The State of Affairs in Russia

[grumbler]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83

Makes you think how easy it is for powerplays and distrust to get out of hand and destroy us all.

Actually, it shows the opposite; if the closest that the USSR got to war with the West was Able Archer, it never got close at all. 

The lessons to be learned from the AA story is that people will hype things to sell books, and that Timmay types write for Wikipedia.

[Sheilbh]

Has anyone else wondered about those crazy Polish conspiracy theories about the Smolensk flight since all this happened?

[derspiess]

It had a very distinct Soviet feel, with all the Soviet military bigwigs with oversized officer caps watching on.

I love those caps.  Seems like they've grown each year since the end of WWII.

[Syt]

http://rt.com/politics/179116-russia-fsb-social-media/

It's official: Russia's FSB will keep an eye on social media

Many Russian social media users are less than pleased about a new law enabling the Federal Security Service (FSB) to keep tabs on them online. Others say they're not surprised, pointing to Washington's practice of eavesdropping on its own population.

The new law, which came into effect August 1, requires social network platforms in Russia to install hardware and software which will allow Russia's secret service to access users' personal information.

Social media users equated the law to the dystopian novel '1984' and posted caricatures of the state spying on their internet activities. "They are not ashamed. They forgot the word conscience," LiveJournal user sarvasvladimir wrote. Another user, Ruslan Kozhaev, suggested that "soon they will start wiretapping houses."

Others said they were not surprised by the news, stating that they expected it to happen, considering recent revelations that the US National Security Agency has been spying on its own citizens.

Facebook user Eden Ostrovsky said the law was likely introduced because some social networks refused to share information, and now they will be forced to do so.

Caricatures of the secret service gathering user data have been posted online. This one says: "Motherland hears [you]."



One user posted a picture of Dmitry Medvedev with his Mac, saying the Russian prime minister has been captured "entering his passport information while registering with VKontakte social network, so the FSB could lawfully read his communications."

The law is understood to be a clarification of the 'Bill on Bloggers,' which consists of amendments to the Administrative Code, the Law on Information, and the Law on Communications. It was signed into law by Medvedev in July 31 and implements certain restrictions on popular bloggers.

Restrictions include a requirement to verify information before publishing it and abstaining from releasing reports containing slander, hate speech, extremist calls, or other banned information such as, for example, advice on suicide.

READ MORE: Legislative restrictions on popular bloggers come into force in Russia

The new clarifications force bloggers to disclose information about who visited their website and save users' personal information and online activity on servers in Russia for six months. If requested, they must share this information with security services.

The news came as a surprise to many internet companies such as Yandex and Mail.ru. It is still unclear how the law will be implemented.

[Valmy]

I am glad to see we are finally ahead of the curve in spying on our own citizens.

[Syt]

Also:

http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/744055

Medvedev signs order banning anonymous Wi-Fi

Access to the Internet will be possible upon registration, where a user will have to give the full name confirmed by an ID

MOSCOW, August 08. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed an order banning anonymous access to the Internet in restaurants, metro, parks and other places offering Wi-Fi connections, the government reports on its website.

The document reads communication operators will be responsible for identifying users. Access to the Internet will be possible upon registration, where a user will have to give the full name "confirmed by an ID."

Besides, hardware is to be identified, too.

[DGuller]

Putin is scarily good at this.  Time after time he uses war to tighten the screws on his own people.  And with 80% approval rating, you don't need to be subtle or pick your battles.  I hope Eastern Ukraine was worth the last residual freedoms to Russians.

[alfred russel]

Putin is scarily good at this.  Time after time he uses war to tighten the screws on his own people.  And with 80% approval rating, you don't need to be subtle or pick your battles.  I hope Eastern Ukraine was worth the last residual freedoms to Russians.

I think he is ultimately going to lose, and probably with the stunts he is pulling now as significant contributing factors.

He won a legitimate victory with the Crimea. Without real violence or consequences he added territory to his country while the rest of the world protested. The rest of this stuff is creating economic isolation and isn't going to help the economy. The educated younger generation wants to be more open to europe.

Confrontation is good for a politician in the short term---see bush post 9/11--but those 80% approval ratings will fall fast when the economy falters and good things aren't being produced by the repression.

[DGuller]

I think he is ultimately going to lose, and probably with the stunts he is pulling now as significant contributing factors.

I'm not so sure.  Russia will definitely lose, but I'm not sure Putin will.

The educated younger generation wants to be more open to europe.

Not so sure either.  Education doesn't innoculate from fascism, often it just makes it more well-spoken.  The problem with Russia is that fascism exists at the grassroots level;  Putin didn't exactly impose it with his own iron will.

Confrontation is good for a politician in the short term---see bush post 9/11--but those 80% approval ratings will fall fast when the economy falters and good things aren't being produced by the repression.

The 80% approval ratings won't last, but repressive measures will.  Yes, repression is not good for Russia at all, but it's not good for the rest of the world either.  It's not always a zero-sum game.

[LaCroix]

The 80% approval ratings won't last, but repressive measures will.

for the short term, sure, but i doubt intensely repressive measures will last in the long term. it's difficult for a nation the size of russia to remain stuck in the past. it seems to work for north korea because it's a small, isolated country.

[DGuller]

The 80% approval ratings won't last, but repressive measures will.

for the short term, sure, but i doubt intensely repressive measures will last in the long term. it's difficult for a nation the size of russia to remain stuck in the past. it seems to work for north korea because it's a small, isolated country.

I don't doubt it that much.  There is nothing in Russian culture that creates pressures to ease repressions.  Like most Muslim societies, they utterly lack a tolerant mindset necessary for liberty to stick.  Yes, there are always a few liberal intellectuals here or there, but they're always disdained by the majority, and even those liberal intellectuals are liberal only in comparison to neanderthals around them.

[LaCroix]

cultures change, though. globalization has changed every nation's culture to some extent. russia's past may allow for more general repression than UK/US, but today's repression is far less than fifty years ago.

[DGuller]

cultures change, though. globalization has changed every nation's culture to some extent. russia's past may allow for more general repression than UK/US, but today's repression is far less than fifty years ago.

Today's, maybe.  But Putin's not done yet.

[Sheilbh]

He won a legitimate victory with the Crimea. Without real violence or consequences he added territory to his country while the rest of the world protested. The rest of this stuff is creating economic isolation and isn't going to help the economy. The educated younger generation wants to be more open to europe.

There's always an educated younger generation - from young Italy to the Green revolution they're never the problem and they're always there. You need the uneducated young, drafted generation to care more for them than the status quo.

Also who's to say Putin doesn't want to isolate and weaken his oligarchs who, so long as they're rich in the West, can cause problems. If he locks them into the Russian system then they need him far more.

I don't think fascism is a useful comparison. As I've said elsewhere I think Putinism (for want of a better word) is the first exportable ideology since 1990. It's a shadow of the West, a sort of post-modern version of liberal market democracy, with all the forms but none of the content covering up massive, insinuating graft and corruption. I doubt there's a better image than the Russian Metropolitan wearing a Rolex kissing Putin's hand.

And I think it's what we see in Hungary and Turkey and may well see in India.

[CountDeMoney]

Also, the Brits have produced a most remarkably ugly ship in the form of the Type 45s.

Only thing missing from that atrocious superstructure is

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