Posted on 03/09/2014 12:19:06 PM PDT by elhombrelibre
Former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, addressing thousands of people at the cradle of the uprising against Ukraine's Moscow-backed leader, accused Russia on Sunday of being complicit in police violence against protesters.
To chants of "Russia, rise up", Khodorkovsky, who was jailed for a decade under President Vladimir Putin, told the crowd the Kremlin was lying to its own people by portraying the protesters as "neo-fascists" bent on violence.
Wearing a simple dark anorak and jeans, he addressed the crowd from a stage in Kiev's Independence Square, occupied by protesters since November despite police trying to oust them with force which resulted in about 100 deaths.
"I have been shown what the authorities did here. They did this in agreement with the Russian authorities - more than 100 dead, more than 5,000 wounded," Khodorkovsky told the crowd, who waved back with Ukrainian flags.
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
Sad news for pseudo-conservative Putinistas.
Our Pootie lovers will get over this news pretty damned quick.
Khodorkovsky and his fellow oligarchs stand to gain the most from the parceling out of Ukrainian assets. Follow the $$$$
Yes, it’s true. I remember reading in history how the Stalin admirers could justify everything he did. If he made a pact with Hitler, it was okay. If he crushed the peasants, it was okay. It was the same for the working class. So now we have a thug, really a no good son of a bitch, who oppressed the Russian people as a KGB agent when the Gulag was in full operating condition. He takes advantage of his police state skills to rise to power. He manipulates and even kills journalist. He jails opponents. And there are bozos here on this conservative site who seem as a cool dude despite the fact that he’s an obvious autocrat and an expatiationistic chauvinist. Did any of these newfangled “conservatives” who admire Putin ever read Solzhenitsyn? I doubt it. They’re our version of the low information voter.
An interesting contemporary read:
I’m a conservative who’s read Solzhenitsyn and isn’t particularly fond of Putin, yet I find it hard to get real excited about the Ukraine situation. The notion that it’s a Stalinist/Hitlerian takeover just doesn’t have traction with me. To me it’s basically the loathsome EU versus the loathsome Putin. I’m content to stay on the sidelines and watch cat videos.
Only the Party apparatus has changed. The goal remains the same.
You’re full of it. Solzhenitsyn had no interest in Russian empire and he considered Peter the Great an abomination, unlike Putin who never cared about all the Russian peasants Peter the Great harmed for his autocracy and narcissism. I’m done with you. You’re an obvious admirer of autocracy and a Putinista without any common decency. Go drool over Putin with his shirt off, ya bozo.
Yes, and the Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles, Ukrainians, Belorussians, and even the Russians must pay for Putin’s unchecked autocracy, new found Russian chauvinism, ersatz Orthodoxy, and crony capitalism. The whole world is going to pay for Putin’s self aggrandizement. It’s inevitable and sadly a wonderful thing for the phony conservatives who admire tyranny.
WikiLeaks Cables: Solzhenitsyn Praise for Vladimir Putin
It's pretty obvious whey Snowden ended up in Russia.
Thanks elhombrelibre.
“The notion that it’s a Stalinist/Hitlerian takeover just doesn’t have traction with me.”
The hyperbolic Putin hatred, without regard for the facts, is wearing thin.
What do you think a Machavellian, KGB-trained Russian Nationalist is going to do, when faced with a weak, pansy-a***d US President?
A people's revolution led by oligarchs...ironic isn't it?
“Yes, and the Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles, Ukrainians, Belorussians, and even the Russians must pay for Putin’s unchecked autocracy”
Your hyperbolic BS is getting old.
Yes, if the Open Society institute starts another civil war in Estonia, Russia as the bordering nation may move to restore order.
It seems to me your hyperbolic hate is being directed at the wrong person/persons.
“I have been shown what the authorities did here. They did this in agreement with the Russian authorities”
Just out of curiosity, how does he know?
That’s an interesting story about Solzhenitsyn, in part because it was a wiki-leak that made it public.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afVdnbMd6gA
“Qualified praise...better than Yeltsin and Gorbachev.” Gee, that’s really special. But it doesn’t make as hot for Putin as you are.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.