I suppose one could look at that a this way. If one chooses to ignore that the West doesn’t give a shit about Chechnya. Otherwise all secessionist movements involving the Russian federation are most certainly not within the Russian federation, even if Russian troops are by mere chance vacationing on those areas. With equipment.
I saw that Sean Walker of the Guardian wrote that he saw an armored Russian column entering Ukraine with a colleague of his. However his iPhone was malfunctioning or something cos he didnt manage to take any pictures. The funny thing is that even the illegal government in Ukraine hasnt provided any pictures of Russian armor operating in Ukraine. Weird. From what I have read I am pretty sure that they have a number of quite senior officers of the Russian army acting as “military advisors” to the Ukrainians. What I very much doubt is that they want Ukraine back. The only people who have an interest in occupying Ukraine are Nato types who seem hell bent on “containing” Russia by getting as close to its borders as possible and funding NGOs to “promote democracy and openess” within Russia. In the circumstances Im not entirely surprised the Russians are bit paranoid. Anyways, I never understand the fear of a country with a GDP the size of Portugal and an army almost as big as Turkeys. A couple of decades ago the Russian empire included East Germany and Poland. Now both are part of the American Empire and the new attempt is to pacify Afghanistan to incorporate it. Doesnt seem to me that the Russians are the expansionist hegemonic force we need to worry about. Cos you know, expansionist hegemonic forces they tend to, well, expand.
But hey, whatever sells weapons right?! And Putin gave us Donald Trump didnt he!
I would agree at least as far as realpolitik analysis of what’s happening goes. Not that “everyone does it” and “revenge is sweet” are particularly progressive responses to bad geopolitical behaviour, but I’m sure that Henry Kissinger’s incompetent neoCon imitators (e.g. the ones who messed around in Georgia in the 2000s) would be right on board with them – not the ideological company I choose to keep.
Promotion of separatism aside, I also have no problem stating that the liberal-democratic ideals of the West that Putin is trying to undermine (imperfectly lived up to as they are) are more worthy ones to live up to than the autocratic ideals of Russia (lived up to all too well – headbusting at peaceful demos is a long and more consistent tradition there) that the West has tried to undermine. I suppose one could view those ideals as equivalent – again, not the ideological company I choose to keep, but I’m sure it makes downplaying every instance of the Kremlin’s promotion of right-wing populist movements in the West a lot easier.
Couldnt possibly argue. Its just that I dont see much evidence that the West is trying to live up to its “liberal-democratic ideals” recently. Income distributions in the West suggest something is going very wrong with those ideals and they arnt the only indicators suggestive that we in the West might have lost our way. The Russians of course were never on the right path, but at least things have stopped getting acceleratingly worse for them. In the meantime I get irritated (often irrationally) with people telling me “Putin” when I question whats happening where I live.
I’m a Corbyn-ista, and when I read the Guardian and the BBC these days I have to wade through wad of absurd lies and half understood neo-liberal shibboleths that are peddled at me with a certainty akin to the certainty that Saddam Hussein had WMDs and could use them in 45 mins.
I’m also old enough to remember the lies they told me about the Warsaw Pact being ready to roll its Tanks across Western Europe to steal our food and Mercedes. They didnt - instead their country fell apart from being utterly crap. But that was why we couldnt have “nice things” back when I was young and its often peddled as why we cant have them now. It is, of course, utterly absurd bollox spread by people who make very large sums of money selling WMDs.
“Headbusting at demos”
Very true - I was very careful how I behaved in Moscow for fear that they would do to me what they do to a lot of people of color. However I really dont behave any differently in the US and I have less desire to visit Baltimore of St.Louis precisely because of their long tradition of treating those of African-extraction in a certain way. These traditions seem to die hard - whether in the East or the West. I also remember poll tax riots and Broadwater Farm from up close and personal. Believe me, your friendly British Bobby was more than capable of giving you a good kicking if he caught you in the exercise of your democratic right to protest. And that kicking has a long and impressive tradition also - Peterloo for example.
I think your argument ultimately has to fall back on the idea of power changing hands. Recently in the US power did change hands. Putin has been in charge for a long time in the East. However am I the only one noting that the new government seems to have an awful lot of what might be called “military types” in it. What exactly is the definition of a Military Junta? And does having a choice of two very similar alternatives really amount to a real choice? Probably yes but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Wake me up when you see some real change in the West and I will take your point. A few Western Oligarchs could do with being shaken down a bit.
That’s thanks to “free” market fundamentalists taking firm control of the narrative over the past 35 years and fanning the flames of right-wing populism to maintain it. Putin and his pet oligarchs aren’t much different, though – to say that things have “stopped getting acceleratingly worse” for the average Russian is only true insofar as it’s no longer foreigners imposing the ravages of late-stage capitalism upon them but instead domestic predators who are ahead of their Western counterparts in terms of repression and exploitation. It makes perfect sense for Putin to promote right-wing populism or at least reduced confidence in Western liberal-democratic institutions because doing so makes the world a more amenable place for an autocrat like himself who has to feed his ultra-nationalist supporters with expansionist adventures.
Quite so! But I still think Putins efforts to undermine Western liberal institutions are pretty feeble compared with our own failings.Hillary apparently spent about $1bn on the campaign. Facebook has identified about $100k of “Russian linked” (what is “Russian linked”?) spending. That seems about right to me regarding how important Russian “meddling” is compared to our own oligarchic thieving and the corruption of our own institutions. Plus its way more obvious how we deal with those problems without launching nukes.
I’m not a person of colour and those OMON thugs gave off a menacing tone that I don’t get from even the most chest-beating American cop.
I also had an “interesting” encounter in a restaurant with someone who was either a gangster or FSB apparatchik or both: short weathered guy in his 50s dressed very expensively, out for an evening of fine dining with a hulking bodyguard and a female companion barely out of her teens. I was reviewing the photos I’d took during the day as I waited for my meal and I think he mistook me for taking photos of him. Once I explained what was going on he calmed down a bit, although he all but ordered me to put the phone away. Amusingly, his bodyguard was eager to try up some English with me, before the boss insisted they get back to discussing “beeznus.” As bad as things are in the U.S., we’re not yet at the point where that kind of trio provokes the frisson of fear I felt.
It only seems feeble when someone uses his opponent’s dead weight against him, but the Shirtless Wonder is famously a judo afficianado and knows better. He also has a well-funded propaganda and disinfo and hacking apparatus behind him, and the Facebook ads are only one aspect of the effort.
Been a few years so I forget the name, but it was a fancy Georgian place in a lovely residential neighbourhood with authentic decor (looked kind of like a hunter’s lodge with lots of hunting trophies). Seemed to be a popular spot with the locals.
Here’s a photo I took there before Mr. FSB shut me down:
Could be, but I don’t recall it being in a hotel. This was in the late 2000s, but it had apparently been around for a long time. Everyone recommended that Georgian cuisine was the best kind to have in Moscow and that this particular restaurant was the best place to find it.
Independence from a hostile governing state is rather different. The very point is that democratic expression in the secceeding sub state has been denied or subsumed by a he ruling state. The venerable “Hungarian solution” has long been accepted internationally. Just not by the colonial power usually. So the British general election in 1919 was unilaterally declared by Irish seperatists as a plebiscite on autonomy. When the separatist candidates won a landslide they set up a parliament thus precipitating British military retaliation.
Britain had the army to win any war, but never to govern. So they cut their losses and got out. Spain has just poked a bear/shot itself in the foot.
