Posted on 03/25/2022 10:21:50 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
Captain Farid Chitav and 11 his subordinates from Russian National Guard (Росгвардия) refused to go to Ukraine. Their regiment from Krasnodar was ordered to Ukraine and they objected. They said that they don't have a foreign passport and thus can't cross Russian border legally
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/25/12-national-guards-appeal-dismissal-for-refusing-to-invade-ukraine-a77081
They said that crossing Russian border without a foreign passport (you need for travelling abroad) is illegal and constitutes a felony 322 УК РФ. Thus they can't go. What happened to them? They were all fired. Now they are suing their commandment for firing them illegally
That's very important case for understanding Russian state and well, almost any state in this world. When we are analysing its practices we often use imbecile, meaningless categories like "legal/illegal". Let me introduce much better term - "procedural"
Practices of state, including the Putin's state may not be legal. They absolutely can break Russian law on every level. But that does *not* mean they're random or chaotic. Nope. They're very procedural, much more than regular people can imagine
We often describe Kafka's works as absurdist. But they're not absurdist at all. Kafka was a highly competent and successful bureaucrat valued by his superiors. His narratives are logical. Except it's not human logic, it's procedural logic, logic of a machine
Consider Stalin's purges. They're often described as illegal. Yes, Stalin's state security broke Soviet laws on every level, constantly. But that doesn't mean their actions were chaotic or fully capricious. Nope. They followed procedural logic of bureaucracy
What was the procedure of Stalin's purges? To convict someone, you need to get a confession, "The Queen of all evidences" as Vyshynsky told. After you did get it, you can do whatever with a convict. But you still must get it, there's no way around that. He must confess himself
Of course that created a vast grey zone. State security usually couldn't convict anyone without confession. So they would interpret it very, very broadly. If you say something (however innocent), they can qualify as a confession, you're done. So just shut up or deny everything
A real case. In 1935 NKVD got an anonymous letter that a bunch of Kazan University students are gathering for political talks. One of them is mocking Stalin and Communism, others laugh. Ofc all of them were arrested and interrogated - what did happen exactly?
The guy who joked about Stalin denied everything. His several other friends denied, too. Nope, he's a true Communist and would never mock Stalin, no way. Only two guys responded - yeah, he indeed mocked Stalin, we heard it. Guess what? These two went to jail, others were released
From a human perspective this doesn't make sense. Obviously these two were more willing to cooperate with NKVD and betray their friends? And yet, only they were punished. From procedural perspective it makes total sense. You need to get *anything* that passes for confessions
"I didn't mock Stalin" - doesn't pass for confession
"I never heard him mocking Stalin, he's praising him every day" doesn't pass
"Yes, he mocked Stalin all the time, he's a traitor" - it is a confession. You just confessed you listened to the treasonous talk. To GULAG you go
Again from a standpoint of human logic that's crazy. You jailed these two for listening to treasonous talk but released the one who did this treasonous talk? Yeah, but he didn't confess. Procedural requirements are not met. They did. Procedural requirements are met. Go to GULAG
Let me give you another example. In 1937 the Great Purge and mass arrests started. One guy in St Petersburg belonged to hereditary nobility. He knew he'd be arrested. And they'll be extorting confession. He can deny everything, but they can torture him to death. That's suboptimal
He acted smarter. During the night he went to a store, broke a window. Got inside, filled his bag with valuable stuff and waited for police to come. They came, arrested him. He got 5 years of jail for robbing a store *as a regular criminal*. That's how he survived the Great Purge
If he lived his regular life, he'd be arrested as a political criminal. That's the end. They'd investigate him for more political crimes, adding more charges. But now he chose a different track. Regular criminal track was so much better than a track of a spy/counterrevolutionary
Again that doesn't make sense from a human perspective. If he did a robbery, why can't he also be a spy? But procedurally speaking, it makes total sense. Normal criminals are investigated by regular police. Politicals - by state security. These two different tracks don't mix
So you either wait till state security comes to arrest you for a political crime. Then you are done. Or you can go commit a regular crime to be arrested by regular police. Then you get on a regular criminal track and will be safe in jail. NKVD won't come for you, you're saved
You must fully understand that you're not dealing with humans but with a machine. It's working procedurally, according to a certain algorithm which is ofc full of bugs. Which can be exploited. That's what constitutes much of difference between the poor and the rich in any country
The poor stupidly believe they're dealing with humans. Thus they "follow the rules" and get screwed. Absurd as it may sound, they may even feel proud for following the law, following the common procedure without demanding any special privileges. Of course these idiots will suffer
The rich know they're not dealing with humans but with a procedural mechanism. It can and must be hacked, you just need to find a bug. And they will actively look for it. A rich *will* demand a special treatment and make a case why he deserves it. And they often get it
Consider the Z-invasion. Who was sent there? Well, kids of imbecile broke ass bumpkins who are so brainless that they actually follow the law. Well, if the law says everyone should serve in the army, defend the country, who am I too object? Thus they feed their kids to Moloch
Rich kids don't get to the trenches no matter what is written in the law. Why? Well because smart people don't give a crap about the law. For a smarter, successful person the law is not a moral imperative, but a stupid algorithm to be hacked. And they'll figure out how to hack it
Let's sum up. Legality/illegality is a bad tool for analysing human institutions. Too much moral pathos, too little substance. Much better concept is procedurality. Policies may not be legal, but they absolutely are procedural and thus have bugs which make them easy to hack
Rich smart people correctly understand this procedural nature of human institutions. Thus when dealing with them they have only one question - how to hack them? They are actively looking for bugs, find them and get what they want, in the forms of "privileges" or special treatment
Dumb and poor on the other hand do not understand this procedural nature of institutions. They're so stupid that they see not only human qualities but even a sort of moral authority in a soulless machine. Of course they get screwed. That's how it should be.
More propaganda!
‘s Russian soldiers best and planet!
Each Russian soldier can crush navy seal head with one hand!
LOL
The stories of the Soviet judicial system were sheer madness. Solzhenitsyn documented them in stunning detail.
Those from common law jurisdictions fail to understand the rigidity of countries that follow the Napoleonic Code. The law in a code country is expected to anticipate the law in every situation. If it can’t, it’s a problem, because the judge doesn’t “make law” like in a common law country. Also note that in the former USSR, a passport is just an ID document. A foreign, or travel passport, is required to leave the country, which usually requires paying a bribe to get. If nothing else, these people will get an expensive travel passport without having to pay for it. Such cleverness!
Wrapping up vol. 1 now. Wish I had known about this when I was younger rather than wasting time with Ayn Rand.
“More propaganda!
Russian soldiers best and planet!”
The Chinese army heroic e-tool video pretty much nullifies that Russian bit of trash talk.
From what I’ve seen both sides have a fair share of those trying to avoid this war. I laughed seeing Ukrianian soldiers dressed in womans clothing (were caught) trying to get out the war zones with citizens.
Similar to the Jan 6 “insurrectionists?”
This writer, actually, discusses Russia as a dysfunctional “procedural” state, and uses Russia as a springboard for a greater discussion about the “procedural” nature of states in general. Hence the references to “idiots” (he says this sarcastically, I think) who follow the law and send their kids to be eaten by Moloch in Ukraine, whereas the rich and connected in Russia don’t give a damn about the law, recognizing it for what it is: procedural, machine thinking to be hacked.
Wow, so this is the country that Russia is having a hard time with.
A very interesting perspective. Thank you for posting.
Why are the folk in that image wearing. Croatian uniforms? Could it be this is a photo from a different war?
Dumb and poor on the other hand do not understand this procedural nature of institutions. They're so stupid that they see not only human qualities but even a sort of moral authority in a soulless machine. Of course they get screwed.The government wants to disarm us after 245 yrs 'cuz theyCapisce?
At no point in history has any government ever wanted its people to be defenseless for any good reason ~ nully's son
Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...
In WWII by the order of Stalin, all (about 20,000) Polish POW officers were executed in infamous Katyn massacre.
Only one guy survived.
He was such a critic of Stalin, that Stalin ordered him tried for treason!
They pulled him right from the Katyn railroad station to stand trial in Moscow. He got like 2-3 years, and afterwards got away and testified about the massacre.
Gosh folks don’t want to be shoved head first into the wood chipper
Who knew?
I so wish I’d understood this sooner.
I hear Siberia is nice this time of year.
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