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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Who Is Freer These Days? |
| 2021-04-12 |
| Taki's Mag Those old enough to remember the Cold War will recall, perhaps with some prompting, that the fight with the Soviets was as much a moral war as a political one. It was not that the communists were in error about some item in dispute. The communists were immoral because communism was immoral. Whatever the faults of liberal democracy, it was morally superior to the evils of communist totalitarianism. At the time, this was not a tough case to make. Americans could speak out against the government, while Russians had to suffer in silence. The West had elections and big public spats over policy. Debate in the East was always behind the dreary walls of the communist party. Most important, the West did not have political prisoners, while the East operated camps, even small cities, for their dissidents. A generation later and the roles are not exactly reversed, but it is now possible to argue that Russians are freer than Americans. Putin has his enemies jailed, but that’s now official policy in America. In the case of Putin, he does not relish in the torment of his opponents. There is some hint of shame there. In America, members of the regime take pleasure in tormenting those who speak out against them. Take, for example, the case of Alexey Navalny, the CIA-sponsored critic of Putin who is now in jail. He claims poor treatment at the hands of the government, but he is able to speak to the media about it. In contrast, there are an unknown number of people in jail right now over the January protests. One was beaten by guards to the point where he lost sight in one eye. Unlike with Alexey Navalny, The New York Times and The Washington Post are not demanding Ronald Sandlin be set free. The great and the good are not calling him a political prisoner, despite the fact he is literally in jail for politics. The folks who tell us "democracy dies in darkness" are happy that Ronald Sandlin now lives in darkness at the hands of the state. The political prisoners being held by the Biden regime envy Alexey Navalny. It is not just at the extreme where the moral relationship has reversed. Russian citizens can walk up to the Kremlin and take pictures of it and themselves in front of it without fear of being shot by the army. Americans, on the other hand, will be sent to prison for daring such a radical act. People protest in Moscow all the time. As long as they are peaceful, they are left alone. Protest is banned in Washington now. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #16 Maybe we should move. To Russia or Hungary. Swiss if they'll take us. |
| Posted by: Menhadden Jones5440 2021-04-12 16:53 |
| #15 Re. the article's comparison of Putin's Russia and Woke America: In both countries, major corporations are expected not to cross the regime. However, only Woke America demands that corporate executives make affirmative statements and other shows of loyalty to the ruling party. Woke America now requires outright discrimination against white males in order to achieve "diversity, "inclusion" and "equity" across races, genders and something called "transgenders." These concepts do not exist in Russia. Although the USSR had various schemes to promote Siberian or Tatar or other underrepresented groups, and of course Party members and children of same were privileged while Jews, Armenians and others were openly discriminated against, today's Russia has no such distinctions. In Putin's Russia there is no systematic or widespread, let alone official, discrimination in hiring by private firms or in university admissions. By contrast American universities and firms are now openly discriminating on the basis of gender and race. In Russian job interviews there are no political loyalty tests. In today's Woke America, people are now being fired for incorrect political views-- or even statements that appear to violate Woke pieties. In America today, one who shows any evidence of sympathy for Donald Trump or his policies -- to take one small example, suggesting that perhaps the US should cease promoting lies about Russian "collusion" and stop alienating and demonizing Russia at every turn -- such people are persecuted, slandered, attacked, destroyed financially and reputationally. Frankly, the choice isn't at all difficult. For whites generally and white males especially, today's Woke America is far more repressive -- and dangerous -- than Putin's Russia. Maybe we should move there. Давай, пойдём завтра |
| Posted by: Spaque Lumumba4931 2021-04-12 14:34 |
| #14 ^ |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2021-04-12 13:11 |
| #13 G(r)om, you're misunderstanding how the "Limited Modified Hangout" works. It starts out, "Ok, you're been lied to, but here's the truth..." and they take a small clipping of the truth and staple another layer of lies to it. It's been used to kill half a million people in the West in the last year, but maybe the governments, most of them foreign, that are behind this are only doing it to _you_ for your own good because they like you. Maybe you'll be that one special person. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2021-04-12 12:40 |
| #12 ^So no more posts about USA becoming Nazi Germany in the 'Burg? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2021-04-12 11:29 |
| #11 Ted Nugent said, "Of course America is f*cked up. But it's still the least f*cked up place in the world." Not true, of course. Lichtenstein, Monaco, Switzerland, a few other places are less f*cked up. But you better have the gelt to apply for citizenship. Unlike the US, those places don't let just anyone in... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2021-04-12 11:24 |
| #10 Who's moving to China for the freedom? Bueller? Anyone? |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2021-04-12 11:20 |
| #9 Enjoy your custom-designed Modified Limited Hangout. May it be more gentle to you than the truth. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2021-04-12 11:14 |
| #8 I concede. I eat crow. Your erudition is rivaled only by your superior intelligence & your intellectual integrity, oh mighty sage! |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2021-04-12 11:01 |
| #7 I just thought of the way of finishing the sentence: IF I were an obnoxious troll I could ignore the last thirty years of warfare by other means, which has picked up in the last four years, of which the virus is just one example. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2021-04-12 10:25 |
| #6 The truth is China cares more about killing Westerners, which they're trying to establish ownership over, than it does about killing Laotians, because they already own Laos and don't need to establish ownership over them. BUT: If I were an obnoxious troll.... |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2021-04-12 10:23 |
| #5 Finally, look at Israel's death rate compared to (oh, picking an east asian country at random) Laos's. 6299 deaths versus zero. Maybe Israel is less free than Laos? |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2021-04-12 10:20 |
| #4 Burisma was founded during Yanukovitch's term in office by his environmental minister, Zlochevsky, who basically denied environmental permits to most companies besides the one he owned. Yanukovitch is currently resident in Russia. Noone seems to know where Zlochevsky is living. Biden basically exercised influence during the Obama regime to keep the Ukranians from prosecuting Burisma, which is a Russian front firm paying him money. "Those are just Ukranians Us Poor Russians Have No Control Over" is just another way for the machine to exercise control over you and keep you from seeing what's going on. Or for you to advocate for the Russian branch of the Machine even as the US branch is grinding me down. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2021-04-12 10:14 |
| #3 ^I managed to upset somebody with strongly held opinions - who, unfortunately doesn't understand that there is a difference between Russians and Ukrainians. (I won't ever touch on his profound knowledge of immunology & epidemiology). |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2021-04-12 09:47 |
| #2 Especially from someone who believed all the left-machine's (both locally and from China) stack of lies and half-truths that basically amounted to: none of the treatments worked, so let's ban them and bitch about masking and keep everyone inside instead. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2021-04-12 09:21 |
| #1 If you're going to talk about this without including the context that the Bidens are pretty much owned by the Russians you're talking out of all four sides of your mouth with both your faces. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2021-04-12 09:19 |