The State of Affairs in Russia

[Syt]

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/half-of-russians-believe-putin-is-poorly-informed-of-situation-in-the-country-poll-shows/528258.html

Half of Russians Believe Putin is Poorly Informed of Situation in the Country, Poll Shows

Over half of Russians think President Vladimir Putin does not receive a complete picture of what is going on in Russia or is being deliberately misled by his entourage, according to a poll released Wednesday by an independent Russian polling center.

Fifty-six percent of respondents in the poll conducted by the Levada Center said that Putin doesn't have a complete picture of the national situation, including fourteen percent who believe his closest advisors and allies are outright concealing the truth from the Russian president.

Only 31 percent of respondents said that they believed Putin was completely aware of what is taking place across the country and truthfully informed by his advisors.

When asked if they believe Putin is guilty of various accusations of misuse of power levied by his opponents, 22 percent of respondents were certain he is innocent — twice as many as in April 2012.

Thirty-one percent of respondents said that Putin's culpability in alleged violations is less important than his role in improving the standard of living.

Only 38 percent of respondents in the survey said they could freely express their thoughts and opinions about government policies. Ten percent said they couldn't express themselves because they were scared of reprisals or felt uncomfortable.

The poll surveyed 1,600 adults across Russia between July 17 and 20.

It's funny, because that was a common opinion in the Third Reich, too, to the point where "Wenn das der Führer wüsste ..." (If only the Führer knew ...) became a common byword.

[Tamas]

First of all I think polls made in Russia are totally worthless. If you lived there today and somebody came up to you asking these questions, you would openly support the official line, out of survival instincts.

Secondly, yes, this is a very common reflex when society wants a strong leader: it surely isn't his fault if things go badly.

[Valmy]

As for Israel, to me it is an element of Western Civilisation in the Middle East. In that, it is a spiritual descendant of the crusader states.

Even with most of the population being from Muslim countries and Russia? I don't think so and it is becoming more 'assimilated' with its neighbors all the time. I have a hard time not seeing it as a Middle Eastern country, granted an unusually well run one.

[DGuller]

The Russian anthem as played by the Egyptian army: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=25&v=IifStkAsemU

"Abdel, can I have that AK-47 back for a minute?"

[Malthus]

As for Israel, to me it is an element of Western Civilisation in the Middle East. In that, it is a spiritual descendant of the crusader states.

Even with most of the population being from Muslim countries and Russia? I don't think so and it is becoming more 'assimilated' with its neighbors all the time. I have a hard time not seeing it as a Middle Eastern country, granted an unusually well run one.

I think you would change your mind if you went there. It is definitely more 'european' than ME, despite the fact that less than half of its population is from Europe. The physical origins of its population has proven not to be the governing factor.

Proof of this: the most "difficult" sections of the Israeli Jewish population are the Settlers and the Haradim (or ultra-Orthodox). These are the people from among whom come those who undertake the most fanatical, terroristic actions, that remind people of the ME in general. However, in origin they are typically *not* from the population of Jews from the ME. Most of both are European (or, in the case of "settlers", European or American).

[DGuller]

It's funny, because that was a common opinion in the Third Reich, too, to the point where "Wenn das der Führer wüsste ..." (If only the Führer knew ...) became a common byword.

That's very standard when you have authoritarian countries and personality cults.  People in the gulags also thought that if only Stalin knew...

[Valmy]

I think you would change your mind if you went there. It is definitely more 'european' than ME, despite the fact that less than half of its population is from Europe. The physical origins of its population has proven not to be the governing factor.

Proof of this: the most "difficult" sections of the Israeli Jewish population are the Settlers and the Haradim (or ultra-Orthodox). These are the people from among whom come those who undertake the most fanatical, terroristic actions, that remind people of the ME in general. However, in origin they are typically *not* from the population of Jews from the ME. Most of both are European (or, in the case of "settlers", European or American).

The newest converts to a culture are always the most fanatic

Anyway I will visit Israel right after my trip to Egypt.

[Syt]

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russias-foreign-agents-risk-losing-right-to-run-media/528308.html

Russia's 'Foreign Agents' Risk Losing Right to Run Media

As the crackdown on Russian NGOs continues, the Communications Ministry has suggested forbidding those labeled as "foreign agents" from launching and registering media outlets.

The proposal, part of a bill that the ministry published on a government website for draft laws, stipulates that non-governmental organizations registered as "foreign agents" — a label with strong connotations of espionage in Russia that is applied to organizations that receive funding from abroad and are engaged in loosely defined political activity — cannot be founders of media outlets.

Civil rights advocates fear the bill is a marker of the situation worsening for the "foreign agents," several of which said they were closing this summer after being forced to pay six-figure fines in rubles and having to give up their foreign financing, despite earlier promises that "foreign agents" would not have to close their doors.

Forbidding "foreign agents" from owning media is a direct violation of a Constitutional Court ruling of 2014, according to which this status shouldn't infringe on the organization's rights, said Ilya Shablinsky, a member of the presidential Human Rights Council.

"This bill is the next step after restricting the agents' rights in the electoral legislation [they are already banned from participating in electoral campaigns in any capacity]," he was cited by Vedomosti newspaper as saying Thursday.

"And this is very bad: we have more than 50 organizations on the list [of 'foreign agents'], and for a lot of them, running media outlets is their main area of activity," he said.

Deputy Communications Minister Alexei Volin disagreed, telling Vedomosti that the suggestion doesn't violate any laws, and on the contrary, brings the law that regulates mass media in line with other laws, as well as conforming to existing regulation that restricts foreign ownership of media outlets.

But unlike actual foreigners, "foreign agents" should not be allowed to own even 20 percent of a media outlet, he said.

"We don't recommend having foreign agents among the owners of your media, go find some decent people [instead]," he was cited by the newspaper as saying Thursday.

Free Speech Crackdown

There are some 20 existing media outlets that are owned by NGOs registered as "foreign agents," said Pavel Chikov, head of the Agora human rights association.

For example, elections watchdog Golos, which is currently in the process of getting its "foreign agent" status revoked, runs the newspaper Grazhdansky Golos (Civic Voice), while Memorial, an NGO that advocates the rehabilitation of victims of Soviet repressions, runs Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasus Knot), one of the most prominent media outlets in the North Caucasus.

"Passing the bill would mean that these media outlets will lose their registration," Chikov told Vedomosti on Thursday. "This law will result in the liquidation of dozens of media outlets," he said.

The crackdown on the media is being carried out in anticipation of the State Duma elections in 2016, said Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Golos.

"First the Central Election Commission sent out letters banning 'foreign agents' from delegating election observers to the polls, while most of these organizations actually usually send observers in the form of journalists," he was cited by Vedomosti as saying Thursday.

The bill, according to Melkonyants, would not only seriously infringe on foreign agents' rights, but would also complicate the registration process for other media, meaning existing registration would be revoked from many organizations — especially those whose staff have used their credentials to report on elections.

Morality Check
The bill proposes several other restrictions on the registration of Russian media.

For example, the names of countries would not be allowed to be used in media names without permission from the Justice Ministry, according to the document, along with the names of various organizations and people without their own permission. The names of the outlets will also be checked for "humanness" and "morality," the text of the bill says, without elaborating.

A media outlet can be denied registration at the Prosecutor General's request, the bill states. This is only natural under anti-extremism legislation, Volin from the Communications Ministry told Vedomosti — the Prosecutor General is empowered to determine whether the media outlet is extremist, thus he has the right to deny it registration.

All in all, the initiative currently looks raw and poorly thought through, said Leonid Levin, chair of the State Duma Committee for Information Policy. Formally speaking, forbidding foreign agents from owning media seems reasonable, but on the other hand it can be seen as an infringement upon freedom of speech, the lawmaker added.

"We're not forbidding people who work for foreign companies from expressing their opinion," Levin, a member of the Just Russia party, was cited by Vedomosti as saying Thursday. He also questioned the need for regulation in addition to limiting foreign ownership to 20 percent of a media outlet.

Nevertheless, "all these issues should be discussed, and we're ready to listen to what the ministry has to say," the lawmaker said.

Oh, and here's why you can't have foreign agents monitoring elections: they're actually exposing stuff (though I guess this will be buries in the Russian state media):

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/news/article/election-watchdog-reveals-united-russia-candidates-receive-foreign-funding/528307.html

Election Watchdog Reveals United Russia Candidates Receive Foreign Funding

A number of United Russia candidates running in gubernatorial elections in Russian regions this year have received foreign funding for their campaigns, which is against election laws, research by the independent election watchdog Golos revealed.

Golos spotted the same violation during gubernatorial elections last year.

"Just last year some regions were headed by 'foreign agents.' Judging by the current trend, after the elections on Sept. 13, the number of re-elected governors whose campaigns were financed by foreign donors will grow," said the report published on the watchdog's website Thursday.

The largest donations from abroad were received by candidates from the ruling United Russia party and by the party itself, according to Golos. Overall, the electoral funding of all United Russia candidates is two-and-a-half times larger than the combined funding of all the other participants in the 2015 gubernatorial race put together.

The usual scheme for concealing foreign sources of donations involves two Russian intermediaries, the report said. The Russian company that officially donates money to the candidate must be owned or controlled by another Russian company, which, in turn, is owned or managed by a foreign entity.

In many cases, the funding comes from offshore companies registered in Cyprus or the Virgin Islands that are stockholders of Russian enterprises.

This scheme, according to Golos, was used by Lipetsk region governor Oleg Korolev, who was elected last year. His campaign received 7 million rubles ($200,000 at the time) this way. Astrakhan region governor Alexander Zhilkin received 1.5 million rubles ($42,857 at the time) through the same scheme.

This year at least two United Russia candidates — Viktor Nazarov in the Omsk region and Vasily Golubev in the Rostov region, both incumbent governors — received foreign funding through intermediary Russian companies, the report said.

Spokespeople for Nazarov's campaign claimed the money was returned to the donor as soon as it became clear that it had come from abroad, Kommersant newspaper reported Thursday.

[celedhring]

A Chinese journalist photographed this watchtower along the Chinese-Russian border 

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/1445094.html

[Syt]

Wikipedia was taken offline in Russia by a local court after it refused to remove an article about a certain kind of hashish. The media watchdog let it go back online after 18 hours, though no change was done. Moscow Times suggests that this was merely done as a show of strength and to intimidate.

[Martinus]

Wikipedia was taken offline in Russia by a local court after it refused to remove an article about a certain kind of hashish. The media watchdog let it go back online after 18 hours, though no change was done. Moscow Times suggests that this was merely done as a show of strength and to intimidate.

I suspect Wikipedia couldn't give a rat's ass over whether it is available in Russian.

[Syt]

Wikipedia was taken offline in Russia by a local court after it refused to remove an article about a certain kind of hashish. The media watchdog let it go back online after 18 hours, though no change was done. Moscow Times suggests that this was merely done as a show of strength and to intimidate.

I suspect Wikipedia couldn't give a rat's ass over whether it is available in Russian.

The show of strength was towards domestic audience, I presume. "We can block one of the largest sites in the world; we can block your little dissident blog if we want to.

[Martinus]

Wikipedia was taken offline in Russia by a local court after it refused to remove an article about a certain kind of hashish. The media watchdog let it go back online after 18 hours, though no change was done. Moscow Times suggests that this was merely done as a show of strength and to intimidate.

I suspect Wikipedia couldn't give a rat's ass over whether it is available in Russian.

The show of strength was towards domestic audience, I presume. "We can block one of the largest sites in the world; we can block your little dissident blog if we want to.

Yeah ok, but given the stuff that regularly comes out of Duma, I am not sure that blocking Wikipedia would even register with the Russian public.

[Solmyr]

There was also a row with Facebook about keeping info on Russian users inside Russia (per recent laws). I believe Facebook basically told Russia to fuck off.

[Syt]

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russians-consider-marrying-giving-birth-and-education-most-important-things/528835.html

Most Important Things to Do Before Turning 30

Here are the things Russians consider men and women should do before turning 30, according to the poll conducted by Levada Center.

For Men:
To get an education – 65%
To get married – 56%
To serve in the military – 55%
To have a career – 52%
To buy a place to live – 46%
To have children – 40%
To buy a car – 30%
To fall in love – 26%
To start a business – 20%
To travel – 17%
To learn to cook – 9%
To take part in charity – 9%

For Women:
To get married – 77%
To have children – 75%
To get education – 60%
To learn how to cook – 52%
To fall in love – 32%
To have a career – 19%
To travel – 18%
To buy a place to live – 14%
To take part in charity – 8%
To buy a car – 6%
To start a business – 4%
To serve in the military – 3%