Russian Politics Thread: Добро пожаловать!

[Rio Cana]

Some sort of Sino-Russian alliance to counterbalance the Western countries may be what the Kremlin think-tanks fantasize about but frankly, from a Chinese perspective Russia is little more than a glorified gas station. Also, there will be considerable tensions between the countries in the future regarding the demographics of Eastern Siberia.

No demographic problems will happen since Chinese prefer to live in China since the economy is much better.

Side note - Russians are smart. They are opening Casinos in the Russian Far East in order to cash in on the very close Chinese market. Its closer for those in Beijing and Northern China to go to the Russian Far East to gamble then to go to Macao in Southern China. That's why they are building hotel and casinos in that part of Russia.

The Russian Far East the Next Mega-Las Vegas of the world -

They even gave the Casino a Spanish name, "El Tigre de Cristal" (The Glass Tiger). Its also located 200 km. (124 miles) from NK. See this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGLLztspVx0

Story on this from the financial times - http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/13/

[Shofercia]

So, you actually believe the KPRF, which has accused Putin multiple times of election fraud and outright said that the current government is illegitimate is secretly controlled with muh KGB?

Didn't Putin bump up his electoral victories last time with some bused-in government workers?
Not saying that all the Russian parties are part of a secret cabal here...just asking if there wasn't a tiny bit of fraud.

There was fraud, undoubtedly, but Putin didn't need it to win. There were five presidential candidates running. Tossing aside Mironov (newbie) and Zhirinovsky (radical) you have Putin vs Zyuganov vs Prokhorov. But here's the thing - Putin is between Zyuganov (commie) and Prokhorov (capitalista) on the issues. That means that Zyuganov voters aren't going to vote for Prokhorov and vice versa. So no matter how you spin it, Putin still wins. He's not an idiot. Why would he risk rigging the election that he's going to win no matter what?

It's Russian for apple, the symbol of the party. They're a center-left pro-EU party; not sure why they call themselves apple though.

I dunno, might be advertising.

If you don't know, you can actually look it up: "Yabloko" is an acronym of the names of its founders: "Я" (Ya) for Grigory Yavlinsky; "Б" (B) for Yuri Boldyrev, and "Л" (L) for Vladimir Lukin, the name meaning "apple" in Russian.

Work so much better than spamming random guesses.

That's probably what you say about the USSR - "there was a choice - support the Communists or gulag!"

Bylat.....Bylat....bylat

Mindless spam is mindless.

That's probably what you say about the USSR - "there was a choice - support the Communists or gulag!"

Do I have to remind you that, in the last election, UR lost 77 seats?

They rigged it so that they lost, that way no one would suspect them of rigging it - duh! /sarcasm

KPRF is so anti-Putin they hardly participated in the 2011 protests.

They made a tactical decision not to look like idiots... clearly they're anti-Putin.

KPRF is so anti-Putin they hardly participated in the 2011 protests.

Zyuganov likes him? Wow...why don't they just form a coalition government then? fuckin christ.

Zyuganov hates him. Don't listen to Ghatawerpya.

Well, it doesn't so, no. Thinking the Russian people support liberals enough for said group to win an election is, frankly, so out of touch with Russians that it borders on delusional. This is a country where people morally equate liberalism and child molestation (e.g. liberast).

Why do you suppose I equate democracy with liberalism?

Because you have no idea what democracy is?

1) The band were Bolshevik agents, causing a schism in the White Movement by playing God Save the Tsar, causing the White representatives to argue with each other (the soldiers stand in reverence, the woman shouts "All power to the Constitutional Assembly!", a Cossack shouts "down with monarchy!"). It is an old Soviet comedy.

2) Yes, it is a great insult to be called a liberal in many circles of Russian society. Certain Russians I know have actually cut off all contact with people they knew because they found out they were liberals.

1. Now I get it!
2. Sounds like half of the American political spectrum, only that half is now what 90% of an entire country's population.

Not really. United Russia's surge in support is fairly recent, unlike Putin's. There was a time when they polled in the 40s. They merged with a social activist group to save their plurality.

[Shofercia]

Better than full economic collapse

Oh, yeah, I forgot you love it when Russians suffer

I never thought I would hear a Stalinist saying "you love it when Russians suffer."

#millionsofdeadrussiansfromdearleader

It's a bit hard to take someone saying "NATO to the Urals!!!" seriously when he's claiming to care for the Russians.

>tfw the crude death rate during the last 5 years of Stalin's tenure is lower than Russia's crude death rate for most of the last 25 years

Welp. Maybe Russia could use something called democracy. Maybe if their policies weren't so anti-West, they could get somewhere.

Yeah, let's take a look at how Russians fared when they had the most pro-Western leaders in power, namely Gorachev and Yetlsin. Why don't we take a look at that Jurmalariik? The average lifespan fell drastically, alcoholism rose rampantly, abortions became more rampant than actual births, hundreds of thousands of Russians, if not millions, disappeared from official records, probably due to elderly deaths from cold and hunger, and as far as the Baltics are concerned, the number of Russians dropped from 1,724,804 to 1,060,267. That's a more efficient drop than Stalin could manage. "Mission Accomplished!" If only we had the charts: http://www.forbes.com/sites/markadomani ... in-russia/

Oh wait, we do. And those are from Forbes, not something that's known as a commie magazine. Maybe if the Westernizers actually cared more about Russia than about ripping off the citizens and sucking massive amounts of Reagan-Bush-Clinton cock, maybe, just maybe, the Westernizers could get somewhere in Russia today.

Being largely involved with the liberasts has definitely hurt the LGBT movement in Russia.

Homophobia was prevalent in the USSR as well, it wasn't as if they were the ones at risk of losing their good reputation. But really the media over there does put lots of effort into associating liberals with gays. I read an interview of this Donbass revolutionary guy, where he described the civil war as "a fight between thousand year old traditions and a Western world that no longer believes in families with a mother and a father."

The anti-LGBT feelings in Russia predate the Ukrainian Crisis, but bad try on trying to tie the duo together.

You know, when they started adopting Western policies was when their death rate started going up. The current death rate is almost twice as high as it was in 1964.

Huh. And Putin is good you said?

Also, I know this is silly, but Putin Huilo

The real Huilo is that you, and those like you, actually think that we, Russians, cherish the 1990s. It doesn't get anymore Huilo than that.

Isn't the Slavic Union prohibited in Russia?

If I were a Russian, I'd support the LDPR.

For the love of Cthulhu, why?

You do realize that you just answered your own question, right Napki?

[Allanea]

Are you suggesting that there are no artificial obstacles in Russia to candidate registration and media exposure? That candidates are not physically threatened and even assaulted?

No, I suggested the opposite; that there's never been a country without these obstacles, so it's rather pointless to single out Russia. As well, attacks on opposition candidates are nearly always performed by supporters of the government, not the government itself, and they've been duly prosecuted. Media exposure is equally as bad as it is here in the U.S., considering that there've been over a hundred candidates for presidency in this election alone, but the media has only given attention to perhaps the top ten, and only the main two parties.

Yes, because every nation is imperfect, we cannot criticize nations that are worse than others.

[Ardoki]

Putin is an authoritarian kleptocratic dictator.

[The Archbishop]

Putin is an authoritarian kleptocratic dictator.

Yes and what's your point?

[Ardoki]

Putin is an authoritarian kleptocratic dictator.

Yes and what's your point?

I was merely stating a fact.

[Ghatawerpya]

Homophobia was prevalent in the USSR as well, it wasn't as if they were the ones at risk of losing their good reputation. But really the media over there does put lots of effort into associating liberals with gays. I read an interview of this Donbass revolutionary guy, where he described the civil war as "a fight between thousand year old traditions and a Western world that no longer believes in families with a mother and a father."

The anti-LGBT feelings in Russia predate the Ukrainian Crisis, but bad try on trying to tie the duo together.

I didn't try to tie the duo together my dear Shof.

[Shofercia]

Speaking of Zhirinovsky, I still come back to watch this whenever I need a good laugh.

You should send that video to PETA

A Russian politics thread? Cool -- thought that went out with Medvedev stepping down.

Speaking of which, how right are Russia's political parties? And whatever happened to Garry Kasparov?

He successfully discredited himself in 2008. One could even say that he checkmated himself.

KPRF is so anti-Putin they hardly participated in the 2011 protests.

No wonder because the 2011 protest were sponosored by the US embassy in an attempt to create a Maidan like that in Ukraine.

No, they weren't.

Can someone with a russian perspective look at my factbook and comment on it from a Russian perspective? Maybe tell me some political issues to address that are talked about in russia but not in america.

That would require a link to your factbook.

Foreign policy wise, I looks like a Sino-Russian entente is being born. That could be potentially dangerous - China has generally been quiet in foreign policy, especially when issues are related to internal issues for other countries. It figures if it tells everyone to leave others alone, its regime would be left alone.

You mean, it looks like Russia thinks a Sino-Russian entente is being born. Despite Russia's boasting, the Chinese have avoided being drawn into Russia's various "projects" (Ukraine, Syria etc.) so far.

Oh Balt, why do you still try?

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/610 ... ainst-ISIS

You mean, it looks like Russia thinks a Sino-Russian entente is being born. Despite Russia's boasting, the Chinese have avoided being drawn into Russia's various "projects" (Ukraine, Syria etc.) so far.

Yeah, China doesn't really want to commit to one side, which makes sense; why would it do that when it can play both sides like a fiddle?

China is backing Russia on Syria, because they need a gateway to the Middle East. China isn't backing Russia in Ukraine, because Russia isn't backing China in the Spratly dispute. They're treating each other as equals.

The only way for Russia to have good relations with the US in my view, is for Donald Trump to win in November of 2016. All of the other GOP candidates and Hillary Clinton have an anti-Russia foreign policy. With Trump, the US could be willing to not interfere in Syria whatsoever.

Pretty sure that Sanders can manage it. Clinton cannot, but then again, what can she manage?

Can I tell you a little secret? When the most popular candidate wins the election because most of the people voted for said candidate, that's known as democracy. I understand that it's a tough concept, but I'm sure you'll get it!

ONly when the candidates are allowed to register freely, compete freely without harrassment, have free access to media, etc. Fairly counting the votes after you've made the race itself unfair is meaningless.

If there's a popular capitalist candidate, (Prokhorov,) registration isn't an issue, nor was he harassed. The problem is that the Western Press takes every single anti-Putin imbecile seriously, and so you get news of these candidates being harassed. Nemtsov, for instance, backstabbed his home city, you think he was going to be elect with the reputation of a backstabber? Or take Navalny - he's a liberal/nationalist/racist - that coalition isn't going to survive a serious challenge.

Can I tell you a little secret? When the most popular candidate wins the election because most of the people voted for said candidate, that's known as democracy. I understand that it's a tough concept, but I'm sure you'll get it!

The actual number of votes and seats still matters, even if the most popular candidate wins. That's why we don't just decide based off of polls and have an official election with ballot counting.

He's talking about the presidential election. If you're going to talk about the parliamentary election, then that's different, and there was more voter fraud than I expected, but here's the thing: no matter how bad it got, UR would've had enough support to sustain a Putin veto, meaning that UR would've still been able to block laws they didn't like.

Putin is an authoritarian kleptocratic dictator.

Wrong. Putin is a democratically elected populist with an occasional authoritarian streak.

Putin is an authoritarian kleptocratic dictator.

Yes and what's your point?

Since you agreed with Ardoki, please explain how Putin is kleptocratic. Here's the definition: Typically this system involves the embezzlement of state funds at the expense of the wider population, sometimes without even the pretense of honest service.

So if Putin is stealing at the expense of the wider population, why has his approval rating never fallen below 60%? Are you sure you want to agree with Ardoki?

[Shofercia]

The anti-LGBT feelings in Russia predate the Ukrainian Crisis, but bad try on trying to tie the duo together.

I didn't try to tie the duo together my dear Shof.

Right, you simply used an issue on which Russia needs improvement, (Gay Rights,) in order to bash Russia's support to prevent ethnic cleansing in the DonBass. Because apparently a country cannot prevent Ethnic Cleansing and promote Gay Rights at the same time... oh wait, it can!

Yes and what's your point?

I was merely stating a fact.

This is OOC. Not IC. While it may be a fact that Putin is a kleptocrat in Ardoki, he most certainly isn't one in Russia. Again, the element required stated: at the expense of a wider population.

[Ardoki]

I was merely stating a fact.

This is OOC. Not IC. While it may be a fact that Putin is a kleptocrat in Ardoki, he most certainly isn't one in Russia. Again, the element required stated: at the expense of a wider population.

You obviously don't understand the difference between OOC and IC. Putin is actually a real person, so he would be considered OOC. Ardoki is in a fictional universe (which Putin, as a real life person, is obviously not part of), so it is IC.

[Ghatawerpya]

I didn't try to tie the duo together my dear Shof.

Right, you simply used an issue on which Russia needs improvement, (Gay Rights,) in order to bash Russia's support to prevent ethnic cleansing in the DonBass. Because apparently a country cannot prevent Ethnic Cleansing and promote Gay Rights at the same time... oh wait, it can!

No, I was giving a particular interesting example of the effects of Russian state media on those who watch it.

[United Marxist Nations]

Homophobia was prevalent everywhere when the USSR existed.

The difference is that some countries have changed since then and others haven't.

Some would say the change in the West is negative. The primary reason though, is that Russian gays weren't in a position to have a movement in the '90's, because they were busy barely scraping by along with everyone else.

[Shofercia]

This is OOC. Not IC. While it may be a fact that Putin is a kleptocrat in Ardoki, he most certainly isn't one in Russia. Again, the element required stated: at the expense of a wider population.

You obviously don't understand the difference between OOC and IC. Putin is actually a real person, so he would be considered OOC. Ardoki is in a fictional universe (which Putin, as a real life person, is obviously not part of), so it is IC.

You do realize you just admitted to your post being wrong in both, OOC and IC, right?

Right, you simply used an issue on which Russia needs improvement, (Gay Rights,) in order to bash Russia's support to prevent ethnic cleansing in the DonBass. Because apparently a country cannot prevent Ethnic Cleansing and promote Gay Rights at the same time... oh wait, it can!

No, I was giving a particular interesting example of the effects of Russian state media on those who watch it.

Which is exactly why you chose a DonBass Rebel...

[Roski]

Can I get a general consensus to what each of these leaders support?

[Ardoki]

You obviously don't understand the difference between OOC and IC. Putin is actually a real person, so he would be considered OOC. Ardoki is in a fictional universe (which Putin, as a real life person, is obviously not part of), so it is IC.

You do realize you just admitted to your post being wrong in both, OOC and IC, right?

So because Putin is a real person he mustn't be corrupt? Do you think corruption doesn't exist or only that real persons can't be corrupt?

[Ghatawerpya]

No, I was giving a particular interesting example of the effects of Russian state media on those who watch it.

Which is exactly why you chose a DonBass Rebel...

If a Donbass rebel says something funny or interesting why shouldn't it be shared? In this case at least, I wasn't trying to smear the Donbass rebels.

[The Archbishop]

Can I get a general consensus to what each of these leaders support?

Check the OP or use a wondrous tool named Google.

[Geilinor]

I didn't try to tie the duo together my dear Shof.

Right, you simply used an issue on which Russia needs improvement, (Gay Rights,) in order to bash Russia's support to prevent ethnic cleansing in the DonBass. Because apparently a country cannot prevent Ethnic Cleansing and promote Gay Rights at the same time... oh wait, it can!

People not liking Euromaidan in the Donbass is ethnic cleansing now?

[Mahdistan]

No, I suggested the opposite; that there's never been a country without these obstacles, so it's rather pointless to single out Russia. As well, attacks on opposition candidates are nearly always performed by supporters of the government, not the government itself, and they've been duly prosecuted. Media exposure is equally as bad as it is here in the U.S., considering that there've been over a hundred candidates for presidency in this election alone, but the media has only given attention to perhaps the top ten, and only the main two parties.

Yes, because every nation is imperfect, we cannot criticize nations that are worse than others.

I didn't say you couldn't, I just answered your statement about the state of Russian democracy. You were implying Russia was undemocratic by holding democracy to ridiculously high standards, without addressing that every other nation would be undemocratic under these.

[Roski]

So Grigory and Mikhail Prokhorov look like good candidates. Its a shame they won't win.

[Mahdistan]

So Grigory and Mikhail look like good candidates. Its a shame they won't win.

Which Mikhail?

[Roski]

So Grigory and Mikhail look like good candidates. Its a shame they won't win.

Which Mikhail?

fixed

[Shofercia]

You do realize you just admitted to your post being wrong in both, OOC and IC, right?

So because Putin is a real person he mustn't be corrupt? Do you think corruption doesn't exist or only that real persons can't be corrupt?

You didn't say that Putin was corrupt, although your attempt to move goalposts have been noted, Ardoki. You called him a kleptocrat. You then went on to pretend that your claim was a fact. Kleptocrats generally don't have have approval ratings in the 60s+ because being a kleptocrat requires stealing from a wide spectrum of the population, instead of just taking a few bribes.

Which is exactly why you chose a DonBass Rebel...

If a Donbass rebel says something funny or interesting why shouldn't it be shared? In this case at least, I wasn't trying to smear the Donbass rebels.

So stating that the DonBass Rebels are at war with the West isn't smearing them?

Right, you simply used an issue on which Russia needs improvement, (Gay Rights,) in order to bash Russia's support to prevent ethnic cleansing in the DonBass. Because apparently a country cannot prevent Ethnic Cleansing and promote Gay Rights at the same time... oh wait, it can!

People not liking Euromaidan in the Donbass is ethnic cleansing now?

You can like or not like, but generally speaking, setting people on fire and shelling schools tends to constitute war crimes.

[Mahdistan]

Which Mikhail?

fixed

Well, I'll say I much prefer that one to Kasyanov. But still, I fear he makes a lot of empty promises; promising to lower taxes and increase civic spending while the economy is already going bad is doubtful at best.