The State of Affairs in Russia

[Sheilbh]

The ironic thing is that Putin is getting all sorts of approval from the extreme right in the West - he's like their wet dream come true, with his anti-gay, anti-Muslim and pro-Church policies, not to mention his "muscular" foreign policy - while at the same time, the extreme left loves him for his anti-American, anti-Western policies. It is bizzare.

It really does kind-of remind me of Russia in the 19th century.

[garbon]

Including herself? I asked Vinnichenko what's keeping her in Russia, and she replied: "Everyone I know. Not everyone can leave—there are people without enough money, without specialized skills, women with children. How can I leave them?"

But her altruism does have limits. The Duma is considering a law that would strip children from LGBT families like Vinnichenko's. "This bill is in committee and could be voted on at any time," she said. "They could do it tomorrow." If the bill were to become law, Vinnichenko predicts "a mass exodus" of LGBT families, including her own.

It might be too late then for her to leave.

[Valmy]

The ironic thing is that Putin is getting all sorts of approval from the extreme right in the West - he's like their wet dream come true, with his anti-gay, anti-Muslim and pro-Church policies, not to mention his "muscular" foreign policy - while at the same time, the extreme left loves him for his anti-American, anti-Western policies. It is bizzare.

What is ironic about that?  It is boringly typical.

[Malthus]

The ironic thing is that Putin is getting all sorts of approval from the extreme right in the West - he's like their wet dream come true, with his anti-gay, anti-Muslim and pro-Church policies, not to mention his "muscular" foreign policy - while at the same time, the extreme left loves him for his anti-American, anti-Western policies. It is bizzare.

What is ironic about that?  It is boringly typical.

Other contemporary examples of this do not spring to my mind.

[celedhring]

The ironic thing is that Putin is getting all sorts of approval from the extreme right in the West - he's like their wet dream come true, with his anti-gay, anti-Muslim and pro-Church policies, not to mention his "muscular" foreign policy - while at the same time, the extreme left loves him for his anti-American, anti-Western policies. It is bizzare.

What is ironic about that?  It is boringly typical.

Other contemporary examples of this do not spring to my mind.

Israel is hated by both extremes, at least in Europe.

[Syt]

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/9765/20140707/russia-passes-law-forcing-personal-data-to-stay-in-servers-within-borders.htm

A Russian law was passed in the lower house Thursday requiring all Internet firms that keep personal data of its users to move and store personal information of Russian citizens to servers in the country, or else face the punishment of getting blocked from the World Wide Web.

The government explains the bill is aimed at protecting data of its Russian citizens who are Internet users.

TechCrunch was able to secure a Google-translated version of a few parts of the said bill.

"When collecting personal data, including through information and the internet telecommunications network, the operator is required to provide a record that the systematization, accumulation, storage, updating and retrieval of personal data of citizens of the Russian Federation, is held on databases located in the territory of the Russian Federation," read the bill.

Critics though believe it is rather a move to suppress social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Protestors opposing the return to Kremlin of Russian President Vladimir Putin used social networks in 2012.

"The aim of this law is to create ... (another) quasi-legal pretext to close Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and all other services," blogger and Internet expert Anton Nossik told to Reuters.

"The ultimate goal is to shut mouths, enforce censorship in the country and shape a situation where Internet business would not be able to exist and function properly."

Political analysts are also looking at the angle that maybe Russia is pursuing to censor Internet and pass those within its borders alone.

Putin, who is a former KGB officer, once called the Internet as a project of the CIA. His main concern in the recent bill, he said, was to protect minors from indecent Internet content. He previously said he has no plans to ban social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

Initial research indicates that Russia may also be trying to combat piracy and to assure national security. Edward Snowden, an NSA whistleblower, now resides in Russia, and this may have also intensified the awareness of Kremlin on how government agencies try to collect user data.

Earlier reports say the Russian government approved a law that gives authorities the power to block any website it deemed extremist or threat to public order without the need for court ruling. Such law gave way for the blocking of websites of critics Garry Kasparov and Alexei Navalny for the reason that their websites "contained calls for illegal activity."

The bill yet awaits decision from the upper house and the President. If it passes through, all Internet-based products and services—social networks, email and cloud services, shopping websites—will have no choice but to establish data centers in Russia starting September 2016.

[DGuller]

Will they carve out an exception for Kremlin bots posting on American sites?

[Syt]

I'm sure this is not politically motivated, like, at all:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28480496

McDonald's in Russian court case over standards

Russia's main consumer watchdog has filed a lawsuit in Moscow against McDonald's, urging the restaurant chain to withdraw certain products.

Rospotrebnadzor said its inspectors in the city of Novgorod, western Russia, had found violations of food standards by McDonald's.

The US fast-food chain could not immediately be reached for comment.

Cheeseburgers and Filet-o-Fish are among the foods named in the complaint. Russia is a major market for the firm.

In early April McDonald's suspended work at its three Crimean restaurants, following Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula.

McDonald's operates about 400 restaurants in Russia. The first one opened in Moscow in 1990, and the burgers quickly became very popular among Russians.

The court case comes at a low point in Russian-US relations, after Washington imposed sanctions on some top Russian officials and firms allegedly linked to the pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine.

Rospotrebnadzor's complaint alleges contamination of a McDonald's product tested in Novgorod and misleading nutritional information, Russian media report.

Ukraine dairy boycott
Separately, Russia's food hygiene authorities have announced a ban on dairy imports from Ukraine.

Russian officials spoke of sub-standard quality controls. Dairy produce accounts for only a small fraction of Ukraine's exports to Russia, Reuters news agency reports.

The ban follows similar moves against Ukrainian food and drink exports in recent months, amid a crisis in relations between Kiev and Moscow. The Ukrainian authorities say Russia is using trade to exert political pressure.

Previously Russia has also imposed such boycotts on Georgia and Moldova - former Soviet republics, like Ukraine, whose pro-Western policies have angered the Kremlin.

[Queequeg]

The ironic thing is that Putin is getting all sorts of approval from the extreme right in the West - he's like their wet dream come true, with his anti-gay, anti-Muslim and pro-Church policies, not to mention his "muscular" foreign policy - while at the same time, the extreme left loves him for his anti-American, anti-Western policies. It is bizzare.

It really does kind-of remind me of Russia in the 19th century.

I don't think that's an accident.  I think a lot of the smarter Russian Nationalist types look to Pobedonostsev and his ilk.

[Razgovory]

The ironic thing is that Putin is getting all sorts of approval from the extreme right in the West - he's like their wet dream come true, with his anti-gay, anti-Muslim and pro-Church policies, not to mention his "muscular" foreign policy - while at the same time, the extreme left loves him for his anti-American, anti-Western policies. It is bizzare.

What is ironic about that?  It is boringly typical.

Other contemporary examples of this do not spring to my mind.

Pre-WWII fascist states had some similar appeal.

[LaCroix]

Pre-WWII fascist states had some similar appeal.

general boulanger, too. iirc, he was a precursor to fascism

[Valmy]

A Royalist who tried to backdoor the Bourbons back to the throne by pretending to be a radical nationalist leftist?  Boulanger strikes me as too bizarre to really be a precursor to anything.

[LaCroix]

A Royalist who tried to backdoor the Bourbons back to the throne by pretending to be a radical nationalist leftist?  Boulanger strikes me as too bizarre to really be a precursor to anything.

i don't think even boulanger knew what he wanted, but the left and right loved him.

[Syt]

Hey, Paranoia!

http://rt.com/politics/177752-russian-spetsnaz-maidan-council/

Spetsnaz veterans to launch 'anti-Maidan council' in Russia

Veterans of the Russian military and special forces, together with rights activists and representatives of Orthodox Christian community, are to jointly launch a group to try and thwart any attempts to forcefully change the political system in the country.

Immediately after the founding convention, scheduled for late August, The 'Anti-Fascist Anti-Maidan Council' will concentrate on informing Russian citizens on the methods of Western propaganda that seeks to disrupt the constitutional order in the country and forcefully overthrow the lawfully elected authorities, the activists told the mass circulation daily Izvestia.

The council's founders claim they possess information that after the nearest all-Russian election day on September 14, anti-government activists will launch their own committees and headquarters for organizing street protest and other actions aimed at sowing discord in the Russian community.

Apart from disclosing the objectives and means of the Western propaganda, the council will organize own rallies and events in order to promote the interests of the Russian state and prevent ethnic tensions in Russian regions.

The body will also work help law enforcers who fight against extremism and other anti-constitutional attempts.

Leading members of the group include deputy head of the 'Spetsnaz-Army Spetsnaz' group, uniting the veterans of Russian military intelligence, Yury Kalitov, the head of the 'Russians' foundation, Major General Leonid Shershnev, the chairman of the Union of Russian Orthodox citizens of Russia, Valentin Lebedev, and a representative of the Night Wolves motorcycle club and State Duma MP, Viktor Vodolatsky (United Russia), who also represents the major South Russian Cossack organization, the Don Troop.

Analysts have labeled the initiative correct and timely, noting that the current events in Ukraine are a perfect example of where 'Orange Revolutions' could lead.

"We understand very well that the Ukrainian conflict is not just an internal event, but a point of application for all forces in the world that have declared a secret war against Russia," said the head of the Institute of Eurasian Economic Union, Vladimir Lepekhin, who was also invited to participate in the anti-Maidan council.

He noted that the recent appointment of former US Ambassador to Ukraine, Georgia and Lithuania, John Tefft, as a new ambassador to Russia could be a sign that the information war will move on to Russian territory.

The head of the Institute of Political Research, Sergey Markov, agreed that though there was no immediate threat of revolution in Russia, the future situation was not safe, as the "party of war" in Washington was not hiding its desire to repeat the Kiev scenario in Moscow.

Markov also noted that the new anti-fascist committee should study the statements of leading politicians and activists in order to establish their attitude towards the Ukrainian crisis and duly inform the Russian public about the results of this study. He noted that those who had not resolutely denounced the coup in Ukraine and the current policy of terror towards civilians could be among the first to support the anti-constitutional attempts in Russia.

[Valmy]

“We understand very well that the Ukrainian conflict is not just an internal event, but a point of application for all forces in the world that have declared a secret war against Russia,” said the head of the Institute of Eurasian Economic Union, Vladimir Lepekhin,

That is hilarious.  Something just so absurd it is hard to even respond.