

By the way, if I’d known that talking about pay would hit such a sore spot, I’d have made more of it.

And heres a footnote to history;

‘ A second Russian submersible, manned by Swedish businessman Frederik Paulsen and Australian adventurer Mike McDowell, reached the seabed 27 minutes later. It reached a depth of 4,302 metres. ‘

I hear the Aussie found a nice titanium flag & took it back home as a souvenir