[dfwgator]

Putin may very well have started out as a believe in Communism and the Soviet Union, but I see more someone who came to appreciate the writings of Solzhenitsyn.

Contrast with Soviet days, Solzhenitsyn is now required reading in Russian schools....and Solzhenitsyn tried to warn the West, that it was facing destruction from their decadence if they didn’t change their ways.

[bigheadfred]

enough is enough

just sign up for obamacare and vote democrat STRAIGHT ticket with a gay heart

[Luke21]

The gay ideology is now the ideology of the U.S. Kerry and Biden thought the Soviets were just peachy. Now they don’t.

[goldstategop]

A good summary of Russian history. Russians have a sense of having their own civilization, which doesn’t owe anything to any one else. While Russia has emerged from Communism in reasonably good shape - perestroika is a process that will take decades to complete. Dismantling the totalitarian system was the easy part but building a modern, humane and civilized society is very difficult.

Middle class Russians want a society with European values and having the kind of life people in the West have with the freedoms that go along with it. But other Russians fear too fast change and these people are Putin supporters. Its the typical divide between well-educated urban people and working class people in the small towns and countryside.

There are two Russias and while they both agree on Crimea there is hardly a consensus between them on anything else. And with a corrupt and inefficient political system, its remarkable that anything at all actually gets done. And reforming this system is an uphill undertaking. Putin’s policies have not really addressed where Russia needs to go in the future.

[FreeReign]

Ooops you forgot Stalin.

[kabar]

In October 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution gave birth to the deadliest ideology in history - Communism. In less than 100 years, Communism has claimed more than 100 million victims.

Never Forget

A free people cannot afford to forget the evils and the costs of Communism. We must no allow the atrocities of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Ho Chi Minh, and Castro to fade into the background of history. We must not forget the trail of blood and tears this utopian deception has left behind. How:

The Bolsheviks murdered their way into power...

Lenin destroyed hundreds of thousands of Cossacks...

The Kremlin starved to death more than six million in Ukraine...

Mao murdered tens of millions of Chinese peasants during his "Great Leap Forward"...

Ho Chi Minh sent 850,000 Vietnamese to their graves in "education camps"...

Castro buried dissenters in the infamous Isle of Pines...

The student voices of freedom were silenced at Tiananmen Square in Beijing...

[Reaganez]

Ukraine existed before Russia.

That is just a fact.

Kiev was never Russian.

It is like saying the United States existed before England.

And London is an American State or City.

The differences between Russian and Ukrainian are the differences between Spanish and Italian.

Other than this temporary small echo baby boom Russia is in population decline. Russian is as dead as Portuguese.

That is some serious ball washing.

Even for a Putinista.

[Leaning Right]

The idea that anybody should have expected Vladimir Putin to just sit there and watch George Soros, Monsanto, and the US state department to just walk off with the Ukraine is idiotic.

IMHO, Putin is just applying the Russian version of the Monroe Doctrine. If I'm right, then Putin is a Russian James Monroe.

But suppose Putin later on sees the Baltic states as a threat, when there is no threat. And then suppose Putin decides to absorb the Baltic states back into Russia. Then Putin is a Russian Napoleon or a Russian Hitler (take your pick).

Time will tell.

[MUDDOG]

Impressive post! Thanks for writing it. I learned a lot.

[Girlene]

It turns out the sniper killings around Kiev a month ago were the work of the hoodlums WE are supporting, and not that of Yanukovich or Russians:

Sure.

In other words, aside from needing to learn how to pronounce the guy's name properly, commentators like Limbaugh and Hannity need to understand that Putin is primarily responsible for their not needing to rub sticks together to make fire.

I mean, how many times does that make that Russia has bailed our hiney's out of some really awful kind of ****?

Seriously?

[KOZ.]

WOW, a phenomenal bunch of revisionist Russian history.

IE a bunch of bullshit.

Why is it that you putin bootlickers keep pushing this?

[kabar]

2012 State Department Human Rights Report on Russia

The Russian Federation has a highly centralized political system, with power increasingly concentrated in the president, and a weak multiparty political system. The bicameral Federal Assembly consists of a lower house (State Duma) and upper house (Federation Council). Presidential elections in March featured accusations of government interference and manipulation of the electoral process. Security forces generally reported to civilian authorities; however, in some areas of the Northern Caucasus, there were serious problems with civilian control.

The most significant human rights problems during the year involved:

1. Restrictions of Civil Liberties: Following increased mobilization of civil society and mass demonstrations in reaction to elections, the government introduced a series of measures limiting political pluralism. During the year Russia adopted laws that impose harsh fines for unsanctioned meetings; identify nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as “foreign agents” if they engage in “political activity” while receiving foreign funding; suspend NGOs that have U.S. citizen members or receive U.S. support and are engaged in “political activity” or “pose a threat to Russian interests”; recriminalize libel; allow authorities to block Web sites without a court order; and significantly expand the definition of treason. Media outlets were pressured to alter their coverage or to fire reporters and editors critical of the government.

2. Violations of Electoral Processes: Domestic and international observers described the presidential campaign as skewed in favor of the ruling party’s candidate, Vladimir Putin. Procedural irregularities marred voting, with reports of vote fraud, administrative measures disadvantaging the opposition, and pressure on election monitoring groups. Several gubernatorial elections in October were likewise criticized.

3. Administration of Justice: Due process was denied during the detentions and trials of protesters arrested following the May 6 demonstration in Moscow in which a small group of the protestors engaged in violence; in the detention, trial, and sentencing of the members of the punk rock group Pussy Riot, who were charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred; and searches and criminal cases lodged against several political activists. Individuals responsible for the deaths of prominent journalists, activists, and whistleblowers, notably Sergey Magnitskiy, have yet to be brought to be brought to justice. Other problems reported during the year included: allegations of torture and excessive force by law enforcement officials; life-threatening prison conditions; interference in the judiciary and the right to a fair trial; abridgement of the right to privacy; restrictions on minority religions; widespread corruption; societal and official intimidation of civil society and labor activists; limitations on the rights of workers; trafficking in persons; attacks on migrants and select religious and ethnic minorities; and discrimination against and limitation of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons.

The government failed to take adequate steps to prosecute or punish most officials who committed abuses, resulting in a climate of impunity. Rule of law was particularly deficient in the North Caucasus, where conflict among government forces, insurgents, Islamist militants, and criminal forces led to numerous human rights abuses, including killings, torture, physical abuse, and politically motivated abductions.

[KOZ.]

HEY GENIUS

Get back on here and defend the crap you’re smearing.

[VeniVidiVici]

Is there a single oblast in the Ukraine that is dominated by Russian speakers?

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

ping for later read.

[FreeReign]

The future of the Ukrainian people clearly lies with Russia.

All you Ukrainians, 80% of whom don't want to belong to us, belong to us.

[fabian]

“George Soros, Monsanto, and the US state department to just walk off with the Ukraine is idiotic.”
No evidence of that given...yet we know that economically, the Ukrainians are tired of a corrupt government and were willing to die to change it. You sound like you have bough the communist line their.

[mvonfr]

I mean, if I've missed anything or left anything important out here or gotten anything wrong, somebody let me know, but this is the picture I'm seeing

Some minor errors, yes, but otherwise very good work. For instance, Malorossia is not exactly the same as Ukraine, actually it is the South-Eastern part of Ukraine, this is important: we may yet see a Malorossian state emerging from the ruins of Ukraine in its S-E part. And tracing Ukrainian to Kiev and Russian to Suzdal is an oversimplification.

[RitchieAprile]

cool locomotive pics. look like they’d be a bit top heavy in a turn though.

[Navy Patriot]

96 out of 100.