The State of Affairs in Russia

[Tamas]

Piece on the situation and Russia suggesting they may be contemplating capital controls:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11266746/Capital-controls-feared-as-Russian-rouble-collapses.html

With this startling paragraph:

The rouble's slide has led to fury in the Duma, where populist politician Evgeny Fedorov has called for a criminal investigation of the central bank. Critics say the institution had been taken over by "feminist liberals" and is a tool of the International Monetary Fund. The office of the Russia general prosecutor said on Monday it was opening a probe.

You need to get used to the list of names/categories which have replaced "jews". Liberals and the IMF are high on that.

[Syt]

Russia is blocking access to Vimeo, because an IS video was posted there.

http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/764530

Which is strange, because so far their MO has been to ask the site to remove the offending video. And in the case of IS videos, hosting services have so far been relatively quick to remove them, anyways.

[Martinus]

Piece on the situation and Russia suggesting they may be contemplating capital controls:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11266746/Capital-controls-feared-as-Russian-rouble-collapses.html

With this startling paragraph:

The rouble's slide has led to fury in the Duma, where populist politician Evgeny Fedorov has called for a criminal investigation of the central bank. Critics say the institution had been taken over by "feminist liberals" and is a tool of the International Monetary Fund. The office of the Russia general prosecutor said on Monday it was opening a probe.

You need to get used to the list of names/categories which have replaced "jews". Liberals and the IMF are high on that.

Yup. Gays and feminists are the new Jews, with "gender ideology" replacing "zionism".

[Norgy]

Putin's becoming the idol of many on the far right (and I mean far right, not relatively sane conservatives) here. After all, he tells women where it's at and doesn't tolerate liberal media. I just don't get it.

[Ed Anger]

Putin's becoming the idol of many on the far right (and I mean far right, not relatively sane conservatives) here. After all, he tells women where it's at and doesn't tolerate liberal media. I just don't get it.

Women need a good talking to.

[Malthus]

Putin's becoming the idol of many on the far right (and I mean far right, not relatively sane conservatives) here. After all, he tells women where it's at and doesn't tolerate liberal media. I just don't get it.

One think I have found stunning is the sheer number of people posting in various places around the Internet who appear to love Putin. Granted, many of them are no doubt Russians, but many appear not to be - it seems like folks on the extreme right and left alike see things they like in him and/or blame any confrontation on the West.

Considering how outright full-retard batshit insane he and his supporters appear to be, this is very odd.

[Martinus]

Putin's becoming the idol of many on the far right (and I mean far right, not relatively sane conservatives) here. After all, he tells women where it's at and doesn't tolerate liberal media. I just don't get it.

One think I have found stunning is the sheer number of people posting in various places around the Internet who appear to love Putin. Granted, many of them are no doubt Russians, but many appear not to be - it seems like folks on the extreme right and left alike see things they like in him and/or blame any confrontation on the West.

Considering how outright full-retard batshit insane he and his supporters appear to be, this is very odd.

They may be genuine but many of them can also be Russian spies/agents. They spend surprisingly significant resources on propaganda actions like that. In Poland, some people took the effort to track the IPs of posters commenting that Poland should not support Ukraine during the conflict, for example, but rather to side with Putin - and it turned out a surprising number of accounts came from the same IP addresses.

[Martinus]

Here's an article on buzzfeed (yeah I know  ) on this phenomenon.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/documents-show-how-russias-troll-army-hit-america

Admittedly, this has to be taken with a grain of salt, as it has a whiff of a conspiracy theory to it. But then, if anyone would be crazy enough to do something like that, and at the same time have sufficient resources to do so, my bet would be on Putin's Russia.

[Sheilbh]

Buzzfeed's a great site with some very fine journos. Link it with pride

[DGuller]

Putin's becoming the idol of many on the far right (and I mean far right, not relatively sane conservatives) here. After all, he tells women where it's at and doesn't tolerate liberal media. I just don't get it.

One think I have found stunning is the sheer number of people posting in various places around the Internet who appear to love Putin. Granted, many of them are no doubt Russians, but many appear not to be - it seems like folks on the extreme right and left alike see things they like in him and/or blame any confrontation on the West.

Considering how outright full-retard batshit insane he and his supporters appear to be, this is very odd.

There are a lot of shills there, FSB knows full well the value of Internet trolls.  But, yes, we can't blame it all on shills.  There really is a fifth column of useful idiots out there in the West, like there always was.

[Syt]

Well, for everyone dissatisfies/disillusioned with democracy, political parties, politicians and media, he seems to be the no-nonsense guy who puts national interests first and doesn't take shit from no one. I can see how that carefully crafted image would appeal to a certain demographic.

[Malthus]

Putin's becoming the idol of many on the far right (and I mean far right, not relatively sane conservatives) here. After all, he tells women where it's at and doesn't tolerate liberal media. I just don't get it.

One think I have found stunning is the sheer number of people posting in various places around the Internet who appear to love Putin. Granted, many of them are no doubt Russians, but many appear not to be - it seems like folks on the extreme right and left alike see things they like in him and/or blame any confrontation on the West.

Considering how outright full-retard batshit insane he and his supporters appear to be, this is very odd.

They may be genuine but many of them can also be Russian spies/agents. They spend surprisingly significant resources on propaganda actions like that. In Poland, some people took the effort to track the IPs of posters commenting that Poland should not support Ukraine during the conflict, for example, but rather to side with Putin - and it turned out a surprising number of accounts came from the same IP addresses.

Yup, no doubt many are simply paid Russian trolls - but many I think are not.

[Valmy]

Well, for everyone dissatisfies/disillusioned with democracy, political parties, politicians and media, he seems to be the no-nonsense guy who puts national interests first and doesn't take shit from no one. I can see how that carefully crafted image would appeal to a certain demographic.

Unfortunately he is an 'all-nonsense' guy.  Anyway yeah he is the anti-Western values hero of the moment.  The dudes who the anti-Western people rally to is the biggest endorsement of Western values one could find.

[Valmy]

Wait, oil is $67 a barrel now? Holy shit. Wasn't it already at an all time low at $80-something a barrel few months ago, or was that a different kind?

All-time low? 

Even adjusted for inflation, it's more expensive now than it was in the 90s.

Oh and it is going to plunge lower.  The Saudis are on a mission to destroy the North American oil threat.  It is hard not to take immense pleasure in lower gas prices and the inconvenience this is causing all the petro-tyrannies, but we have to remember this is ultimately done on their behalf.

[Eddie Teach]

We should nationalize our oil industry. Our government has never felt the need to turn a yearly profit, so gimmicks like this won't work.