Reforming Russia?

[Muzh]

Protests, websites, printed materials ...

In Navalny's support

Olga, I see them mumbling. Sorry to say that. Really.

[OlgaH]

Olga, I see them mumbling. Sorry to say that. Really.

are you expecting to act them violently?

Arrests of peacefully protesting peoples are going on in Russia.

Moscow. More than 6 thousand people signed up for the next peaceful meeting  in Navalny's support. But the government already announced that any meeting (even without posters and the opposition symbols)  in Navalny's support on the day when the court will announce the sentence will be illegal. It means more arrests.

http://www.mk.ru/politics/russia/article/2013/07/09/881023-meriya-moskvyi-sobiratsya-v-podderzhku-navalnogo-nelzya.html

[Muzh]

are you expecting to act them violently?

Arrests of peacefully protesting peoples are going on in Russia.

Moscow. More than 6 thousand people signed up for the next peaceful meeting  in Navalny's support. But the government already announced that any meeting (even without posters and the opposition symbols)  in Navalny's support on the day when the court will announce the sentence will be illegal. It means more arrests.

http://www.mk.ru/politics/russia/article/2013/07/09/881023-meriya-moskvyi-sobiratsya-v-podderzhku-navalnogo-nelzya.html

Just a few resorting to violence? Heavens no.

Actually, when the majority will rise, there will be no need for violence. They did it before.

Problem is that it LOOKS like the Russian psyche is one of followers, especially of a strong man. That is the impression they are giving to the rest of the world.

I remember some years ago I would get into some debates with some of the NGOs in UA. All I heard from them was "But you don't understand."

And they were right. I did not understand.

[OlgaH]

I agree, Muzh, regarding the majority.  But it will take some time to change the general mentality.

Dead 60 years, Stalin's influence lingers in Putin's Russia

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/05/us-russia-stalin-idUSBRE9240O120130305

[mendeleyev]

In agreement with you both. The most recent Levada poll showed that despite the government's heavy anti-Navalny media blitzes, 44% of the population believe it to be a predetermined verdict. The problem is that much of that 44% shrugs their shoulders, mutters это россия and moves about their daily lives.

Worse are those whose attitude is Это Россия, детка! and continue to find ways to profit from a corrupt system.

[mendeleyev]

Two more arrests today--both were persons in Moscow handing out Navalny campaign literature for the Moscow mayoral race. Article 31 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of association and to meet publicly, but only when it suits the government. It wasn't a rally which requires a permit, just handing out pamphlets on the sidewalk.

[lordtiberius]

A Day with a Russian Billionaire

[Anotherkiwi]

A Day with a Russian Billionaire

Certainly different from my average day...and it's good to see that age-gap marriages AREN'T confined to the MOB industry! 

[mendeleyev]

Depending on which poll you believe, Navalny has somewhere from eight to ten percent of the vote for the mayoral election on 8 September.

However his campaign polling unit, and he as been blessed with support from some of Russia's brightest and best young technology genusis, indicates that the race is closer than expected which is perhaps why the Kremlin is investigating whether he has taken donations from foreign sources, a crime.

We fully expect the government to charge him with a new criminal case as soon as the election is concluded, and in fact that may be why he was allowed to run, even after his bogus conviction on charges of stealing timber. The trend is to put away serious challengers to the status quo and to continue a stream of criminal charges to keep opposition figures in prison until after the end of Putin's reign.

This gal will probably tempt some of those middle age male voters to stop and learn more about Navalny's message.

[lordtiberius]

If Russia is behind this attack, this may affect Russia's territorial integrity.  It should at a minimum be replaces on the security counsel.

[mendeleyev]

Russia is a founding, thus permanent member, and with good reason.

As to your comment on another thread, no, I'm not an American first. The great Apostle and Saint Paul has declared that my citizenship in God's Kingdom overrules any man-made state.

[lordtiberius]

I hope that this is an Obama false flag.  If not . . .

[mendeleyev]

He isn't that intelligent to pull off such a stunt. This is a man who sleeps while American Consulate compounds are attacked. Don't give more credit than deserved.

[lordtiberius]

He isn't that intelligent to pull off such a stunt. This is a man who sleeps while American Consulate compounds are attacked. Don't give more credit than deserved.

He sleeps during consulate attacks because he likes gay sex.  John O.  Brennan is a gay Muslim too.  Obama is from Chicago.  Benghazi could have happened as a way to get rid of the Ambassador.  We don't know.  Much of US foriegn polcy is not decided in DC anymore buy between disgruntled and ambitious Saudi princes.

[mendeleyev]

Benghazi is a simple case of arms smuggling by the CIA and/or State Department to Syrian rebels. Ambassador Stevens didn't have to die but our government couldn't afford the resulting publicity that would result if we provided armed assistance, which as it now turns out was available in the same city but they were told to stand down. Two men from the security detachment refused to stand down and went to the Ambassador's aid. They were killed but not until after having put up quite a fight for 6-8 hours.

I don't know who Mr. Obama was sleeping with nor do I care. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt as unless you have proof of an extramarital relationship, I don't.

But he was sleeping and that is a problem.

I don't believe they wanted to get rid of Chris Stevens; he unfortunately was in the wrong place at the wrong time most likely...unless he had gone there with the intent on blowing the whistle on the weapons smuggling, which I don't think that to be the case.

The Republicans want to drag this out to the midterm elections and release more of the sordid details as they go along. They'd like to get a Special Prosecutor involved at some point which would blow both Benghazi and the IRS scandals wide open. But the Republicans have a problem in that the incompetent and corrupt Attorney General gets to choose the SP.

If a genuinely nonpartisan Special Prosecutor was appointed, one who was not in the administration's pocket, the Republicans could coast to a victory in both houses in 2014 and Joe Biden would be POTUS-1 before the end of the term.

Don't hold your breath however.

[lordtiberius]

Who goes to bed at 5:30 pm?  Who plays 15 games of spades while America has UBL as apecial guest on kill tv?

What is irrefutable is that US tax dollars are going to MB abd AL Queda dighters in Gypo and Syria.  Basheer needs to die but I have no problem with Russias gun running.  I have np with Putin sending troops to kill these guys.

but using gas or,any nbc on civilians is a major redline for me

[Faux Pas]

Benghazi is a simple case of arms smuggling by the CIA and/or State Department to Syrian rebels. Ambassador Stevens didn't have to die but our government couldn't afford the resulting publicity that would result if we provided armed assistance, which as it now turns out was available in the same city but they were told to stand down. Two men from the security detachment refused to stand down and went to the Ambassador's aid. They were killed but not until after having put up quite a fight for 6-8 hours.

I don't know who Mr. Obama was sleeping with nor do I care. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt as unless you have proof of an extramarital relationship, I don't.

But he was sleeping and that is a problem.

I don't believe they wanted to get rid of Chris Stevens; he unfortunately was in the wrong place at the wrong time most likely...unless he had gone there with the intent on blowing the whistle on the weapons smuggling, which I don't think that to be the case.

The Republicans want to drag this out to the midterm elections and release more of the sordid details as they go along. They'd like to get a Special Prosecutor involved at some point which would blow both Benghazi and the IRS scandals wide open. But the Republicans have a problem in that the incompetent and corrupt Attorney General gets to choose the SP.

If a genuinely nonpartisan Special Prosecutor was appointed, one who was not in the administration's pocket, the Republicans could coast to a victory in both houses in 2014 and Joe Biden would be POTUS-1 before the end of the term.

Don't hold your breath however.

It gets a little more complicated. There is indication that Valarie Jarrett made the call to stand down while Obama was sleeping and she was the rank in the situation room. If this is true. The implications are many

[lordtiberius]

If you want to really reform Russia, a partition is in order.  At least its European parts should be made so.  Perhaps something along the historical divisions like the Duchy of Moscow, Galicia and the Novgorod Republic.  Russia lost its character the Soviet Civil War.  The killing of the Czar, the infiltration of the Orthodox Church by the state police, and the unwillingness to reject Soviet Totalitarianism tbe way Germany rejected Nazism demonstrate to the world community a clear and present danger to peace and freedom.

[SANDRO43]

[mendeleyev]

If you want to really reform Russia, a partition is in order.  At least its European parts should be made so.  Perhaps something along the historical divisions like the Duchy of Moscow, Galicia and the Novgorod Republic.  Russia lost its character the Soviet Civil War.  The killing of the Czar, the infiltration of the Orthodox Church by the state police, and the unwillingness to reject Soviet Totalitarianism tbe way Germany rejected Nazism demonstrate to the world community a clear and present danger to peace and freedom.

Lt, at this rate I hope you are wife hunting in Ukraine, Western Ukraine to be specific...

[mendeleyev]

The Mendeleyev Journal:

Well, well, well. It might appear that if you win an election with only 52% the punishment may be to ride the Metro with normal citizens to work each morning. Don't count on it however and even if Mayor Sobyanin came close to having to submit to a runoff, he still has a driver and a car.



(Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, standing to the right next to the door.)

So what was the mayor doing on the Metro on 19 September?

Reconnecting with the people, shaking hands and trying to appear normal. Sorry, Mayor Sobyanin, you do come across as a decent guy most of the time and you have done many good things for Moscow. But riding the subway isn't going to convince anybody that you are just like the rest of us.

The election is over so despite what you are being told by the Kremlin, stop campaigning. You're not fooling anyone and even that child in the stroller seems uninterested in a politician's kiss.

You have work to do. Call your driver and get to work.

[lordtiberius]

What's next for the opposition parties?  Also is getting to work the right thing to do?  Usually when illegitimate political actors gain power here in America, the last thing we want them to do is to get to work.  They set their own priorities independent of the needs of the people.

[mendeleyev]

What's next for the opposition parties?

I am cautiously optimistic. We'll see a slow down during winter, cold rain this week is forecast to turn to snow and sleet by Friday and Saturday and winter weather always impacts the tempo of anything done in this part of the world.

The opposition has an elected council from around the country which represents most of the non United Russia aligned groups. They began a program this summer of traveling to smaller towns in an education drive to help Russians outside of Moscow and St Peter to understand the electoral landscape and their rights to vote. In a country which had Tsars for centuries, then one-party Communist government, the concept of real elections is a new idea and many Russians outside the major cities are not aware of the potential their thoughtful vote could mean for the future rather than selling it for a bottle of vodka, etc.

Today's opposition has for the most part moved from angry street protest to learning how to inject themselves into the process and they've begun to learn that national politics can't change much if local politics is left unchanged. Russians have had top-down governance for so long that they are having to learn to approach it bottom-up instead.

Also is getting to work the right thing to do?  Usually when illegitimate political actors gain power here in America, the last thing we want them to do is to get to work.  They set their own priorities independent of the needs of the people.

On the whole, Sobyanin has done a good job as mayor. That was a problem in the last election because conditions have improved under his administration and many things like roads, buses, etc, are much better during his tenure. The Metro is expanding and corruption is dwindling so the biggest issue was that he was a "Putin man" because there were no blatant corruption issues tied to his rule. Had their been mass dissatisfaction and scandal we might have seen a much closer vote and a runoff.

Sobyanin is a likeable fellow and unlike the last mayor, there is no perception that his family is getting rich by tying into the corruption in construction and transportation rackets. He has a decent record on fighting corruption. These were among the reasons why the election was so bland this time around.

[mendeleyev]

A Kirov court Wednesday issued suspended sentences to opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his business partner Pyotr Ofitserov, in a move some analysts say is a sign the Kremlin does not want to risk a new wave of protests ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

On Wednesday, the Kirov Region Court in central Russia overturned the July 18 verdict issued by the Leninsky District Court of Kirov, which sentenced Navalny and Ofitserov to five and four years in prison, respectively, for allegedly stealing $500,000 worth of timber from state-owned company KirovLes in 2009.

The court replaced the sentences with suspended ones and ordered Navalny and Ofitserov not to change their places of residence and to register with police twice a month. A minor violation will see the court reinstate their original prison sentences.

Defense lawyers said they would appeal the verdict.

While the latest ruling was seen by some as a minor victory for Navalny, as it kept him out of prison, others said it had more to do with the Kremlin trying to avoid exacerbating relations with the West than with Navalny’s popularity in recent Moscow mayoral elections.

Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/navalny-gets-suspended-sentence/487970.html#ixzz2hzZ12I1s
The Moscow Times

[Shadow]

If you want to really reform Russia, a partition is in order.  At least its European parts should be made so.  Perhaps something along the historical divisions like the Duchy of Moscow, Galicia and the Novgorod Republic.  Russia lost its character the Soviet Civil War.  The killing of the Czar, the infiltration of the Orthodox Church by the state police, and the unwillingness to reject Soviet Totalitarianism tbe way Germany rejected Nazism demonstrate to the world community a clear and present danger to peace and freedom.

Have you ever looked in to what caused the Russians to embrace a German philosophy with all its consequences? History repeats itself constantly.