The State of Affairs in Russia

[CountDeMoney]

But see, Hillary's worse.

[Tonitrus]

Trump to look at recognizing Crimea as Russian territory, lifting sanctions

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-crimea-sanctions-russia-226292

Not a good position to take, but that being said...I think everyone knows that Ukraine is never going to get Crimea back short of WW3.  Eventually we'll all accept the status quo anyway, even if we might not admit it.

[DGuller]

Trump to look at recognizing Crimea as Russian territory, lifting sanctions

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-crimea-sanctions-russia-226292

Not a good position to take, but that being said...I think everyone knows that Ukraine is never going to get Crimea back short of WW3.  Eventually we'll all accept the status quo anyway, even if we might not admit it.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't keep making Russia pay the price, in the interest of prevention if nothing else.

[Tonitrus]

Trump to look at recognizing Crimea as Russian territory, lifting sanctions

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-crimea-sanctions-russia-226292

Not a good position to take, but that being said...I think everyone knows that Ukraine is never going to get Crimea back short of WW3.  Eventually we'll all accept the status quo anyway, even if we might not admit it.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't keep making Russia pay the price, in the interest of prevention if nothing else.

I don't disagree.

[Admiral Yi]

Odd timing of this comment, coming right after the rumors of Putin hacking the DNC and bailing out the Donald start to circulate.

Certainly makes the case of the missing tax return more interesting, doesn't it?

[CountDeMoney]

Certainly makes the case of the missing tax return more interesting, doesn't it?

They're not missing; he knows exactly where they are.  And they are still none of your business.  Manafort said today they are not going to be released.

[derspiess]

But see, Hillary's worse.

Thank you.

[alfred russel]

Trump to look at recognizing Crimea as Russian territory, lifting sanctions

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-crimea-sanctions-russia-226292

Not a good position to take, but that being said...I think everyone knows that Ukraine is never going to get Crimea back short of WW3.  Eventually we'll all accept the status quo anyway, even if we might not admit it.

Practically speaking, we should probably cut a deal with Russia to get rid of the sanctions. The longer we wait, the more enthusiasm for the sanctions will wane in other countries, and the sanctions regime will start breaking down. This is probably the point we can extract maximum concessions from Russia. However, Trump doesn't seem poised to attempt to extract maximum concessions.

[CountDeMoney]

Save it, Cossack.

[Admiral Yi]

Practically speaking, we should probably cut a deal with Russia to get rid of the sanctions. The longer we wait, the more enthusiasm for the sanctions will wane in other countries, and the sanctions regime will start breaking down. This is probably the point we can extract maximum concessions from Russia. However, Trump doesn't seem poised to attempt to extract maximum concessions.

Obama hinted at a deal when this Ukraine thing first started: eventual recognition of Crimea as part of Putinstan in exchange for ending involvement in the Donbas.  But the bad guys didn't bite.

[Razgovory]

Odd timing of this comment, coming right after the rumors of Putin hacking the DNC and bailing out the Donald start to circulate.

Certainly makes the case of the missing tax return more interesting, doesn't it?

2016 just gets weirder and weirder.

[alfred russel]

Practically speaking, we should probably cut a deal with Russia to get rid of the sanctions. The longer we wait, the more enthusiasm for the sanctions will wane in other countries, and the sanctions regime will start breaking down. This is probably the point we can extract maximum concessions from Russia. However, Trump doesn't seem poised to attempt to extract maximum concessions.

Obama hinted at a deal when this Ukraine thing first started: eventual recognition of Crimea as part of Putinstan in exchange for ending involvement in the Donbas.  But the bad guys didn't bite.

Their economy is so fucked. I don't know what exactly we want from them, to stop dicking around in Syria, natural gas concessions to Europe, a free hand in Iran...they should be willing to come to the table.

Ukraine means a lot to Russians and Putin now in particular--concessions on that topic may be tougher to extract.

[Solmyr]

This might be big. Ivanov was a possible presidential candidate instead of Medvedev and might have even become an alternative to Putin.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37058751

Russia's Putin sacks chief of staff Sergei Ivanov

Russian President Vladimir Putin has unexpectedly dismissed his chief of staff Sergei Ivanov.
Mr Ivanov has been part of Mr Putin's trusted inner circle for many years.
The 63-year-old has now been made a special representative for environmental and transport issues.
A statement from the Kremlin said that Mr Putin had "decreed to relieve Ivanov of his duties as head of the Russian presidential administration", but gave no reason.
Mr Ivanov's deputy since 2012, Anton Vaino, has been appointed as his successor.
Mr Vaino, 44, is a former diplomat.
Born in the Estonian capital Tallinn in 1972, he graduated from the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and served in the Tokyo embassy. Later he managed presidential protocol and government staff, the Kremlin website says (in Russian).
On being appointed, he told Mr Putin: "Thank you for your trust. I think the administration's most important task is to support your activity as head of state in terms of drafting laws and control over how your instructions are implemented."
Mr Putin told a Russian TV station on Friday that Mr Ivanov had asked to leave the post, and recommended that Mr Vaino should replace him.
This is a move that has mystified Moscow. Sergei Ivanov has long been one of Vladimir Putin's closest allies and, like him, served in the Soviet security service, the KGB.
As chief of staff he was one of the most powerful men in the country. In a meeting with President Putin shown on state television both men claimed that the chief of staff was stepping down at his own request.
But despite the smiles for the cameras, few here are convinced - especially now, just before parliamentary elections.
So is this the fall-out from some kind of power struggle? No-one knows yet. But the official claim - that a man once touted as a potential president, suddenly wanted to run Russia's environmental policy - has been met with great scepticism.
Putin's inner circle
In remarks to Mr Putin, quoted on the Kremlin website, Mr Ivanov said "it's true that in early 2012 I asked you, in a conversation, to entrust me with this very complicated post, even - you could say - troublesome post, for four years.
"Well, it turns out that I've been presidential chief of staff for four years and eight months."
Secret service ties
Mr Ivanov took up the post in December 2011. He served previously as a deputy prime minister and defence minister.
He is a member of the Russian Security Council and a former member of the KGB state security service, like Mr Putin.
In the late 1990s, when Mr Putin was head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), which replaced the KGB, Mr Ivanov was appointed as his deputy. When Mr Putin came to power, he named Mr Ivanov as one of the five people he trusted most.
It was once thought that Mr Ivanov might become president of Russia after Mr Putin's second term, as a third term for Mr Putin would have been unconstitutional.
But that post was taken by another close Putin ally, Dmitry Medvedev. Mr Putin became prime minister, before returning to the presidency just three-and-a-half years later.

[CountDeMoney]

Dead within 18 months. 

[Syt]

https://www.rt.com/politics/358296-internet-in-russia-is-freer/

Internet in Russia freer than in US, claims top Kremlin official

The deputy head of the presidential administration, Vyacheslav Volodin, has said that Russia has more internet freedom than the United States, where people receive prison sentences for online comments about President Barack Obama.

Volodin was giving a press conference in the central Russian city of Tambov, where a local reporter asked him to comment on the possibility of introducing a rule that would require social networks to obtain ID from their users "so that people could know who is on the other side of the internet." The official replied that unlike many countries, Russia has chosen self-regulation on the internet and he saw no need to change this.

"Now we are capable of solving various issues through self-regulation and a ban on distribution of information about illegal drugs, suicide and extremism. Society has a need for this."

READ MORE: State Duma ponders tighter controls on internet news aggregators

He also noted that Russia had more internet freedom than other nations, in particular the United States.

"Take a look at the legal practice. Have you ever heard about the legal proceedings initiated by [Russian] civil servants and senior officials against ordinary internet users over even the most harsh statements made on the internet?" Volodin asked journalists.

A woman in the audience answered that a man had once attempted to sue her for dissemination of discrediting materials about him on the internet, but failed as police and prosecutors refused to recognize her material as unlawful. "You can see that prosecutors protect you. And if you take a look at the US statistics, even over the past six months, you will see that several people there received prison sentences between 12 and 18 months for their posts about President Obama," Volodin told journalists.

"Ask yourselves – who has more democracy – us or them?" he concluded.

The official did not specify which legal cases he was talking about, but this could be the arrest of John Martin Roos – a 61-year-old Wisconsin man who was detained in April this year for threatening the US president on social media. Police also found weapons and several pipe bombs as they searched Roos' home. He has not yet been sentenced. In 2013, Donte Jamar Sims from Florida was sentenced to six months in prison plus one year of supervised release for making threats to President Obama over Twitter.

READ MORE: Man jailed for threatening Obama on Twitter

In August 2014, Russia introduced a law requiring all blogs with 3,000 daily readers or more to follow many of the rules that exist in conventional mass media, such as tougher controls on published information and a ban on the use of explicit language. The restrictions include the requirement to verify information before publishing it and to abstain from releasing reports containing slander, hate speech, calls for extremism or other banned information such as advice on suicide.

In July this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a package of anti-terrorist amendments that allow automatic blocking of websites for promoting extremism and terrorism and require all communications companies, including internet providers, to retain information about their clients' data traffic for three years and to hand it over to the authorities on demand (one year for messengers and social networks). Providers also must keep records of phone calls, messages and transferred files for six months.