FSU Politics/Current Events V

Dimuha · Jun 16, 2011

Drake44444 said: ↑

How come you're not a Rostov fan considering its where you have ties and you hate Moscow?
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My dad.

Chacal · Jun 21, 2011

A couple interesting articles if anyone's bored:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/21/three_days_in_foros
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/20/a_kremlin_built_for_two
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/20/fading_legacy

Zenit · Jun 24, 2011

Another excellent Foreign Policy article, in their issue commemmorating teh events of 1991:

Everything You Think You Know About the Collapse of the Soviet Union Is Wrong - and why it matters today in a new age of revolution.

Democratization, Gorbachev declared, was "not a slogan but the essence of perestroika." Many years later he told interviewers:

The Soviet model was defeated not only on the economic and social levels; it was defeated on a cultural level. Our society, our people, the most educated, the most intellectual, rejected that model on the cultural level because it does not respect the man, oppresses him spiritually and politically.

That reforms gave rise to a revolution by 1989 was due largely to another "idealistic" cause: Gorbachev's deep and personal aversion to violence and, hence, his stubborn refusal to resort to mass coercion when the scale and depth of change began to outstrip his original intent. To deploy Stalinist repression even to "preserve the system" would have been a betrayal of his deepest convictions. A witness recalls Gorbachev saying in the late 1980s, "We are told that we should pound the fist on the table," and then clenching his hand in an illustrative fist. "Generally speaking," continued the general secretary, "it could be done. But one does not feel like it."
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also....

The Long, Lame Afterlife of Mikhail Gorbachev - a cautionary tale about what happens when you fail to see the revolution coming.

Drake44444 · Jun 27, 2011

definitely will check those out in the next couple of days.

I seriously doubt everything I know is wrong

FootyFan365 · Jul 1, 2011

Not sure if this is the right place but give it a shot

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2080404,00.html?xid=rss-fullnation-yahoo

Real Corona · Jul 4, 2011

Freedom House's report on Ukraine

The good news is that Ukraine's scores have not declined much if at all from 2004's mass shift and along with Kyrgystan is way in front of the rest of the non Baltic FSU. The bad news is that there were troubling developments this year that could portend a deterioration.

http://www.freedomhouse.org/images/File/nit/2011/NIT-2011-Ukraine.pdf

Chacal · Jul 11, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/world/europe/12russia.html?_r=1&hp

Really sad, Russia seems to have way too many of these disasters.

yasik19 · Jul 11, 2011

********ing imbeciles not doing maintenance on the ship. Hang them all.

Shevafan · Jul 11, 2011

Chacal said: ↑

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/world/europe/12russia.html?_r=1&hp

Really sad, Russia seems to have way too many of these disasters.
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This shit happens in Russia every day. Only about 10% of the accidents actually get into the government controlled media.

Real Corona · Jul 13, 2011

Chacal said: ↑

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/world/europe/12russia.html?_r=1&hp

Really sad, Russia seems to have way too many of these disasters.
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This is what happens when there are no rules. The police are too busy shaking down motorists.

Dimuha · Jul 13, 2011

This ship was built in the 50''s wasn't it?

yasik19 · Jul 13, 2011

Guberman wrote a good epigram.....

Народа российского горе
С уже незапамятных пор,
Что пишет он *** на заборе,
Еще не построив забор.

goliath74 · Jul 14, 2011

yasik19 said: ↑

Guberman wrote a good epigram.....

Народа российского горе
С уже незапамятных пор,
Что пишет он *** на заборе,
Еще не построив забор.
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And it takes "xxxxman" to point that out

Real Corona · Aug 12, 2011

Six years later, the country has far more on its plate than a sanctimonious U.S. president: monumental corruption, creeping stagnation, mounting ethnic tensions, a breakdown of safety oversight for civilian transportation systems, a stumbling reform of the rapidly decaying military, continued insurgency in the North Caucasus, continued dependence on resource extraction, an atrophied industrial sector, moribund and corrupt education and health systems. There is a lot of work to be done, and therefore, a lot to talk about.
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http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/08/11/surreal_politik?page=0,1

we can marvel at the refreshing honesty, the release in acknowledging that, much to the relief of Russians rattled by their brief, post-Soviet taste of democracy, that finally, there are no more politics in Russia.
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Drake44444 · Aug 12, 2011

A tad sensationalist.

It's not like Putin is anything new.

In his book First Person, Putin said: “from the very beginning, Russia was created as a super centralised state. That’s practically laid down in its genetic code, its traditions, and the mentality of its people.

Secondly, political systems cannot change overnight.

Russian politics largely operate outside of the government. Much like the Communist party was the organ of all decision-making, today Putin’s inner-circle in United Russia holds the power to the patronage system. This is because a legal system does not change overnight. With the dissolving on the Soviet Union, the style of political manoeuvring and respect for legal institutions did not instantly shift. A defining characteristic of Russia after the Soviet Union has been the weakness and instability of political institutions. Political decisions are still largely made based upon personal connections rather than legal institutions. Thus Putin can create a sphere of influence in which he hand selects his own successor or even can amend the Constitution at will to stay in office. The legal institutions are not set in stone, and this is the way it has always been. Putin has effectively eliminated all opposition to his party and those that cling to it.

Zenit · Aug 12, 2011

Here's a great example of the progress of political change and the movement towards representative democracy in Russia. Never mind the need for an independent media, a political opposition, a judiciary independent of the executive, and all that other crap. Who needs the EU or the OSCE? THIS is the way to go.

This is pure genius. Not even Lukashenko could think up a gem like this:

Western Observers OUT, Football Fans IN!

The Central Elections Commission said Thursday that the number of foreign observers for the State Duma elections should be small because their work could be done from afar and promised to staff ballot stations with football fans.

...

Churov also confirmed that his commission has invited football fans to work in polling stations across the country, saying the fans would work in all regions with higher-league teams.

"We will even have a group of special observers from football fans at the Central Elections Commission," he said, adding that the idea originated in the North Caucasus.
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Oh, well, if the plan comes from the North Caucasus, that international beacon of higher political understanding and tolerance of dissimilar political opinions, then I guess it really must be a good idea...

Real Corona · Aug 12, 2011

Football fans? Wtf is that a bad joke?

Dimuha · Aug 12, 2011

Zenit said: ↑

Here's a great example of the progress of political change and the movement towards representative democracy in Russia. Never mind the need for an independent media, a political opposition, a judiciary independent of the executive, and all that other crap. Who needs the EU or the OSCE? THIS is the way to go.

This is pure genius. Not even Lukashenko could think up a gem like this:

Western Observers OUT, Football Fans IN!

Oh, well, if the plan comes from the North Caucasus, that international beacon of higher political understanding and tolerance of dissimilar political opinions, then I guess it really must be a good idea...
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Muahaha.

Dimuha · Aug 12, 2011

Real Corona said: ↑

Football fans? Wtf is that a bad joke?
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You don't get it, by football fans they mean sociopathic hitmen.

Zenit · Aug 12, 2011

Real Corona said: ↑

Football fans? Wtf is that a bad joke?
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Sadly, no. Mr. Churov is as serious as a heart attack. This is their plan for telling the OSCE to bugger off when the December Duma elections roll around.

Real Corona · Aug 12, 2011

Dimuha said: ↑

You don't get it, by football fans they mean sociopathic hitmen.
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Zenit said: ↑

Sadly, no. Mr. Churov is as serious as a heart attack. This is their plan for telling the OSCE to bugger off when the December Duma elections roll around.
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Yeah but usually you actually say something reasonable like, our own observers, or something. But jeez, football fans, might as well say it with a laugh and snicker.

goliath74 · Aug 12, 2011

Zenit said: ↑

Sadly, no. Mr. Churov is as serious as a heart attack. This is their plan for telling the OSCE to bugger off when the December Duma elections roll around.
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"elections" is too strong a word I think...

DynamVostok · Aug 13, 2011

Putin may be no saint but Russia has been moving forward and made great progress in the past 10 years. This is from my personal experience living in Russia. Seems to be many Russiaphobes in the western media. The Economist alone predicted 15 of the past 0 Russian collapses

Who can forget this beauty from the Atlantic in 2001

It is actually amazing how fast Russia is developing, I would not have recognized Moscow 10 years ago or even 5 years ago when I first began working in Russia.

Sure Russia needs a legitimate opposition party(it has 0 right now), but lets not forget that Russia is a post totalitarian society that still has many features of the old order still hanging around in institutions such as the police, penal system and bureaucracy. The country is fully capable of evolving its own brand of democracy, but that requires time and a measure of political consolidation.

Russia defaulted on it's debt in 1999 and paid back every penny with interest of its $20 billion debt. Seems many critics ignore the state Russia was in back in the 90's and early 00's.

Russia in 2000
People Below National Poverty Line=40%
Middle Class=5 million people
Average Monthly wage=$80

Russia in 2011
People Below National Poverty Line=13%
Middle Class=68 Million
Average Monthly wage=$700(of course more in the bigger cities and nearly non existent in villages)

Real Corona · Aug 13, 2011

Russia may be moving forward and paid back it's debts, but it did so only because it is blessed with an abundance of resources that perhaps is only rivaled on a per captia basis by Canada. It's fairly easy to make an economy work when you have huge amounts of desired natural resources to sell. It's a whole different story when you have to actually build an economy (like say Ukraine has to) based on actual business. I can't speak for your own situation obviously, but I have relatives who both live in and outside Moscow, and live is not easy for any of them. Their businesses are hanging by threads, overtaxed and overpoliced for even more "taxes." Sure things could be worse, it could be Belarus, Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan. There are probably a lot of Russophobes in the western media because they have no idea how Russia can continue to function with the levels of corruption and internal decay that has afflicted much of it. Of course they all underestimate the Russian populations ability to withstand just about anything, and of course the a big "spasibo" to all the natural resources that the country inherited from its imperial adventures.

Real Corona · Aug 13, 2011

I really liked this article.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/08/12/reset_this?page=0,2

The question the reset-bashers need to answer is: What's their alternative, and how will it more effectively serve U.S. interests and values? Given the utter failure of the Bush administration's finger-wagging-and-isolating approach, their calls for a return to that policy are simply not credible.

In the meantime, they might contemplate the implications of what they're advocating, whether it's undoing the international consensus on Iran's nuclear program, endangering U.S. troops in Afghanistan, allowing more nuclear material to remain insecure, or ensuring that Russian politics becomes even more closed and monolithic. There's more at stake here than just giving Obama a bloody nose in an election season.
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