CNN Special Investigation: Czar Putin

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2007-12-01 11:39pm

Is anyone watching this? I want to see if there are YouTube or online casts. I wonder what Stas thinks of it.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2007-12-02 01:32pm

I managed to catch a good chunk of it, although not a lot of it surprised me (we studied Russia in a Comparative Politics class). I'd heard Russia was dangerous to journalists.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2007-12-02 01:33pm

Of course CNN gave us - with its "left-wing bias" as well - ridiculously simply narratives. Kasparov is nice and likes freedom, why is Putin such a dick? Why would they hate the U.S.? Putin must be such a dick. Ad nauseum.

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2007-12-02 02:30pm

Sadly I can't see it...

It must be fun.

On a side note, elections have just ended. The new parliament would be multi-party, but that's only an illusion of possible strife: United Russia and it's trusty sidekick LDPR together have some 70% of the vote, which is way over the constitutional majority. CPRF and Just Russia combined probably get ~19% (7+12), but whether Just Russia will really pass the 7% barrier is up for grabs.

The funny thing is that all parties, from the left to the center to the far right, employed almost exclusively left-wing slogans at electoral propaganda

Freakin SPS used "let's transform the Stabilization Fund into a Pension Fund!" and "Raise salaries and pensions 5 times", et cetera... bashing the 300-million costing "palace-like" outlets of the Russian Pensionary Fund (of course that's atrocious, so it was rightly bashed)...

That really lightened up my day. When even the most marginalized and hopeless right-wingers start using left-wing slogans, that means the elections are just a populist farce with no distinction between political forces' position.

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2007-12-02 10:18pm

It's interesting how the western media is billing it an era of political instability... when considering Yeltsin's time....

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2007-12-02 10:42pm

Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:It's interesting how the western media is billing it an era of political instability... when considering Yeltsin's time....

Well, what did you expect? Yeltsin didn't do shit but cater to _any_ Western demands, including the demands of Western megacorps. Why would they remember anything bad about him, really?

Post by **Vympel** » 2007-12-03 01:10am

I've said it before, I'll say it again - Kasparov has von Papen written all over him. Except not nearly as successful politically. His "Other Russia" coalition is as smelly as it is unpopular.

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2007-12-03 02:19am

His "Other Russia" coalition is as smelly as it is unpopular.

All other right-wing parties are equally unpopular as well. Even if Kasparov was allowed to move his coalition into elections (it can't, since electoral coalitions have been banned by previous Duma laws) I doubt it could get even several percent.

And that's me, a person who thinks that "United Russia" is just a step from evolving into a fully-fledged fascist party.

Most ordinary people just think Kasparov is a freakin nut. Which is correct. A coalition of nutjobs will not win in a Russian election. Or at least I hope so.