Posts tagged Russia

We Russian citizens always hope that those rising up against their governments will win, instinctively flocking to their side. This phenomenon is quite easily explained. As we hate our government and all those who rule our country and want for them to leave us, the quicker the better, we instinctively express our solidarity with any struggle against the state.

Russians See Themselves in Turkish Protests

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There were several clashes. The “orthodox” chanted “Moscow isn’t Sodom,” “SWAT the f*gs,” “Kill the f*ggots,” “Christ has risen,” “Glory to the Russian SWAT” and so on. LGBT activists had eggs, nettles, and condoms filled with sh*t thrown at them. Between increasingly strident homophobic rhetoric, violent hate crimes],discriminatory firings, and now the newly-passed federal law that makes “propaganda of homosexuality” illegal (being an administrative infraction, perpetrators of such “propaganda” will be fined, rather than criminally prosecuted), everyone can agree that it is a difficult time to be part of Russia’s LGBT community. In fact, these days supporting LGBT rights can earn you a trip to the hospital. More Violence for Russia’s Gays, Supporters IMAGE: A scuffle erupts between an LGBT activist (in yellow) and man who threw a condom filled with feces at him. YouTube screenshot. June 14, 2013

There were several clashes. The “orthodox” chanted “Moscow isn’t Sodom,” “SWAT the f*gs,” “Kill the f*ggots,” “Christ has risen,” “Glory to the Russian SWAT” and so on. LGBT activists had eggs, nettles, and condoms filled with sh*t thrown at them.

Between increasingly strident homophobic rhetoric, violent hate crimes],discriminatory firings, and now the newly-passed federal law that makes “propaganda of homosexuality” illegal (being an administrative infraction, perpetrators of such “propaganda” will be fined, rather than criminally prosecuted), everyone can agree that it is a difficult time to be part of Russia’s LGBT community. In fact, these days supporting LGBT rights can earn you a trip to the hospital.

More Violence for Russia’s Gays, Supporters

IMAGE: A scuffle erupts between an LGBT activist (in yellow) and man who threw a condom filled with feces at him. YouTube screenshot. June 14, 2013

globalvoicesonline.org

Through them [American social networks], there’s a powerful, ongoing manipulation of public opinion—indeed, every “like” and every click instantly lands you in a certain group, which is then analyzed and classified

Brace yourself. The cyberwar is coming.

Since last week, when the world learned about PRISM, a vast and secret American electronic surveillance program, Russian state officials have expressed renewed concerns about foreign social networks posing a national security threat. One day after news of the U.S. program broke, on June 7, 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told reporters that websites like Facebook and Twitter are elements of a larger American campaign against Russia. 

PRISM Reignites Russia’s Cyberwar Fears

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Vladimir Putin is getting divorced. By law, the ownership of half the country will be transferred to Lyudmila. […] It’s strange that everyone’s so surprised by Putin’s divorce. Has anyone truly doubted his lack of love and ability to compromise? Putin Loses His First Lady & RuNet Snarks

Vladimir Putin is getting divorced. By law, the ownership of half the country will be transferred to Lyudmila.

[…]

It’s strange that everyone’s so surprised by Putin’s divorce. Has anyone truly doubted his lack of love and ability to compromise?

Putin Loses His First Lady & RuNet Snarks

globalvoicesonline.org

This totalitarian, gestapo-like, fascist fight with smokers is more like an extermination, a genocide, running counter to all norms of common sense. An entire group of citizens is having its basic rights violated. On, June 1, 2013, Russia instituted a new law “On the Protection of the Health of Citizens from the Effects of Passive Tabacco Smoke and the Consequences of Tabacco Consumption” [ru], banning smoking in government buildings, educational facilities, healthcare facilities, the lifts and corridors of apartment complexes, train stations, and inside most trains. The law also mandates tough restrictions on tobacco advertizing, increases taxes on the smoking industry, raises penalties for sales to minors, and paves the way to a phased introduction of similar bans in shops, cafes, bars, and restaurants. Russia is one of the heaviest smoking countries in the world. While 39 percent of Russians smoke, the figure rises to 60 percent among Russian men (for comparison, the figure is about 21 percent for both sexes in the UK). Russian attitudes and laws on smoking have been incredibly lax when compared to the rest of Europe. Russians have been free to feed their nicotine addictions not only in bars, restaurants and cafes, but in schools, hospitals, many forms of public transport, government buildings and apartment complexes. Adverts for cigarettes decorate the nation’s street corners and metro systems, and fill the pages of Russian publications. Taxes on cigarettes are negligible and a pack of Marlboro can be purchased for less than two dollars, with domestic brands available for half that. Russians & Cigarettes: A Hard Goodbye

This totalitarian, gestapo-like, fascist fight with smokers is more like an extermination, a genocide, running counter to all norms of common sense. An entire group of citizens is having its basic rights violated.

On, June 1, 2013, Russia instituted a new law “On the Protection of the Health of Citizens from the Effects of Passive Tabacco Smoke and the Consequences of Tabacco Consumption” [ru], banning smoking in government buildings, educational facilities, healthcare facilities, the lifts and corridors of apartment complexes, train stations, and inside most trains. The law also mandates tough restrictions on tobacco advertizing, increases taxes on the smoking industry, raises penalties for sales to minors, and paves the way to a phased introduction of similar bans in shops, cafes, bars, and restaurants.

Russia is one of the heaviest smoking countries in the world. While 39 percent of Russians smoke, the figure rises to 60 percent among Russian men (for comparison, the figure is about 21 percent for both sexes in the UK). Russian attitudes and laws on smoking have been incredibly lax when compared to the rest of Europe. Russians have been free to feed their nicotine addictions not only in bars, restaurants and cafes, but in schools, hospitals, many forms of public transport, government buildings and apartment complexes. Adverts for cigarettes decorate the nation’s street corners and metro systems, and fill the pages of Russian publications. Taxes on cigarettes are negligible and a pack of Marlboro can be purchased for less than two dollars, with domestic brands available for half that.

Russians & Cigarettes: A Hard Goodbye

globalvoicesonline.org

I could feel a strong chemical smell, which created painful sensations in my nose and throat. […] The source filling this chemical lake, as it turned out, was a rotten pipe. Perhaps it burst over the holidays, but likely it was always like this. After Probing Chemical Lake, Eco-Blogger Attacked in Russia

I could feel a strong chemical smell, which created painful sensations in my nose and throat. […] The source filling this chemical lake, as it turned out, was a rotten pipe. Perhaps it burst over the holidays, but likely it was always like this.

After Probing Chemical Lake, Eco-Blogger Attacked in Russia

globalvoicesonline.org

killing fags is the natural order of things

Over the past year RuNet Echo has covered the woes of the Russian LGBT community, specifically with regard to laws banning so-called “propaganda of homosexuality,” passed first by the city of St. Petersburg and now being championed in the Russian parliament by MPs Sergey Dorofeev and Elena Mizulina (the proposed bill is currently in its second “reading,” or amendment process).

It is unsurprising that this intolerant climate and increasingly hateful rhetoric would finally give rise to actual hate crimes. This is precisely the connection that many Russian bloggers made after learning that the three Volgograd men who were arrested for brutally murdering their drinking companion, the 23 year old Vladislav Tornovoi, on the night following the May 9th Victory Day celebrations, apparently admitted that they did so because he told them he was gay.

The homophobic motives for the murder are seemingly supported by the fact that after brutally beating Tornovoi the men undressed him and forced empty beer bottles into his rectum.

In Wake of Brutal Murder, Questions About the Roots of Russian Homophobia

globalvoicesonline.org

“Once again, a man can write about sex quite freely, but for women in Russia it’s still a semi-prohibited topic. Especially if you’re involved in politics […]” Earlier this week, Russian opposition figure Maria Baronova penned an open letter to writer and political dissident Eduard Limonov, wherein she dropped a sexual bombshell. Her text unabashedly refers to “masturbating in the shower” and credits Limonov with teaching her through his books how to “suck dick” “without false modesty” and “fuck like an animal.” The online response has been intense. Dirty Words Russian Girls Can’t Say on the Internet

“Once again, a man can write about sex quite freely, but for women in Russia it’s still a semi-prohibited topic. Especially if you’re involved in politics […]”

Earlier this week, Russian opposition figure Maria Baronova penned an open letter to writer and political dissident Eduard Limonov, wherein she dropped a sexual bombshell. Her text unabashedly refers to “masturbating in the shower” and credits Limonov with teaching her through his books how to “suck dick” “without false modesty” and “fuck like an animal.” The online response has been intense.

Dirty Words Russian Girls Can’t Say on the Internet

“PUTIN has taken a course for repressions and prisons. Surkov can’t help him with this.” RuNet Echo recently reviewed a London talk given by Vladislav Surkov, Russia’s grey cardinal, the inventor of NASHI and “sovereign democracy,” wherein he claimed that the Kremlin has defeated the opposition. A few days later, Surkov was harshly criticized for some of his statements by Russia’s Investigative Committee spokesman, Gen. Markov, in an Izvestiya article. This week, Surkov was dismissed from his post of Deputy Prime Minister and head of the ministerial apparatus. Failure to carry out Putin’s electoral promises was cited as the official reason. While it is commonly assumed that Surkov fell from grace a year earlier, when he was replaced as the powerful Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration by Vyacheslav Volodin, and given a post many viewed as a demotion, he was also thought to still be immune to political travails. And so, the RuNet reacted to his resignation with equal parts of disbelief, glee and worry.  RuNet Apprehensive over Surkov’s Dismissal, End of Political Era

“PUTIN has taken a course for repressions and prisons. Surkov can’t help him with this.”

RuNet Echo recently reviewed a London talk given by Vladislav Surkov, Russia’s grey cardinal, the inventor of NASHI and “sovereign democracy,” wherein he claimed that the Kremlin has defeated the opposition. A few days later, Surkov was harshly criticized for some of his statements by Russia’s Investigative Committee spokesman, Gen. Markov, in an Izvestiya article.

This week, Surkov was dismissed from his post of Deputy Prime Minister and head of the ministerial apparatus. Failure to carry out Putin’s electoral promises was cited as the official reason.

While it is commonly assumed that Surkov fell from grace a year earlier, when he was replaced as the powerful Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration by Vyacheslav Volodin, and given a post many viewed as a demotion, he was also thought to still be immune to political travails. And so, the RuNet reacted to his resignation with equal parts of disbelief, glee and worry. 

RuNet Apprehensive over Surkov’s Dismissal, End of Political Era

They don’t need accommodation or insurance. They are like slaves or serfs, sleeping in basements and eating any filth. Despite being the major destination for Central Asian migrant workers, Russia is famous for regular intolerance towards ‘non-Russians’ residing within its borders. Hate crimes based on race and ethnicity are not rare in the multinational federation, and migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus are the usual victims of racist sentiment. Aware of deepening anti-migrant feelings, many of Moscow’s politicians look to boost their capital among voters by promoting right-wing policies. But there is always one politician that goes a step further than the rest. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party, is a combustible MP famous for making statements that are neither liberal nor democratic. Long-accustomed to playing the fool in domestic politics, Zhirinovsky’s April performances seemed designed to send the entire Central Asian region into non-comic uproar. From Russia with No Love .. for Central Asia

They don’t need accommodation or insurance. They are like slaves or serfs, sleeping in basements and eating any filth.

Despite being the major destination for Central Asian migrant workers, Russia is famous for regular intolerance towards ‘non-Russians’ residing within its borders. Hate crimes based on race and ethnicity are not rare in the multinational federation, and migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus are the usual victims of racist sentiment. Aware of deepening anti-migrant feelings, many of Moscow’s politicians look to boost their capital among voters by promoting right-wing policies. But there is always one politician that goes a step further than the rest.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party, is a combustible MP famous for making statements that are neither liberal nor democratic. Long-accustomed to playing the fool in domestic politics, Zhirinovsky’s April performances seemed designed to send the entire Central Asian region into non-comic uproar.

From Russia with No Love .. for Central Asia

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