Russia/Putin

[Dthoughts]

We have the Sochi olympics and all the commotion that goes with it coming in 2014. Gay marriage thingy in Russia. And generally a lot of dislike for Putin and communism in Russia. I know next to nothing. I know that Putin visited the pope in the recent past and thought that was interesting. I think it is probably tied up with the whole anti-gay policy in Russia and i suspect the pope to make a statement to the christian community that they should respect gays as any other human being. That would make it easier for Putin to change Russian policy against gays. If not, I think Putin should really man up and speak out against homo-hate or he will lose my respect atleast. Speaking of which, i really wonder how much power Putin has as president of a communist country. With all these recent events i thought some of you must have an opinion. Share it here and maybe we can get a discussion going? I'm quite interested to hear how all of us think about the situation in Russia. A rising power, perhaps?

[Xei]

Uhhh Russia stopped being communist about two decades ago? And an anti-homosexual culture is the least of the problems in Putin's country.

[Dthoughts]

Russian political system Ahh, that helps Sure the whole gay thingy in Russia is not the biggest issue there but it certainly is the most well-known issue in Russia. A bunch of dutch greenpeace activists that have been taken to jail without lawful reason have now been released. It really makes you wonder how much more people are being held in jail for (I.E) simply voicing their opinion on political matters.

[Xei]

Only if you've only been watching the news for a year or so. Homosexual prejudice is just the latest concerning thing to emerge from Russia. The politics is very corrupt and politicians or people who stand against Putin often find themselves imprisoned. It's not even confined to within Russia. Last decade Putin had a British national (ex-Russian) murdered in Britain by poisoning him with a radioactive substance.

[DeletePlease]

The man's a dictator. From what I have learned about the Russian system - which admittedly doesn't amount to much - political thought and discourse is largely policed and kept within a certain frame/spectrum/whateverthefuckyouwannacallit/etc. America does the same - what with doctored accounts of history, gross misrepresentations/false arrests/imprisonment/assassinations of past (and often-times current) political dissenters, etc - but Russia takes it to another level. If I remember right, there was also an instance of Putin receiving oral sex under the desk during a press conference of some sort. Since the man himself is rather disgusting (morally, politically, etc), I can't imagine this being an act that this woman enthusiastically agreed to. I assume it had more to do with coercion than it did genuine consent.

[dutchraptor]

The man is a dictator and deserves no respect to begin with. It's meant to be the some kind of year of re-union between the dutch and Russians, but the Russians have insulted the Netherlands like 14 times throughout last year. The list of bad things about Russia is a very long one. To name a few, they supply Syrian troops with weapons, putin himself is anti-gay, he imprisoned his only competitor at the elections for more than a decade, he changed the law so he could serve another term, imprisoned girls for speaking out against him. And these are only the ones we hear about. One of my friends who used to live in Russia said that the only way to communicate with the government or police force was with a few compliments and a bottle of vodka or whiskey.