• Contact
  • About
  • Authors
DONATE TO BYLINES SCOTLAND
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
Bylines Scotland
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Bylines Scotland Breaking News
    • Europe
    • King Charles III
    • Queen Elizabeth II
    • Scotland
    • War in Ukraine
    • World
    Scotland's Pro-EU

    Scotland’s leading pro-EU organisation will be in good spirits when it meets in Edinburgh on Rejoin Day 

    Front cover of Scottish Currency Q&A booklet

    Priorities for the SNP and the Scottish Government on currency

    Portrait of Humza Yousaf

    Humza Yousaf’s plans if he becomes the SNP leader

    Media distortion

    Truth and Trust

    Kate Forbes, candidate for the SNP membership, official portrait

    Kate Forbes campaign for the SNP leadership contest 

    Health service

    Funding the Scottish Health Service 

    Sunflower in watercolour for the one year anniversary of the war in Ukraine 2022

    Euromove Scotland Campaign Raises Donations for Ukraine’s Frontline Communities.

    Nicola Sturgeon portraiture

    Nicola Sturgeon and Jacinda Ardern – what two shock resignations tell us about good leadership

    BBC Scotland in dismantling letters

    The three minute read. Scotland must seek to reform its media

    Trending Tags

    • Democracy
    • Devolution
    • Brexit
    • Ukraine
  • Politics
    • All
    • Council Areas
    • Europe
    • Holyrood
    • Liz Truss
    • Rest of UK
    • Tories
    • United Kingdom
    • Westminster
    • World
    Demonstrator on the streets of London

    Eggs, black shirts and unsettled Britain

    Scottish flag with SYP (Scottish Youth Parliament)

    Scottish Youth Parliament in 2023: Facing the Future

    Kate Forbes, candidate for the SNP membership, official portrait

    Kate Forbes campaign for the SNP leadership contest 

    Ash Regan and Tim Rideout Currency launch

    Ash Regan backs Scottish currency

    blue background, A younf woman holding a large black sign that says VOTE ! in white letters

    Scottish elections: young people more likely to vote if they started at 16 – new study

    A scene of people demonstrating, holding Scotland flags. One man wears a tartan cap and holds a blue flag with both the Scottish cross and the EU stars on it.

    Is Alister Jack sane?

    Image Malcom Laverty

    The Brown plan

    The climate change impacts of Russia’s war with Ukraine

    Britain wastes £1bn on drones to monitor English Channel

    Trending Tags

    • Equality
    • Johnson
    • Scottish National Party
  • Business
    • All
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Corporations
    • Energy
    • Finance
    • Fishing
    • Natural Resources
    • Shipbuilding
    • Trade
    • Transport
    • Workers
    Bakkafrost Barge

    The Story of the Bakkafrost Barge Sinking

    Fish farm in Scotland

    A deeper dive into the history of Scottish fish farming

    Fish farms in a Scottish Loch

    How farmed salmon is produced – stage one

    Dead salmons

    Death in our waters

    Fish farming, Isle of Sky, Loch Ainort

    Fish Farming in Scotland 

    Offshore wind farm

    How will local communities get a fair share of record investment from offshore wind farms?

    Broadband optic fibres

    Scotland fulfilling its commitment to enable access to superfast broadband

    A row of tall houses on the left, with parked cars in front on the side of the street

    Saving Scotland’s tenements

    A large red researcgh vessel in the sea with ice sheets all around it on the water.

    Rosyth shipyard attracts UK Government contract to maintain fleet of scientific research vessels

    Trending Tags

    • Health
      • All
      • Assisted dying
      • Covid
      • Influenza
      • Polio virus
      • Respiratory
      • Scientific Research
      Slogan Still Home from Clinically Vulnerable Families group

      COVID-19 lockdown continues for many in the UK

      Tree representing lungs

      Where are the areas in Scotland most affected by lung conditions?

      Health service

      Funding the Scottish Health Service 

      A goose surrounded by avian flu

      Who is knocking our doors? A putative new pandemic?

      A woman walking in a field with a jerrycan of water on her back, spraying water on the vegetation

      The Ethiopia Medical Project

      Healthcare word seen in a scrabble

      “Leave no one behind” – the Health Foundation’s report into health inequalities in Scotland 2023.

      Sign saying NHS Greater Galsgow & Clyde in front of a hospital building

      Concern over patients waiting in corridors for free beds at Glasgow Superhospital

      A hospital corridor with trolleys on the sides.

      Glasgow hospitals halt non-urgent operations due to pressure

      Two more unions reject Scottish Government NHS pay offer

      Trending Tags

      • Environment
        • All
        • Air Pollution
        • Biology
        • Climate Change
        • Wildfires
        Ardnish wildfire by Leslie Barrie, CC BY-SA 2.0 Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons'

        Fire threats in the Scottish countryside

        Wood stove at the foot of the bed in the Danish Blue room at Pig Hill Inn, Cold Spring, New York. Printed with permission and confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

        When smoke gets in your eyes

        Opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 in Egypt. Photo courtesy of the UNFCCC

        COP27 and the inconvenient truth

        Viscum album in trees

        Night of the strangling figs: a biological horror story

        Out & about with Charlie Mac: Cycling to the heart of Scotland – the National Cycle Network 7

        Scotland's mountain footpaths

        How do we care for Scotland’s mountain footpath network?

        climate science

        PM to be chosen by people with little grasp of climate science

        Trending Tags

        • Opinion
        No Result
        View All Result
        • Home
        • News
          • All
          • Bylines Scotland Breaking News
          • Europe
          • King Charles III
          • Queen Elizabeth II
          • Scotland
          • War in Ukraine
          • World
          Scotland's Pro-EU

          Scotland’s leading pro-EU organisation will be in good spirits when it meets in Edinburgh on Rejoin Day 

          Front cover of Scottish Currency Q&A booklet

          Priorities for the SNP and the Scottish Government on currency

          Portrait of Humza Yousaf

          Humza Yousaf’s plans if he becomes the SNP leader

          Media distortion

          Truth and Trust

          Kate Forbes, candidate for the SNP membership, official portrait

          Kate Forbes campaign for the SNP leadership contest 

          Health service

          Funding the Scottish Health Service 

          Sunflower in watercolour for the one year anniversary of the war in Ukraine 2022

          Euromove Scotland Campaign Raises Donations for Ukraine’s Frontline Communities.

          Nicola Sturgeon portraiture

          Nicola Sturgeon and Jacinda Ardern – what two shock resignations tell us about good leadership

          BBC Scotland in dismantling letters

          The three minute read. Scotland must seek to reform its media

          Trending Tags

          • Democracy
          • Devolution
          • Brexit
          • Ukraine
        • Politics
          • All
          • Council Areas
          • Europe
          • Holyrood
          • Liz Truss
          • Rest of UK
          • Tories
          • United Kingdom
          • Westminster
          • World
          Demonstrator on the streets of London

          Eggs, black shirts and unsettled Britain

          Scottish flag with SYP (Scottish Youth Parliament)

          Scottish Youth Parliament in 2023: Facing the Future

          Kate Forbes, candidate for the SNP membership, official portrait

          Kate Forbes campaign for the SNP leadership contest 

          Ash Regan and Tim Rideout Currency launch

          Ash Regan backs Scottish currency

          blue background, A younf woman holding a large black sign that says VOTE ! in white letters

          Scottish elections: young people more likely to vote if they started at 16 – new study

          A scene of people demonstrating, holding Scotland flags. One man wears a tartan cap and holds a blue flag with both the Scottish cross and the EU stars on it.

          Is Alister Jack sane?

          Image Malcom Laverty

          The Brown plan

          The climate change impacts of Russia’s war with Ukraine

          Britain wastes £1bn on drones to monitor English Channel

          Trending Tags

          • Equality
          • Johnson
          • Scottish National Party
        • Business
          • All
          • Agriculture
          • Aviation
          • Corporations
          • Energy
          • Finance
          • Fishing
          • Natural Resources
          • Shipbuilding
          • Trade
          • Transport
          • Workers
          Bakkafrost Barge

          The Story of the Bakkafrost Barge Sinking

          Fish farm in Scotland

          A deeper dive into the history of Scottish fish farming

          Fish farms in a Scottish Loch

          How farmed salmon is produced – stage one

          Dead salmons

          Death in our waters

          Fish farming, Isle of Sky, Loch Ainort

          Fish Farming in Scotland 

          Offshore wind farm

          How will local communities get a fair share of record investment from offshore wind farms?

          Broadband optic fibres

          Scotland fulfilling its commitment to enable access to superfast broadband

          A row of tall houses on the left, with parked cars in front on the side of the street

          Saving Scotland’s tenements

          A large red researcgh vessel in the sea with ice sheets all around it on the water.

          Rosyth shipyard attracts UK Government contract to maintain fleet of scientific research vessels

          Trending Tags

          • Health
            • All
            • Assisted dying
            • Covid
            • Influenza
            • Polio virus
            • Respiratory
            • Scientific Research
            Slogan Still Home from Clinically Vulnerable Families group

            COVID-19 lockdown continues for many in the UK

            Tree representing lungs

            Where are the areas in Scotland most affected by lung conditions?

            Health service

            Funding the Scottish Health Service 

            A goose surrounded by avian flu

            Who is knocking our doors? A putative new pandemic?

            A woman walking in a field with a jerrycan of water on her back, spraying water on the vegetation

            The Ethiopia Medical Project

            Healthcare word seen in a scrabble

            “Leave no one behind” – the Health Foundation’s report into health inequalities in Scotland 2023.

            Sign saying NHS Greater Galsgow & Clyde in front of a hospital building

            Concern over patients waiting in corridors for free beds at Glasgow Superhospital

            A hospital corridor with trolleys on the sides.

            Glasgow hospitals halt non-urgent operations due to pressure

            Two more unions reject Scottish Government NHS pay offer

            Trending Tags

            • Environment
              • All
              • Air Pollution
              • Biology
              • Climate Change
              • Wildfires
              Ardnish wildfire by Leslie Barrie, CC BY-SA 2.0 Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons'

              Fire threats in the Scottish countryside

              Wood stove at the foot of the bed in the Danish Blue room at Pig Hill Inn, Cold Spring, New York. Printed with permission and confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

              When smoke gets in your eyes

              Opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 in Egypt. Photo courtesy of the UNFCCC

              COP27 and the inconvenient truth

              Viscum album in trees

              Night of the strangling figs: a biological horror story

              Out & about with Charlie Mac: Cycling to the heart of Scotland – the National Cycle Network 7

              Scotland's mountain footpaths

              How do we care for Scotland’s mountain footpath network?

              climate science

              PM to be chosen by people with little grasp of climate science

              Trending Tags

              • Opinion
              No Result
              View All Result
              Bylines Scotland
              No Result
              View All Result
              Home Politics World

              Russia as a low-tech nation

              Russia’s much anticipated new sanction-proof Lada car is an excellent indication of the weakness of Russia’s R&D and manufacturing ecosystems.

              Professor John R BrysonbyProfessor John R Bryson
              22-11-2022 07:00
              in World
              Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

              Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov seems to be developing a new career as a comedian specialising in tragicomedy.

              On Thursday 16 June 2022 he proclaimed that Russia “didn’t invade Ukraine”. If this is not an invasion, then one assumes that all Russian forces will eventually leave Ukrainian territory. However, Lavrov did admit that “Russia is not squeaky clean. Russia is what it is. And we are not ashamed of showing who we are”. What Russia has shown, however, is great incompetence and this includes the failure to separate territorial gains from developing and enhancing the country’s role in global supply chains and political networks.

              President Vladimir Putin’s educational background includes a degree in law and then training in counterintelligence with the KGB. This provides an ideal background for a career in the security services but perhaps does not provide the breadth of understanding required to govern a country. Putin’s focus has been on geopolitics, national security, a concern with Russia as the motherland, and a fondness for the Soviet era. Too much political capital, and national investment, has been given to trying to modernise Russia’s military with a focus on developing special weapons and on enhancing the Russian economy’s dependence on natural resources, particularly oil and gas.

              Russian research places behind Vietnam

              Russia tries to position itself as a hi-tech economy based around high-profile initiatives in space exploration and military technology. An excellent example is the emphasis Putin has placed on Russian advances in hypersonic missiles and nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, Russia has major weaknesses in its research and development national ecosystem which means that its manufacturing sector relies on the inventiveness of other nations. The World Intellectual Property Organisation publishes a Global Innovation Index based on an assessment of national innovation inputs and outputs. In 2021, Russia was ranked in 45th place after Vietnam and Thailand, with the United States being third and the UK fourth in the ranking. Russia’s ranking highlights that Russia is a low-tech nation.

              Russia’s position in the Global Innovation Index is partly explained by the country’s failure to invest in research and development (R&D). In 2019, the US spent 3.1% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) on R&D whilst Russia spent 1%. This can be calculated based on R&D expenditure per capita and for the US this was $1,866 compared to Russia’s expenditure of $263. It is estimated that Russia is spending $900mn a day on the Ukraine war. Russia, calculates the return on this investment in terms of territory, but much greater economic and political returns would come from investing in R&D.

              Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (R) listens to Commander Sergei Surovikin (L front). Photograph courtesy Russian Defence Ministry
              War in Ukraine

              Russia orders troops to withdraw from Ukrainian city of Kherson

              byGeorge Allison
              11 November 2022

              They’re not lovin’ it

              In January 1990, McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in Moscow. This was a key moment in the opening up of the Soviet Union’s economy as the Cold War concluded. In May 2022, McDonald’s announced that it would pull out of Russia over the Ukrainian war. Its restaurants were sold and rebranded as ‘Tasty and that’s it’. ‘That’s it’ for Russia in terms of participation in global supply chains and knowledge and innovation networks is an excellent way of describing the severing of Russia from global supply chains as a direct consequence of the Ukrainian war.

              The departure of McDonald’s from Russia is a high-profile example of Russia’s increasing isolation from global networks. Nevertheless, throughout the Russia economy there are major problems with repairing equipment and in accessing the latest R&D innovations. Thus, the supply of car parts began to run out in Russia in April 2022 as manufacturers in the US, Europe and Australia stopping shipping parts to Russia with the commencement of military operations in Ukraine. Russia is experiencing major problems in trying to develop alternative solutions to accessing components and this includes those required to maintain aircraft and to manufacture and repair military equipment. There will also be major problems in maintaining and enhancing nationally critical infrastructure systems.

              Unsurmountable costs

              Russia’s much anticipated new sanction-proof Lada car, for example, is an excellent indication of the weakness of Russia’s R&D and manufacturing ecosystems. The Lada Granta Classic 2022 is built from parts made in Russia and by the country’s allies. This is a ‘classic’ Soviet era style car as it comes without airbags, an anti-lock braking system, emission restriction technologies, satellite navigation system or modern seat belt pretensioners. The car only meets European pollution standards from the 1990s. This is a car that can only be sold in Russia and reflects Russia’s future as a country isolated from global supply chains and innovation networks.

              Russia may acquire some Ukrainian territory, but at what cost to the Russian people? There are humanitarian and climate change costs that will be experienced across the planet. For the Russian people there will be a return to Soviet-era living as Russia has to depend increasingly on its own limited and weak manufacturing and innovation ecosystems.


              We need your help! The press in our country is dominated by billionaire-owned media, many offshore and avoiding paying tax. We are a citizen journalism publication but still have significant costs. If you believe in what we do, please consider subscribing to the Bylines Gazette 🙏

              Previous Post

              The pulse of the NHS – The paramedic

              Next Post

              Ferguson Marine will weather the storm

              Professor John R Bryson

              Professor John R Bryson

              Professor John R Bryson is Chair in Enterprise and Economic Geography at Birmingham Business School. John's research is motivated by a desire to understand and explain the complex ways in which production is organised through space and in place and via a variety of forms of enterprise.

              Related Posts

              No Content Available
              Next Post

              Ferguson Marine will weather the storm

              PLEASE SUPPORT OUR CROWDFUNDER

              Subscribe to our newsletters
              CHOOSE YOUR NEWS
              Follow us on social media
              CHOOSE YOUR PLATFORMS
              Download our app
              ALL OF BYLINES IN ONE PLACE
              Subscribe to our gazette
              CONTRIBUTE TO OUR SUSTAINABILITY
              Make a monthly or one-off donation
              DONATE NOW
              Help us with our hosting costs
              SIGN UP TO SITEGROUND
              We are always looking for citizen journalists
              WRITE FOR US
              Volunteer as an editor, in a technical role, or on social media
              VOLUNTEER FOR US
              Something else?
              GET IN TOUCH
              Previous
              Next

              LATEST

              Bakkafrost Barge

              The Story of the Bakkafrost Barge Sinking

              27 March 2023
              An open book with 3D drawings depicting storytelling

              Book Festivals Spring spotlight

              25 March 2023
              Demonstrator on the streets of London

              Eggs, black shirts and unsettled Britain

              24 March 2023
              Slogan Still Home from Clinically Vulnerable Families group

              COVID-19 lockdown continues for many in the UK

              23 March 2023

              MOST READ

              Bakkafrost Barge

              The Story of the Bakkafrost Barge Sinking

              27 March 2023
              Tree representing lungs

              Where are the areas in Scotland most affected by lung conditions?

              21 March 2023
              Demonstrator on the streets of London

              Eggs, black shirts and unsettled Britain

              24 March 2023
              An open book with 3D drawings depicting storytelling

              Book Festivals Spring spotlight

              25 March 2023

              BROWSE BY TAGS

              Brexit Christmas ClimateChange Covid Covid19 Culture Defence Democracy Devolution FishFarms Glasgow Halloween health History Holyrood independence IndyRef2 Johnson Journalism Liz Truss Long Covid Monarchy nationalism NATO NHS Nicola Sturgeon politics Poverty Pro-EU Public Health Putin Russia Sars-CoV-2 Scotland Security Security and Defence shipbuilding SNP Sunak Tories Tourism Twitter Ukraine UK Supreme Court War in Ukraine
              Bylines Scotland

              We are a not-for-profit citizen journalism publication. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in Scotland and beyond.

              Bylines Scotland is a trading brand of Bylines Network Limited, which is a sister organisation to Byline Times.

              Learn more about us

              No Result
              View All Result
              • Network
              • About
              • Authors
              • Contact
              • Donate
              • Privacy

              © 2023 Bylines Scotland. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

              No Result
              View All Result
              • Home
              • News
                • Scotland
                • World
              • Politics
                • Council Areas
                • Europe
                • Holyrood
                • Rest of UK
                • Westminster
              • Business
                • Fishing
                • Trade
                • Transport
              • Health
              • Environment
                • Climate Change
              • Opinion
              • Donate
              • Newsletter sign up
              CROWDFUNDER

              © 2023 Bylines Scotland. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

              Welcome Back!

              Login to your account below

              Forgotten Password?

              Retrieve your password

              Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

              Log In