- Joined
- Feb 16, 2021
Lots of doomerisms on this thread. One must remember what we are actually talking about in regards to Russia.
Before you go out waving the Russian flag to own the Libs, you should remember what kind of a country we are talking about. Russia is a one-party dictatorship run by an oligarchic elite that considers their own people no better than cattle to the exploited for their own benefit. This elite was born at a time where every school taught the Marxist maxim of "religion is the opium of the masses". They just turned that around and are using a faux-traditional doctrine to keep their own population in line.
In terms of tyranny, this is no different from the globohomo wokeness of the West, it's just imposed on the people from a pseudo-traditionalist angle, where worshipping the state is the greatest virtue imaginable. The average Russian accepts this because he has been indoctrinated from birth to believe that everything the state does is right and everything one sees in the state-owned news is the whole truth. He doesn't have to think about politics, because the state does that for him. It's only when he personally gets his business forcefully foreclosed upon because a fat oligarch with a government job wants it for himself that he starts to reconsider his worldview.
The Russian government speaks a lot about the oppression of Russians and the right of self-determination for peoples, but their own country bans all types of separatism by imposing lengthy prison sentences for talking about separating from Russia, even incidentally. Nowhere in the world is the Russian more oppressed than in Russia,
www.themoscowtimes.com
It's absolutely true that the Western world has been becoming more and more authoritarian in the last two decades, but Russia is at a completely different ballpark. Even before Covid, the government de-facto banned any criticism of them or of government policy. If the government decides something is true, you must accept it uncritically or face either a fine or 15 days in jail. This is enforced even in social media, where I personally know people who have been fined for questioning Russian Covid policies and -numbers.
tass.com
This same government is now looking to make it mandatory for every Russian resident to surrender their biometric data to the state so that you can be tracked everywhere you go. This has already been used to find and track people who have defied the severe corona-lockdowns in Russian urban areas. Moscow has already implemented "face-pay" where the state automatically charges your bank account for simply passing a checkpoint with a camera. This was done as a measure to "prevent the spread of the coronavirus", but will stay in place indefinitely. No matter where you go in Russia, cameras track you. You can't even check into a hotel without showing your mandatory internal passport.
www.hrw.org
www.themoscowtimes.com
The West is going in a shitty direction, but it's not too late for us to change course. We can still make a difference simply by rallying enough people to peacefully resist the woke insanity. Russia is so far gone that it will be incredibly hard for Russians to achieve any semblance of freedom or democracy through any peaceful means. Russia will have to collapse due to its own poverty and decadence and face an another 90s before that happens. Russia is an example of what could happen to the West if the current authoritarians get their way, not something to be emulated.
Before you go out waving the Russian flag to own the Libs, you should remember what kind of a country we are talking about. Russia is a one-party dictatorship run by an oligarchic elite that considers their own people no better than cattle to the exploited for their own benefit. This elite was born at a time where every school taught the Marxist maxim of "religion is the opium of the masses". They just turned that around and are using a faux-traditional doctrine to keep their own population in line.
In terms of tyranny, this is no different from the globohomo wokeness of the West, it's just imposed on the people from a pseudo-traditionalist angle, where worshipping the state is the greatest virtue imaginable. The average Russian accepts this because he has been indoctrinated from birth to believe that everything the state does is right and everything one sees in the state-owned news is the whole truth. He doesn't have to think about politics, because the state does that for him. It's only when he personally gets his business forcefully foreclosed upon because a fat oligarch with a government job wants it for himself that he starts to reconsider his worldview.
The Russian government speaks a lot about the oppression of Russians and the right of self-determination for peoples, but their own country bans all types of separatism by imposing lengthy prison sentences for talking about separating from Russia, even incidentally. Nowhere in the world is the Russian more oppressed than in Russia,

Грани.Ру: Полюдова приговорена к 6 годам общего режима
Военный суд в Москве назначил 6 лет общего режима политактивистке Дарьи Полюдовой. Ее посадили за разговор о "лубянском стрелке" Иване Манюрове и два поста о распаде России, в которых упоминались Шамиль Басаев и Аслан Масхадов. Ранее Полюдова уже отсидела 2 года за публикации.
graniru.org

Crimean Court Sentences Journalist to 6 Years in Prison - The Moscow Times
The sentencing of Vladyslav Yesypenko has been condemned as "politically motivated."
It's absolutely true that the Western world has been becoming more and more authoritarian in the last two decades, but Russia is at a completely different ballpark. Even before Covid, the government de-facto banned any criticism of them or of government policy. If the government decides something is true, you must accept it uncritically or face either a fine or 15 days in jail. This is enforced even in social media, where I personally know people who have been fined for questioning Russian Covid policies and -numbers.

Putin signs law to fight insults to state symbols
The law establishes fines of up to $4,615
This same government is now looking to make it mandatory for every Russian resident to surrender their biometric data to the state so that you can be tracked everywhere you go. This has already been used to find and track people who have defied the severe corona-lockdowns in Russian urban areas. Moscow has already implemented "face-pay" where the state automatically charges your bank account for simply passing a checkpoint with a camera. This was done as a measure to "prevent the spread of the coronavirus", but will stay in place indefinitely. No matter where you go in Russia, cameras track you. You can't even check into a hotel without showing your mandatory internal passport.

The Kremlin’s Quest for Biometric Data
Russian authorities have assigned “state system” status to the country’s uniform biometric database (UBS).

Moscow Metro Introduces ‘World’s First’ Pay-by-Face System - The Moscow Times
The system, named "Face Pay," has been fitted at special turnstiles across the Russian capital’s more than 240 metro stations.
The West is going in a shitty direction, but it's not too late for us to change course. We can still make a difference simply by rallying enough people to peacefully resist the woke insanity. Russia is so far gone that it will be incredibly hard for Russians to achieve any semblance of freedom or democracy through any peaceful means. Russia will have to collapse due to its own poverty and decadence and face an another 90s before that happens. Russia is an example of what could happen to the West if the current authoritarians get their way, not something to be emulated.
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