Putin just doesn’t care. So he’ll just keep on stepping on what we consider basic rights and to hell with what the Western history books will say. The Russian books will get it right, no worries…
This puts Russia’s democratic system to the test. I’m not optimistic that it will work out well. But it WILL galvanize a polarizing response. There is no more middle ground. That country will either become a new model of authoritarianism with a modern market economy, or it will finally follow the West towards greater freedom.
Most Russians prefer order. Nobody will remember Pussy Riot 10 weeks from now. Those poor women won’t survive jail. They’ll get aids or get fed radioactive tea. Putin’s not even really the boss. The apparatus of the KGB is in charge.
I highly recommend “The Man Without a Face — the unlikely rise of Vladimir Putin” by Masha Geesen. The Russian system is utterly corrupt and utterly ruthless. Too many powerful people are making too much rotten money. This wasn’t about Putin, it was about the Orthodox Church which is too important a tool for those in power. Judging by the comments on many boards on Canadian media they have a lot of support here too — or else Russian hired AstroTurf posters got busy the last couple of days.
I earnestly support punishment for these women. Not jail time, but something to make them think about what they have done. Its been sad for me as a Canadian to see fellow Canadians speaking badly about my Orthodox Christian religion. Patriarch Kirill has been badly represented by the media because of two single quotes that have been used over and over without end to indicate that he is some Torquemada. The church came out of a very difficult period and pressed people to overcome the corruption in their society by encouraging them to make moral decisions day to day which will build up the public good. Private decisions for the public good that have to be made when no one is around to cheer and applaud. This is the behaviour that will replace corrupt leaders with moral ones.
Think about it. In Russia this kind of behaviour is looked upon badly not because it represents a legitimate protest but rather it represents an attempt to break down societal order. In this place, Russia, the break-down of societal order means having to pay bribes to get anything done and having to live actually live on your own vegetable garden because your government pension is not enough. It would be like a punk protest in American dust bowl. Really insulting and innappropriate. Putin is corrupt indeed but he has made life better for all of those grandmas and grandpas who could not cope to a new way of life.
And why would Russians respect western countries who lecture them about freedom. These are the same countries that, for instance, had no guilt about deliberately smashing Iraq to bits, letting Iraqi people become victims of a complete societal breakdown in which literally hundereds of thousands of people perished. And they called it freedom! Maybe freedom has been given a new definition. It all looks pretty glib.
For the west somehow behaviour that would not be acceptable in a domestic scene in front of parents and relatives is righteous and good in the public space. Especially if visited on foreign countries. If you will check, this punk group has also performed orgies at a museum and a supermarket. I am pretty certain sex in a public space is cause for arrest here too. If the so-called freedom the west has to offer Russia, Africa and the Muslim world only means rebellion and decadence then these countries will believe that the west has nothing to offer. Although they do, but that is disappearing.
I understand that most people in this country (my country, I was born here) disagree with such a view but I feel it is worth saying so at least it resides in the back of the mind of anyone who would read it.
Putin just doesn’t care. So he’ll just keep on stepping on what we consider basic rights and to hell with what the Western history books will say. The Russian books will get it right, no worries…
OMG! That is so hilarious. Death by a 1000 cuts begins. Once you are the butt of the joke, around the world, you truly are done. Stick a fork in him.
I did time in jail too. For drug trafficking.
The 2 years actually does go by fast.
You’re out before you know it.
Yup, I think I already pointed that out.
” But now the masks are off. Unlikely as it may be, the three members of Pussy Riot have become our first true political prisoners.” – Garry Kasporov
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444375104577595811340186308.html
This puts Russia’s democratic system to the test. I’m not optimistic that it will work out well. But it WILL galvanize a polarizing response. There is no more middle ground. That country will either become a new model of authoritarianism with a modern market economy, or it will finally follow the West towards greater freedom.
Most Russians prefer order. Nobody will remember Pussy Riot 10 weeks from now. Those poor women won’t survive jail. They’ll get aids or get fed radioactive tea. Putin’s not even really the boss. The apparatus of the KGB is in charge.
I highly recommend “The Man Without a Face — the unlikely rise of Vladimir Putin” by Masha Geesen. The Russian system is utterly corrupt and utterly ruthless. Too many powerful people are making too much rotten money. This wasn’t about Putin, it was about the Orthodox Church which is too important a tool for those in power. Judging by the comments on many boards on Canadian media they have a lot of support here too — or else Russian hired AstroTurf posters got busy the last couple of days.
Sad.
I have to say… I must!
I earnestly support punishment for these women. Not jail time, but something to make them think about what they have done. Its been sad for me as a Canadian to see fellow Canadians speaking badly about my Orthodox Christian religion. Patriarch Kirill has been badly represented by the media because of two single quotes that have been used over and over without end to indicate that he is some Torquemada. The church came out of a very difficult period and pressed people to overcome the corruption in their society by encouraging them to make moral decisions day to day which will build up the public good. Private decisions for the public good that have to be made when no one is around to cheer and applaud. This is the behaviour that will replace corrupt leaders with moral ones.
Think about it. In Russia this kind of behaviour is looked upon badly not because it represents a legitimate protest but rather it represents an attempt to break down societal order. In this place, Russia, the break-down of societal order means having to pay bribes to get anything done and having to live actually live on your own vegetable garden because your government pension is not enough. It would be like a punk protest in American dust bowl. Really insulting and innappropriate. Putin is corrupt indeed but he has made life better for all of those grandmas and grandpas who could not cope to a new way of life.
And why would Russians respect western countries who lecture them about freedom. These are the same countries that, for instance, had no guilt about deliberately smashing Iraq to bits, letting Iraqi people become victims of a complete societal breakdown in which literally hundereds of thousands of people perished. And they called it freedom! Maybe freedom has been given a new definition. It all looks pretty glib.
For the west somehow behaviour that would not be acceptable in a domestic scene in front of parents and relatives is righteous and good in the public space. Especially if visited on foreign countries. If you will check, this punk group has also performed orgies at a museum and a supermarket. I am pretty certain sex in a public space is cause for arrest here too. If the so-called freedom the west has to offer Russia, Africa and the Muslim world only means rebellion and decadence then these countries will believe that the west has nothing to offer. Although they do, but that is disappearing.
I understand that most people in this country (my country, I was born here) disagree with such a view but I feel it is worth saying so at least it resides in the back of the mind of anyone who would read it.