The State of Affairs in Russia

[Syt]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/04/10/russia-just-made-a-ton-of-internet-memes-illegal/

Russia just made a ton of Internet memes illegal

In post-Soviet Russia, you don't make memes. Memes make (or unmake?) you.

That is, at least, the only conclusion we can draw from an announcement made this week by Russia's three-year-old media agency/Internet censor Roskomnadzor, which made it illegal to publish any Internet meme that depicts a public figure in a way that has nothing to do with his "personality."

Sad Keanu? Nope.

Sad Putin? Absolutely not.

"These ways of using [celebrities' images] violate the laws governing personal data and harm the honor, dignity and business of public figures," reads the policy announcement from Roskomnadzor.

To be clear, this isn't a new law passed by parliament or anything — it's just a (pretty startling) clarification of existing policy, published to the popular social network Vkontakte. According to Russian media, the announcement came in light of a lawsuit filed by the Russian singer Valeri Syutkin, who sued an irreverent Wikipedia-style culture site over an image macro that paired his picture with some less-than-tasteful lyrics from another artist's song. On Tuesday, a Moscow judge ruled for Syutkin, prompting the Roskomnadzor to publish an update to its "personal data laws."


The meme in question. That test translates to "smack the b—- in the face." (Via Global Voices)

Those laws now ban, per Roskomnadzor's announcement, memes that picture public figures in a way that "has no relation to [their] personality," parody accounts and parody Web sites. If a public figure believes such a site or meme has been made about him, the announcement continues, he can report them to the Roskomnadzor, which — in addition to overseeing Russia's Internet censorship program — can file claims in court. Web sites are essentially given the choice of blocking the offending content in Russia, or seeing their whole sites get blocked across the country.

If that sounds crazy to U.S. readers, it probably should: U.S. law gives a very, very wide berth to Internet speech, even when it depicts private people or children — and especially when it depicts public figures.

Russia, on the other hand, has taken a series of steps to increase government control of the Internet in recent months. Just last August, Russia enacted a law that forced all bloggers with more than 3,000 daily readers to register with the Roskomnadzor, basically outlawing anonymous blogs. Earlier in the year, Russia approved a law that lets Roskomnadzor unilaterally block Web sites without explanation; the sites of prominent Putin critics were among the first to go dark.

It is impossible to know, of course, exactly how much of the Russian Internet will be affected by the change and to what degree this new policy will be pursued or enforced. (It is worth noting that public figures have to take their complaints to the Roskomnadzor, which many presumably will not do.)

Still, if the policy is enforced, the implications for the Russian memeosphere could be huge: According to a recent academic census of English-speaking memes, nearly a third of the Internet's most popular memes depict a specific person. Just think of how many excellent memes depict Vladimir Putin!

[KRonn]

Ah, the more Russia changes, the more it remains the same. 

[Syt]

My new avatar is inspired by a picture from the Nixon/Brezhnev pool party.

[Syt]

http://rt.com/politics/249541-russia-religion-foreign-rules/

Russia to tighten rules for foreign-funded religious groups

A Russian government commission has recommended to pass the bill that would oblige all religious groups that receive sponsorship from abroad to provide the authorities with detailed information about their work and their leaders.

The Justice Ministry that has drafted the bill, noted in an explanations that its main objective was to timely uncover the religious groups' involvement in terrorist and extremist activities as well as other facts of violation of the Russian law.

The draft orders that religious organizations that get money or other property from foreign and international groups, foreign citizens and persons without citizenship, should file in detailed reports about their activities and personal information about their leaders. Regional branches of the Justice ministry are charged with the task to oversee the process.

The bill will be considered at one of the nearest government sessions and then submitted to the parliament.

READ MORE: MPs suggest restricting activities of 'undesirable foreign groups' in Russia

In late 2012 Russia introduced the so called "Foreign Agents Law" that ordered all NGOs that receive funding from abroad, and that are even partially engaged in political activities, to register as foreign agents or risk substantial fines. Activists and human rights officials criticized the act for allegedly labeling the groups and warned of a possible sharp cut in foreign funding. Russian officials, including President Putin, replied that the law contained no sanctions against foreign-funded organizations and only sought to inform the Russian public better, and especially voters, of the possible motives of various participants in the political process.

In late 2014 the State Duma passed a bill that makes it illegal for Russian political parties to receive sponsorship, or enter any business deals with NGOs with "foreign agent" status.

[jimmy olsen]

I think now's a good time for a rebirth of the invasion genre that was so the rage at the beginning of the last century in Britain. 

http://news.yahoo.com/three-russian-ships-english-channel-000348261.html

London (AFP) - British fighter jets were scrambled on Wednesday in response to the sighting of two Russian military aircraft near UK airspace, hours after three Russian ships were monitored as they entered the English Channel.

"Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon fighter aircraft were launched today after Russian aircraft were identified flying close to UK airspace," said a Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman.

The planes were launched from the Lossiemouth military airbase in northern Scotland.

Britain's Royal Navy earlier kept track of three Russian ships, including a destroyer, after they entered the English Channel, according to the defence ministry.

It is the latest in a string of similar incidents and comes at a time of tense relations between London and Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine and the inquiry into the death of Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko.

"MoD can confirm 3 Russian ships being monitored by @RoyalNavy HMS Argyll through Channel. No exercises seen," the ministry said on its Twitter feed.

"Russian Udaloy class destroyer Severomorsk returning from Mediterranean with tanker and support ship. Due to leave Channel later."

Russia's defence ministry said the ships were en route to the North Atlantic, where they would be taking part in exercises "on anti-air and anti-submarine defence".

The Channel is used frequently and legitimately as a route by Russian warships but NATO countries are on alert over fears that Moscow could attempt to destabilise countries on Europe's eastern flank that were in its orbit during Soviet times.

James Nixey, head of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at think-tank Chatham House, said Russia's actions around the UK were designed to send a message.

"Russia is trying to show it has got full spectrum capability warfare," he said.

"It is not a prelude to war but it is a reminder that Russia likes to remind us of -- that it is a power to be reckoned with, not a fading power, which might be closer to the reality.

The Severomorsk, an anti-submarine destroyer, was among four ships which passed through the Channel in November.

A Russian warship was also tracked through the Channel in February while the previous month, Britain summoned the Russian ambassador after Tupolev Tu-95 bombers, known as Russian "bears", were found flying close to British airspace.

According to a report in The Daily Telegraph newspaper, Britain was forced to accept a four-day visit by Russian military inspectors to view UK-led naval war games off the coast of Scotland.

The exercises, which began on Monday, are taking place under the terms of a European arms control treaty.

[Syt]

Putin had his annual TV Q&A call in marathon.

http://rt.com/news/250313-putin-live-conference-highlights/


A few quotes:

"Big superpowers which pretend to be exceptional and consider themselves the only center of power in the world do not need allies, they need vassals. I'm talking about the United States. Russia cannot exist in such a system of relations."

"After World War II we tried to impose on many Eastern European nations our model of development and we did it through force. We must acknowledge that. There's nothing good in it, it still affects us today... The Americans are doing something like that now, trying to impose their model on virtually the entire world. They will fail too."

Admitting that USSR was bad?

[Syt]

Norway complains about unannounced visit by Russian deputy PM on Svalbard:

http://rt.com/politics/251209-russia-rogozin-svalbard-ministry/

'Inexplicable and absurd' – Russia blasts Norway's overreaction on official Svalbard visit

Russia's Foreign Ministry has said the recent visit to Svalbard by deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin was fully within the norms of international law and the spirit of Arctic partnership that Norway has consistently demonstrated so far.

"The use of the [Svalbard] archipelago in the North Pole-2015 expedition was motivated by purely logistical reasons and the air traffic safety demands in high altitudes. These circumstances appear to be natural and we thought we could count on its understanding by the Norwegian side in the spirit of partnership in the Arctic that Norway has always demonstrated," the ministry's spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich announced on Monday.

The comment came soon after Norway summoned the Russian ambassador in Oslo to express frustration over Rogozin's visit to Svalbard. This Arctic archipelago belongs to Norway, but also houses a relatively large community of Russian miners and is not part of the Schengen Zone making visa-free visits possible. Despite this fact, the Norwegian side voiced concern over Rogozin's visit as this Russian official is on a sanctions list introduced by western nations in 2014 over Russia's reunification with the Republic of Crimea.

Norwegian diplomats also complained that they had learned about Rogozin's presence on Svalbard only from press and promised to tighten visa regimes with Russia, possibly with new restrictions concerning Svalbard visits.

Dmitry Rogozin is Russian deputy PM in charge of the defense industry and in this capacity he heads several important government commissions, including the State Commission for Arctic Development. The weekend visit to Svalbard was a part of the launch of the North Pole-2015 - a new scientific drifting station designed to maintain months-long presence of Russian researchers in the Arctic Ocean.

Rogozin made several tweets from the visit, one of which mentioned himself taking a dive into the Arctic Ocean close to the North Pole. He also reacted to Norway's latest actions with several tweet posts. One said: "One should not throw punches after the fight is over" and another suggested, "They are simply jealous because we were swimming on the North Pole."

"The Arctic is Russian Mecca," the official wrote as a caption to a group photo made on the North Pole.

Russia has repeatedly emphasized the priority of the Arctic in its latest economic and defense programs. Major projects include the development of energy resources on the Arctic shelf and works on the Northern Sea Route, which is gradually becoming an alternative to traditional transport corridors between Europe and Asia.

In April 2014, President Vladimir Putin announced Russia was creating a new united fleet of new generation combat ships and submarines permanently deployed to the Arctic.

In late 2013, Russia began extracting oil on the Arctic shelf. The country claims about two-thirds of large oil and gas deposits in the Arctic shelf zone, but plans to claim more territory through the so-called Lomonosov Ridge. Russian authorities have promised to lodge the documents with this claim to the United Nations in 2015.

[Syt]

http://rt.com/politics/251537-russia-independent-policy-poll/

Russians want their country to follow independent course, poll shows

Over half of Russian citizens want their homeland to pursue its own way of development and only 17 percent think that Russia should take the same path as Western nations, according to the latest research by independent pollster Levada Center.

The share of those who prefer an independent development program for Russia was 55 percent, significantly up from 37 percent two years back. The share of supporters of the European way for Russia on the decreased from 31 percent in 2013 to 17 percent today, Levada's research indicates.

As many as 19 percent of respondents said that Russia should return to the ways of the Soviet Union.

Sociologist Karina Pipiya from the Levada Center said in comments to Izvestia daily that the shift towards support of 'Russia's own path' was a logical consequence of past year's major events – the political crisis in Ukraine, followed by the military conflict, the reunification of Russia and Crimea and the Western policy of anti-Russian sanctions. The combined result was the desire of an average Russian to distance from the West, she noted.

At the same time, Pipiya pointed out that when citizens were asked about their forecast of Russia's future, the answers were much less uniform.

Twenty-four percent of Russians expect that in 50 years their country will be rich and developed and on the same level with Western nations. Some 23 percent said that while science in technology in Russia will be on the same level with the West the life of ordinary people will be different (without specifying if it will be better or worse).

Twelve percent hold that Russia will join "the path of great Eastern nations," like China and India.

READ MORE: Most Russians see their country as great power – poll

Ten percent expect the country to return to socialism and move towards communism. Predictably most respondents in this category were elderly people.

As for the current economic and political situation, 50 percent of Russians maintain that the nation faces only temporary difficulties. Eighteen percent expect a deeper crisis and 8 percent say that the economy will slide into stagnation. Only 4 percent described the current situation as stable development.

In late March this year, the Levada Center released the results of another poll that showed that 68 percent of Russian citizens believe their homeland is a great power that plays a significant role in international politics. The same research demonstrated that the share of Russians who said they supported further expansion of contacts and cooperation with Western nations was still twice as many than those who oppose it – 60 percent v 29 percent.

I really enjoy the picture RT used for this article. It manages to be colorful and drab at the same time.

[jimmy olsen]

Good news
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32405650

Poland has announced a deal to buy US Patriot surface-to-air missiles, amid rising tension with Russia.

President Bronislaw Komorowski said Poland would start talks with the US to finalise the multibillion contract.

The move follows reports that Russia has deployed missiles in its exclave of Kaliningrad, which borders Poland.

Russia's annexation of Crimea last year and its support for rebels in eastern Ukraine have caused great concern among Nato states, notably in Eastern Europe.

Russia denies accusations by Nato that it is arming the rebels and sending troops into Ukraine.

Missile gap

The Patriot is an advanced missile system intended to defend against aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles.

"For the armed forces' technical modernisation, and the Polish armed forces' resilience, to be effective, the so-called anti-missile shield... had to become the priority of priorities", President Komorowski said on Tuesday.

He added that regional security had worsened because of the conflict in Ukraine.

Warsaw wants to buy the Patriots because it is concerned about Moscow placing missiles in Kaliningrad that borders northern Poland, the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw reports.

Poland currently has no defence against such weapons.

The missile deal - which could be worth about $7bn (£4.7bn) - is the largest in Polish history, our correspondent says.

It is part of Poland's plans to spend $35bn to modernise its military over the next eight years.

Poland also plans to buy helicopters, submarines and armoured personnel carriers.

[KRonn]

Seems a wise choice by Poland. I think there was a missile shield proposed a few years back, or during the Bush admin, that got canceled a few years ago?

[Syt]

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/arts_n_ideas/article/no-joke-6-things-that-upset-the-russian-authorities-in-april/519554.html

No Joke: 6 Things That Upset the Russian Authorities in April

Russian authorities seem to be going out of their way to find things to crack down on these days. Here's a list of six things that really irritated them in April.   

Nazi-Themed Toys

Moscow investigators opened a criminal case over the sale of Nazi figurines at the landmark downtown toy outlet Central Children's Store, which just reopened after a seven-year renovation.

Among these toys cited by authorities were busts of soldiers and Nazi officers, including the Waffen SS, prosecutors said.

The Central Children's Store's general director has been warned about violating Russian legislation on extremism.

The store, which re-opened March 31, has also faced a barrage of criticism over advertisements posted on YouTube in the run-up to the reopening that featured children pretending to interrogate their parents and making fun of the store's location across the street from the Lubyanka.

Celebrity Memes

Russia's media watchdog Roskomnadzor made it illegal to publish Internet memes depicting a public figure in any way that is irrelevant to their "celebrity" personality.

The official announcement, along with an appropriately themed (and legal) meme from The Matrix, was released on Russian social media website VKontakte in April. 

In the announcement, Roskomnadzor said that such memes violate Russian legislation on personal information and "besmirch the honor, dignity and business reputation of public figures."

A Museum in Yekaterinburg

A major museum in Yekaterinburg, Russia's fourth-largest city, was closed amid a scandal over an exhibition of World War II photos co-organized by the U.S. and British consulates.

The Metenkov House Museum of Photography was scheduled to exhibit 150 wartime images by British and American photographers as the countries mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

A day before the scheduled opening, the museum said it was shutting its doors for an unknown period of time for "technical reasons," according to a post on its page on the Vkontakte social network.

Yana Belotserkovskaya, culture editor for the regional government-owned daily Oblastnaya Gazeta, wrote that the exhibition, which did not contain any photos of Soviet soldiers, was designed to fit into a political narrative formulated by the West that they had won the war without help from the Soviet Union.

The museum's PR manager, Artyom Berkovich, said that he could not confirm or deny whether Russian authorities had forced the closure.

Internet Porn

Roskomnadzor was at it again on April 13, announcing that the Russian authorities intend to block at least 136 pornographic websites.

The move is the result of a court decision in the Russian republic of Tatarstan that ruled the sites must delete all their pornographic content within three days or be blocked, the Izvestia newspaper reported.

The court ruling cited international conventions from 1910 and 1923 on distributing obscene materials.

Twerking

A group of young female dancers dressed as bees for a routine themed around the Soviet version of Winnie the Pooh caused a public outcry after a video of them twerking made the rounds on the Russian Internet. The girls' costumes appeared more orange than yellow, which made them resemble the St. George's ribbon, which is associated with Victory Day.

The owners of the dance school face possible prison sentences over the routine as well as the closure of their school.

Child 44

The release of the mystery thriller "Child 44" was canceled in Russia by the film's distributors in Russia the day before its scheduled release after criticism from the Russian authorities of its historically inaccurate and negative portrayal of the Soviet Union.

The plot of the movie, which is based on Tom Rob Smith's novel of the same name, revolves around the search for a serial killer in Stalin's Russia.

The twerk video is out there for those interested *cough*Siege*cough, but keep in mind that the oldest girls in it are 16.

[Tonitrus]

The store, which re-opened March 31, has also faced a barrage of criticism over advertisements posted on YouTube in the run-up to the reopening that featured children pretending to interrogate their parents and making fun of the store's location across the street from the Lubyanka.

Just for fun, I found that ad on youtube as well.  It's not at all as bad as that makes it seem.

[Valmy]

Russia thinks their independent course is going to make them all rich in a few decades. Yeah I have heard that one before.

[KRonn]

Russia thinks they independent course is going to make them all rich in a few decades. Yeah I have heard that one before.

But...it's just a few "five year plans", which were so successful in Soviet days, so it should all work out.   

[Malthus]

Russia thinks they independent course is going to make them all rich in a few decades. Yeah I have heard that one before.

They can join the North Korea Prosperity Club.