This thread is about Russia and any events, political or otherwise, that are or might be worth discussing.
Any news, links or posts pertaining to the situation involving Russia, Crimea and Ukraine must be put in the 'Crisis in Ukraine' thread.
Group of deputies wants Gorbachev investigated over Soviet break-up.
Above in the Guardian version.
Putin's war against Russia's last independent TV channel.
No discussion regarding nuclear war. As nuclear weapons are not being used by either side, nuclear war is off-topic.
Edited by MacronNotes on Feb 27th 2022 at 11:26:10 AM
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Bashing Morgan Freeman is suddenly the rage in Russia
A "#Stop Morgan Lie" hashtag is circulating aimed at discrediting the actor.
Russian government officials hit back immediately at the video this week, fixing their crosshairs specifically on Morgan.
Tass, the Russian news agency, published remarks from Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova arguing Freeman had been "roped in" to the Russia attack, and likening the video to when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell unknowingly lied to the United Nations about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
"I believe this is another story about the end justifying the means. However, we will know who is behind this story sooner than we knew about the true contents of the infamous test tube," Zakharova stated, an apparent reference to Powell's 2003 United Nations presentation, in which he held up a vial of anthrax to support the claim that Saddam Hussein had stockpiled chemical weapons.
This week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also addressed the video, telling reporters Freeman's comments "can hardly be taken seriously" and arguing the actor was "a victim of emotionally charged, self-exalted status," according to Radio Free Europe. The official added that "many performing artists easily succumb to becoming victims of emotional strain with no real information about the real state of things."
Russian media was more wild in its theorizing.
The BBC reported this week Freeman was a frequent topic on Russian television. One station — Rossiya 24 — quizzed a panel of psychiatrists about the actor's motivations, and the medical professionals reportedly attributed "the performance to a Messianic complex resulting from playing God or the president in several films, not to mention 'drug abuse.'"
Another TV personality said Freeman was sick from "overwork and marijuana use." TV Centre claimed the clip was part of an "establishment campaign to oust Trump," the BBC reported.
Pro-Russian Twitter trolls have also jumped in on the actor, wielding the somewhat awkward hashtag "#Stop Morgan Lie."
But as commentators have pointed out, the #Stop Morgan Lie trolls seem to all be following the same script - trying to discredit the idea that the U.S. is a democratic nation.
It has left some experts like Rols Fredheim, an analyst at NATO's Strategic Communications Center of Excellence in Riga, wondering whether the anti-Freeman blowback was less of an organic reaction than a Kremlin scheme.
Oh, bother.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
As if I needed another reason to like Morgan Freeman.
In all fairness, isn't this whole Russiagate thing becoming a red herring with regards to all the internal factors in the USA that allowed a repulsive vegetable like Trump to even compete in an election, let alone win? With all due respect, this whole affair is beginning to sound suspiciously like Trump himself in the sense that whistleblowing is put above the actual problem in importance.
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Oh, the internal factors are my main concern. I posted that article mainly because Freeman himself saying that seemed to provoke a particularly intense reaction.
Was he a beloved folk hero on that side of the Bering before or something? Or is the AJC just taking the reactions of a few prominent folks?
edited 30th Sep '17 10:49:21 AM by CenturyEye
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
The law in the night
No.
Not really? We barely even knew him before this incident. This whole mess seems to be simply another idiotic attempt by Kremlin sycophants to please Putin by loudly screaming about how Russia is always right. The general populace couldn't care less about our meddling in the USA election in the first place, let alone about mr. Freeman's reaction to it.
Anyway, regarding the Kalashnikov statue: while I do believe that stating that he "ensured world peace" is baloney, I'm not against erecting a statue of him for the same reason I'm not against erecting statues of any other famous inventors. The article deciding to suddenly consider mentioning all those people killed by his rifles to be a necessary addition to his commemoration is a dick move, to be honest, because it A) lays the responsibility on the maker of the unliving, will-less tool, rather than on the person who pointed the tool and pulled the trigger, and B) is holding Russia to standards that I've never seen the USA being held to by non-moonbat press.
edited 30th Sep '17 11:07:48 AM by KnitTie
@Knit Tie: It doesn't matter if the Republicans chose Trump to lead them, if Russia interfered with the voting process (which I'm not sure they did actually), but if it did happen, then the blame is on Putin.
Life is unfair...
We definitely did leak incriminating information on Hillary, but saying that Putin is to blame for Trump's win in this case is just silly.
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
There is evidence the Kremlin breached the voter system in numerous states and tried (unsuccessfully) to change the voting outcome
Oh really when?
Really? Damn. Still doesn't change a thing with regards to who's to blame for electing Trump, though.
A procrastination in of itself
I mean there is a point to be made that the US did open itself up to Russian manipulation by having a political party so desperate to get into power that they would work with a hostile foreign power to do so.
Does that justify Russia's action? Not at all. However even if Russia hadn't gotten involved there would still be the fundamental issue of a major US political party being willing to work with a hostile foreign power to gain control of the government.
edited 30th Sep '17 12:29:52 PM by Silasw
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
The main hope for the Russia investigation will be that it will cost Trump/the GOP a huge amount of political capital and electoral success, limiting the damage they can inflict. At best, it destroys the admin and hobbles the party for a while.
Its not about striking back at Russia, focus is on damage control and preventing a repeat in 2020.
edited 30th Sep '17 12:31:03 PM by Rationalinsanity
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
I was actually referring to the fact that instead of ending up a political leper, a political fringe or even a political minority, Trump somehow became popular enough for almost half the country and a major political party to throw their support behind him, and that's without going into how he managed to become rich and famous.
Well, he didn't become rich. His father did a lot of enterprising work, and got really, really rich (possibly at the expense of other folks, but I don't know a lot about his father). He was born rich, and used his wealth and connections to become famous on TV throughout the decades.
edited 30th Sep '17 1:06:29 PM by Quag15
Agreed! That's what I was actually trying to say by pointing out that Trump being rich is a problem - social stratification leading to a whole lot of otherwise extremely unqualified people being in control of vast sums of wealth and all.
I actually remember reading an article saying that Trump's so bad of an entrepreneur, he would've been richer had he simply put his money in a bank and not done anything else.
That's a bit of an exaggeration, he and most other real estate developers lost a ton of money during the housing crash, which skews things a bit, but his supposed business acumen is at best, thoroughly mediocre.
I'd tend to agree Trump has a lot more to do with the United States' failings than he does with the supposed masterstroke of Russian intelligence agencies. The amount of political astroturfing going on in 2016 went well beyond Russia, and included both of the major Presidential campaigns, various private interests, and online activist groups.
edited 30th Sep '17 1:25:18 PM by CaptainCapsase
He's not particularly talented, that's for sure.
A procrastination in of itself
I remember the article Knit is referring to, the claim wasn't so much if he'd let it sit in a bank but if he's just out it all in a low-risk small-return investment of some kind.
Trump has lost money on a lot more than real estate, Trump steaks failed, he lost a lot of money on casinos, etc... There's a reason to he claim has been a de and it can't be proved one way or the other without access to financial information we don't have access to.
I'll third the comment on Russian intelligence, they did what I'd say they've been trying to do for decades now, but this time they had major groups within the US willing to either work with them, work with their patseys, align with them or just ignore Russia's meddling because it aligned with their interests (see the New York branch of the FBI).
edited 30th Sep '17 1:31:50 PM by Silasw
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
It's part of the problem of hyperpolarization in the United States; particularly when it comes to the right, domestic political opponents are increasingly viewed not simply as adversaries to be won over and/or negotiated with but as outright enemies to be destroyed at any cost.
And I'd say that this hyperpolarisation is actually the main problem here. Political dirty tricks and foreign meddling? Bad, but nowhere near as bad as people being willing to vote for, essentially, a hyperbolic parody of a bad president if that means triumphing over the other side.
A procrastination in of itself
The hyperpolarisation also fed into the other two, a number of dirty tricks wouldn't have been considered without the Republicans having gone off the deep end when it comes to their hatred of Democrats, we had figures that should be politically neutral using their positions to influence the election due to their hatred of Dems/Hillary. The working with Russia was just another extension of that desire to win at all costs.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Hyperpolarization may be a big part, but the hacking attempts were massive and well coordinated. While there is currently no evidence votes were changed, Russian hackers penetrated voting systems in at least 2 states out of the 21 that were confirmed for attacks. [1].
edited 30th Sep '17 4:33:00 PM by ViperMagnum357
Alexei Navalny was arrested by Russian police for organized meetings without necessary papers. According to Navalny, his arrest is a gift to Putin.
"The monument consists of two granite slabs on which are engraved the names of 20,762 people who died at Butovo. The monument measures 984 ft. long, and 6.5 ft. tall."
orthochristian.com/106680.html
edited 3rd Oct '17 1:44:04 PM by Lordforlorn
Or at least he didn't expect the USSR to simply handle the blueprints and hundreds of thousands of his rifle to anyone fighting capitalists regardless of them being mass murderers and warmongers.
Inter arma enim silent leges