Eastern Europe: Olivier's sphere of influence

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Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

kalstrams posted:

Mental healthcare has been virtually non-existent throughout the Soviet Union.

That's not true, if you say that great leader is not so great, you will get all the medical attention you never needed.

# ¿ Feb 29, 2016 19:38

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 17:10

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

I guess that in Russia "1000 Ways to Die" feels rather bland.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2016 18:32

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Somaen posted:

The tzar is good, it's the boyars that are bad and steal

Pretty much, Putin is loved, the guys working for him are hated because they keep failing Putin and Russia.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2016 11:50

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

anilEhilated posted:

Honestly, the best part about the whole thing is the behavior of police. It's just slowly coming out now so obviously it's not all reliable but you get to hear bits like them escorting the Chinese that rip the remaining Tibetan flags off buildings and columns - and arresting anyone nearby who doesn't belong to the crowd, including an old lady in dressing gown and slippers who just came out to get her mail. Or the billboard that's a threat to public health. Or watching the Chinese take and break videocameras and phones of people recording the whole mess.

Political caricaturists will have material for years.

e: Right, this just in: the well-in-advance booked protest on the Kampa is apparently being cancelled by policemen in riot gear cordoning the whole place off. See, the Chinese president is going to ride past...
Same thing's apparently happening around about eight other announced protest grounds. People can't even get in. Funny thing, the neo-nazi demonstrations last week went through just fine.

Here's the first summary of the whole mess in English-speaking media I found:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3512744/Protests-Chinas-Xi-arrives-Prague.html

Makes our government seem neutral in comparison, though they all fled the Parliament when the Dalai Lama visited, even the foreign minister who used to lead a parliamentarian committee for Tibet.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2016 14:28

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

So, basically, the prosecution hosed it up so badly that the only way the trial could have seen like a victory had been if he died in custody like Milosevic?

# ¿ Mar 31, 2016 22:14

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Goods news everyone, Putin, in his eternal wisdom, have decided to make a new national guard consisting of a few hundred thousands troops with heavy equipment, who will be answerable only to the president and with a license to kill without warning. These troops will deal with terrorists, but also maintain public order in case of large scale protests, and it's a complete coincidence that this happens a few months before the elections.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35975840

# ¿ Apr 7, 2016 16:33

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

It will supposedly include tanks, artillery and helicopters, I guess the navy and the air force will get to keep most of their toys.

Edit: It will also take over the OMON force, so no more reversed images of russian security forces.

quote:

The idea of creating a National Guard (NG) for Russia bringing together public security forces under a single command has been raised periodically and always abandoned for very good reasons, not least the lack of any apparent need to have a Praetorian Guard on steroids. In 2012, for example, I didn�t think it likely: it would upend the balance of power within the security agencies, create a monster, and not really meet any true security need.

So what does it say that Putin today announced that such a natsgvardiya was going to be formed? After a meeting with security luminaries include MVD Interior Troops commander (and new NG head) Viktor Zolotov � a trusted ex-bodyguard � he announced [my translation]:

Decisions have been made: we are creating a new federal executive body on the basis of the Interior Troops � creating the National Guard, which will handle the fight against terrorism, the fight against organised crime, and in close cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will continue to perform those functions which are [currently] performed by the OMON (riot police), SOBR (SWAT) and so on.

We will arrange, as we discussed with the Interior Minister [Vladimir Kolokoltsev], not only in the decree, but in a future federal law, so that there will be no discord in order to get everything working smoothly and clearly. I hope very much that the troops of the National Guard will effectively perform their tasks, as has been the case up now, and that they will strengthen the work on the areas that are considered priorities.

The NG will thus also take over the OMON and SOBR, making it a powerful paramilitary security force, with elements right across the country.

Meanwhile, the Federal Drugs Control Service (FSKN) and Federal Migration Service (FMS) will be brought under the MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs), albeit remaining separate services. (Again, an idea which had been mooted before.) This may be a consolation prize for Kolokoltsev but appears, unsurprisingly, to have been a bitter pill for FSKN chief Viktor Ivanov, moving from independent director to ministerial subordinate.

The creation of a National Guard is a big deal. We await details, but here are a few first observations:

1. No discussion, no lead time. As with so many crucial decisions, this came essentially unheralded, underlining the extent to which policy comes from a small, tight circle around Putin. It is not just that they have good operational security; they also clearly see no reason to prepare the public in advance. This is just the way politics goes these days.

2. Big worries in a little circle. There is no real reason for creating the NG out of the Interior Troops (VV) and other forces unless you have a serious worry about public unrest. Let�s be clear, whatever Putin says the militarised security forces of the VV and now NG have little real role fighting crime or terrorism; they are public security forces, riot and insurrection control and deterrence assets. The OMON and SOBR do play a certain role, but detaching them from the investigations elements of the MVD actually reduces their value in fighting crime. (And the MVD will likely have to recreate some kind of SWAT forces of its own.)

3. Putin�s Own. The NG, as a federal agency, will be directly subordinated to the government, without a minister in the way. With Zolotov at its head, then it is even more clearly a personal, presidential Praetorian force, under a maximalist loyalist. This may not only be a force to keep the masses in check, but also the elite.

4. Upsetting the power ministry balance. In the past, there was a key desire to retain a degree of balance between the various security agencies. The MVD has now been weakened (and having the FMS and FSKN is by no means enough of a recompense), and the Federal Security Service (FSB) has a more direct rival in the domestic security stakes.

Postscript, 6 April: I see from the text of the law that FGUP Okhrany, the private security corporation of the MVD, is being transferred to the NG. This is a major blow to the MVD, as it made quite a bit of revenue for them. It also raises questions about the future of the Vnevedomstvennaya okhrana, the police�s private security department, which was often a good way for cops to do some paid overtime and eke out their salaries. Will they still be able to do this? If not, then that may well be a further encouragement to more petty and predatory corruption by cops seeing their real wages shrink (as bonuses have also already been cut) and options legally to make up the shortfall vanish�

https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2016/04/05/putins-new-national-guard-what-does-it-say-when-you-need-your-own-personal-army/

Rincewinds fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Apr 7, 2016

# ¿ Apr 7, 2016 18:07

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

OddObserver posted:

First President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk has offered to man a machine gun against the Russians a year or so ago. He was somewhere between 80 and 81 or so at the time

Polish version of The Expendables sounds promising.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2016 16:01

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:

Latvia's new 5 Euro collector coin.

Should he not be stealing potatoes from Estland?

# ¿ Apr 18, 2016 19:49

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Brown shirts are old fashioned. At least Polish game developers can get with the times.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/448370/

# ¿ Apr 20, 2016 12:58

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

If their CEO is any indication, you could say they have a slight bend to the right. :v:

quote:

�ISIS [said a] few years ago they will smuggle their members among so called �refugees� and they actually do, we all know that, I suppose? That's the first thing,� Zieliński said. �Second is that sorry, but I don't believe in the positive intentions of most of these �refugees.� Most of them are coming to Europe to live as lazy-rear end social funding suckers. Not for honest work, not to bring anything positive here. Of course, there are some good people among them, who are simply seeking a better life and I don't have anything against them. But it's a small minority among these masses. Third thing is that these Muslim immigrants are not adapting to European culture and customs and they don't intend to and don't even try to convince me it is different. I believe most of Europeans know that nothing good is coming from taking a shitload of these immigrants. So there's nothing to demonize, they've demonized themselves.

�Also, there's nothing about Muslims in general to demonize, just read their holy book and some things are going to be obvious. And don't believe in �it's a matter of interpretation� attitude, as it's complete bullshit.�

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/is-defense-is-islamophobia-the-game

# ¿ Apr 20, 2016 13:11

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Ha ha ha

Trump Adviser�s Ties Raise Security Questions

quote:

Trump�s top adviser, Paul Manafort, has spent much of his recent career working for pro-Russian forces in Ukraine, and doing complex deals for an oligarch with close ties to Putin. And while a Democratic senator has already charged Trump is not responsible enough to receive secret information, Manafort�s deep relationships with top pro-Russian figures raise special concerns.

# ¿ May 6, 2016 20:12

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Russian Olympic Doping Operation Detailed by Lab Chief on the Run

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/sports/russia-doping-sochi-olympics-2014.html?_r=0

Was going to say RIP Grigory but he is apparently not in Russia anymore.

# ¿ May 13, 2016 16:09

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Sorta weird that so many died the year they invaded Ukraine, since I doubt russian generals leads from the front, especially when they are supposed not to be there. Though a fair number shot themselves.

# ¿ May 14, 2016 19:41

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Nenonen posted:

Ukraine won Eurovision with a song about the 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars. It seems like the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will be held in Kiev for the second time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1yzjoNTokk

Putin is going to be pleased about Eurovision being held in the newest russian oblast.

# ¿ May 15, 2016 01:19

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Russian government hackers penetrated DNC, stole opposition research on Trump

quote:

Russian government hackers penetrated the computer network of the Democratic National Committee and gained access to the entire database of opposition research on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to committee officials and security experts who responded to the breach.

The intruders so thoroughly compromised the DNC�s system that they also were able to read all email and chat traffic, said DNC officials and the security experts.

The intrusion into the DNC was one of several targeting American political organizations. The networks of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were also targeted by Russian spies, as were the computers of some GOP political action committees, U.S. officials said. But details on those cases were not available.

...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...b7a0_story.html

Finally we will get to know Trump's glove size.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2016 18:02

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

kalstrams posted:

There's a number of things, in my opinion, that are off compared to the run of the mill anti-terrorism legalese in developed countries.

Mandatory snitching law with up to year in jail. (How are you enforcing this, again?)

Calling and apologising for terrorism on social networks now falls under mass media regulations, up to 7 years in jail. (7 years, really? Is critique of Russian actions of Syria an apologism of terrorism? Alternatively, what isn''t?)

6-month storage of contents of calls and messages made over any communication services. (Not meta-data, exact contents of messages transferred in any form.)

Missionaries must be officially registered and conduct their activities in specially designated buildings. (I like Jehowah's Witnesses about as much as the next normal person around the corner, but you could as well be shooting them on border if this is the regulation.)

Mass protest penalising law contains phrase "other involvement", penalised with jail time from 5 to 10 years. (Could just make at this point a law where people can just be jailed for prophylactic purposes.)

Criminal responsibility for 14-year olds on grounds of mandatory snitching law. ( "I swear to God, officer, Godzilla told me himself he plans to assassinate president Putin.")

Mail parcel content verification for lack of prohibited items and poo poo. (Appears alright at first, but mail carriers are the only responsible part here should anything happen.)

And yeah, on technical side of things 6-month call and message storage for users in Russia is something maybe Google can do, and not necessarily. They'd have to hire half the planet for half a decade to build infrastructure for this, and it would cost something like half of the profits in Russian budget for 2015. Government thinks it won't spend a dime here, but the phone carriers and messaging service providers will, and in the end both customers will suffer increased costs and the government will too - tax income off the profit margins will shrink. Either that, or Russian government has to find one more mountain of gold somewhere to do it. Decryption law (everyone must give FSB all their description keys; Putin publicly told FSB they have 2 weeks now to obtain all of them) is fairly silly too, and to some extent implies that no one responsible has even the slightest idea about encryption, it's forms and widespread. Even if we drop hilarious amount of technical problems with this law, it also violates right to have private conference, as defined in Russian constitution.

Combine it with the new national guard consisting of a few hundred thousand men, answerable to only Putin, he want the ability to ensure that any attempts to stage large scale protests won't happen again after the election this year. The protests in 2012 got attention but did not attract enough to worry Putin, but he wants to ensure that any attempt to repeat the Orange revolution is dead in the water.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2016 19:06

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Truga posted:

In other Balkan news, BiH Pokemon Go players are looking for rare pokemons in minefields now

Heard about it on the radio the other day, rather shocking that 20 years later somewhere between 2.5 - 5 % of Bosnia is still hazardous due to mines, with floods moving mines to "safe" areas.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2016 14:54

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

It's hard repeating Russia's official reports without appearing to be ironic.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2016 15:16

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

RIP Navalnyi.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2016 23:08

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:

Poor, poor Germany.

http://www.thelocal.de/20160826/eastern-europe-pushes-germany-for-joint-eu-army

All those slavs are literally begging for german tanks driving across their vast fields, to counter the machinations of the nefarious russians, but noooo, the Chancellor wants achieve a peaceful economic victory instead. Time to restart Hearts of Iron, I wanted a fun game.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2016 22:58

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Heard something on the news about the prime minster being placed under house arrest, but it seems that is another thing that is being denied.

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/366508.html

# ¿ Aug 30, 2016 16:52

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Putin Says DNC Hack Was a Public Service, Russia Didn�t Do It

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-09-02/putin-says-dnc-hack-was-a-public-good-but-russia-didn-t-do-it

quote:

�Listen, does it even matter who hacked this data?�� Putin said in an interview at the Pacific port city of Vladivostok on Thursday. �The important thing is the content that was given to the public.��
...
There�s no need to distract the public�s attention from the essence of the problem by raising some minor issues connected with the search for who did it. But I want to tell you again, I don�t know anything about it, and on a state level Russia has never done this.

Occasionally I can't help but love Putin being a troll. A troll with 10s of thousands of lives on his consciousness and should die a horrible death, but yes.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2016 16:07

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Dwesa posted:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday announced the creation of peace prize in honor of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, and said he was awarding it to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Maybe Maduro hopes he will bring some toilet paper with him.

edit: for Maduro, there is a shortage of toilet paper (and of many other things) in Venezuela due to economic crisis

Seems like a wasted effort, they should have coordinated with China's new peace award for petty dictators.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2016 09:10

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Yep, it was stupid to give the Nobel Price to Obama for not being Bush, seemed more like a "gently caress you" to Bush than anything else. The Nobel committee often focus on encouraging changes towards more peaceful behavior than rewarding people that have achieved peace, since peace are not often achieved through peaceful means and often involves people on both sides who in a just world would be facing a court trial, if not a firing squad. Which is why they gave the award to the Colombian President in order to encourage the peace negotiations to continue, and Obama was given it as an encouragement for using other means than arms to achieve his goals, and to condemn Bush's war of aggression (still loving stupid).

It could be noted that the Nobel Committee these days have shifted more from center left to center right, which some believe was part of the reason they gave the price to the president instead of giving it to both parts, even if Farc is not recognized as a terrorist organization by Norway (I think?). The Nobel Committee can be a bit pragmatic, since they feel that the reluctant Colombian public needed a push without giving the appearance of rewarding their enemies at the same time. As an anecdote, it's speculated that one of the reasons Theodore Roosevelt got the reward straight after Norway's independence, was not only his mediation between Russia and Japan, but also because the committee were dogmatic enough to realize it would give US a more positive image of Norway, even if Roosevelt was a hardcore imperialist.

You can also say that giving it the President of Colombia was the safe option, the White Helmets had also been considered to be favorites by many, but would been more controversial, since Russia and friends like to harp that they have connections with jihadists and are finaced by the west, not to mention it would been awkward to give the award to an organization that by the end of next year have would have been eradicated, with their members in Assad's mass graves.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2016 17:58

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Lithuania issues booklets to citizens about how to deal with Russian invasion
'It is most important that the civilians are aware and have a will to resist,' says the manual'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/lithuania-booklets-citizens-russian-invasion-civil-defence-a7386246.html

Edit: Reading the comments make me regret reading the comments.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2016 17:20

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Had to check if the notanazi or the green candidate won in Austria, but the election is on sunday. Being 2016, my money is on the notanazi candidate, since this annualis horribilis wont loving end.

Rincewinds fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Dec 2, 2016

# ¿ Dec 2, 2016 19:32

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Did the russians use artillery on a barrack or something?

# ¿ Dec 20, 2016 18:06

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

mobby_6kl posted:

At least everyone knows exactly what he has on his mind!

E: An Enter Air plane with mostly Polish travelers was forced to make an emergency landing at the Prague Vaclav Havel/Ruzyne airport (PRG) due to a bomb threat. Apparently the cops have the suspect but aren't saying if there really was a bomb.
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ct24/domaci/1998757-v-praze-nouzove-pristalo-letadlo-kvuli-hrozbe-bombou-policie-zneskodnila-podezreleho

Pierogi party?

And yes, happy new year, given the last year, let's party like it's 1939.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2017 01:00

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

OddObserver posted:

Speaking of reasons left-wing people should not like Russia: the Duma just passed the first reading (IIRC they need 3?) of a bill reclassifying domestic violence as an "administrative" offense, as opposed to a criminal one, with only one vote against. With this change, if I understand it, the first offense carries no punishment. (Or maybe not, t seeks a bit unclear)

https://meduza.io/cards/pochemu-dekriminalizirovat-poboi-v-rossii-eto-plohaya-ideya

https://meduza.io/news/2017/01/11/zakonoproekt-o-dekriminalizatsii-poboev-v-semie-prinyali-v-pervom-chtenii

It's not at all funny, because thousands of women are killed by domestic violence in Russia.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-21474931

quote:

Domestic abuse in Russia

600,000 women victims of domestic abuse every year
14,000 die from injuries inflicted by husbands or partners each year
Source: Russian interior ministry estimates

# ¿ Jan 13, 2017 16:36

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Monkey see, monkey do.

Jealous Cow posted:

https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/822092216386678785

Because who cares about women am I rite??!???

# ¿ Jan 20, 2017 18:16

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

spacetoaster posted:

Didn't you guys drag your president out of his office and shoot him in the street a few years ago? What happened to those Romanians?

The rest of the leadership had him dragged out and shot him along with his wife, said they been with the revolution all along, and continued in their job like the revolution never happened.

Rincewinds fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Feb 1, 2017

# ¿ Feb 1, 2017 17:57

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:

Here we go, something from the C SPAM Trump thread to bang your head against.

https://twitter.com/jpaceDC/status/827881807467143169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

I guess there was a reason the phone between Trump and Putin wasn't recorded.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2017 18:11

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

cinci zoo sniper posted:

That's just Eastern European big city driving culture. Plenty of countries in Asia are comparably uncanny for pedestrians, in this regard. Problem is that in places like Russia or Pittsburgh, it can be easy to blindside the punishment by being a pope, or white.

loving horrific how in China and Taiwan instead of hit and run they have hit, reverse a few times to assure the victim is dead and then maybe run, in order to get around paying compensation to a possibly maimed victim.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2017 20:17

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

GhostofJohnMuir posted:

So, there have been a fair amount of civilian airlines shot down by various states or their proxies, but how many other cases have their been where the ones who fired the shot tried to completely deny their role instead of casting it as an unfortunate unavoidable accident or suggesting the other party erred in their flightpath?

When Ukraine shot down a Russian passenger plane during joint exercise with Russia, they initially denied that they had done it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia_Airlines_Flight_1812

# ¿ Feb 23, 2017 15:15

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Putin is doing his yearly performance review.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2017 00:15

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

CIA is not protected?

# ¿ Mar 31, 2017 13:08

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

OddObserver posted:

I meant this response came off more like surprise to me, and the media response seems uncoordinated, but it's a lovely basis for speculation on such a sensitive matter.

At any rate they are blaming a suicide bomber from Kazakhstan (different from the man who was dragged all over the media for taking subway while visibly Muslim
earlier in the day).

Guess which country have over 20% russian inhabitants? No, not Ukraine, they have less than 20%, though they are soon going to have a lot of things common.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2017 23:01

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

Grouchio posted:

Has there been any response from Putin yet over Trump's alleged plans to attack his bases in Syria?

https://twitter.com/BBCSteveR/status/850205272123375616

# ¿ Apr 7, 2017 09:19

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 17:10

Rincewinds: Jul 30, 2014; MEAT IS MEAT

That snip makes it sound like they were criticized for letting the siege happen, but they were also criticized for using tanks and flamethrowers in what was supposed to be a hostage rescue.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2017 16:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Eastern Europe: Olivier's sphere of influence

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