Меня пригласили 4 марта в Общественную Палату на нулевое чтение федерального закона о кибердружинах. Мои комментарии к этому закону с точки зрения блогера и публициста: Основная масса моего материала выходит в американском журнале The Unz Review. Я пишу на многие темы, в том числе и о России. Пишу, в основном, с положительной точки зрения – […]
Евразийская Федерация, 2049. Русского националиста Дмитрия Боброва недавно осудили на 2 года строгого режима за использование экстремистского термина “великий русский народ” и оскорбление чувств социальной группы “всех, кто не белые”. Нет, я даже не преувеличиваю, пойдите почитайте сами! В связи с этой кафкаевщиной, в последнем эпизоде РОГПР мы обсудили как можно лучше избежать колеса взбесившегося россиянского
Reprinted from Facebook (2018/02/15): It’s very uncharacteristic of the Kremlin to blatantly violate international law (they typically make sure to follow its letter). So what explains the increasingly unequivocal signs of Russian military involvement in Crimea? The fact of the matter is that Russia has a legal right to military transit across Crimea SO LONG AS it
Here is the discussion at this on The Russia Debate. My friend and DR commentator Alexander Mercouris correctly predicted this outcome – that Serdyukov would be charged, but that it is a complex case that will take a long time and likely avoid more the more serious allegations in favor of those that can be
The Western narrative on the Navalny case is that it was a selective and political prosecution on trumped up charges. I think that to a significant (but NOT full) extent that this interpretation is basically correct. So given the paucity of convincing counter-narratives, I was extremely pleased to see that Alexander Mercouris, a British lawyer who
Livestream in Russian, English. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE6v0N1uEf4 He’s been found guilty, as expected. The main question is what the sentence will be: Suspended, or a real term. Here is my prediction (which on developments so far might well turn out to be awfully wrong). Discuss. UPDATE: Even if he is found guilty and sentenced, he still has the
The anti-corruption crusader and best hope of the Russian race Navalny will be on trial for embezzlement on April 17th. And it has to be admitted that even many of us who tend to look at the liberal opposition’s claims of repression with a healthy degree of skepticism are now “plagued by vague suspicions.” It’s
Here is the list of US citizens publicly barred from Russia in response to the US Magnitsky List. Are you familiar with any of them? Individuals alleged to be involved in the use and legalization of torture and indefinite confinement of prisoners – the “Guantanamo list”: 1. David Spears Addington – Chief of Staff of
Everybody in the Western media seems to have forgotten Pussy Riot. Well, not forgotten, they still wheel them out every so often as symbols of the repressiveness of the Putin regime – but news of actual developments in the affair have come to a standstill. Which is a pity, because they undermine the commonly accepted
In an interview with Dmitry Nadezhdin, Russia’s chief police officer says that he, as a citizen – if not as a government Minister – supports the return of the death penalty for the worst crimes. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that it ain’t happening. Vladimir Kolokoltsev: “The Death Penalty is Society’s Normal Reaction” The Interior
A PR disaster: Five views on Pussy Riot’s war. Go, read. Comment there if possible. Just a couple more notes: Since I submitted the article, commentator peter made one of the most convincing arguments against the validity of the sentence against Pussy Riot. I suppose this will be raised in PR’s appeal. Just to clarify,
User Jennifer Hor writes: Last time I looked at the financial cost of capital punishment in the US was several years ago and already in the late 1990s – early 2000s, the cost of executing someone was US$8 million in Florida… There are costs involved like the various appeals processes which take up people’s time and
That is, when it happens to show that someone is a mental retard and as such shouldn’t be executed for murder. Just the old liberal hamster wheel logic in action. I’m actually quite indifferent to the DP. But I’m not indifferent to using mental retardation as a defense. If anything it is more of a reason
Alex Mercouris has penned a long and extremely erudite analysis of the case against Pussy Riot. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Go, read. There are just a few things I would add: (1) I think one of the closest historical analogues to this case in Anglo world is the 2 month imprisonment of Nicolas
Via Economist: This makes sense to me. While cannabis is well-known in Russia, attitudes towards it are mostly disparaging where not hostile even in relatively enlightened Moscow. The druggies there tend to be more hardcore anyway. It is a large part of the conversation in the UK – see the debates over what classification it should get