Russia in the 21st Century #2

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Message 2132656 - Posted: 16 Feb 2024, 18:45:15 UTC

Another 1 bites the dust. :-(

PooTin’s chief political opponent, Alexei Navalny, dead in prison.

The wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died on Friday at the remote prison colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence, has said Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime should be “punished”.

Her comments, made as she fought back tears, came as cavalcade of western leaders have blamed Russia for Mr Navalny’s death, who was just 47.

US president Joe Biden said he was “both not surprised and outraged” by his passing.

“Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death.”

Putin’s spokesnam Dimitry Peskov denied the Kremlin had any role in the death and said the West was being “hysterical”.

Mr Navalny had long been considered the chief political opponent of Putin who could have posed a threat to the Russian leader’s rule were he allowed to freely run in an election.

Mr Navalny had been seen in a video link on Thursday from the Siberian jail he was being held in, about 65km north of the Arctic Circle, seemingly in adequate health.

But on Friday, prison authorities said he died after “feeling bad”.

Russian state media has said he died from a blood clot – but suspicions are high that either foul play occurred or Mr Navalny did not receive proper medical attention in prison....
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Message 2132663 - Posted: 16 Feb 2024, 21:07:08 UTC - in response to Message 2132656.  
Last modified: 16 Feb 2024, 21:11:33 UTC

Another 1 bites the dust. :-(

PooTin’s chief political opponent, Alexei Navalny, dead in prison.
2021-06-16: At a summit in Geneva Biden, who met Putin in person, told the Russian president that if Navalny dies, the consequences "would be devastating for Russia."

This Navalny figure isn't important, neither for Putin nor for the West. But Navalny was an indicator for the level of totalitarianism in Russia. Previously, Putin's opponents were shot on the street, "accidentally" run over by a car, or fell out of windows. So now they are being publicly disposed of while in prison custody. One step further down the road to a total deprivation of rights of all opponents.

Putin only respects power, pressure and credible deterrence. He tests the credibility of Western determination. I fear he exposed Biden's threat for what it was: just a bluff.

Last year the U.S. Senate expressed the U.S. would not tolerate the use of nuclear weapons or any nuclear incidents (at occupied nuclear power plant Saporizhya). We should hope Putin doesn't start doubting its seriousness.
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Message 2132670 - Posted: 17 Feb 2024, 2:09:55 UTC - in response to Message 2132663.  

My sources tell me that there is considerable pressure for the limited use of tactical nukes being pushed in war games right now.
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Message 2133287 - Posted: 1 Mar 2024, 15:47:55 UTC

Sadly:


Funeral of Alexei Navalny in Moscow – in pictures



And Putin's war against the world and his own country continues...

All in our very deadly world of politics...
Martin
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Message 2133297 - Posted: 1 Mar 2024, 21:04:40 UTC

Seems to be a question of numbers. The police or OMON riot forces did not even try to prevent the mourners from attending. Unexpectedly so many came who couldn't all be caught away. How many resisting people will it take to break Putin's power? In Belarus, a hundred thousand were not enough. Hopefully Putin's regime ends before he deems it necessary to turn against these Moscow citizens like he ordered Lukashenka to oppress the Belarus protestors in the summer of 2020, arresting tens of thousands, torturing hundreds, throwing many to dungeons, some still missing and even killing up to a dozen.

Why did our peaceful revolution in Eastern Germany (and PL, CS, HU, RO, BG, YU) succeeded in 1989/90? Because our autocratic leaders, ossified communists, dictated their ideologic views of a 'fair', a 'better' life for everyone. They were no thieves, crooks, or murderers (few were), who were anxious about their future, or stolen riches. Their military leaders refused to shoot at own citizens (except in RO). Moscow, asked for Soviet troops, rejected a violent repression. Such fortunate circumstances of a reasonable, understanding Czar existed only in a short period of history. A lucky coincidence.

So it looks more like another '1917', than '1991' for Russia's future:

  • In 1991, all the disillusioned central power crumbled from decades of contradictions and lies; only a brief flare-up resisted the inevital outcome.
  • Another 1917 would be scary. Peasants and educated citoyens against the nobility in 1917 are today's 'serfs' confronting Putin's warmongers & oligarchy. The Empire was torn apart and torched for years back then. Reason and human rights weren't considered when the most brutal faction, the Bolshevik's, finally won. What triggered 1917 was a long, desastrous war (WWI), then hunger & hardships, followed by a humilating military defeat which led to a loss of vast lands (Finland, Belarus, Baltics, Poland, Ukraine). A déjà-vu?
  • The third option is another 1939, made possible by the West's disunity, disinterest, isolationism, idiocracy (in the U.S. as well as in Europe) and continued appeasement to totalitarian madness. In Germany we press to negotiate another '1938' "Peace For Our Time" which due to our incredible weakness must result in '1939'. Well, ceeding all of Ukraine to Putin gives us eternal peace... or the route '1945 to hell...
  • A fourth option would be a "1984" as described by George Orwell: permanent, limited wars at the periphery of three remaining world powers Oceania, Eurasia and East Asia which all degenerated over the eternal conflicts into totalitarian autocracies. Peace means war. Black means white. Doublethink.


I have this book since more than twenty years (banned in Communist East). Back then it was a dystopic novel. I'm not sure anymore witnessing phenomena like Trumpism, populism, social media, preachers for a 'good cause' dressed as journalists, all the green... the woke... the [fill in...] ideologues... , continuously lying Russian leaders. I think there's much to recognize today that George Orwell foresaw back then.

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Message 2133301 - Posted: 2 Mar 2024, 1:18:51 UTC - in response to Message 2133297.  

I think there's much to recognize today that George Orwell foresaw back then.
I'm not sure he foresaw it as much as others came along, read it and said, hey, this looks like I can make it work for me!
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Message 2133933 - Posted: 15 Mar 2024, 17:53:41 UTC

Vitaly Robertus, 54, is reportedly the fourth Lukoil manager to die in two years.
wrote:
Russian news media reported on Thursday the sudden death of Vitaly Robertus, Vice President of the country’s oil and gas giant Lukoil, writing that the manager died from suicide in his office this week.

Just before his death, local media wrote that Robertus had complained of suffering headaches and asking for medications before going to his office.

He was later found hanged in the room.
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Message 2134172 - Posted: 22 Mar 2024, 23:30:38 UTC

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/22/europe/crocus-moscow-shooting/index.html
Could it be that ISIS has decided that The Great Satan isn't The Greatest Satan? Or could they be afraid t of what awaits if they try something to the USA again? Perhaps they calculate that Russia has it hands full and can't do anything back?

Aside: saw a car license plate today "NOPUTIN"
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Message 2134237 - Posted: 25 Mar 2024, 2:01:01 UTC

There are reports of terrorists in Moscow, many dead, even more wounded and terrified. In addition, destroyed houses, their residents crushed in Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa, ..., a once beautiful church burning in the province. All hit by missiles fired by so-called "officers" from grotesquely outdated strategic bombers. The murderers in Moscow killed indiscriminately too, with assault rifles. They don't seem to follow any religious beliefs. They are said to come from impoverished, backward Tajikistan in Central Asia, a 'fly-over country' on the route from London to Singapore avoiding Afghanistan. Why is this part of Asia backward, without a future? They needed the money or had no choice; feared for their life. Now they sit tortured, humiliated and mutilated in a glass box that is supposed to be a courtroom. Justice is not to be found there, the truth even less so. Each day a thousand 'orcs' senselessly die on one of the most fertile soil on earth. Those captured are surprisingly old, scarred, uneducated, jaded, almost serfs. They know nothing about Europe, the world. One thing they all have in common, the murderers, officers and serfs: they grew up and lived without freedom. They don't know what freedom is.

Today's Russian world leaves one thing behind, everywhere its reign of violence reaches: destroyed souls.
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Message 2134308 - Posted: 27 Mar 2024, 10:33:56 UTC

Who is responsible for the terrorist attack in Moscow?

  • ISIS
  • Russia's FSB

The West is convinced it was ISIS. Really?

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Message 2134322 - Posted: 27 Mar 2024, 17:37:26 UTC - in response to Message 2134308.  

I trust either as far as I could throw the other.
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Message 2134777 - Posted: 12 Apr 2024, 11:35:52 UTC
Last modified: 12 Apr 2024, 11:37:07 UTC

It seems there's no money left in Putin's Russia for disaster management ... not to mention: prevention.
Russia floods: Ural river reaches critical level in Orenburg
wrote:
"So far, the forecast is not favourable. The water level continues to rise," Mr Peskov said, adding that a "large amount" of floodwater would soon also reach the nearby regions of Kurgan and Tyumen.

He said President Vladimir Putin was not intending to visit the flood zone and said the Russian leader was instead "getting information and co-ordinated the work of all branches of authorities".

Earlier this week in Orsk, angry flood victims shouted '"Shame on you!" at local officials, in response to low compensation offers and officials' perceived failure to prevent the dam from bursting.

They also chanted, "Putin help us" - a reminder that in Russia, in times of trouble, very often the president is the last person people blame for their problems. On the contrary, they look to the Kremlin for help.

Flooding often happens in Russia when winter transitions to spring. But there has been nothing on this scale in living memory.
Russia Kazakhstan floods: High water levels swamp Orenburg houses
wrote:
Floods in the Russian city of Orenburg have raised water levels to two metres above critical, leaving just the roofs of some houses showing.

The flooding is being described as the worst to hit the region in 80 years.
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Message 2134801 - Posted: 13 Apr 2024, 9:26:27 UTC
Last modified: 13 Apr 2024, 9:30:29 UTC

Remember the Ural Airlines A320 which „landed“ in a field in Siberia due to fuel exhaustion on Sep 12th 2023?

On Apr 11th Ural Airlines decided to give up all plans to get this bird airborne again. The Airbus will be scrapped for parts at its final „field“ position.

Airline managers have been fired too.

https://avherald.com/h?article=50e4701a&opt=1
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Message 2134804 - Posted: 13 Apr 2024, 12:50:58 UTC - in response to Message 2134801.  

Remember the Ural Airlines A320 which „landed“ in a field in Siberia due to fuel exhaustion on Sep 12th 2023?

... Airline managers have been fired too.

https://avherald.com/h?article=50e4701a&opt=1

Being Russia, it's probably not "fired" but life in Putin's "retraining or reeducation" camps.
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Message 2135103 - Posted: 23 Apr 2024, 22:50:34 UTC

The flood in Russia is developing into a worst-case disaster.

Russia's Record Floods Submerge Uranium Mines in Urals – Reports
wrote:
Russia’s worst flooding in decades has submerged Soviet-era uranium mines in the Kurgan region, the investigative news outlet Agentstvo reported Monday, sparking fears that radioactive and chemical pollution could seep into the Tobol River.

Local ecologists said that the mines have been accumulating "radioactive sludge" for years, while authorities have ignored numerous public protests against continued uranium mining in this area, which is prone to spring flooding from the Tobol River.

Given that uranium is both radioactive and toxic, similar to other heavy metals, its presence in a river used for drinking purposes would pose a threat even in small concentrations.

“This is undoubtedly dangerous because some people will drink this water, and uranium will enter their bodies. And internal radiation exposure is much more dangerous than external exposure," he said.
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Message 2135104 - Posted: 23 Apr 2024, 23:34:56 UTC

Nuclear expert fears flooded radioactive dump sites in Siberia can threaten Arctic Ocean
wrote:
Floodwaters in Tomsk region threatens to submerge the river banks in Seversk where highly radioactive liquid waste from the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons program for decades were injected into two unprotected underground reservoirs.

“There ain’t one single public message that Rosatom is monitoring the situation, that they have the situation under control,” says Aleksandr Nikitin, an exile nuclear safety expert [...]

According to the World Nuclear Association, the Siberian Chemical Combine in Seversk had five plutonium production reactors, an uranium enrichment plant and a processing plant for plutonium warheads. Although shut down, enormous amount of nuclear waste is still on site.

Most challenging are the liquid radioactive waste, both on the surface and pumped down in deep-well injections. The nuclear dump is likely Russia’s largest, by IAEA estimated to be 70 million cubic meters.

“Putin doesn’t give a fuck about these floods and other shitty lives of people in Russia.., he has a war and geopolitical goals of fighting the damned West,” Nikitin says.

A major concern [...] no one can exclude that leakages from a possible overflowed radioactive waste site could reach the Arctic Ocean.

“Everything is now possible,” says Aleksandr Nikitin when seeing the photos of the flooded riverbanks of the Tom River.

“I’m sure the Siberian Chemical Combine sit quietly and wait. Hoping for it all to go over,” Nikitin says to the Barents Observer.
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Message 2136128 - Posted: 22 May 2024, 12:47:18 UTC

Russian scientists are committing treason by participating in international projects:

Russia Jails Hypersonic Missile Scientist 14 Years for Treason
wrote:
A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced a 77-year-old scientist to 14 years in prison on treason charges after he was accused of sharing top secret information related to Russia's hypersonic missile program with Germany.

The St. Petersburg City Court found Anatoly Maslov guilty of state treason and ordered him to serve 14 years in a maximum-security prison, according to the court’s press service. Maslov denied his guilt.

Prosecutors had requested a 17-year prison sentence for the scientist, whose defense attorneys argued that such a lengthy term would amount to a life sentence due to his age and health issues. Maslov suffered a heart attack while in pre-trial detention in February.

An open letter signed by members of Russia’s Academy of Sciences last year accused the authorities of arresting Maslov and two other hypersonic missile scientists for speaking at conferences abroad and participating in international projects.
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Message 2136165 - Posted: 23 May 2024, 9:11:22 UTC

The State Duma spoke about the conditions of "full mobilization" in Russia (in Russian only; unfortunately no English version yet)
wrote:
If Russia declares war on Ukraine, the country will be "fully mobilized," which precludes any deferral of Russians from military service, said Lt. Gen. Viktor Sobolev, a member of the State Duma Defense Committee.

[...] as part of a possible "full mobilization", the authorities plan to send to the frontlines primarily new Russian citizens from Central Asian countries, who usually have more than three children. [...] State Duma Defense Committee recently [...] rejecting a bill providing for a deferment for fathers of three or more children.
Russia is the last colonial Empire on Earth. It is a racist Empire that deliberately decimates citizens of its non-Russian nationalities or origins, especially if they can be recognized by their skin color or facial features. The white, European Ukrainians are more lucky:

"We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile." (the Borg from Star Trek)
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Message 2136225 - Posted: 24 May 2024, 8:29:19 UTC

I wonder if the biggest crook of the lot will have himself arrested, not bloody likely.

Top Russian military officials are being arrested. Why is it happening?

It began last month with the arrest of a Russian deputy defense minister. Then the head of the ministry’s personnel directorate was hauled into court. This week, two more senior military officials were detained. All face charges of corruption, which they have denied.

The arrests began after President Vladimir Putin began his fifth term and shuffled his ally, longtime Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, into a new post.

It immediately raised questions about whether Putin was reasserting control over the Defense Ministry amid the war in Ukraine, whether a turf battle had broken out between the military and the security services, or whether some other scenario was playing out behind the Kremlin’s walls......
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Message 2136822 - Posted: 7 Jun 2024, 7:41:36 UTC

Mystery as Russian Judge Dies after Falling from Window
wrote:
Natalia Larina, 50, was found dead outside her apartment block in the southeast of Moscow at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, [...] a suspected suicide as a cause and said she had left a note.

Larina had retired six months ago after working at Moscow's Tagansky Court for more than 15 years [...]

[...] in the middle of May, Larina had been the victim of a telephone scam. Someone claiming to be her former boss contacted her, saying that attempts were being made to steal money from her account to send to Ukraine to fund its armed forces. [...] she was told she would be contacted by Russian special services and Russia's Central Bank.

She was persuaded to transfer one million rubles ($11,200) to a "safe account" and borrow another one million rubles from the bank to be transferred. She notified the police when she realized she had been scammed [...]

She was known for her role in high-profile cases, including one in 2006, which restrained the activities of the National Bolshevik Party in what was called the "Tagansky Case," [...]

She was also the judge in the trial of the performance artist and opposition activist Pyotr Pavlensky, who, in 2015, set fire to the entrance of the headquarters of Russia's main intelligence agency, for which he was convicted of vandalism and fined 500,000 rubles ($5,600).

In 2011, she was the judge in the trial of a Russian Transport Ministry official who was convicted of raping his daughter, and in 2019, she sentenced Murat Sabanov, who had carried out a series of poisonings in central Moscow.
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Message boards : Politics : Russia in the 21st Century #2


 
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