President Vladimir Putin’s cruel tyranny is driven by paranoia

[MachineGhost]

Western governments largely ignore what their intelligence services tell them: that the regime in Moscow is a criminal syndicate, fuelled by a noxious ideology of paranoia and supremacy. But in public, politicians such as David Cameron bow and scrape to Mr Putin, hoping for a few crumbs of trade and investment. The West is far too cash-strapped to stand up to Russia, and the Kremlin knows it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... anoia.html

[MediumTex]

Putin's government is the prototype for the modern thugocracy.

Putin has replaced communism with cronyism.  To the average Russian, it probably feels about the same, except the thugs don't wear uniforms anymore.

[dualstow]

Russia was kind of messed up when I was living there (briefly) in 1994. Still, the future looked bright.
I hadn't counted on Putin; never thought things would turn out like this.

[Ad Orientem]

I think one needs to take a less hyperbolic view of things and to be wary of British Slavophobia, which has a venerable pedigree dating at least to the Crimean War. I am in no way defending Putin. Much of what is said in the article and elsewhere is true. Putin is an authoritarian borderline dictator. But he is not some mindless thug, though he may occasionally employ those sorts of people. Nor is he paranoid. Far from it. He is actually quite shrewd with a very good grasp of both domestic (Russian) politics and foreign affairs. He is in many respects one of the most able statesman around when it comes to defending his country's interests. A fact which no doubt irritates those who don't share Russia's worldview.

Putin is a student of what Bismark used to call Real-Politik. There is not much in the form of sentiment that motivates him. Yes he is an unsavory individual on a number of levels. And yes he has permitted a shocking level of corruption among his supporters. But there is a lot more to the man and Russia than the popular caricature of a thuggish dictator presiding over a kleptocracy. It bears reminding that in all of its history Russia has experienced only two very brief periods of what might be called "democracy." Both failed. The first followed the March Revolution of 1917 and lasted only a few months. The second followed the fall of the Soviet Union and the administration of Boris Yeltsin.

For the record I am Russian Orthodox and politically a legitimist/classical conservative, which is to say a monarchist, albeit with libertarian sympathies. And as such I intensely dislike a great deal of what Putin has done and what he stands for. But Russia and its history are complicated and quite different from ours in the United States. It's culture is a thousand years old and in many ways descended from the Eastern Roman Empire, which western historians wrongly insist on calling Byzantine.

For a more nuanced and less hysterical examination I would suggest "The Genius of Vladimir Putin" by Ralph Peters from September of 2011.

There is one incontestably great actor on the world stage today, and he has no interest in following our script. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — soon to be Russia’s president again — has proven remarkably effective at playing the weak strategic hand he inherited, chalking up triumph after triumph while confirming himself as the strong leader Russians crave. Not one of his international peers evidences so profound an understanding of his or her people, or possesses Putin’s canny ability to size up counterparts.

Putin’s genius — and it is nothing less — begins with an insight into governance that eluded the “great”? dictators of the last century: You need control only public life, not personal lives. Putin grasped that human beings need to let off steam about the world’s ills, and that letting them do so around the kitchen table, over a bottle of vodka, does no harm to the state. His tacit compact with the Russian people is that they may do or say what they like behind closed doors, as long as they don’t take it into the streets. He saw that an authoritarian state that stops at the front door is not only tolerable but also more efficient.

Read the rest here...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html

[MediumTex]

Ad, thanks for the perspective.

Some cultures seem to like a "big man" style of political leadership more than others and Putin reminds me of a big man-type of leader.

Russia is certainly free to create whatever kind of state it wants for itself, but Putin's constituency seems to be the incredibly wealthy cronycrats and kleptocrats that have benefited immensely from the dismantling of the communist regime.

Has the Russian middle class and working class seen their lives improve under Putin?  Perhaps life in that segment of society has gotten a lot better and we just don't hear about it much in the U.S.

[Ad Orientem]

In general Russians have seen a remarkable uptick in their standard of living under Putin. No doubt that has contributed to high popularity. The very poor, especially in Russia's vast rural areas still suffer. But the middle class has exploded and a lot of people have gotten extremely rich over there. Moscow, once the capital of Marxism, is now the most expensive city on Earth to live in.

But Russia has big problems too. Setting aside its tilt towards authoritarianism it is also a nation of alcoholics. It is a nation with devastating population demographics and it remains one of the most ethnically cosmopolitan states on the planet. Every major religion is practiced in Russia and there are dozens of languages and dialects spoken. The country spans ten(!) time zones. And it is among the most sparsely populated. Russians have a huge aversion to having children which is going to destroy them if they don't reverse the trend. They have by far the highest abortion rate in Europe.

Crime is rampant and Russia could soon compete with Mexico on the subject of public corruption. Still here are signs of hope all over.

In recent years the Russians raised hundreds of millions to rebuild Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow. It was one of the greatest architectural monuments of the country. Stalin had it knocked down in the 30's and turned into a public swimming pool. They have rebuilt it as close to exactly as it was as was possible.

[dualstow]

Setting aside its tilt towards authoritarianism

Haha, well, I think it's not so much a tilt as a complete embrace. Sure, Russians can vent at the kitchen table. No more NKVD agents watching. But, can they still vent on the Internet now that Putin is making moves to restrict Russian citizens' use of it?

To paraphrase Skyler White, Someone needs to protect Russia from the man who protects Russia.

[clacy]

Some people are just destined to be ruled by thugs and dictators.  They gravitate toward that type of control. 

[MediumTex]

Some people are just destined to be ruled by thugs and dictators.  They gravitate toward that type of control. 

I would say it's a lot of people.

Freedom and liberty are pretty heavy responsibilities.  Politically, it's like walking through a bad neighborhood at night wearing a very nice piece of jewelry.  It's not a question of whether someone is going to try to relieve you of your freedom at some point, it's just a matter of when and how often.

[craigr]

Eastern governments largely ignore what their intelligence services tell them: that the regime in Washington is a criminal syndicate, fuelled by a noxious ideology of paranoia and supremacy. But in public, politicians such as Yoshihiko Noda bow and scrape to Mr Obama, hoping for a few crumbs of trade and investment. The East is far too cash-strapped to stand up to America, and the White House knows it.

[dualstow]

Following the Pussy Riot story with great interest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pussy_Riot

[Jan Van]

Following the Pussy Riot story with great interest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pussy_Riot

Two years prison... "The judge said in the verdict that the three band members "committed hooliganism driven by religious hatred" and offended religious believers."

Does anybody in Russia really believe that's what they got convicted for?

[MediumTex]

Following the Pussy Riot story with great interest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pussy_Riot

Two years prison... "The judge said in the verdict that the three band members "committed hooliganism driven by religious hatred" and offended religious believers."

Does anybody in Russia really believe that's what they got convicted for?

I saw that the charges against them included premeditated hooliganism.

Premeditated hooliganism is surely the most dastardly form of hooliganisn.

[Ad Orientem]

Two years seems a bit stiff to my mind. But I think it is important to recall that what they did was deliberate sacrilege in a church. In any jurisdiction that I know of they would have been arrested and thrown in the clink. I have been, and remain a fierce critic Vladimir Putin's increasingly authoritarian regime. But these women are not the angelic martyrs that the left is making them out to be.

Should the Russian Orthodox Church have forgiven them? Yes, and shame on them for failing to do so. But a court of law is not a church. Their job is to maintain some element of order in society. My approach would have been to sentence them to time served and some particularly unpleasant form of community service coupled with a reminder that it gets very cold in Siberia in case they were ever tempted to re-offend. But Russia has always been a bit more of a law and order country. My understanding of things suggests that this sentence, while a tad harsh by our reckoning, is not exceptional for the offense by Russian standards.

EDIT: It is also worth recalling that Russians are very sensitive to attacks on the church. Millions of Russians were sent to slave labor camps or just murdered outright for their religious beliefs under the Communist regime. This is something that we have no concept of in our enlightened liberal world. There are mass graves all over Russia filled with people whose only crime was their faith. Incitement to religious hatred has a very different meaning for these people.

[MediumTex]

I wonder how much time the "Careless Whisper" saxophone guy would get in Russia?



I don't know if his guerilla saxophone playing tactics rise to the level of premeditated hooliganism, but he clearly annoys authority figures, which is what Pussy Riot seems to be good at doing as well.

Just to make sure I am understanding what happened, in February the band members played one minute of an unauthorized song in front of a mostly empty church before being escorted out, right?  Isn't that what the "Careless Whisper" saxophone guy does everywhere he goes?  It would just never occur to me to think that the "Careless Whisper" saxophone guy might be thrown in prison for two years if he decided to play an anti-Obama song in a church, even if the song included a request that God assist in removing Obama from office.

But as with all of these sorts of things, I suppose Russia is free to arrange its society however it wants to, and if the Russian people are comfortable with locking up a girl band for criticizing a politician in a church, I guess that's their prerogative.

[stone]

The current kleptocracy in Russia is following a blue print drawn up by Harvard economists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_H ... d_Project)

Russia today is a Harvard economist's idea of a neoliberal utopia. My worry is that it is what they would like our countries to be like and are in the process of turning our system over to being.

[MediumTex]

The current kleptocracy in Russia is following a blue print drawn up by Harvard economists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_H ... d_Project)

Russia today is a Harvard economist's idea of a neoliberal utopia. My worry is that it is what they would like our countries to be like and are in the process of turning our system over to being.

Have you read The Shock Doctrine?

It's basically an overview of how this sort of thing is happening all over the world.

[Ad Orientem]

Just to make sure I am understanding what happened, in February the band members played one minute of an unauthorized song in front of a mostly empty church before being escorted out, right?  

Actually it's a bit more than that. First they chose their target carefully. They did this in Christ the Savior Cathedral which is basically like the Vatican for Russian Orthodox Christians. It is also a church that Stalin had knocked down in the 1930's as part of his effort to exterminate Christianity in Russia. It was rebuilt in the 1990's through the donations of ordinary people all over Russia at a time when most were having a hard time feeding themselves. The church in question is widely considered a monument to the millions murdered by the Communists for their religion.

See this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qj3jjbH ... re=related

Secondly they didn't just play a song for a minute. They violated the sanctuary where laymen are not allowed to go, climbed on the altar (a gross sacrilege by itself) and then proceeded to sing a song damning Putin and the Patriarch, mocking the Mother of God, extolling homosexual intercourse and various other things of a highly vulgar nature. According to some sources they also knocked various sacred items from the altar though the sources for that are not from the MSM.

So no, I think what they did goes a bit beyond mild disrespect. It would be akin to neo-Fascists staging a song fest at Yad Veshem.

[MediumTex]

Just to make sure I am understanding what happened, in February the band members played one minute of an unauthorized song in front of a mostly empty church before being escorted out, right?  

Actually it's a bit more than that. First they chose their target carefully. They did this in Christ the Savior Cathedral which is basically like the Vatican for Russian Orthodox Christians. It is also a church that Stalin had knocked down in the 1930's as part of his effort to exterminate Christianity in Russia. It was rebuilt in the 1990's through the donations of ordinary people all over Russia at a time when most were having a hard time feeding themselves. The church in question is widely considered a monument to the millions murdered by the Communists for their religion.

See this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qj3jjbH ... re=related

Secondly they didn't just play a song for a minute. They violated the sanctuary where laymen are not allowed to go, climbed on the altar (a gross sacrilege by itself) and then proceeded to sing a song damning Putin and the Patriarch, mocking the Mother of God, extolling homosexual intercourse and various other things of a highly vulgar nature. According to some sources they also knocked various sacred items from the altar though the sources for that are not from the MSM.

So no, I think what they did goes a bit beyond mild disrespect. It would be akin to neo-Fascists staging a song fest at Yad Veshem.

I watched the video you posted and then I watched the 1:35 video of the Pussy Riot protest in question (http://youtu.be/76172ha6GDk).

The recent protest just looks like a bunch of goofy kids behaving inappropriately.  The video you posted is a shocking atrocity.

I agree that they shouldn't have protested in a church, but I don't know if two years of hard labor has the ring of justice to it.  But as I said, I'm not Russian, and if that's the kind of society that Russians want for themselves, it's not my place to say that they shouldn't lock up whichever protesters they want to lock up.

In fact, it looks like Garry Kasparov was plucked out of the crowd in front of the court protesting the verdict and he is now in jail as well.

[Ad Orientem]

I am not defending the sentence. I would not have gone there myself. But I do think we need to stop treating their behavior as a childish prank. It wasn't. It was a premeditated and very gross sacrilege that was intended to shock and offend an entire people, many of whom have direct memories of the mass murder of the anti-religious Communists. I wouldn't support 2 years hard labor for a similar act if performed on the high altar in St. Peter's in Rome or at Yad Vashem. But I don't think we would see this level of misguided sympathy for the offenders if that was where they had performed their blasphemous act.

[MachineGhost]

Does anybody in Russia really believe that's what they got convicted for?

Two years makes me sick, but they are adults.  Don't poke a tiger in the eye with a stick or be prepared to pay the consequences.  It's just common sense, otherwise we'll have A Clockwork Orange hooligans running fast and loose everywhere.

[Gumby]

Stone!!! Where have you been? Haven't seen you around these parts since March. We've missed you around here.

Not to bring the conversation off topic, but you might be interested to know that shortly after you left, I saw the light and now support the ideas of Economic Democracy. It all makes a lot more sense to me now. You were right. What we have now is not really capitalism.

Anyway, welcome back! Sorry for the interruption. We now return to our regularly scheduled discussion.

[MachineGhost]

NWhat we have now is not really capitalism.

Alternatively, state capitalism may be used (sometimes interchangeably with state monopoly capitalism) to describe a system where the state intervenes in the economy to protect and advance the interests of large-scale businesses. This practice is often claimed to be in contrast with the ideals of both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism.[2]

The main Marxist-Leninist thesis is that big business, having achieved a monopoly or cartel position in most markets of importance, fuses with the government apparatus. A kind of financial oligarchy or conglomerate therefore results, whereby government officials aim to provide the social and legal framework within which giant corporations can operate most effectively.

One of the most prominent examples of Stamocap is modern day Singapore compared to Hong Kong (individual capitalism).

Crony capitalism is a term describing an economy in which success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government officials. It may be exhibited by favoritism in the distribution of legal permits, government grants, special tax breaks, or other forms of dirigisme[1] Crony capitalism is believed to arise when political cronyism spills over into the business world; self-serving friendships and family ties between businessmen and the government influence the economy and society to the extent that it corrupts public-serving economic and political ideals.

[Ad Orientem]

The Russian Orthodox Church has issued a statement appealing for mercy for the band members.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012 ... mercy?lite

[MediumTex]

The Russian Orthodox Church has issued a statement appealing for mercy for the band members.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012 ... mercy?lite

There is something quite funny about a cleric asking for mercy for members of a group called "Pussy Riot".

It's hard to say "Pussy Riot" without feeling kind of silly.  It sounds like something that might happen outside of a K.D. Lang concert.