Seriously though, the widely-made prediction is coming true that Russian militarism abroad will be accompanied by even more draconian, oppressive rule at home in the Motherland.
Viktor V. Yerofeyev, a Russian writer, told the New York Times, "On the one hand, the Russian government says the Russian people are the best. On the other hand, it doesn’t trust the people."
I can clarify. There's no contradiction. Putin trusts Russians in the abstract, collectively; he just doesn't trust them as individuals. Understand? Similarly, Putin trusts Ukrainians, er, Novorrossiyans, but he's got 40,000 Russian troops on the border just to make sure no jackrabbits from Pravy Sector or Svoboda try to cross over and rape, pillage and burn their way to Moscow.
Seriously, it makes me sick that Putin is a guy many on the knee-jerk Left in the U.S. and Europe admire, simply because he stands up to Western "imperialism." If these outspoken lefties lived in Russia, Putin would have them breaking rocks and eating snow in Magadan.
P.S. -- My readership in Russia is second only to that in the U.S. Does that mean I should register with the Russian gov't.? Nah, I'm gonna stay anonymous.
P.S. -- My readership in Russia is second only to that in the U.S. Does that mean I should register with the Russian gov't.? Nah, I'm gonna stay anonymous.
By Taylor Berman
May 7, 2014 | Gawker
First curse words, now bloggers: On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new law—referred to as the "blogger's law"—that will require online writers with more than 3,000 daily readers to register with the Roskomnadzor, Russia's media oversight agency.
Under the new law, which also affects microblogs and social networks, popular bloggers will no longer be able to remain anonymous and will be required to publish their names and email addresses.
[Bloggers] will be required to confirm the accuracy of the information they post, to respect the electoral law and to refrain from using swearwords. Using blogs and social networks to "hide or falsify information of general interest" or bring a citizen or group into disrepute will be forbidden. Such vaguely-worded bans are open to every kind of interpretation.
"This law will cut the number of critical voices and opposition voices on the Internet," Galina Arapova, director of the Mass Media Defense Center and an expert on Russian media law, told the New York Times. "The whole package seems quite restrictive and might affect harshly those who disseminate critical information about the state, about authorities, about public figures."
Putin signed the new law just weeks after denouncing the internet as a "CIA project."
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