Questions For Our Russian Friends

[SanteeFats]

I just saw an interview with Ksenia Sobchak. She is being ALLOWED to run against Putin for Russian President ALLOWED
Any way she said that there is a joke in Russia that seems to counter all the pro Putin propaganda.
You can not pick your parents, you can not pick your sex, and you can not pick your president in Russia.
Seems the peaches and cream have curdled and soured.

[palo5]

So?

Does she have an 80% approval rating like Putin?

[SanteeFats]

Originally Posted by palo5

So?

Does she have an 80% approval rating like Putin?

Of course not palo she is not Putin and can not control the "independent" polling agency.
Honestly my friendly comrade if you did not go so far to defend Russia and denigrate all other nations and non-Russian opinions I would hold your positions in a much higher regard. I just don't recall any post you have made where you said yes Russia in some form or the other was culpable at least to some extent. Of course I have not read all you posts, sooooo

[palo5]

Originally Posted by SanteeFats

Of course not palo she is not Putin and can not control the "independent" polling agency

I know, but western agencies confirm Russian polls

[Brecht]

Santee, Russia is not a democracy. But considering the chaos of the 1990s, they're better off with Putin and Russia was able to recover, at least economically. Is Putin a good guy? I don't know if he is. Never met the chap. He's not supposed to be a good or a bad guy but the president of a country with its own interests. I think the best description was delivered by Mr. Putin himself when he said "I'm not your friend. I'm the president of Russia. People often confuse relations between countries with those between people."

At least he managed to get most of the oligarchs in line. They've been looting public property under Yeltsin, getting standing ovations in the West. As long as Russia was on its knees, everything was alright. But as soon as they striked back, we're back at demonizing them. I'm pretty sure palo5 is right with the approval rating of 80%. They have a different political culture and mentality and seem to like a strong leader who is in touch with his people. Sure, there's a lot of propaganda but that's the state of affairs in Russia and it's up to the Russian people whether they wish to go on with that system or to change it. It's not Obama's, Hillary's, Trump's, Merkel's, May's or Soros' business.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by Brecht

...there's a lot of propaganda..

Yes, but there's a big difference

In the East, we knew what not to take literally. But in the West, no propaganda about Russia was ever so ludicrous that they wouldn't swallow it whole, and that's still true today

[SanteeFats]

I am not saying Putin is bad for Russia just the rest of the world as he jockey's to put them back on top.
I noticed the joke was not denied though.

[bowlinggreen]

Originally Posted by palo5

Yes, but there's a big difference

In the East, we knew what not to take literally. But in the West, no propaganda about Russia was ever so ludicrous that they wouldn't swallow it whole, and that's still true today

How true was all the stuff in the "Gulag Archipelago"?

I always wondered about that.

From over here it seems you always have a "strongman" sort of society running when you are on the ups. Either a strong Czar, or a strong party "Boss" (like Stalin) and now Putin.

Below him, a bunch of nobles, or high-up Party apparatchiks, or oligarchs.

And below them, the peasants, getting whipped this way and that depending on the mood of the leaders.

Obviously, similar social structures exist in other countries (it is natural human behavior), but in Russia it always seems, well, more extreme.

In your opinion, can Russia ever function well as a mostly free society with genuine democratically elected representatives? What we always hear is that over there the corruption is staggering, no matter what system is running the show.

[rupertramjet]

I spend much time laughing at the 80% approval rating claimed by the Putin! Is it not strange that our biggest music, TV, media and other stars would not rate that high a rating, yet millions love them, and yet many Russians are unable to see how odd this might appear in the West!

That leaders of any credible, and sometimes not so credible, opposition parties get arrested fo speaking out? Would be like Vince Cable or the bizarre Corbyn being locked up for arguing with the Government! What Russians do not seem to get, is that oppositions and opposition views are what forms a democracy, and of course they think we in the West are stupid, because we question what they accept, because we are allowed to!

[Roubignol]

Originally Posted by palo5

Well, I often told you. There are many westerners in Russia today. Some want money and some want beautiful girls. There's plenty of both. But some want to pervert society with degenerate and decadent western ideas such as homo-ing and foot-fetishing in public

We didn't have this problem before. It's your fault

I've got a question to a still living ex-soviet survivor.

My Polish colleague, who is 60 years old, told me that all the Polish schoolchildren had to read "das Kapital" of Karl Marx at school.

Did you have to read it too as schoolchild in USSR?