Russian Liberal Opposition

Perhaps if Putin didn't rule that long, most, if not all, of those sanctions & other measures to weaken the RF economy wouldn't have been imposed at all. His friend Trump is a political corpse now, & Putin may become 1 sooner than any1 expects.

https://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2021/01/29/7281709/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIoHkq84Lc0&t=66s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crcfIuggH3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbRoZyuOijk

-what is it for u to defend Putin & his policies from NZ?

The man has transformed Russia from a place nobody really cared about, to some where where western politicians fear what Putins policies are doing to the average Russian citizen.

Unsubstantiated claims that he is a thief are amusing because he has probably had enormous opportunities to feather his own bed... the west would offer him billions if he would just let them access the thousands of trillions of dollars worth of assets he seems to prefer to deny them.

I think he has courage, and I am not surprised the west wants to demonise him because if the people of the west better understood him they might start wondering why EU leaders are such mealy mouthed who immediately jump to Washingtons commands like a bunch of bitches, and why the leadership of the US for the past 30 years have not transformed the west the way putin has transformed Russia, but instead have actually done what the west now accuses Putin of doing.... rewarding the rich for stealing openly from everyone else.

The main problem for western propaganda is that the corruption and oligarchs in the west don't even bother hiding their manipulation of democracy... 750 billion in bailouts for rich western banks.... no problem... you want to pay working americans 500 bucks... you better work hard to convince me that that wont cause a tear in the fabric of the universe and destroy everything... You can't give money to the peasants!!!!

-no need for that: he can just declassify all relevant info. if he is clean & wants to stay clean!

He is clean. The mud the west throws does not stick because the west lives in mud, and does not understand the concept of bathing.

Someone who points out the emperor has no clothes like Snowden and Assange is all the proof you need... they release mercenaries convicted of cold blooded killing in Iraq but Assange and Snowden cannot be forgiven... because they reveal the corruption goes all the way to the top in the west.

-perhaps now he wouldn't go there, after all the negative publicity.

Well it is not his so I don't see why he would go there... publicity or not... but the publicity is western and really does not effect his ratings as president of Russia.

As much as the west likes to think it is influential... the Russian people haven't listened to them yet... hell if western media was to be believed Killary was going to beat Trump easily...

he didn't spend a single ruble from his pocket on it- a small portion came from the gov. budget but the rest from the oligarchs, i.e. all the Russians they robbed....

So why are you dribbling on about it being his palace then?

-don't change the subject. Other leaders dealt with Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, Hirohito, Brezhnev & Mao, but it's not a valid excuse to absolve them of their crimes.

Yeah, except establishing the crimes of those other leaders is a bit easier and much less politically motivated.

Putins crimes appear to be made up... and even if accurate don't really amount to very much at all.

-mostly thanks to high oil prices, which also allowed the USSR to stand that long.

No. If they really were criminals like the Ukraine for instance, then all the wealth they earned from oil and gas and other resources would be funneled away to private and secret bank accounts in Panama or in Switzerland, while the Russian people will be wonder where all taht money went because it can't be stolen AND be used to build up the economy and restore infrastructure and the military etc etc.

Russia is a significant power today because Putin is NOT a thief... if he was a thief Russia would look like the Ukraine does now which shows you the result of... what 6 years of abuse?

If he was a thief Russia would be four times worse off than the Ukraine is now.

-even if true, it's still not a valid excuse to absolve Putin's circle of their crimes.

What crimes. You haven't mentioned any yet. Nothing that is believable anyway.

-not true, I heard what she said on the video, I do understand Russian.

Was that the video when he first visited her and she accepted his apology, or the second video when Navalnys goons had had the chance to have a chat and she changed her tune?

- show me the evidence it was he or people under him that did it with his knowledge! I can also claim that it was made up by his enemies.

I don't have to show you anything... he was convicted in a Russian court of law... that is where his suspended sentence came from... the one whose parole conditions he flouted which is why he is back in custody and likely wont be let out till he has another court case regarding his violating his parole conditions.

-not to those who r tired of Putin & his lies!

Yeah, school kids mostly, and less than 1% of the adult voting population...

- they let him travel to other cities with killer agents who tried to kill him r bigger criminals, & they went outside the law; & then to Germany, so they violated it too; if his check-in was so needed, the VKS could send a plane to pick him up.

His check in was a requirement of his parole... he didn't check in... for several months before he got sick so being sick is no excuse.

Violating parole means they will probably impose the sentence that was suspended... 3.5 years jail... for the original offence and perhaps an extra year or two for the parole violations.

They were light on him last time... not likely to be as nice this time.

- they manipulated the figures; with new Constitution his earlier terms were annulled, allowing to rule longer & get "elected" again.

You sound like a Trump supporter... but you are a democrat voting for Creepy Joe, so you mean it was Russian Hackers...

The old Constitution was hogwash imposed during Yeltsens reign by Americans. This new Constitution is by Russians and makes rather more sense.

It allows him to stand again two more times but he still has to get the votes to win just like anyone else.

And if he loses the second team is the commies... you can imagine how that will go down in the west.

tell that to all the Ms of poor folks there that will stay poor under Putin.

According to Putins speech at Davos there are less people in the poor category in Russia than there are in the US... the number of people who are considered poor has dropped by a factor of 12.

Maybe that is why he gets voted in?

I wasn't comparing them; Putin is a lot bigger nut to crack.

Comparing two stones in your shoe with a flawless diamond the size of your fist...

I'm expressing my opinion in support of those in Russia who share it.

So am I... you with your 1% and me with my 70%.

MY MENTALITY IS SIMILAR TO THAT OF THE MOST RUSSIANS'

1%.

THE CRIMINAL BUSH WHO WENT AWOL IN THE TX ANG ALSO GOT ELECTED BY FRAUD, SO THEY R EVEN NOW. EVEN IF TRUE, THE WHITE RACISTS R THE MINORITY NOW,& DEMOCRACY IS THE RULE OF MAJORITY.

America is all racist... half are anti white and the other half anti everything else...

https://www.youtube.com/wach?v=SEnRFOBuuxw

https://www.youtube.com/wtch?v=0ENIYHg-vHg

https://www.youtube.com/atch?v=HxqJ6sTR1EA

https://www.youtube.comwatch?v=axW5iEk2JMc

https://www.youtube.co/watch?v=yYgUUg8kYhE

Links without descriptions breaks this forums rules.

Please stop doing that.

Here's Bill Browder assaulting a woman and running across the street to avoid being served a subpoena regarding the lies he told about Magnitski. Bill deserves his own thread.

Just shoot him.

Perhaps if Putin didn't rule that long, most, if not all, of those sanctions & other measures to weaken RF economy wouldn't have been/be imposed at all.

They want Putin gone so they can steal resources from the next schmuk in the presidents chair.

Perhaps Russia should forget about the west and think about its future without them... they are in a better position to do that than any other country on the planet.... they already make most of everything they need... thanks to Putin.

https://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2021/01/29/7281709/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIoHkq84Lc0&t=66s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crcfIuggH3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbRoZyuOijk

Posting links to videos without a description is not allowed on this forum.

The fact that the top link is a Ukrainian site tells me I should start deleting your posts now.

It is up to you.

Perhaps if Putin didn't rule that long, most, if not all, of those sanctions & other measures to weaken the RF economy wouldn't have been imposed at all.

That perhaps says it all, that you think the west should be deciding who runs Russia... I realise that in America there is a very distorted view of what democracy is... it has clearly warped your understanding of it.

No wonder democracy is a dirty word.

Today, many schools have no indoor toilets in Russia. The real incomes came down >10% since 2013, & the RF has 20M below poverty line, or ~every 7th citizen.

List your sources please.

The funny thing is that indoor toilets are sexist and wont be allowed in the US before long....

Tsavo Lion wrote:To be fair, Putin also said that he will kill Chechen terrorists even in toilets.
Today, many schools have no indoor toilets in Russia. The real incomes came down >10% since 2013, & the RF has 20M below poverty line, or ~every 7th citizen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnF9A4sUgZ4

Who finances Navalny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByN4rGHEOKc

20 million ? The USA has almost double that living below the poverty line. 38 million in 2018. The numbers are just coming in for 2020 and covid. Its going to be bad.

US deaths of despair numbers are around the same as communist east Germany in the late 80's. Again. This is pre covid.

Have Western investigative journalists already found out, why in the US-German "movie" the entrance to the so-called "Putin's Palace" is decorated with the coat of arms... of #Montenegro?


https://twitter.com/mfa_russia/status/1355524965697781763

As discussed on this forum numerous times, poverty in Russia is not the same as in the USA.   Russian homeless
rates are vastly lower per capita compared to the USA because Russian own their own apartments and houses
thanks to the USSR lack of rent and private property.   In 1991 everyone's residence was privatized into their
own hands.   When I was in Portland not too long ago, I saw people living in tents in every public property
area such as parks and even adjacent to walkways.   You do not see that sort of thing in Russia.    So
the figure of 20 million by US standards is under 2 million.  

Anyone who thinks that is an exaggeration can go and get stuffed.   The poverty line income in the USA
is $12,490 per year for a single person and  $16,910 for two.   So $4,420 per year is for food and other
essentials and $8,070 is for rent.    That is about $673 per month for rent and $368 per month for food, etc.
In Russia the poverty line wage is 12,000 rubles per month or $156 per month.  

1) The value $368 for food + essentials is absurdly low.   I cannot get by with $600 (US not Canadian for
fair comparison) per month and that means cooking my own food.   Not splurging on take out or restaurants.
And that leaves essentials.   If you want a telephone in the USA and Canada you pay for it.   If you
want power for your lights you pay for it.   So $368 per month is starvation and not a poverty cutoff.

2) $156 per month in Russia can feed one person very well.   Consider:
https://www.russiadefence.net/t7971p900-russian-economy-general-news-11#308007
So less than $50 per month on food is more than enough.   And Russians pay substantially less in real terms for
essential services (telephone, electricity, heating).

The US poverty line is not legitimate and cannot be used to compare with the Russian poverty line directly.  
Using the Russian definition in the USA would move the 38 million to 60-80 million.    Recall that 50 million
Americans have no health care coverage (remove Obummer's plan and use the pre-Obummer system).  
That is an indication of the real poverty rate in the USA, but as the poor in the USA do get free medical
care to some extent, it is not the actual poverty number.

magnumcromagnon wrote:

Have Western investigative journalists already found out, why in the US-German "movie" the entrance to the so-called "Putin's Palace" is decorated with the coat of arms... of #Montenegro?


https://twitter.com/mfa_russia/status/1355524965697781763

Not to be confused with the Russian coat of arms with St. George killing a dragon:

38M? More people are living on food stamps than that.

Regarding the crest of Montenegro on the gates: it's Putin's cunning plan to hide the real identity of this building.

Its unfortunate that this thread is derailed by a fake US sponsored trouble maker who isn't the opposition or liberal.

Ksenia Sobchak asked Putin about the opposition in his 2017 press conference. . And Putin's answer was that Navalny is a Russian Saakashvili. And he says that calling street protests "the opposition" in Russia is like calling the Occupy Wall street protest "the opposition" in the US.

The Liberal Democratic party (13% representation) and the A Just Russia party (6.35% representation) is the liberal opposition in Russia.

The liberal democrats are right-wing.

Hole wrote:The liberal democrats are right-wing.

It all depends on how you want to define these terms. None of the labels we use in the west , work in Russia for these parties.

Navalny and the pro-west "liberals" are about 5% aggregate support.   At one stage Yabloko a liberal party was hitting 15%
support but over the last 15 years it has fizzled into the background for the most part.  

The reason that the west ignores and derides the real Russian opposition parties ("pro-Kremlin opposition") is that none of
them, naturally, have sell-Russia-down-the-river platforms.   By contrast Mr. 2% lunatic fringe support Navalny runs around
calling the 1990s the golden years and claiming that corruption only appeared after Putin took over.   I am not making this
rubbish up.   Since Navalny sings sweet sounding music to the west, which finances him, he is extolled in the western
fake stream media as the Russian Jesus, aka "the opposition leader".   Not "an opposition leader, belonging to the fringe".

I find it rather telling that western propaganda yammers on and on about pro-Kremlin parties when pro-monarch parties
are the basis of western politics.   In Canada we have "Her Majesty's loyal opposition" sitting in the House of Commons
and fringe parties that in aggregate do not get 5% are given token attention but basically ignored.   But in Russia the
exact opposite is supposed to be "normal" because "democracy".   GTFO.

GarryB wrote:

-what is it for u to defend Putin & his policies from NZ?

Unsubstantiated claims that he is a thief are amusing because he has probably had enormous opportunities to feather his own bed... the west would offer him billions if he would just let them access the thousands of trillions of dollars worth of assets he seems to prefer to deny them.- he did it & got $Bs in offshore assets from his nations' resources.

-no need for that: he can just declassify all relevant info. if he is clean & wants to stay clean!

He is clean. The mud the west throws does not stick because the west lives in mud, and does not understand the concept of bathing.-he may just look clean but the RF is now in mud, no matter how many $Bs he laundered & political opponents/protesters he jailed &/ killed.
Someone who points out the emperor has no clothes like Snowden and Assange is all the proof you need... they release mercenaries convicted of cold blooded killing in Iraq but Assange and Snowden cannot be forgiven... because they reveal the corruption goes all the way to the top in the west.- but Putin's Russia isn't different! Let's see what he does with Navalny & his FBK.

-perhaps now he wouldn't go there, after all the negative publicity.

Well it is not his so I don't see why he would go there... publicity or not... but the publicity is western and really does not effect his ratings as president of Russia.-FYI, he went there at least 4 times, & his ratings will go down with ongoing protests, affecting his party on the next Duma election.

he didn't spend a single ruble from his pocket on it- a small portion came from the gov. budget but the rest from the oligarchs, i.e. all the Russians they robbed....

So why are you dribbling on about it being his palace then?- as it's for him & his close circle to use, while the $B being wasted there could be used for the benefit of the ordinary Russians.

-don't change the subject. Other leaders dealt with Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, Hirohito, Brezhnev & Mao, but it's not a valid excuse to absolve them of their crimes.

Yeah, except establishing the crimes of those other leaders is a bit easier and much less politically motivated. Putins crimes appear to be made up... and even if accurate don't really amount to very much at all.- it should be up to the independent courts to issue a verdict, not the riot police & his pocket judges!

-mostly thanks to high oil prices, which also allowed the USSR to stand that long.

No. If they really were criminals like the Ukraine for instance, then all the wealth they earned from oil and gas and other resources would be funneled away to private and secret bank accounts in Panama or in Switzerland,.. -watch the prev. & new videos with CC & authotranslate again. $Ms, if not $Bs were taken out of Russia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT6x_qmVZMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl7i79_UyU4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG9jJSrkh6s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvmZVURY6Cc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JYApKL_o9M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HNI45siQD0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIoHkq84Lc0&t=66s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYgUUg8kYhE&gl=CO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crcfIuggH3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbRoZyuOijk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGTiS_9JFuo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgCP8wG229A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQGSAh8BioY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe7CdMA8eAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KejGTmnev18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyPWPTYf-b0

Russia is a significant power today because Putin is NOT a thief... if he was a thief Russia would look like the Ukraine does now which shows you the result of... what 6 years of abuse?- all those big infrastructure/industrial projects got the oligarchs super rich. The British, Japanese & French built them too in India, Korea, China & Vietnam but got out more in profits, impoverishing & killing a lot more people than they uplifted.

-even if true, it's still not a valid excuse to absolve Putin's circle of their crimes.

What crimes. You haven't mentioned any yet.- others did, & I posted those sources.

-not true, I heard what she said on the video, I do understand Russian.

Was that the video when he first visited her and she accepted his apology, or the second video when Navalnys goons had had the chance to have a chat and she changed her tune?-she was not thinking clearly, & no1 pressured her to decide to press charges after she got better.

- show me the evidence it was he or people under him that did it with his knowledge! I can also claim that it was made up by his enemies.

I don't have to show you anything... he was convicted in a Russian court of law...-no, it's really a Putin's court.

-not to those who r tired of Putin & his lies!

Yeah, school kids mostly, and less than 1% of the adult voting population...-only a small fraction of them demonstrated, the rest were adults.

- they let him travel to other cities with killer agents who tried to kill him r bigger criminals, & they went outside the law; & then to Germany, so they violated it too; if his check-in was so needed, the VKS could send a plane to pick him up.

His check in was a requirement of his parole... he didn't check in... for several months before he got sick so being sick is no excuse.- not true; even if so, the FSB new his whereabouts at all times, so it's not an excuse to claim that he was hiding & was on a run. Also, to use trains & planes, he had to show his internal passport, so the transportation security/police also knew about all his travels & could stop him from going anywhere.

- they manipulated the figures; with new Constitution his earlier terms were annulled, allowing to rule longer & get "elected" again.

You sound like a Trump supporter... but you are a democrat voting for Creepy Joe, so you mean it was Russian Hackers...- I'm not affiliated with any party, we can vote for any1, & regardless being a member or not.
The old Constitution was hogwash imposed during Yeltsens reign by Americans. This new Constitution is by Russians and makes rather more sense.-the referendum on it was also rigged.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/02/vladimir-putin-wins-russia-vote-that-could-let-him-rule-until-2036
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/26/it-looks-like-a-gameshow-russias-pseudo-vote-on-putins-term-limits
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/world/europe/putin-referendum-vote-russia.html

tell that to all the Ms of poor folks there that will stay poor under Putin.

According to Putins speech at Davos there are less people in the poor category in Russia than there are in the US...

the US has 2x more population.

List your sourcesplease.

with pleasure:
Today, many schools have no indoor toilets in Russia. The real incomes came down >10% since 2013, & the RF has 20M below poverty line, or ~every 7th citizen.

Tsavo Lion wrote:[/url]please.

with pleasure:
Today, many schools have no indoor toilets in Russia. The real incomes came down >10% since 2013, & the RF has 20M below poverty line, or ~every 7th citizen.[/quote]

Of course the US has twice the population. But that doesn't absolve the US vis a vis Russia regarding poverty.

The Moscow Times is openly anti Putin and has questionable funding. Radio Free Europe is US state funded media. Bryan McDonald got really pissed off and exposed that "no toilets" demeaning lie in a podcast. I guess I should find it ? To debunk it ? I wont bother. You'll just pick up the next headline from the propaganda sheets.

- he did it & got $Bs in offshore assets from his nations' resources.

Iran has billions in offshore assets and so does Venezuela... and the west has frozen and seized those assets easily enough...

Why would they not do the same with Putins billions?

Unless they don't exist...

-he may just look clean but the RF is now in mud, no matter how many $Bs he laundered & political opponents/protesters he jailed &/ killed.

Laundering money is a process of turning illegally gotten gains into money you can prove is yours... in Putins case you are producing no evidence of either.

.- but Putin's Russia isn't different! Let's see what he does with Navalny & his FBK.

Putin is not doing anything to Navalny, Navalny is being processed by the Russian court system based on Russian laws that Navalny seems to think don't apply to him. There is no need for Putin to get involved at all.

If Putin really wanted him dead are you trying to say he couldn't have had him killed years ago?

Is the all powerful Putin so weak?

The fact is that despite all your bullshit and the bullshit from western media, Navalny is nothing... politically and economically he is no threat to Putin or Russia... he is a clown the west pulls out as the opposition in Russia yet in Russia he is a joke.

Putin should have FSB agents follow him around protecting him from the west because he is worth more alive for Putin than dead, and for the west he would be more valuable dead than alive...

Well it is not his so I don't see why he would go there... publicity or not... but the publicity is western and really does not effect his ratings as president of Russia.-FYI, he went there at least 4 times ,

Dude... your source is Medusa... a company working from... Riga in Latvia... the io country code of its website is British Indian Ocean Territory... yeah... come on... please... I must admit... scrolling down that page there were no swastikas or other nazi symbols, but all the hate was there... damn Russians stopping them from getting their living space in the east...

his ratings will go down with ongoing protests , affecting his party on the next Duma election.

His ratings as told by the Guardian newspaper in the UK... excellent selection choice for sources there... Bellingcat too busy was it?

- as it's for him & his close circle to use, while the $B being wasted there could be used for the benefit of the ordinary Russians.

As posted above it is not his and never was.

- it should be up to the independent courts to issue a verdict, not the riot police & his pocket judges!

It is funny that the west claims Putin controls the courts in Russia but when the court makes decisions they don't like they demand Putin step in and change the decisions... like Pussy Riot and this fuckwit.

He will get what is coming to him.

-watch the prev. & new videos with CC & authotranslate again. $Ms, if not $Bs were taken out of Russia.

Bill Browder took billions himself on his own... there is no question lots of money and resources were stolen, which explains the hate directed towards Putin because he effectively stopped that... that is how he turned Russia around to what it is today.

The Clintons loved Yeltsen... they made a lot of money when he was in charge and that is why they hate Putin so much... he turned off the free money taps.

For some reason Putin thought all Russians should benefit from the resources of Russia... that is communism don't you see... In America and all the countries they impose their rules on someone can buy the mineral rights to ground and strip it of billions of dollars in oil or diamonds or gold and actually pay the land owners very little for the access to that mineral wealth... a few truck drivers earn good money for a decade but at the end of the day it is a few people who make billions, the land is ruined and those who made the billions move on to the next strike.

Putin said no.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT6x_qmVZMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl7i79_UyU4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG9jJSrkh6s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvmZVURY6Cc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JYApKL_o9M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HNI45siQD0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIoHkq84Lc0&t=66s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYgUUg8kYhE&gl=CO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crcfIuggH3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbRoZyuOijk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGTiS_9JFuo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgCP8wG229A

Pretty sure I said in my last post that links without descriptions are not allowed on this forum... last warning.

- all those big infrastructure /industrial projects got the oligarchs super rich.

You need money for big infrastructure and industrial projects, and companies doing legitimate contracts to rebuild a country should be getting rich... that is the honest and legitimate way of getting rich.

Rebuilding a country after it had been brain drained and asset stripped only qualifies as evidence of corruption by the west...

The British, Japanese & French built them too in India, Korea, China & Vietnam but got out more in profits, impoverishing & killing a lot more people than they uplifted.

Those three empires brutalised the third world and enriched themselves in doing so, there is no comparison to Russia rebuilding itself and cutting off the chains the west was busy trying to build into the new Russia so they could continue to milk her for money and resources for decades to come.

others did, & I posted those sources.

Sources from Baltic states and the UK rag media are not sources, they are propaganda sites...

she was not thinking clearly, & no1 pressured her to decide to press charges after she got better.

She said herself she forgave him because it was the Christian thing to do... so now what... she has lost her religion?

Or maybe someone has told her being a martyr to Putin pays good money from western idiots.

-no, it's really a Putin's court.

If it was then the original sentence for stealing 400K dollars would have been done in prison with hard labour for being such a tool of the evil west.

-only a small fraction of them

Using children is despicable... it seems to be a western thing these days with that afghan girl and that stupid greta poo face climate change little bitch.

- not true; even if so, the FSB new his whereabouts at all times, so it's not an excuse to claim that he was hiding & was on a run.

It is not up to the FSB to get him to his appointments, it was a requirement of his sentence. He didn't show up when he was supposed to therefore he violated his parole and now he is facing the consequences.

Also, to use trains & planes, he had to show his internal passport, so the transportation security/police also knew about all his travels & could stop him from going anywhere.

That is a matter for the courts... they gave him every opportunity to do as he was required and he chose not to, so now after being in Germany they picked him up at the border and as he is clearly a flight risk he is in custody and will remain so until he is tried again.

His behaviour will count against him and they wont be so nice this time around hopefully.

-the referendum on it was also rigged.

The Guardian and the New York Times? Two organisations that benefitted greatly from the news Snowden and Assange gave them but they turned on both their sources in a heartbeat... you know... like all good reporters who protect their sources with their honour and their lives... NOT.

the US has 2x more population.

Regardless, the number counted as poor in Russia has reduced 12 fold... how is America coping?

As James Petras explains in a current Eurasian Review article: “The Western media has backed every oligarch, gangster and fraudster who has gone on trial and been convicted during Putin’s term in office. The propagandists tell us the reason for this affinity between the Western media and the gangster-oligarchs is that these convicted felons, who claim to be ‘political dissidents’ and critics of Putin’s rule, have been dispossessed, and jailed for upholding ‘Western values’.

Yeah, western values are stealing resources and money, that is why they support Russian criminals, and why they demonise Putin because he is not a criminal.

with pleasure:

Please.... the Moscow Times... the NYT and the Guardian have years of being total , but the MT is just a bunch of US educated pussies pretending to be journalists.

I wont bother. You'll just pick up the next headline from the propaganda sheets.

I fully understand... these cultists are frustrating... prove them wrong and it changes nothing... not internal reflection... no realisation that what you think you know could be wrong and you are making a fool of yourself.... nah... this is just a game, so next talking point on the list as printed by the US state department or some UK intel agency, and go full speed ahead...

The sad thing is when he makes a good point or says something that is true I am probably not going to believe him...

https://www.ft.com/content/f1a35c6f-d5f7-4550-8539-5a630b381648

Letter: A mistaken analysis leads to bad policy on Russia

I’m afraid the FT (in common with many others) is again getting Russia badly wrong. Gideon Rachman has at regular intervals, from at least February 2012 (“The ice is cracking under Putin”, February 7, 2012) to his latest piece “Navalny is a real threat to Vladimir Putin” (Opinion, January 26) anticipated the early demise of the Putin regime.

Mr Rachman is right on a few things; Alexei Navalny is a good and brave man, and the extent of last week’s demonstrations will have been an unpleasant surprise for the Kremlin. But we have seen all this before, and Mr Putin is still there. Why?

Difficult though it is for us to understand, the fact remains that 100,000 people on Russia’s streets do not outweigh the 60 per cent of Russia’s population who, even at a time of recession and pandemic, prefer the regime they have to whatever a usually malign history might produce to replace it.

And from mistaken analysis flows bad policy. The assertion in your leader (“West needs a strategy to oppose Navalny’s jailing”, FT View, January 27) that “much will depend on western leaders holding Russia to account” is plain wrong. Mr Putin sees the west as malevolently determined to bring down both him and Russia. He has stood immovably against western pressure for a decade. He, and those around him, would see it as a fatal admission of weakness to give an inch as they deal with the Navalny challenge.

Another round of western sanctions would have just three effects. It would boost the story, already propagated by the regime, that Mr Navalny is a western catspaw. It would reinforce the fortress Russia mentality which has united most of the Russian people, the elite and (crucially) the security services behind their president. And it would accelerate Russia’s drift into China’s welcoming orbit.

Sir Anthony Brenton
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK

So TS is bitching about oligarchs making out like murder in Russian projects.   Naturally no metrics are provided to demonstrate
actual corruption.   For example cost overruns and project delays.    The Kerch Strait bridge, one of the all time most complex
engineering projects, was finished ahead of time and on budget.   Every other large scale project in Russia puts the whole
of the west to shame, from the USA, Canada, France, Germany and so on.   Germany has been embarrassing itself with the
Berlin airport project.   For all the wasted money and time, Russia could have built a couple of major terminals.  

The worst case so far in Russia has been the initial stages of the Vostochny cosmodrome.    But Putin cracked the whip and the
crooks faced prosecution.   The project was put back on track in terms of money and timeline.   I would like for TS to produce
a detailed list of failed projects in Russia where the government blew billions (e.g. like the California high speed rail project) with
nothing to show for it and where the oligarchs got a windfall.   Evidence is more than BS smear.   Put up or shut up.

owais.usmani wrote:https://www.ft.com/content/f1a35c6f-d5f7-4550-8539-5a630b381648

Letter: A mistaken analysis leads to bad policy on Russia

I’m afraid the FT (in common with many others) is again getting Russia badly wrong. Gideon Rachman has at regular intervals, from at least February 2012 (“The ice is cracking under Putin”, February 7, 2012) to his latest piece “Navalny is a real threat to Vladimir Putin” (Opinion, January 26) anticipated the early demise of the Putin regime.

Mr Rachman is right on a few things; Alexei Navalny is a good and brave man, and the extent of last week’s demonstrations will have been an unpleasant surprise for the Kremlin. But we have seen all this before, and Mr Putin is still there. Why?

Difficult though it is for us to understand, the fact remains that 100,000 people on Russia’s streets do not outweigh the 60 per cent of Russia’s population who, even at a time of recession and pandemic, prefer the regime they have to whatever a usually malign history might produce to replace it.

And from mistaken analysis flows bad policy. The assertion in your leader (“West needs a strategy to oppose Navalny’s jailing”, FT View, January 27) that “much will depend on western leaders holding Russia to account” is plain wrong. Mr Putin sees the west as malevolently determined to bring down both him and Russia. He has stood immovably against western pressure for a decade. He, and those around him, would see it as a fatal admission of weakness to give an inch as they deal with the Navalny challenge.

Another round of western sanctions would have just three effects. It would boost the story, already propagated by the regime, that Mr Navalny is a western catspaw. It would reinforce the fortress Russia mentality which has united most of the Russian people, the elite and (crucially) the security services behind their president. And it would accelerate Russia’s drift into China’s welcoming orbit.

Sir Anthony Brenton
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK

BS letter from someone who drinks the western MSM propaganda koolaid.

1) Navalny is a grifter crook and has been so before he became the Russian Jesus according to the west. He uses the
western money sent his way to destabilize Russia to live like a typical embezzler. He is an actual ruble billionaire and
lives it up on money supposed to be used to stage a colour rent-a-crowd revolution in Russia.

2) There is no surprise in the Russian government about Navalny's perennial illegal demonstrations. He deliberately instructs
his followers to break the law by blocking major intersections instead of going to the venues in the demonstration permit.
The legal venues are not in the middle of nowhere and are in central urban locations so there is no excuse for violating
the law. But Navalny does not want peaceful demonstrations, he wants to stage BS theater where cops doing their
jobs are claimed by the NATzO MSM as "cracking down" on "peaceful demonstrations". Nobody would be cracking anything
if Navalny and his lemmings followed the legally provided demonstration routes.

3) The NATzO west is actually trying to destroy Russia and Russians. It has nothing to do with Putin aside from his
refusal to bend the knee and take Russia back onto the plantation where Yeltsin put it during the 1990s. NATzO
was singing Yeltsin's praises but demonizes Putin. By any objective metric, Yeltsin was an actual tyrant who did not
even bother reforming the Russian legal system and sent people to do hard time for stealing some bread to eat due
to the economic misery he helped create together with his US advisers and handlers.

The mere fact that no letter will ever be published in the NATzO MSM fully criticizing NATzO's demented anti-Russian
crusade tells you all you need to know where there is a lack of real freedom. And it is not in Russia.

GarryB wrote:

- he did it & got $Bs in offshore assets from his nations' resources.

Iran has billions in offshore assets and so does Venezuela... and the west has frozen and seized those assets easily enough...
Why would they not do the same with Putins billions? Unless they don't exist...-they may do it later, it's not over yet!

-he may just look clean but the RF is now in mud, no matter how many $Bs he laundered & political opponents/protesters he jailed &/ killed.

Laundering money is a process of turning illegally gotten gains into money you can prove is yours... in Putins case you are producing no evidence of either.-u'll dismiss anything I'll produce, why bother? The schemes r being used to make $ off Russian resources, avoid taxes, buy media/sport clubs/teams/luxuries, buy/build real estate & bribe top gov. officials, as FBK videos describe in detail.

.- but Putin's Russia isn't different! Let's see what he does with Navalny & his FBK.

Putin is not doing anything to Navalny, Navalny is being processed by the Russian court system based on Russian laws that Navalny seems to think don't apply to him. There is no need for Putin to get involved at all.- those laws r being twisted to keep all opposition from toppling Putin, just like Lukashenko does for decades now. A 40-year-old protester in Moscow told Reuters: "I understand that I live in a totally lawless state. In a police state, with no independent courts. In a country ruled by corruption. I would like to live differently," she said.
In St Petersburg, Mr Putin's home city, a crowd gathered in a central square and chanted: "Down with the Tsar."

If Putin really wanted him dead are you trying to say he couldn't have had him killed years ago?-he already tried to poison him twice but failed.

Is the all powerful Putin so weak?-his FSB makes mistakes, like any other entity.

The fact is that despite all your bullshit and the bullshit from western media, Navalny is nothing... politically and economically he is no threat to Putin or Russia... he is a clown the west pulls out as the opposition in Russia yet in Russia he is a joke.-not anymore.

Putin should have FSB agents follow him around protecting him from the west because he is worth more alive for Putin than dead, and for the west he would be more valuable dead than alive...-like they did with Nemtsov who was killed near the Kremlin? U don't know what u talking about!

Well it is not his so I don't see why he would go there... publicity or not... but the publicity is western and really does not effect his ratings as president of Russia.-FYI, he went there at least 4 times ,

Dude... your source is Medusa... a company working from... Riga in Latvia...-where else can they feel safe from the FSB & be still close to Russia?

his ratings will go down with ongoing protests , affecting his party on the next Duma election.

His ratings as told by the Guardian newspaper in the UK... excellent selection choice for sources there... Bellingcat too busy was it?-if nothing else, even a stopped clock shows correct time 2x a day.

- as it's for him & his close circle to use, while the $B being wasted there could be used for the benefit of the ordinary Russians.

As posted above it is not his and never was.- it was being built for him as a bribe, & he doesn't need to hold a title to it, just like with those offshore accounts that keep his $Bs under different names. The FSO (Federal Protection Service) & no fly/sail zones around it r meant to guard the top leadership; by ur logic & common sense it has no business guarding it, but it does, just in case he decides to show up, as he did, before & after it's finished.

- it should be up to the independent courts to issue a verdict, not the riot police & his pocket judges!

It is funny that the west claims Putin controls the courts in Russia but when the court makes decisions they don't like they demand Putin step in and change the decisions... like Pussy Riot and this fuckwit. He will get what is coming to him.- Putin will pay for all the crap later 1 way or the other.

- all those big infrastructure /industrial projects got the oligarchs super rich.

You need money for big infrastructure and industrial projects, and companies doing legitimate contracts to rebuild a country should be getting rich... that is the honest and legitimate way of getting rich.-not if they divert $Bs from the budget/loans for their own use.

others did, & I posted those sources.

Sources from Baltic states and the UK rag media are not sources, they are propaganda sites...-but u trust Putin's propaganda too much!

she was not thinking clearly, & no1 pressured her to decide to press charges after she got better.

She said herself she forgave him because it was the Christian thing to do... so now what... she has lost her religion?- there's also the notion of resisting evil & retribution; Orthodox priests & monks fought in many wars & rebellions, w/o being criticized on religious grounds. By pressing charges, she thinks about all the others past & future victims.

-no, it's really a Putin's court.

If it was then the original sentence for stealing 400K dollars would have been done in prison with hard labour for being such a tool of the evil west.- it was commuted only after ICHR stepped in.

-only a small fraction of them

Using children is despicable...-no1 from the FBK was inciting them to come & protest.

Also, to use trains & planes, he had to show his internal passport, so the transportation security/police also knew about all his travels & could stop him from going anywhere.

That is a matter for the courts... they gave him every opportunity to do as he was required and he chose not to, so now after being in Germany they picked him up at the border and as he is clearly a flight risk he is in custody and will remain so until he is tried again.-by the same token, he could have stayed abroad but came back, knowing he'll be arrested, not to be used by the West, but on his own agenda; if he was so dangerous, they would put him under house arrest, instead of letting him travel, presenting an opportunity for FSB to poison him, but big stinking shit hit the fan & blew it in their stupid faces.

the US has 2x more population.

Regardless, the number counted as poor in Russia has reduced 12 fold... how is America coping?

- As a veteran & unemployed, on a fixed income, I'm also poor by the US standards, but would be rich compared to the Russian poor. In ur own mind, not what others say/think, u become rich not when u get a $1M or $100Ms, but when u decide that u have enough. Look at Kuwait, Qatar, KSA, Oman & UAE: such resource rich nation as Russia should have no poor at all; the political & legal system is what led to this.

Nobody would be cracking anything  if Navalny and his lemmings followed the legally provided demonstration routes.

- they couldn't get any permits; in a few cities the police designated the routes & guarded them, w/o any violence, as 1 video I posted showed.

Here r the descriptions:
Actions in support of Navalny in Russia. Detentions and rallies in Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, etc.

"They would also put up anti-tank hedgehogs": why the picture of a cordoned-off Moscow plays against the authorities

"They would also put up anti-tank hedgehogs": why the picture of a cordoned-off Moscow plays against the authorities

Clashes between protesters and riot police: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and other cities. Actions in support of Navalny
English commentary on it, the last 2 paragraphs r the best part: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/31/europe/russia-navalny-protests-intl/index.html

All of them except 1 have CC & translating tool, use it or loose understanding of the true situation there.

It is very easy to stamp out protests like this. Just take the example of America where literally one half of the electorate felt the election was a scam. Look how easily the powers that be scattered the pro-Trump demonstrators. Nothing like federal jail time and large fines to put the fear of God into the "deplorables". Try to get a job or have a future in America with a criminal record. Real consequences. Want to fight the US DOJ? Good luck. 98% conviction rate in cases that go to trial - a rate that would make Stalin proud. I know of one guy who beat a federal rap and it cost him multiple millions in legal fees. You have a spare $5MM sitting around for lawyers? And that was a white collar case - for "domestic terrorism" or "agent of influence of a foreign power" good luck hiring those high powered lawyers...you'll find they are all suddenly "conflicted" and can't take the case. Clearly in the case of Russia the protestors don't fear the repercussions. That is a fatal flaw of any government.

The catch is that there r no decent/good paying jobs outside of gov. anyway.
There is also big shortage of labor force- if more folks r outside of it, more migrants will fill their place, increasing discontent & crime.

Just an FYI, but the protests today we're a total failure. Only 1,500 people in Moscow showed up.

Total was like 8x less than a week before.

A few photos of yesterday's protests, so that their scale is clear:

.-they may do it later, it's not over yet!

Of course... they are waiting till the time is right...

.-u'll dismiss anything I'll produce, why bother?

So far your sources have been terrible. Sources more corrupt than you even suggest Putin to be yourself.

The schemes r being used to make $ off Russian resources, avoid taxes, buy media/sport clubs/teams/luxuries, buy/build real estate & bribe top gov. officials, as FBK videos describe in detail.

But how and why if they have putin in their pocket they don't need illegal schemes.... they can just win the juicy contracts and make money legally... no need to bribe anyone... just get Putin to tell the person in government who decides who gets the contracts to give it to you... it is not hard.

And even if that was true and companies were getting contracts and making lots of money... so what... as long as the jobs are getting done... the bridge to the Crimea is built... road and rail operating now... on time and on budget... who cares if the makers made a tidy sum... they earned it.

That is how contracts work... do the work and get paid.

- those laws r being twisted to keep all opposition from toppling Putin, just like Lukashenko does for decades now.

Twisted... so Navalny embezzling money should be overlooked because he is a Russian hero finding corruption and fighting the evil Putin who has fixed the country and saved it from the wolves.

They should burn Navalny at the stake, the dirty bastard.

A 40-year-old protester in Moscow told Reuters: "I understand that I live in a totally lawless state. In a police state, with no independent courts. In a country ruled by corruption. I would like to live differently," she said.

Poor demented cow... perhaps Zelenski will give her Ukrainian citizenship and she can be free and live life like she was in the EU.

In St Petersburg, Mr Putin's home city, a crowd gathered in a central square and chanted: "Down with the Tsar ."

And 400m down the street a much bigger crowd outside a McDonalds were chanting "we want ice cream".

-he already tried to poison him twice but failed.

If he was actually that incompetent he would not be the threat to western civilisation he currently is... which is why that faggot Navalny is getting all this attention.

-his FSB makes mistakes, like any other entity.

They have killed plenty of real enemies of Russia... in comparison Navalny is a gravy stain... annoying but not worth getting the Makarov out for.

-not anymore.

We will see.

.-like they did with Nemtsov who was killed near the Kremlin? U don't know what u talking about!

Thank you for mentioning him... when he was of no further use to the west they martyred him.... expect they had the same in store for the Skripals and Navalny eventually... once they are no more use they cost money to retain and being dead they would be much more useful and cheaper.

-where else can they feel safe from the FSB & be still close to Russia?

Of course... safe in a nest of NAZIs... they don't need to be in Russia to tell lies about Russia... Goebbels knew that...

-if nothing else, even a stopped clock shows correct time 2x a day.

But they are never right about anything because they have an anti putin anti Russia agenda and would be the last place to look for honest genuine information about the place or the person.

Do you ask the KKK grand dragon about facts regarding people of colour?

- it was being built for him as a bribe, & he doesn't need to hold a title to it, just like with those offshore accounts that keep his $Bs under different names. The FSO (Federal Protection Service) & no fly/sail zones around it r meant to guard the top leadership; by ur logic & common sense it has no business guarding it, but it does, just in case he decides to show up, as he did, before & after it's finished.

As posted above not his and never was.

- Putin will pay for all the crap later 1 way or the other.

I suspect Trump during his second term will start a civil war so we probably will never find out.

.-not if they divert $Bs from the budget/loans for their own use.

They can take out any loans they like... that has never been illegal.

-but u trust Putin's propaganda too much!

I hardly ever hear him say anything, and most of it makes very very good sense to me... it is a shame western politicians didn't keep their traps shut on so many issues like he does.

How much tension was created between Trump and the EU and HATO leaders who when asked about the upcoming 2016 elections said Americans would be mad to vote in Trump and that they looked forward to working with Hillary. When asked by western media about elections in Russia most western leaders think Putin should go... no matter who would replace him.... when Putin is asked about elections in the west he always says it is not for him to comment and that it is for the people of the west to decide... the corruption is clear I know....

By pressing charges, she thinks about all the others past & future victims.

By pressing charges she gets to be in the spotlight and on the western gravy train a little longer... and I am sure it makes her feel special.

- it was commuted only after ICHR stepped in.

Wont happen this time, Russian law is no longer subject to European PC faggot interference any more...

.-no1 from the FBK was inciting them to come & protest.

No, they just turned up to support Russian Jesus...

-by the same token, he could have stayed abroad but came back,

Sounds like he was told to leave by Germany because of some of the racist and outlandish shit he was saying publicly.

knowing he'll be arrested, not to be used by the West, but on his own agenda;

He is a western tool, that ship has sailed.

if he was so dangerous, they would put him under house arrest, instead of letting him travel, presenting an opportunity for FSB to poison him, but big stinking shit hit the fan & blew it in their stupid faces.

What is your fascination with poison... just put him in a holding cell with some big ape whose parents lost all their money in one of his crimes and he would be dead in 10 minutes. Or just don't put cuffs on him and shoot him in the back of the head and say he was killed while trying to escape... it is not hard.

- As a veteran & unemployed, on a fixed income, I'm also poor by the US standards, but would be rich compared to the Russian poor

See, that is rare and unique... a western person feeling better about their situation because they believe if they were in Russia they would be worse off... you never ever hear about that... it simply does not happen.

So because your country has dropped the ball for you, you want to sabotage any bright future Russia might have by supporting a douche bag like Navalny.

I don't agree... I understand you a little better now but don't support your view that to make you feel better the people of Russia need to be sold out to the west and raped like the countries the US deals with.

- they couldn't get any permits;

If they can't get permits then it is accepted world wide that you can just then ignore the law and do as you please... because that is how it works.

he last 2 paragraphs r the best part

CNN? Not even going to click the link.

All of them except 1 have CC & translating tool, use it or loose understanding of the true situation there.

Those sources wouldn't post anything that didn't support their slanted view... not interested.

Good luck. 98% conviction rate in cases that go to trial - a rate that would make Stalin proud.

Well that is the thing... something like 90% plus are plea bargains and don't even go to court... you just bully the guy your arrested and tell them if they don't admit to the crime they will go for a higher sentence... they don't care if you did it... they will even suppress evidence that proves you didn't do it... admit to it and get 2 years and be out in 12 months or plead innocent and go down for 20 years. Poor people, black people... no chance of a decent lawyer... the court appointed lawyer terrible otherwise they would be making the big money... the court appointed lawyer probably has 50 other cases this week... he will probably just tell you to take the plea bargain... which is an automatic conviction...

Another reason I never want to visit the place...

The catch is that there r no decent/good paying jobs outside of gov. anyway.

That is what got Trump elected and why half the population probably still support him... the real question is who is the other half of the population and why did they support Hillary and Creepy Joe... where do they get their money from that they don't care about decent jobs for Americans in America?