Post election observations

[OlgaH]

Enough to know that Article 3 defines a "Combat Veteran" and Article 5 defines a "Military Service Veteran."

Enough for who? 

So, combat veterans in Russia would be veterans who served and fought in Afghanistan and Chechnya.  Military service veterans are veterans who have official government awards and served in the military no less than 20 years. The leader of the band is not a combat veteran and not a military veteran.  I don't know about other few participants.  So, the name of the video I would say is misleading. 

Quite a natural reaction but if the government arrested every veteran still wearing the cloth of the branch they served with distinction at public events, the jails would be overflowing.

Why would government arrest every veterans in Russia, if most of the veterans are pro-soviet communists or pro-United Russia?     

Again, we could go on and on about the definition of a veteran but for what purpose? There are two songs sweeping the Russian Internet right now and one is by these Paratroopers against Mr. Putin and the other was written and performed by a Tajik, a performer from another country and is pro Mr. Putin. The Russian people, not I, will judge whether or not they like either song. As they seem to think that both have a place in the current political debate, I'll report on it.

What purpose? I think people do care about such things when former paratroopers (or not paratroopers) and non-veterans  proclaim themselves as veterans and more over try to represent the official organizations they do not belong to. 

[Darth_Budda]

I see a connection between whats going on in Russia, The United states and across the world.

The old system is dieing. Corporate Capitalism No longer serves it's people.

It seems to me that Russia is being run by the same kinda of Corporate Rule as they faced under the old Soviet system.

Sure they enjoy more freedom but the Corporate bosses at the top, still run everything.

If the USA continues on the path it's on, We will soon be living under a similar arrangement.

Russia was never a Communist Country it was State Capitalism, Than and now.
IMHO,,,

But, what do I know..

 

[OlgaH]

One more turn regarding the anti-Putin song, the song was performed at the protest in Saint - Petersburg by the song's author Mikhail Novitsky, who is a leader of a rock-band "SP Babai" and ecological movement "Green Wave" 

http://www.gazeta.spb.ru/646024-1/

So, who will claim the song's authorship? a "paratrooper-veteran-under question" Mikhail Vistitsky? or a leader of a rock-band and ecological movement Mikhail Novitsky? 

Yes, it is mother Russia 


PS. Oh, pardon me. I just checked and "SP Babai", thanks havens,  wrote a different song against Putin. 

So here is another anti-putin song




 

[mendeleyev]

More intrigue on the paratroopers song...

The term veteran, with which I have no issue, was used first in media on Moscow TV (TV Rain) when the band performed on 3 February, prior to the protest march. I'm very familiar with Rain, visiting there last year several times and including President Medvedev's participation in a forum and interview regarding the plight of disabled people in Russia. http://tvrain.ru/news/vdvshniki_protiv_putina_pervoe_vystuplenie_v_pryamom_efire-154645/

Russians seem to find it to be of interest: over a million plays so far.

[OlgaH]

More intrigue on the paratroopers song...

The term veteran, with which I have no issue, was used first in media on Moscow TV (TV Rain) when the band performed on 3 February, prior to the protest march. I'm very familiar with Rain, visiting there last year several times and including President Medvedev's participation in a forum and interview regarding the plight of disabled people in Russia. http://tvrain.ru/news/vdvshniki_protiv_putina_pervoe_vystuplenie_v_pryamom_efire-154645/

Russians seem to find it to be of interest: over a million plays so far.

Yes, that's how they proclaimed themselves  "Ksenia Sobchak and "the paratroopers against Putin" found a  common language". If I were one of those paratroopers I would be insulted with such statement 

Regarding Russians who are interested or not have you read the comments by Russians to the video ? Interesting too.

[mendeleyev]

(Fonts not working at 08 or 10 point so will try again.)

[mendeleyev]

Михаил Вистицкий
Станислав Баранов
Евгений Щетинин
Антон Давыдов
Василий Волков
Владимир Бурмистров

...are the primary members of the group.

There are two sides to every story:

Hero of the CCCP, and Airborne Commander in Afghanistan General-Major Alex Soluyanov doesn't like the association. He claims that band members lie about being supported by other paratroopers and have brought shame upon the military.

Next there is First Deputy Chairman of the "Union of Russian paratroopers," Valery Yuryev. He said, "Citizens, which are shown in the video, either as individuals or as a legal entity to the" Union of Russian paratroopers "have nothing to do with us. He goes on to say that band leader Mikhail Vistitsky served in the 34th reconnaissance battalion in Germany, which is unrelated to the Navy as he was a member of the Army."

Current Commander Colonel-General Valeriy Vostrotin isn't exactly a neutral by-stander as he has previously served as a member of Parliament for Mr. Putin's "United Russia" party. Vostrotin is more of a politician these days than a commander.

The problem is that those who claim that Vistitsky never served as a paratrooper could perhaps be wrong.

They may be ignorant of, or perhaps have conveniently forgotten, about changes in mission and shifts in command during the waning days of the Soviet Union and early days of the Russian Federation. In 1992 President Yeltsin signed a decreed making himself the Defense Minister and combining a number of services as the military was being restructured with the former Soviet Republics.

What was left of the Soviet Air Force was merged into the Air Army in 1998 and the Air Force was finally made totally independent in the years leading up to 2007 and then again being restructured in 2009. This seems important as singer Vistitsky was trained in the Army Airborne division during the early period. Sources tell me that some units of the ОДШБр (Army Air corps) was merged into the ДШБР, then into the ДШП, and later into the МСД (motorized army). So while Vistitsky may not have served under the ВДВ (Airborne) command structure, it is possible that his claim of being a paratrooper at the time of his military service could have some merit.

To complicate matters the ВДВ has incorporated mechanized and amphibious units into its ranks for air and ground support.

Speaking of a desire for honesty, for the present commanders to say that Paratroopers have always been quietly loyal is simply not true. Colonel-General Vyacheslav Achalov actively protested the Putin-Medvedev switch in 2008 and later he lobbied against Defense Command reforms in early 2010. In 1999 Achalov wrote that he felt that Vladimir Putin had a hand in the murder of Army General Lev Rokhlin at the request of Yeltsin.

General Vladislav Achalov himself organized a public protest against military reforms in 2010. General Achalov died last year of a sudden illness. He was himself a "veteran" of all the moves and shifts in command, having begun his career in the Army and ending as commander of the Air Force. It sounds very similar to the story of singer-paratrooper Михаил Вистицкий.

[OlgaH]

Mendeleyev,

Vistisky is 45 y.o. So he was born in 1967. How long did he serve in the Russian Army in Germany? If he was called up for military service when he was 18 y.o. so it would be 1985 when his service started ... 

If  First Deputy Chairman of the "Union of Russian paratroopers," Valery Yuryev lies. of course it doesn't him honor and it doesn't the Russian Airborne Troops he officially represents honor either. 

Even if Vistisky claim has some merits, his public claim that the Committee of  the Russian Airborne Troops Veterans approved and support him somehow under a question. His public claim when he posted his video that the the Russian Airborne Troops officially approved his song is under a big question as well.

While not all paratroopers support Putin more and more former paratroopers join nationalistic movements and nationalistic political parties: "Russia for Russians" and "No to the USA politics of World domination."

[mendeleyev]

Even if Vistisky claim has some merits, his public claim that the Committee of  the Russian Airborne Troops Veterans approved and support him somehow under a question. His public claim when he posted his video that the the Russian Airborne Troops officially approved his song is under a big question as well.

Sometimes we agree on quite a few things, Olga. 

[chivo]

Simply put, Putin will do anything - and I mean anything - to stay in power.. If it means giving up some of his principles and allowing more freedoms, he'll do it. It's not like he has any strong feelings about civil liberties one way or another as long as the cash keeps flowing in the right direction and the right people are installed in all the key positions.

Putin will win presidency in the first round with a good 15-20% advantage over Zyuganov and will stay in power for at least one 6-year term.. That's my prediction.

The thing is there is really no alternative to Putin. Who else can any opposition offer up? Zyuganov is a hardline Communist and nobody wants to return to pre-Gorbachov Russia. Prokhorov,  well most, at least in Moscow, consider him a "clown". Zirinovsky  , while I love listening to him talk, he's out of control and a drama queen. While the rest are unorganized with no platform other than Russia is corrupt, as if they are not part of the system.
 
The length of Putin's next term will depend on how much he's willing to bend to the middle class. The middle class does not ask for much, but they do not want to lose what they have. And really, as long as Russia has oil and the price of it doesn't drop for long periods of time, it's almost impossible for the government to mismanage the country, even if they are mismanaging the country.

[chivo]

He will have to come around on the political prisoners issue at some point. One of the demands of the opposition, and they're united on this, is the release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. It is a campaign plank for Prokhorov.

Khodorkovsky is really nothing more than a common thief, like the rest of those who got rich during the privatization of the early '90s. At the expense of the Russian people.

The West, especially the Western press though, has some sort of love affair with this man. I don't know maybe it's because he's much more polite than the others, and didn't flaunt his new found wealth a al
Berezovsky, Abramovich, etc.
 
Or maybe because he tried to legitimize his company after he knew full well that it was agreed upon that any monies made through privatization would not be use in such a manner. Even worse, he tried to do so by partnering with Exxon Oil and big Dick Chaney which would have given Exxon control over the top geologists in the region. Big Dick at that time was the Vice President and former head of Haliburton.
 
Here's a part of this as reported by F. William Engdahl in his piece titled "War and Peak Oil"...
 
Dr. J. F. Kenney is one of the only Western geophysicists who has taught and worked in Russia, studying under Vladilen Krayushkin, who developed the huge Dnieper-Donets Basin. Kenney told me in a recent interview that “alone to have produced the amount of oil to date that (Saudi Arabia’s) Ghawar field has produced would have required a cube of fossilized dinosaur detritus, assuming 100% conversion efficiency, measuring 19 miles deep, wide and high.” In short, an absurdity.
 
Western geologists do not bother to offer hard scientific proof of fossil origins. They merely assert it as a holy truth. The Russians have produced volumes of scientific papers, most in Russian. The dominant Western journals have no interest in publishing such a revolutionary view. Careers, entire academic professions are at stake after all.
 
Closing the door

The 2003 arrest of Russian Mikhail Khodorkovsky, of Yukos Oil, took place just before he could sell a dominant stake in Yukos to ExxonMobil after Khodorkovsky had a private meeting with Dick Cheney. Had Exxon got the stake they would have got control of the world’s largest resource of geologists and engineers trained in the a-biotic techniques of deep drilling.
 
Since 2003 Russian scientific sharing of their knowledge has markedly lessened. Offers in the early 1990’s to share their knowledge with US and other oil geophysicists were met with cold rejection according to American geophysicists involved.
 
Why then the high-risk war to control Iraq? For a century US and allied Western oil giants have controlled world oil via control of Saudi Arabia or Kuwait or Nigeria. Today, as many giant fields are declining, the companies see the state-controlled oilfields of Iraq and Iran as the largest remaining base of cheap, easy oil. With the huge demand for oil from China and now India, it becomes a geopolitical imperative for the United States to take direct, military control of those Middle East reserves as fast as possible. Vice President Dick Cheney, came to the job from Halliburton Corp., the world’s largest oil geophysical services company. The only potential threat to that US control of oil just happens to lie inside Russia and with the now-state-controlled Russian energy giants.
 
Now maybe Khodorhovsky should be release after serving this much time, that can be argued.
 

[chivo]

Oh, and maybe the US has more interests in Iran these days than worrying about their nuclear program, yes?

[mendeleyev]

Khodorkovsky is really nothing more than a common thief, like the rest of those who got rich during the privatization of the early '90s. At the expense of the Russian people.

Of course. His mistake was in challenging Putin's deal that if Oligarchs were left alone, they would stay out of politics.

As to US interests in Iran, if you mean to say that the USA is after oil, then then of course not. Facts speak for themselves. Stupidly, the USA has not taken oil from any of its so-called "conquests." They won't take it from Libya either, that oil will go to China.

Frankly, the US had no business in Libya, nor should it get involved in Syria.

[Faux Pas]

Of course. His mistake was in challenging Putin's deal that if Oligarchs were left alone, they would stay out of politics.

As to US interests in Iran, if you mean to say that the USA is after oil, then then of course not. Facts speak for themselves. Stupidly, the USA has not taken oil from any of its so-called "conquests." They won't take it from Libya either, that oil will go to China.

Frankly, the US had no business in Libya, nor should it get involved in Syria.

Agreed and for all intent and purpose, the US was not involved in Libya nor Syria. The NATO approved bombing of Libya that was carried out by US fighter jets, only came about from European NATO pressure. Specifically France/England. As needed as that was, we should not have been involved at all.

As for Iran, chivo is talking out his anus. It is about Iran's nuclear intentions. If Israel doesn't take it out, I suspect after the election, the US will. Hopefully, it won't be too late then. chivo, do you approve of AhMADinejah having a nuclear bomb?

[OlgaH]

Simply put, Putin will do anything - and I mean anything - to stay in power.. If it means giving up some of his principles and allowing more freedoms, he'll do it. It's not like he has any strong feelings about civil liberties one way or another as long as the cash keeps flowing in the right direction and the right people are installed in all the key positions.

Putin will win presidency in the first round with a good 15-20% advantage over Zyuganov and will stay in power for at least one 6-year term.. That's my prediction.

Yes, Putin is using elementary method of populism promising and raising salaries to the government employees, pensions, spending money on the social programme, giving free and low percentage apartments  at the expense of businesses through taxation. No wonder why Bernard Shaw's  "A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul" works well in Russia, and Russian Pauls have no clue why they have to pay three and 10 times more for goods than the citizens of countries with developed economy pay. On Russian classmates one woman who was my neighbor wrote "Putin is my president" and as she stated Putin raised the country because he refused to sell oil and gas cheap and established on the market the right prices.  She has her supporters in such thinking. Any different and opposite view of course is American propaganda and America organizes anti-putin protests in Russia.  She works at the state college. 

[mendeleyev]

The Mendeleyev Journal:

This Sunday, 19 February, is the next day for the opposition of United Russia and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to stage their next митинг ("meeting") the street popular term for political protest/rally.
 
Given the difficulty in securing permits from the City of Moscow, organizers have begun to arrange impromptu car rallies in which drivers participate while driving around Moscow. A similar car rally was conducted in Moscow a few weeks ago.
 
Sunday afternoon at 15:00 (3pm) Moscow time, Наше радио ("Our Radio") will play Yuri Shevchuk's song Родина ("Homeland") immediately following the newscast. Organizers are asking drivers to decorate their cars with white ribbons and when the song begins to play, roll down their windows and sing along with the radio while driving slowly.



Наше радио ("Our Radio") is a young adult rock station heard not only in Moscow but also in Chelyabinsk, Sochi, Krasnodar, Saint Petersburg, Izhevsk and other cities so organizers are planning for this road rally to take place in each city where Наше радио is broadcast.

Listen online to Наше радио at this link.