The State of Affairs in Russia

[grumbler]

Russia thinks they independent course is going to make them all rich in a few decades. Yeah I have heard that one before.

They can join the North Korea Prosperity Club. 

North Korea Prosperity Club is best Korea Prosperity Club!

[Razgovory]

Russia thinks they independent course is going to make them all rich in a few decades. Yeah I have heard that one before.

They can join the North Korea Prosperity Club. 

Meet is at 8 tonight.  Bring a coat and your own lightbulbs.

[Syt]

Uh oh. Is Kadyrov falling from grace?

http://rt.com/politics/252905-kadyrov-interior-ministry-chechnya/

'Shoot to kill': Chechen leader's row with Interior Ministry heats up

Tensions continue to rise between the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and the Russian Interior Ministry. It follows the killing of a Chechen native by police from another Russian region during arrest. Grozny has accused the ministry of distorting facts.

The scandal began after police from the neighboring Stavropol Region conducted a raid in Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic on April 19.

Their task was to detain Chechen native, Dzhambulat Dadaev, who was on the federal wanted list for causing grievous bodily harm.

However, the suspect was gunned down after he rammed the officers' vehicle with his car in an attempt to escape.

Kadyrov was outraged upon learning of the operation, as he said it was performed without the Chechen authorities being notified.

"I officially state that if [armed people] turn up on your territory without you knowing about this – be they Muscovites or Stavropol natives – shoot to kill. We should be reckoned with," Kadyrov said during a meeting with Chechen security officials.

The Russian Interior Ministry described the controversial statement, as "unacceptable."

The ministry stressed that the Stavropol policemen informed their Chechen colleagues of the Grozny raid and were offered assistance.

In order to calm things down, Kadyrov gave an interview in which he even expressed his readiness to step down as Chechen leader, a post he has occupied since 2007.

"I'm just a foot soldier of the Supreme Commander [President Vladimir Putin]. If I'm given the order I'm ready to follow it 100 percent. If I am required to leave – I'll leave. I'm ready to die as well," he told RIA Novosti.

However, the Chechen leader then reignited the flames on Friday, issuing a statement, in which he blamed Russia's Interior Ministry for distorting the facts.

"It is known for a fact nobody within the leadership of the Chechen Interior Ministry was informed of the operation in writing, verbally or by telephone. It goes without saying that none of its staff participated in this event," the statement said.

Kadyrov also criticized the Stavropol policemen for conducting the raid wearing balaclavas, as "all Chechen residents know that those, who wear masks, are no representatives of law, but are bandits."

He added that he believes that the Stavropol policemen were simply misinformed by the Interior Ministry in Moscow concerning the circumstances surrounding the Grozny operation.

Chechnya's Investigative Committee launched a criminal case against the Stavropol policemen, who are accused of abuse of power. However, the head of the Investigative Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin, overturned the ruling.

[Syt]

Just when you think people couldn't be more retarded ...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/27/russian-stores-pull-holocaust-graphic-novel-maus-over-swastika-on-cover

Russian stores pull Holocaust graphic novel Maus over swastika on cover

Russian bookstores were hastily removing an award-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust from their shelves on Monday, reportedly because its cover shows a Nazi swastika.

Maus, by American artist and author Art Spiegelman won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 and was published in Russian in 2013.

But Varvara Gornostayeva, the chief editor at the book's publisher Corpus, said major bookstore chains were taking it off their shelves and internet sites.

"They have removed the book," Gornostayeva told AFP. "It was selling very well and nobody had ever sent us any official complaints."

A reporter for Echo of Moscow radio, Darya Peshchikova, toured bookstores and said staff were expecting raids by the authorities ahead of 9 May, when Russia marks 70 years since Soviet victory over Nazi forces in the second world war.

"They are waiting for checks and decided to clean up their shelves," Peshchikova wrote on Twitter. "The reason is the swastika, employees say."

Russian authorities have moved to censor Nazi insignia, even raiding toy stores and antique shops which carry period paraphernalia, citing a law which forbids "Nazi propaganda" passed last December.

"There is no Nazi propaganda in it, this is a book that should be on the shelves on Victory Day," Gornostayeva argued.

"It's one of greatest anti-fascist books, with a deep and piercing message."

Maus tells the author's personal story of the Holocaust through the memories of his father, a Polish Jew who moved to the United States. It uses animal metaphors and minimalist graphic style, portraying Jews as mice and Germans as cats.

The Russian book's cover features two mice – a father and a son – and a stylised swastika image in the background, with the face of Hitler as a cat in the centre. About 10,000 copies of the book have been sold in Russia, according to the publisher.

By Monday afternoon, three of Moscow's largest bookstores – Biblio Globus, Moskva, and Moskovsky Dom Knigi – had removed the book from their internet stores.

Cached versions of store catalogues showed that all three carried it just a few days ago, but all denied this when contacted by AFP.

"It must be a mistake," said a woman in the PR department of Biblio Globus when asked why a days-old version of the store's webpage show the book as in stock.

[Valmy]

So does that mean all WWII footage in Russia shows the Soviets fighting nobody?

[Tonitrus]

Ide's spirit lives in the struggle against Ukrainian Nazis. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cA9cGUGr00

[Admiral Yi]

Ide's spirit lives in the struggle against Ukrainian Nazis. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cA9cGUGr00

"I know from reading history that it takes communism to defeat fascism."

[Barrister]

Ide's spirit lives in the struggle against Ukrainian Nazis. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cA9cGUGr00

[jimmy olsen]

Russia responds to Czech rearmament! 

http://www.ibtimes.com/russia-may-resume-tu-160-bomber-production-part-air-force-modernization-defense-1901263

Russia May Resume Tu-160 Bomber Production As Part Of Air Force Modernization, Defense Ministry Says

By Thomas Barrabi @TBarrabi [email protected]   on April 29 2015 9:27 AM EDT

The Russian military plans to continue the modernization of its long-range bomber fleet and will consider renewed dedication to the production of its Tupolev Tu-160 supersonic bomber, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed Wednesday. Work will resume despite escalating tension between Russia and Western powers over the Kremlin's military activity in the last several months.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has approved new equipment for Russia's Kazan Aviation Plant in Tatarstan to aid in modernization efforts, Russian news outlet Tass reports. The defense ministry plans to build two Tu-160 bombers by the end of 2015 and to upgrade five existing Tu-160s. Russia currently possesses 15 of the long-range bombers.

"It is necessary already today to start implementing tasks not only for keeping in good order and modernizing the fleet of long-range aviation but also for reproducing Tu-160 missile carriers," Shoigu told Tass. He added that the Tu-160 is "a unique plane that has been several decades abreast of time and has not used its constructive possibilities to the full extent until now."

The planned expansion comes months after Russia said it would extend its bomber patrols to reach as far as the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic Ocean. Russia had not ordered bomber patrols of that length since the end of the Cold War.

The United States, the NATO military alliance and the European Union recently have expressed concern on several occasions over Russia's increased military activity. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the annexation of the formerly Ukrainian territory of Crimea last March, and Western leaders repeatedly have accused the Kremlin of backing pro-Russian separatist rebels in war-torn eastern Ukraine. Russia has denied culpability in that conflict.

NATO developed an expanded "rapid reaction force" to defend against continued Russian territorial expansion. The response force now consists of approximately 30,000 troops, with a 5,000-soldier unit capable of deployment within 48 hours. NATO conducted its first drills with the new force earlier this month, according to a press release.

[jimmy olsen]

Japan, Korea or the British would seem to be most in need of them and able to pay for them.

http://news.usni.org/2015/04/27/report-france-to-keep-russian-mistrals-in-planned-1-20-billion-deal

Report: France to Keep Russian Mistrals In Planned $1.2 Billion Deal
By: Sam LaGrone
April 27, 2015 1:51 PM • Updated: April 27, 2015 5:42 PM

France is set to pay Russia $1.2 billion to settle the lingering dispute over two amphibious warships in a deal that went sour over the ongoing conflict in the Ukraine, according to French and Russian media reports.

The deal — yet to be official — would have France keep the two 21,000 ton amphibs and retain the right to sell the ships to a country of their choosing, reported Le Journal du Dimanche.

"Legally, this decision has not yet been formalized, but it is known that the Russian and French sides agreed within one month to determine the exact condition of cancellation of the contract for the supply of RF class ships Mistral, read a translation via the TASS Russian wire service.

Russia has already paid $811 million as part of the $1.5 billion 2011 deal for the Mistrals — modified to operate in Arctic conditions and accommodate Russia's heavier helicopters — and will reportedly not seek additional penalties or legal action.

France will use proceeds from a planned $2 billion sale of Airbus EC 725 Caracal helicopters to Poland to fund the deal, reported the French paper.

France and Russia have a month to negotiate particulars before the agreement is settled.

The planned delivery schedule of the ships was halted following an announcement from French President François Hollande citing Russian involvement in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as the reason.

The move from France is unexpected. European military defense experts had expected France to eventually deliver the ships to Russia once the situation in Eastern Ukraine had stabilized.

As for new buyers of the Mistrals, there are a few obvious candidates. NATO has expressed some interest in purchasing the ships to ferry its emerging rapid reaction force. The ships could also revive the Canadian Navy's joint support ship concept that would create multi-purpose fleet oilers.

[Valmy]

"I know from reading history that it takes communism to defeat fascism."

And it takes Mongol Horse archers to defeat China. That is what we should be investing in now.

[Malthus]

Japan, Korea or the British would seem to be most in need of them and able to pay for them.

Heh, I read an interesting book about a similar case in the late 60s - France was building a bunch of missile boats for Israel; after the 6-Day War, France refused to deliver them for political reasons; the Israelis simply send some guys out and stole them. 

[KRonn]

Japan, Korea or the British would seem to be most in need of them and able to pay for them.

Heh, I read an interesting book about a similar case in the late 60s - France was building a bunch of missile boats for Israel; after the 6-Day War, France refused to deliver them for political reasons; the Israelis simply send some guys out and stole them. 

Now that would make things quite interesting.   

[grumbler]

Japan, Korea or the British would seem to be most in need of them and able to pay for them.

Heh, I read an interesting book about a similar case in the late 60s - France was building a bunch of missile boats for Israel; after the 6-Day War, France refused to deliver them for political reasons; the Israelis simply send some guys out and stole them. 

Well, not quite.  The Israeli crews were on board the boats from the get-go, and the responsible French authorities essentially allowed the boats to be "stolen," given that they had been paid for and completed (after all, the "company" that sent the crews on boat had only been formed about two weeks before it "bought" the craft).

It was a great Israeli victory, but not really as dashing as the smiley would indicate. 

[Zanza]

Japan, Korea or the British would seem to be most in need of them and able to pay for them.

Germany's long-term naval plan contains a ship like a Mistral. Maybe we should just buy one of the ships. That would also be politically opportune.