Tag: Russia

Answering Questions About the Protests in Russia

~ Clarissa ~ 4 Comments

People are sending in questions and finding the blog through online searches about the protests in Russia. I decided to answer these questions in a separate post since there seems to be so much interest.

1. Are the Russian protests inspired by the #OSW?

– The answer is no. Absolutely not. And the tendency to explain things happening in other countries through what goes on in one’s own is never a productive strategy. The protests in Russia have nothing to do with the economy. I have not seen or heard of a single economic demand coming from the protesters in any of the sources in Russia I have been following during the recent events. The people who protest in Russia are members of the middle and the upper-middle class. One of their leaders is a billionaire who became famous for proposing 12-hour work days for his employees. The other leaders are very rich people, too. These are folks who have made enough money not to be seduced by the small amounts Putin pays to his fake supporters. Most of the protesters are comfortable enough financially to afford to have a civic consciousness.

If anything, the Russian protests follow in the footsteps of the Orange tradition started by Ukraine several years ago. Of course, the fiercely anti-Ukrainian Russians will never recognize this but we’ve seen similar protests take place in Ukraine in 2004-5 when the results of the elections were falsified and people took to the streets to reclaim their right to vote for whomever they want.

The protesters in Ukraine won. Their brothers and sisters in Russia are not likely to win.

2. Have the falsifications during the recent elections been greater than during the previous elections?

– Again, absolutely not. The elections were always falsified in really egregious ways and everybody knew about that. Nothing changed about the elections except the voters. They are not interested in sitting by patiently while their votes are being stolen any more. It took a while but finally people are slowly waking up to the idea that corruption is not OK. At least, when it is indulged in by people other than themselves.

3. What is the future of the protest movement in Russia?

– It pains me to say so, but the future of the protests looks grim right now. The people of Russia need a strong leader (or a group of leaders.) Historically, they have always needed a leader to worship and detest at the same time. There are no strong, effective leaders in the country today. The so-called opposition consists of sad, pathetic, out-of-touch remnants of the Soviet-time dissident movement and a couple of politicians who have squandered their political capital through decades of impotence and uselessness. None of them is a match for Putin in terms of effectiveness and strength.

I have a feeling that the protests are fizzling out already. Of course, this is one area where I’d really like to be mistaken. I will keep updating my readers on the developments in Russia.

I welcome any other questions on this subject. Most of the information on the Russian protests that I’m seeing in North American media is complete and utter junk.

From A Russian Radio Station

~ Clarissa ~ 3 Comments

These are some of the things that I just heard on Russia’s most progressive radio station:

“Protests against the unfair elections took place not only in Moscow but also in Russia.”

“For a very long time, many people couldn’t fulfill their dream of moving to Moscow because housing was very expensive in the city. Now, however, this dream has become accessible to anybody. Our company sells cheap, luxurious cottages starting at only $200,000.”

“Great Britain is repenting the huge mistake it made when it allowed all those dark-skinned folks who have recently been let out of their cages in Africa to move to the country. These people should have stayed in their zoos instead of coming to a civilized country and destroying it. I’m sure everybody noticed that the darker your skin is, the likelier you are to be dirty, rude, and mean to others.”

None of the programs that contained these statements tried to be humorous or parodic. This was all said completely in earnest. And I didn’t even try the really hardcore ultra-nationalistic stations.

Ask me again why I don’t hang out with people from my country.

Protests Are Good for a Country’s Reputation!

~ Clarissa ~ 2 Comments

This is an excerpt from the list of search terms that brought people to my blog the day before yesterday:

And here is how the search terms changed after the recent anti-government protests in Russia:

Now Russia is not all about prostitutes for people who do searches online. I think this is a very positive trend.

Putin’s Addiction to Botox. . .

~ Clarissa ~ 9 Comments

. . . that has the entire Russia laughing at him is very visible in these recent photos:

How To Behave During a Protest

~ Clarissa ~ 9 Comments

The people of Russia are taking to the streets to protest the egregiously fraudulent elections to the Russian Parliament. I found a set of suggestions on how to organize a peaceful protest on one of the websites of the bloggers who will participate in the protests and decided to translate it. I think it contains some very useful tips for protesters. I adapted it somewhat, too, by getting rid of very specifically Russian realities:

  1. Always leave a space of a stretched arm between yourself and other protesters. Don’t move too close to each other. A crowd where people stand very closely to one another will not be able to maneuver itself as easily and will eventually become dangerous to the protesters.
  2. Protests are very demanding physically. If you have health issues, it is best to avoid slowing down other protesters with them. Stay at home and provide informational support through online activities from there.
  3. A crowd can easily become too engulfed in emotions. Remember that crowd enthusiasms are volatile, dangerous, and unproductive. Remain calm and in control of your emotions at all times. You will only be taken seriously by authorities if you don’t allow hysteria to overtake you. The point of the protest is not to unburden yourself psychologically. It is, rather, to demand change from the authorities.
  4. Think of those who are there with you. Take care of your fellow protesters.
  5. Think about how your behavior during the protests will look to others. Everything is recorded and televised nowadays. Remember that it will be very easy for hostile reporters to present you as unhinged and crazy if you offer them the smallest opportunity to do so.
  6. Avoid antagonizing the police officers. Doing so is always a losing strategy. Try being as friendly as you can with the representatives of the law. Remember that it is much harder to hit or pepper-spray a person with whom you’ve just been chatting about the weather or sharing a cigarette. If at all possible, talk to the police calmly. Try to attract the officers to your side.

    Today's Protests in Russia
  7. There are likely to be provocateurs at the protests. Their goal is to make protesters look like aggressive people who are set at disturbing the peaceful life of other citizens. If there are just two provocateurs with anti-Semitic slogans, they will most surely end up being filmed and will forever be associated with your protest. Make sure that your verbal disagreement with the provocateurs is as visible as possible.
  8. All of your demands should be legal and realistic. Avoid making threats aimed at specific individuals. Avoid calls to armed action.
  9. Civil freedoms take a long time to be gained and then need to be preserved by constant efforts. Don’t expect to achieve anything fast. This will be a very long journey.

And from me personally: the weather is getting colder. Remember to put on warm underpants. A long-sleeved warm shirt gets tucked into the underpants and the underpants should get tucked into warm socks.

I wish the Russian protesters the best of luck in their struggle. I hear that already over 800 people have been arrested in Moscow and St. Petersbourg for participating in the peaceful protests. As tragic as it is, this is also a good sign, a sign that the people of Russia have had enough of being lied to and treated like garbage by their authorities.

I hope that the peaceful Russian Revolution of 2011 succeeds in removing the Party of Crooks and Thieves (United Russia) from power. Russia is a great country whose people deserve better than being governed by this bunch of vile criminals.

P.S. 632305222316434 Those who know, know what I mean.

Putin’s High Heels

~ Clarissa ~ 19 Comments

A president of a huge nuclear power who is this insecure is a very dangerous person, indeed.

Who Is a Bigger Threat: Iran or Russia?

~ Clarissa ~ 28 Comments

Now that I have my Kindle Fire, I use it to listen to radio stations from all over the world. Once, I decided to listen to the Echo of Moscow, the radio station that is considered to be the most progressive and anti-government station in Russia.

I tuned into a show that had already been going on for a while and was immediately transported back into 1982.

“The US wants to destroy us,” the host and the interviewees were agreeing. “They will not rest until they exterminate every Russian in existence. The very raison d’être of the Americans is to destroy Russia. They care about nothing else. And, of course, now that the US is so poor, they envy us our wealth and our empire. They have no future, while we are becoming the new world power.”

I thought, at first, that this was a broadcast of an old program from the times of the Cold War. Then, however, I heard a reference to President Obama (who also seems to hate Russians with a vengeance, according to this radio show) and realized that the program was contemporary.

A little later, a guest of the show suggested that Americans import their stupid Hollywood movies to prevent the Russians from procreating as much as they could. At that point, I had to go to class, so I missed what I’m sure was a fascinating explanation of how Hollywood movies mess with the procreation of Russians. Remember, that the hysteria of “we are not procreating enough and will be overtaken by more rapidly procreating races” is going on at full strength in Russia.

The anti-American rhetoric is promoted at every level of Russia’s hierarchy of power. On Sunday, the elections to the Russian parliament (the Duma) took place. The results of the elections were egregiously falsified. Responsible citizens who acted as observers at the voting polls were intimidated, threatened with being fired from their jobs, assaulted, and beaten. The falsifications were so shameless that even the people of Russia (who are mostly disinterested in political activism) took to the streets in protest.

Protests took place in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Police dispersed the protests brutally.

Yesterday, Putin gave his first public speech about the protests. And you know who is to blame for the protests, according to Putin? The officials of his party who organized the massive falsifications of the votes? The citizens of Russia who don’t know their place and dare to believe that democracy in Russia is possible? No, of course not. The real evildoer here is. . . Hillary Clinton who, according to Putin, organized the protests:

Putin said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had encouraged “mercenary” Kremlin foes by criticizing the vote.

“She set the tone for some opposition activists, gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started active work,” Putin told supporters.

And you know what is really sad? The protesters are a very small minority. Most people in Russia will be very happy to believe that everything is great and that the bad, evil Americans engineered the protests against the honest and truly democratic elections in Russia. They will believe that Hillary Clinton gave signals to the protesters because they are all paid lackeys of American imperialism, rather than responsible, engaged citizens.

There are many discussions going on about Iran right now. Will Iran become a nuclear power? What will happen when it does?

Nobody wants to talk about Russia, though. Russia is already a huge nuclear power. It is also a country that owns a lot of oil and natural gas, has a huge population, cannot be defeated militarily, and is consumed by a huge bout of anti-Western hysteria.

Western politicians have been bamboozled by the empty talk about democracy and the end of the Cold War that Russia has been offering for two decades. This is all a sham, though. The Cold War continues. And I have no doubt that the side to lose this war will be the one that refuses to recognize that the war goes on.

How Many People Voted in the Russian Elections Yesterday?

~ Clarissa ~ 5 Comments

Can anybody guess which percentage of the population participated in the elections to the Russian Parliament (the Duma) in Rostov area?

A little over 146%! (The link is in Russian, but you can still see the numbers and add them up for yourself.) This is true civic consciousness for you. Here we barely get 60% of the population to vote while in Russia more voters come to the polls than actually live in the area.

This is either a case ofDead Souls immortalized by the great Russian writer Gogol, or the ruling party of Russia has become even more shameless than it used to be.

A Political Riddle

~ Clarissa ~ 13 Comments

Since people seem to have liked the last riddle I posted, here is a new one. It’s based on completely real events surrounding the approaching elections in Russia.

Independent observers and progressive bloggers in Russia are exhorting the voters to bring their own pens to the voting booths. “Please, don’t use the pens that will be provided to you for marking the ballots at the voting polls!” they keep reminding the voters. “During the previous elections, many people forgot to bring their own pens and used the ones that were given to them at the polling stations, and we all know what happened.”

Why do you think it’s so important for Russia’s voters to bring their own pens?

 

Disappointed by Reuters

~ Clarissa ~ 6 Comments

What is it with journalists who write about other countries without even trying to ascertain the most basic facts? I thought that Reuters was a respectable news agency until I read this:

Pushed to the margins since Putin came to power 12 years ago, some of the prime minister’s fiercest foes are urging Russians to reject the political system he has put in place by spoiling their ballots in Sunday’s State Duma vote. . .

“The question is what people who understand this is a farce should do.”

Their answer: Nakh-Nakh, a bespectacled pig with an orange scarf, a blue beret and a double-entendre of a name that to Russians evokes both the Three Little Pigs and an obscenity which, put more politely, means ‘Go away!’. In a series of animated clips posted on the Internet, the pink-cheeked pig casts his vote, angrily marking the box for each party with an X and adding a big black X across the entire ballot before slipping it through the slot.

This was written by somebody who does not know anything about Russia’s electoral system. Spoiling the ballots actually guarantees that Putin’s party gets the majority in the parliament. The system is set up in a way that hands over votes to the ruling party for every spoiled ballot. Can anybody now make a wild guess as to who is behind this whole “spoil the ballot” campaign?

Many people in Russia are completely ignorant about how their electoral system works and, in spite of the tireless work of dissidents and progressive bloggers, are still buying into the idea that spoiling the ballot will prevent Putin’s party from remaining in power. Here is an example from the same article:

Semyon Zon-Zam, a chamber orchestra director in Moscow, wore an armband at the protest outside the Central Election Commission, said he would be one of [the people who will spoil the ballots].

“The political system is dragging my country into the abyss,” said Zon-Zam, 73. “To vote for any party on the ballot would be to support the a Kremlin project.”

One can understand that a 73-years-old artist who spent the greatest part of his life in the Soviet Union might find it hard to understand how the electoral system works. But shouldn’t a journalists writing for Reuters be more careful with both his facts and his grammar?