The State of Affairs in Russia

[Valmy]

The Soviet Union made massive efforts to lay the groundwork for a collective resistance to Nazism in Germany, made repeated attempts to create an anti-fascist bloc in Europe. All of these attempts failed," Putin told journalists at a joint news conference with Merkel, according to a transcript released by the Kremlin.

So the solution was to join the Fascist bloc and undermine the anti-fascist bloc when it did form?

"All attempts between 1934 and 1939 to pacify the Nazis by making various kinds of agreements and pacts with them, were unacceptable from the moral point of view, and from the political point of view were pointless, harmful and dangerous," Putin said in 2009 during a visit to Poland's Gdansk, according to a transcript posted on the Russian Cabinet website.

Clearly the moral thing to do was actively ally with them.

"The Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty with Germany," he told a meeting with historians. "They say: Oh, this is so bad. But what's so bad about it if the Soviet Union did not want to go to war? What's so bad about it?"

The bad part was not the non-aggression part. It was the 'split Eastern Europe, ship raw materials by the train load, and tell the Comintern to undermine the allied war effort' part. That is appeasement that goes a bit further than simply 'well they are ethnic Germans and you are playing that self-determination card' and wimping out.

It is just....wow.

[Syt]

Oh noes!

http://rt.com/news/257841-russia-china-us-hegemony/

​'Nuclear war our likely future': Russia & China won't accept US hegemony, Reagan official warns

The White House is determined to block the rise of the key nuclear-armed nations, Russia and China, neither of whom will join the "world's acceptance of Washington's hegemony," says head of the Institute for Political Economy, Paul Craig Roberts.

The former US assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy, Dr Paul Craig Roberts, has written on his blog that Beijing is currently "confronted with the Pivot to Asia and the construction of new US naval and air bases to ensure Washington's control of the South China Sea, now defined as an area of American National Interests."

Roberts writes that Washington's commitment to contain Russia is the reason "for the crisis that Washington has created in Ukraine and for its use as anti-Russian propaganda."

The author of several books, "How America Was Lost" among the latest titles, says that US "aggression and blatant propaganda have convinced Russia and China that Washington intends war, and this realization has drawn the two countries into a strategic alliance."

Dr Roberts believes that neither Russia, nor China will meanwhile accept the so-called "vassalage status accepted by the UK, Germany, France and the rest of Europe, Canada, Japan and Australia." According to the political analyst, the "price of world peace is the world's acceptance of Washington's hegemony."

"On the foreign policy front, the hubris and arrogance of America's self-image as the 'exceptional, indispensable' country with hegemonic rights over other countries means that the world is primed for war," Roberts writes.

He gives a gloomy political forecast in his column saying that "unless the dollar and with it US power collapses or Europe finds the courage to break with Washington and to pursue an independent foreign policy, saying good-bye to NATO, nuclear war is our likely future."

Russia's far-reaching May 9 Victory Day celebration was meanwhile a "historical turning point," according to Roberts who says that while Western politicians chose to boycott the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, "the Chinese were there in their place," China's president sitting next to President Putin during the military parade on Red Square in Moscow.

A recent poll targeting over 3,000 people in France, Germany and the UK has recently revealed that as little as 13 percent of Europeans think the Soviet Army played the leading role in liberating Europe from Nazism during WW2. The majority of respondents – 43 percent – said the US Army played the main role in liberating Europe.

"Russian casualties compared to the combined casualties of the US, UK, and France make it completely clear that it was Russia that defeated Hitler," Roberts points out, adding that "in the Orwellian West, the latest rewriting of history leaves out of the story the Red Army's destruction of the Wehrmacht."

The head of the presidential administration, Sergey Ivanov, told RT earlier this month that attempts to diminish the role played by Russia in defeating Nazi Germany through rewriting history by some Western countries are part of the ongoing campaign to isolate and alienate Russia.

Dr Roberts has also stated in his column that while the US president only mentioned US forces in his remarks on the 70th anniversary of the victory, President Putin in contrast "expressed gratitude to 'the peoples of Great Britain, France and the United States of America for their contribution to the victory.'"

The political analyst notes that America along with its allies "do not hear when Russia says 'don't push us this hard, we are not your enemy. We want to be your partners.'"

While Moscow and Beijing have "finally realized that their choice is vassalage or war," Washington "made the mistake that could be fateful for humanity," according to Dr Roberts.

[Ed Anger]

[Eddie Teach]

A recent poll targeting over 3,000 people in France, Germany and the UK has recently revealed that as little as 13 percent of Europeans think the Soviet Army played the leading role in liberating Europe from Nazism during WW2. The majority of respondents – 43 percent – said the US Army played the main role in liberating Europe.

The Soviets liberated jack shit. The Western Allies liberated half of Europe and the other half liberated itself 45 years later.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

A recent poll targeting over 3,000 people in France, Germany and the UK has recently revealed that as little as 13 percent of Europeans think the Soviet Army played the leading role in liberating Europe from Nazism during WW2. The majority of respondents – 43 percent – said the US Army played the main role in liberating Europe.

The Soviets liberated jack shit. The Western Allies liberated half of Europe and the other half liberated itself 45 years later.

indeed. Something Russians and their useful idiots can't seem to grasp

[Tonitrus]

I know there was a post some time back about Putin defending the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.  He has done it again, this time it sounds like he is essentially saying that the conditions that caused the SU to sign the back in the day are similar to the situation Russia is in now. 

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/putin-defends-ribbentrop-molotov-pact-in-press-conference-with-merkel/520513.html?utm_source=email_tmt-editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20150512_weekly&utm_content=title_5

I went back to read the original Russian transcript, and Putin even got a nice little dig in on Poland as well. 

http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/49455

"Я напомню, что после подписания соответствующего Мюнхенского соглашения сама Польша предприняла действия, направленные на то, чтобы аннексировать часть чешской территории. И получилось так, что после пакта Молотова – Риббентропа и раздела Польши она сама оказалась жертвой той политики, которую и пыталась вести в Европе."

Roughly:  "I remind you, that after the signing of the Munich Agreement, Poland itself also took action aiming to annex part of Czechoslovakia.  And it so happened, that after the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and the division of Poland, she became a victim of the very same policies she tried to carry out in Europe."

So as I read that: i.e. Poland tried to grab part of Czechoslovakia too, and got what they deserved.

[Ed Anger]

Poland did get what it deserved. Competent German administration.

[Valmy]

Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, and Romania also endorsed those policies I guess.

[Duque de Bragança]

I know there was a post some time back about Putin defending the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.  He has done it again, this time it sounds like he is essentially saying that the conditions that caused the SU to sign the back in the day are similar to the situation Russia is in now. 

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/putin-defends-ribbentrop-molotov-pact-in-press-conference-with-merkel/520513.html?utm_source=email_tmt-editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20150512_weekly&utm_content=title_5

I went back to read the original Russian transcript, and Putin even got a nice little dig in on Poland as well. 

http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/49455

Roughly:  "I remind you, that after the signing of the Munich Agreement, Poland itself also took action aiming to annex part of Czechoslovakia.  And it so happened, that after the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and the division of Poland, she became a victim of the very same policies she tried to carry out in Europe."

So as I read that: i.e. Poland tried to grab part of Czechoslovakia too, and got what they deserved.

Well, this one is somewhat true since Teschen was a very small part of Czechoslovakia. Indeed Poland should have allied with the Czechs, not undermined them. Blame Eastern Euro/Balkantardism for that.
One could add that Soviet Russia did the same and almost got the same punishment and that the short-sighted Polish military leadership did not have the same weight as Stalin.

[Valmy]

One could add that Soviet Russia did the same and almost got the same punishment and that the short-sighted Polish military leadership did not have the same weight as Stalin.

One could indeed. Compared to the M-R Pact the Munich Agreement was a glorious moment in history. It is really hard to grovel at the feet of the heroic Soviet Union in that context. They would have happily watched the Nazis prosper, gathering their share of the spoils along the way, if the Nazis had not invaded. At least my country's 'neutrality' involved helping the other team.

The only positive side-effect of the M-R Pact was to destroy Communism forever as a popular force in the United States, such as it was anyway.

[Syt]

http://rt.com/politics/258601-america-sponsors-russian-ngo/

US money destroys civil consciousness, claims United Russia MP

The boost in US spending on Russian NGOs can be described as "aggressive humanitarian intervention," the head of the State Duma Security Committee has said.

"This money is destroying civil consciousness, they organize informational provocations and teach technologies that can destroy the nation's sovereignty and security," MP Irina Yarovaya said in comments published on the United Russia party's website.

She made this statement after mass media reported that the US National Endowment for Democracy spent over nine million dollars on support of Russian non-government groups in 2014 alone.

"Ukraine is the most vivid example of their 'successful democracy' – with all the murders of civilians, an anti-constitutional coup and the rehabilitation of Nazism," the lawmaker added.

Yarovaya also noted that Russian citizens had the right to know which groups got paid for bringing foreign political technologies to their country and the so called law on foreign agents rightfully demanded the disclosure of this information.

According to public opinion research published last week, 59 percent of Russians currently perceive the United States as a general threat, up from 47 percent in 2007. Of these, 48 percent said the United States was purposefully creating various barriers in order to hinder Russia's development, 31 percent said they feared a US military invasion on Russian territory and another 31 percent thought the US was imposing alien ideas and values on their country through non-military means.

Aggressive humanitarian intervention.

Meanwhile, Russia plans to increase the number of scholarships for foreigners to study at Russian universities with the stated goal of creating an academic elite favorable towards Russia. Totally different thing, obviously, since the victims targets students get a first class education out of it!

[Syt]

The major headlines in Russia: a 50-something Chechen police chief who is to marry a second wife, aged 17.

Ramzan Kadyrov said it's all ok, because the girl's parents have greenlit the union. Also, no Caucasus woman would ever marry anyone against her will. So all fine.

And then there's Russia's children's ombudsman:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-official-defends-shriveled-27-year-old-women-comments/520830.html

Russian Official Defends 'Shriveled 27-Year-Old Women' Comments

Russia's children's ombudsman once again sparked a scandal this week when he defended the right of older men to marry teen brides, saying some women were "shriveled" by the age of 27.

Pavel Astakhov was adding his voice to a debate on teen marriage that has rumbled this week after reports that a married local police chief in his forties or fifties in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Chechnya was to take a 17-year-old schoolgirl as his second wife.

"Emancipation and sexual maturity come earlier in the Caucasus, let's not be hypocritical. There are places where women are already shriveled by the age of 27, and look about 50 to us," Astakhov told Russian News Service radio on Thursday.

The next day, the children's ombudsman hastened to make clear his feelings about women.

"Women of any age are wonderful and delightful," Astakhov wrote on his Instagram page.

"The Lord God created Women so we could love them, protect them, look after them and sing their praises. An awkward comparison, an ill-considered word taken out of context cannot change my attitude to the Fairer Sex," he wrote.

Astakhov, a qualified lawyer, has previously courted controversy by supporting the introduction of a law banning the adoption of Russian orphans by U.S. parents. He has also said that Russian literature offers the only sex education that teenagers need. Sex education classes are not currently taught in Russian schools.

Reports of an upcoming bigamous marriage between the Chechen policeman and schoolgirl three times younger than him have dominated Russian headlines this week after the Novaya Gazeta newspaper said the girl and her family were being forced to agree to the marriage by the aging suitor.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov expressed anger that the story had been picked up by nationwide media and dismissed the republic's media and information minister for mismanaging the scandal.

[celedhring]

Does "Lolita" count as Russian literature? 

[Sophie Scholl]

Putin continuing his superman shtick.  Scores 8 goals in a hockey game that included former NHL players.   http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2466982-vladimir-putin-scores-8-goals-during-hockey-game-with-former-nhl-players

[DGuller]

Man, if Putin takes up golf, Kim Jong Il's record may be in trouble.