The "Safe Internet League" is more censorshipWill Russia Start Blocking Websites in Real Time? With the RuNet already plagued by Roskomnadzor blacklists, blogger registration, and the blocking of Twitter accounts with no discernible justification, Russia now wants to introduce an automated real-time filtering system that will block websites that contain “harmful content.” The proposed plan would add a second layer of censorship to Russia's already-pervasive website blacklist system, under which ISPs are required to block all websites containing “calls to riots, extremist activities, the incitement of ethnic and (or) sectarian hatred, terrorist activity, or participation in public events held in breach of appropriate procedures.” According to an ITAR-TASS report, Russia would require ISPs to install “smart filters” that would screen and block “harmful content”, which would presumably be identified based on a pre-determined list of keywords. The “smart filtering” idea and its technical details have been proposed by the Safe Internet League, a Kremlin-loyal NGO partnering with several large Russian ISPs. Safe Internet League executive director Denis Davydov explains that existing blacklists are not great at filtering out dangerous content, and says their system, once installed at the level of ISPs, could analyze web content in real time and easily block offensive pages: Translation We suggest introducing preemptive Internet filtering, which allows us to automatically determine the content of the page queried by the user in real time. The system evaluates the content on the page and determines the category which the information belongs to. In case the category is forbidden, the system blocks the webpage automatically. The typically snarky personalities of the RuNet thought the League's new initiative would do nothing to create a safer online environment — instead, the added layer of algorithmic bureaucracy would only contribute to the existing limits already imposed on netizens in Russia, and would make the users work even harder to access their preferred content. Photographer Anton Martynov mockingly suggested that Russia was succeeding in its bid to “solve the Internet”: Во всём мире бьются и не могут решить, а Лига безопасного интернета в России нашла решение: http://t.co/zXUV1FjkzW — ура, слава России!!! — Anton Martynov (@podakuni) August 4, 2014 The world over is struggling and can't figure this out, but the Safe Internet League in Russia has solved it: http://t.co/zXUV1FjkzW – hooray, glory to Russia!!! Blogger Ilya Varlamov was incensed at the new filtering initiative: Лига безопасного интернета предлагает ввести в России предфильтрацию контента“ Успокойте их кто-нибудь, а? — Ilya Varlamov (@varlamov) August 4, 2014 Safe Internet League proposes implementing pre-filtering of content in Russia. Somebody please calm them down, would you? Internet entrepreneur Gaidar Magdanurov thought the Safe Internet League's efforts were entirely counterproductive: “Лига Безопасного Интернета” продолжает бороться с Интернетом – http://t.co/tWOpMBLIGt — Gaidar Magdanurov (@gaidar) August 4, 2014 “Safe Internet League” continues to fight the internet – http://t.co/tWOpMBLIGt. Earlier this summer, Duma deputy Yelena Mizulina had already proposed an automated Internet filtering system in an attempt to protect the minds of Russia’s youngsters. Mizulina demanded that the Internet service providers block “adult” Web content by default in an effort to create a “Clean Internet.” Consumers would be allowed to opt out of the filtration system, but only by making a special request to their ISP. Davydov says developers at the Safe Internet League have already tested their two-step filtration model in Kostroma and Omsk regions, as well as the Komi Republic, and have found it works quite well (or so he says). Should the system go into broader use, it will generate a significant escalation of state attempts to control the Russian Internet. Users have found multiple ways of getting around blocks generated by blacklists, using VPNs and other circumvention tools to view their favorite blacklisted websites. If the “smart filtering” system is indeed implemented, one can only guess how quickly Russian netizens will learn to work around the new, ever-pervasive Internet controls. https://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/08/08/will-russia-start-blocking-websites-in-real-time/
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Medvedev signs order banning anonymous Wi-FiAccess to the Internet will be possible upon registration, where a user will have to give the full name confirmed by an ID MOSCOW, August 08. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed an order banning anonymous access to the Internet in restaurants, metro, parks and other places offering Wi-Fi connections, the government reports on its website. The document reads communication operators will be responsible for identifying users. Access to the Internet will be possible upon registration, where a user will have to give the full name “confirmed by an ID.” Besides, hardware is to be identified, too. http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/744055Hello north korea 
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Russian blogger law puts new restrictions on Internet freedoms
OFF TOPIC NOPE. |
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Russian blogger law puts new restrictions on Internet freedomsBy Michael Birnbaum July 31 MOSCOW — Russia’s shrinking space for freedom of expression on the Internet is set to constrict further Friday, as tough regulations go into effect that will give Russian authorities powerful oversight over the country’s most-read online personalities, including opposition bloggers and politicians. The restrictions come as some of Russia’s most prominent independent online news Web sites have been blocked or gutted in recent months, and at a crucial juncture in the Ukrainian conflict, which has raised tensions between Russia and the West to levels not seen since the Cold War. The Internet in Russia had long been a largely uncensored arena even as the nation’s television stations and newspapers toed an ever-stricter Kremlin line. The new regulations, bloggers and activists say, will encourage online self-censorship and will create new risks for those who advocate contrarian viewpoints. The set of regulations coming into effect Friday is known here as the “blogger law” because it requires any person whose online presence draws more than 3,000 daily readers to register, disclose personal information and submit to the same regulations as mass media. Critics — including some pro-Kremlin lawmakers — say the rules are confusing, poorly written and hard to enforce consistently. But the end effect is to put large swaths of Russia’s prominent online personalities in theoretical violation of the law at all times, risking fines and other harassment whenever authorities decide to crack down, critics say. Starting Friday, “every blogger might face a threat of criminal prosecution,” said Oleg Kozyrev, a prominent opposition blogger, who said he does not intend to register his Web site. The new regulations come at a particularly tense moment in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, with Russian troops again massing at the border with Ukraine. Two weeks after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, Russian television networks are covering the conflict far differently from their Western counterparts. Most have concluded that Ukrainian forces fired the missile that killed all 298 people aboard, bolstering public sentiment toward Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hard-line stance against the Ukrainian government. Western news media, by contrast, have focused on U.S. and Ukrainian intelligence conclusions that the antiaircraft missile was fired from rebel-held territory. Kozyrev said he expected that many of his colleagues would resort to a Soviet-era habit of making their points elliptically to avoid outright confrontation with authorities. “There is a tradition in Russian literature of fables, and of speaking figuratively and hinting,” he said. “They won’t say what they really mean, but people will guess.” Even before the law goes into effect, the space for online expression has been shrinking in recent months. Further restrictions that will require the data of Russian users to be stored on Russian soil — thus subjecting them to Russian legal oversight and monitoring — are set to become active next year. A law that gives Russian authorities the power to block Web sites without any official explanation went into effect Feb. 1, and it was put to use a month later, blocking four Russian opposition Web sites, including the blog of anti-corruption politician Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent anti-Kremlin leader. Navalny remains under house arrest on unrelated corruption charges and is barred from communicating with the media. In the same month, another prominent independent news Web site, Lenta.ru, was transformed after the editor was fired and most of her staff left. That site’s coverage is now significantly more pro-Kremlin. The new rules require anyone who has a daily online audience of more than 3,000 people to register with the Russian Internet- oversight agency, Roskomnadzor, and to comply with mass media regulations that require bloggers to publish their names and contact details. The rules also hold them liable for any misinformation that they publish — along with any misinformation contained in comments posted on their Web sites, even if the bloggers did not write the comments. Users also are forbidden from using the colorful Russian obscenities that are ubiquitous online, in popular culture and, for that matter, on the floor of Russia’s legislature. Fines on individuals range from $280 to $1,400. For organizations — such as Navalny’s anti- corruption group — the fines can be up to $14,000 per violation. Adding to the confusion — and to suspicions that the law would be used only as a bludgeon against the Kremlin’s political opponents — Roskomnadzor said this week that bloggers will need to register only if the agency asks them to do so. “If you publish pictures of cats on your blog and if you do not use obscene language or disclose state secrets, this responsibility might not arise at all even if you have a million unique visits a day,” Roskomnadzor deputy director Maxim Ksenzov said in an interview with Lenta.ru on Tuesday. A Roskomnadzor spokesman said that his agency was devoting about 35 people to the monitoring and registering effort and that it hoped to automate at least some portions of the process by the end of the year. The haphazard and seemingly personalized nature of the registration efforts may mean that Russia is not yet approaching a more total technical control of the Internet, as is the case in China, analysts said. There, a countrywide firewall significantly curbs the content available to ordinary citizens, although it is possible to bypass it with a little technological trickery. Anton Nossik, a prominent early Russian Internet figure, was skeptical that the new law would truly transform the landscape of repression — but only because authorities already have significant power to censor voices online. “Whenever they come for you, they have a rich choice of laws to come after you with,” he said. And even pro-Kremlin lawmakers have said the regulations may be unwieldy. “I don’t know how it’s supposed to work,” said Robert Shlegel, who, at 29, is the youngest member of Russia’s lower house of parliament and a member of the ruling United Russia party. He said that he thought that speech on the Internet should be regulated just like any other speech but that he did not see how the current legislation could be put into effect. “I’m trying to understand it myself,” he said. The gradual diminution of diverse viewpoints is quickly having a chilling effect on Russian political discourse, said Vladimir Korsunsky, the editor of Grani.ru, one of the now-blocked Web sites. Grani.ru has lost half its audience. When everyone has a single opinion, he said, “you have to be courageous to say, ‘No, I don’t agree with this.’ ” http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russian-blogger-law-puts-new-restrictions-on-internet-freedoms/2014/07/31/42a05924-a931-459f-acd2-6d08598c375b_story.html
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It is clear that they are disinfecting the shelves, most likely after the Ukrainian and European foodstuffs have not been sold and expired. you are right - vobla is the best food for ruSSians. |
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ruSSian antifaThe so-called spetsnaz of the DNR... Among them well-known fascists from St. Petersburg... The positive side is that if the Ukrainian Army is successful, Russia should be immensely grateful, because they rid the country of a bunch of aberrations of mother nature... Second from the right the famous killer of cats, dogs and Ukrainians.    full article > http://uglich-jj.livejournal.com/75958.html
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Master chess player makes the brilliant move of censoring a small woman, to show the world his awesome power and strength. Advocate Vera’s Interview on Siberian Separatism Censored by Russian Prosecutors August 4, 2014Russia|Censorship, Russia, Sayan Andriyanov, Siberia, Slon.ru, Vera Kichanova|By: Casey Given On Friday, August 1st, the Russian news site Slon.ru received notice from state prosecutors that it had 24 hours to remove an article written by Advocate Vera Kichanova. The piece was an interview with the artistArtem Loskutov describing the political movement to create a Siberian Republic as a part of Russia. In the face of this censorship, Young Voices has decided to post the full interview below. A “march for federalization of Siberia” is planned for August 17th in the unofficial Siberian capital of Novosibirsk, under the slogan “Enough feeding Moscow.” “Our goal is to create a Siberian Republic as part of Russia,” explain the protest organizers in their official group on VK.com, Russia’s Facebook equivalent (the group was blocked on August 1st by request of the Prosecutor General). They believe federalization will allow Siberians to introduce rebates and wage premiums for those living in areas “with harsh climate conditions” and ensure fair distribution of revenues between local and federal budgets. The march organizers will also demand greater autonomy for local authorities from the federal government, citing the Russian constitution. A group of Novosibirsk activists and artists have been promoting the idea of Siberian autonomy for quite a long time. Before the 2010 Russian census, a Novosibirsk musician, Sayan Andriyanov, and artists Konstantin Eremenko and Artem Loskutov held a press conference urging locals to state their ethnicity as “Siberian” to census officials. The census showed that 4,116 people followed their call, while the previous 2002 census counted only 10 “Siberians” across Russia. Slon.ru interviewed Artem Loskutov, organizer and promoter of increasingly popular “Monstrations” – mock rallies with absurd slogans and signs – and long-time advocate of Siberian autonomy. Did you come up with the idea of the march? I’m not an ideologist. Everything is very decentralized, as befits those advocating decentralization. I will take part in this protest as on ordinary person who cares about the future of Siberia and Russia as a whole. I’ve been interested in this issue, shooting movies and trying to stir up the people. Now a new wave is coming, caused by the recent events we all know about [the Russian-backed "federalization" movement in Eastern Ukraine]. Did you purposely name the protest a “march for federalization” to create an association with the DPR and LPR [the pro-Russian separatist quasi-republics in Eastern Ukraine]? Sure, isn’t it obvious? If we are offered such rhetoric as legitimate, we are going to use it. But one of the organizers did explicitly state in an interview that we don’t endorse Russia’s political support for the people’s republics. Is there a real influence of the events in Eastern Ukraine on autonomy ideas in Russian regions? There is a great influence, it’s the leading topic of the last few months. Is Artem Loskutov planning to appoint himself People’s Mayor of Novosibirsk [akin to the multiple "people's mayors" in Eastern Ukrainian towns under rebel control]? I’m not ready to comment on that. Has your march been sanctioned? How many people do you expect to attend? I’m not working on the sanctioning process, other people will do it soon. I hope the protest will be sanctioned, but I don’t know how many people will come. I can’t help but ask: isn’t a call for separatism illegal under the new law? It’s not about separatism, it’s in full compliance with the law. We are talking about creating a new region within Russia. Is it only Siberia that deserves federalization or do other regions need more autonomy as well? Everyone deserves it. Our constitution provides for independence of regions, the law just has to be put to work. We must have as much autonomy as possible. It’s stupid to live in Siberia according to laws pushed from St. Petersburg by Milonov [a St. Petersburg regional ultraconservative MP notorious for introducing the discriminatory law banning "gay propaganda", now active nationwide]. Siberia gives away her resources and gets piles of dumb laws in return. How long have you been fighting for Siberian independence? The movement has existed since the mid-19th century. There is a street in Novosibirsk named after Potanin, the founder of the movement. This has quite a history, and talk that Siberia has colony status – and that it isn’t right – has been around for over 100 years. Has this idea seen an upsurge in popularity thanks to the artists’ efforts? I’ve seen several waves. In 2011, on the eve of the nationwide election protests, a group of activists shot a movie “Oil-for-Nothing” about the awful state of intercity roads in Russia. All the good roads lead to Moscow and flights also go through Moscow, so you have to change planes in Moscow if you want to get from one city to another. And people have been seeing a certain imbalance. Is this idea popular only among artists and politicians, or do people talk about it as well? It’s the politicians who never mention it openly, but the idea is very popular among common people – just talk with any Siberian. Everyone understands Siberia is feeding the country by supplying oil and gas – the main resources sold abroad – yet Siberia isn’t the main beneficiary. It’s obvious, and no one can argue with that. http://youngvoicesadvocates.com/advocate-veras-interview-on-siberian-separatism-censored-by-russian-prosecutors/ |
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Putin the master chess player makes the brilliant move of not buying weapons from Germany. What will this genius think of next? Germany cancels major arms deal with Russia: reportGermany has walked away from a major arms deal with Russia because of the ongoing Ukraine crisis, a prominent German newspaper reports. The deal was already in question following the annexation of Crimea.  The daily Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Monday that the German government had canceled a deal to provide Russian forces with a fully-equipped combat training camp. The newspaper said the Economy ministry revoked permission for the camp to be built, granted by Germany's previous coalition government to Dusseldorf-based defense company Rheinmetall. It claimed to have seen a "written document" that includes the decision to scrap the project, worth some 100 million euros ($134 million). Vice Chancellor and Economic Affairs Minister Sigmar Gabriel already put the deal on hold in March in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea. At the time, the federal government described such a potential export as unacceptable "in the current situation." Russia, though, accused Germany of acting under pressure from the United States and called March's decision "unconstructive." German media says the military training camp would train up to 30,000 soldiers per year, using sophisticated simulation tools. The report comes almost a week after the US and EU imposed broad sanctions on Russia - targeting its energy, defense and finance industries - in hopes the harsher measures would force Moscow to reduce its support for rebels fighting in eastern Ukraine. The EU's sanctions include an arms embargo, a ban on exports of some sensitive technologies and a ban on the sale of bonds and equities by state-owned Russian banks in European capital markets. US President Barack Obama told reporters last week that Washington would block exports of specific goods and technologies to the Russian energy sector, while expanding sanctions to include more Russian banks and defense companies. The US also suspended credit that encourages exports to Russia, and financing for economic development projects in Russia. http://www.dw.de/germany-cancels-major-arms-deal-with-russia-report/a-17829442 |
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Hello everyone  |
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Successfully bought Steam Wallet Card. Great service, thanks!
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old but great text, for those who understand Russian >
Юра Черноус
Самый большой страх России в том ЧТО УКРАИНА ЕСТЬ
Украины – нет. Правительство там не легитимное, черт знает кто, мы их знать не знаем и в упор не видим. Есть единственный легитимный президент Янукович, но его тоже нет.
Да что там, президент, и государства такого тоже нет. Было государство, но произошла революция, старое государство отменилось, а новое мы пока не видим. Как там говорят – lost state. Было, да затерялось куда-то.
И народа такого – украинцы – нет. Украинцы – это русские, только маленькие, малороссы. Они как дети, играют чего-то, кушать хотят, Путина очень любят. О них надо заботится. Учить их надо.
Если есть какие-то украинцы, которые чего-то хотят – то это бандеровцы. Бандеровцы – это фашисты.. Они выпрыгнули из великой отечественной войны и захватили маленьких, незлобивых и симпатичных, но неразумных русских детей. С фашистами мы воюем.
Это для широких масс. Люди, по-настоящему искушенные в мировой политике, понимают, конечно, это не настоящие фашисты. Настоящих фашистов товарищ Сталин победил в 1945 году. А это недобитки. Которых, конечно, не было бы, если бы их не прикармливали печеньками. Так что по сути это американцы. Американцы, которые устроили Майдан и отвевали у нас Украину, которой теперь нет. Что-то есть, но это не Украина. Это вообще, если так вдуматься, страна, оккупированная бандеровцами, то есть фашистами, то есть американцами. Мы ее освобождаем. Частями. Вот Крым уже освободили. От американцев. Ну то есть от фашистов. От бандеровцев.
Еще раз – украинцев нет, а есть бандеровцы, которые фашисты, которые на самом деле американцы. С ними мы и воюем.
Очень хорошо причем воюем. Мы у них оккупировали Крым, хитро так, как будто и не мы, переоделись и оккупировали. Они в ответ чего? А ничего. Санкции, фиганции – кишка у них тонка, и опять же это им же боком выйдет, вот. Скушают, куда денутся. Да это, кстати, вообще даже и не война. Какая война, где убитые? Нет никакой войны. Так, мирная оккупация, чтобы показать американцам фигу в процессе победы над фашизмом.
Они сами как? Ирак, опять же вот Косово. Помните Косово? Не помните? Очень хорошо, что не помните, мы вам сейчас расскажем, там, значит, было вот точно то же самое, что у нас, и американцы были как мы. А теперь мы точно как американцы. Им можно, а нам нельзя? Они у нас оккупировали нашу Украину, Малороссию, страну, где живут маленькие россияне, нашу, в сущности, страну, а мы должны в ответ что же, сидеть в углу? Да они же нас же после этого уважать не будут.
Ужас в том, что вся эта хе*ня заполняет постепенно все головы. Не только энтузиастов оккупации, а и тех, кому все это поперек горла. Вот мне, например. Я уже который день, как идиот, думаю, что нет, санкции, они со временем-то ох как больно ударят. Запад, он долго запрягает, да быстро едет, а вот как разом границы закроют, вклады заморозят, так мало же не покажется. Да не сможет цивилизованный мир так просто взять и смириться с этим безобразием.
Цивилизованный мир он подумает, и скажет свое нецивилизованному.
Слушайте, это все фантомы. Дело совершенно в другом.
Дело в том, что мы, Россия, воюем с Украиной. Не с цивилизованным миром, не с Америкой, не с фашистами, а именно с Украиной. Это именно у нее, а не у Америки, мы отхапали кусок территории. Мы с ней воюем за то, что она восстала против жулика и вора, и скинула его к чертовой матери. Мы с ней воюем за то, что Путин ей предложил 15 миллиардов долларов, а она ему в морду плюнула. Мы с ней воюем за то, что она захотела в Европу.
Можно сколько угодно делать вид, что все думающие украинцы – это бандеровцы, фашисты, антисемиты и русофобы, но это же чушь, и мы знаем, что это чушь. Миллион человек, который выходил в Киеве против путинских законов Януковича – это что, бандеровцы? Ну вы кого хотите обмануть? Себя?
Себя. Вы надеетесь, что это чудовищное преступление – война России против Украины – как то вас минует. Как-то так окажется, что в историю это дело войдет не тем, что Путин в 2014 году оккупировал часть Украины за ее попытку стать европейской страной, а что он исправил историческую несправедливость, и вернуть нам Крым, Севастополь, Одессу, а лучше еще Донецк, Харьков, далее везде. Но это никак не получится.
В исторической перспективе это не получится, поскольку украинцы теперь будут консолидироваться исключительно на противостоянии внешнему агрессору, и этот агрессор – Россия. Мы оккупировали Венгрию и Чехословакию, мы принудили Польшу высечь саму себя – и что они сделали потом? Они рванули от нас к чертовой матери, и нет у нас теперь более стойких противников в Европе, чем эти наши братские когда-то народы. Но черт с ней, с исторической перспективой.
Гораздо хуже будет прямо сейчас, когда украинцы начнут сопротивляться. Или вы думаете, они никогда не начнут? Мы будем переть и переть, а они в ответ песни петь? Это о чем?
Вы каждого убитого будете представлять бандеровцем, то есть фашистом, то есть американцем? Надолго хватит?
Главный ужас России вовсе не в санкциях, счетах, и визах, не в международной изоляции, не в милитаристской истерии, не том, что нам как-то там ответят в Сирии или черт знает где еще. Это все фигня, это вообще не о чем. Главный ужас России в том, что УКРАИНА – ЕСТЬ. И Россия оккупировала ее территорию.
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The Opinion-Makers: How Russia Is Winning the Propaganda WarBy SPIEGEL Staff Part 2: 'The West Has Never Gotten over Putin's Return' The Kremlin also deftly exploits the anti-American sentiment of many Western Europeans, by claiming, for example, that American mercenaries and consultants have been deployed in eastern Ukraine. Even today, there is still no evidence to back any of these allegations. But America's credibility isn't helped by the fact that Washington also disseminates its own anti-Russian propaganda. Backed by the drumbeat of conservative Fox News, Republic Senator John McCain has been loudly calling on the US government to provide pro-Western forces with active aid, including weapons. Meanwhile, Forbes magazine has asked: "Is Putin a new Hitler?" In addition, Washington's development agency, USAID, announced at the start of May it would provide $1.25 million in support to Ukrainian media organizations as they prepared for presidential elections. Washington has long provided support for a network of opposition groups who were active during the Orange Revolution and are now mobilizing against Moscow. A media center established by the new government in Kiev's Hotel Ukraina has been partly financed by George Soros' International Renaissance Foundation. Day in and day out, reporters are airing interviews with ministers and loyal political scientists who interpret events in eastern Ukraine the way the Kiev government would like to see them portrayed. Still, Moscow's efforts present a stark contrast to the activities of independent European media companies. Many newspapers and broadcasters have scaled back their bureaus in Moscow or closed them altogether in recent years. This has created a shortage of experts who can penetrate the propaganda coming from all sides and provide honest analysis of what is actually happening. The fact that the brainwashing seems to be working could be evidenced last Monday when German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier made an appearance in the run-up to elections for the European Parliament on Berlin's Alexanderplatz square. Left-wing activists shouted and booed at the foreign minister and held up signs stating, "Stop the Nazis in Ukraine!" Moscow registered the protest with satisfaction and the Kremlin-aligned media reported on it extensively. Russia's Greatest Propaganda Success The purpose of this global battle to shape opinion isn't merely to transform Europeans and Americans into fans of Vladimir Putin. The Russian president is also targeting his own people, seeking to make himself unassailable within Russia. Putin's greatest propaganda success is the fact that the majority of Russians now believe that Kiev is ruled by fascists. Evoking World War II in this way has proven very effective with Russians. One member of Russia's parliament, the Duma, even went so far as to call the fire in Odessa that killed 30 pro-Russia activists a "new Auschwitz." Meanwhile, the head of parliament spoke of genocide in Ukraine. With the spin machine at full steam, it is perhaps of little surprise that a radio poll recently found that 89 percent of listeners agreed with the idea that the "participants of the mass murder in Odessa should be found and executed without trial." Journalists with the Russian state media often like to quote German politicians and experts. Unfortunately, they always seem to pick from the same pack of pundits. One is Putin biographer Alexander Rahr, formerly a Russia specialist at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and today a consultant with the gas firm Wintershall, which has deep ties with Russia." The West has never gotten over Putin's return," Rahr says in explaining Germany's position toward the Kremlin. He also claims that German politicians' private beliefs are different from their public statements. They are, he says, only able to express themselves openly about Russia once they have left office. The Kremlin Seizes Control A critical analysis of such statements has been lacking. One reason is that in recent months, the Kremlin has begun tightening control over Russian-language Internet media in order to keep the home front from wavering. Russian investigative journalist and security services expert Andrei Soldatov says that Kremlin-aligned youth organizations are assisting the government in posting blogs and attacking Moscow's critics. Most broadcasters and newspapers are already under the Kremlin's control. Some 94 percent of Russians obtain their information primarily from state television. The problem is that state TV has no qualms about blatantly fabricating the news. Two weeks ago, for example, the evening news showed video allegedly depicting the murder of a pro-Russian fighter in eastern Ukraine by nationalists. In fact, the video used was actually one and a half years old and showed fighters in the north Caucasus. Few have studied the effects of that kind of propaganda as much as Lev Gudkov, the head of independent Moscow pollster Levada. The institution recently had to undergo yet another government review. "The public prosecutor openly admitted to us that the only reason we haven't been closed yet is that the Kremlin hasn't given the final order to shut us down," says Gudkov. "But we are certainly being harassed." The 67-year-old research pulls out one poll after another from a stack of papers. They show that when the mass protests against President Viktor Yanukovych broke out, only 30 percent of Russians believed that Ukraine's Association Agreement with the EU was a "betrayal of Slavic unity." In February, at the peak of the Maidan protests, 73 percent still considered the issue to be an internal one for Ukrainians. In the time that has transpired since, some 58 percent of Russians now support the annexation of eastern Ukraine by Russia. "The successful propaganda campaign we are witnessing here surrounding the Ukraine crisis is unique and highly sophisticated, even compared to Soviet standards," says Gudkov. "The Kremlin has succeeded in stirring up sentiments deeply rooted in the Russian psyche: the yearning for an imperial grandness, a sense of anti-Americanism and pride over Russia's victory over Hitler's Germany." Ultimately, it was the annexation of Crimea that silenced Putin's critics. Prior to the development, dissatisfaction with Putin had been growing continuously. Polls showed an increasing number of Russians wanted to vote the president out of office. In November 2013, 53 percent said they would vote for a different candidate during the next election. But Putin experienced a meteoric rise in popularity after the annexation, with 86 percent of Russians now saying they would re-elect him. By Moritz Gathmann, Christian Neef, Matthias Schepp and Holger Stark http://bit.ly/1lYrldK
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This is a great tea, Vladimir Vladimirovich. Enjoy it, you can't buy that stuff at home!
