Thread: Liberties of the Russian people .

There's enough freedom of speech to say things about Russian president either. It's probably OK to criticize the government because nobody really cares about who tells what. Russians, of all people are probably the most distrustful and suspicious kind in the whole world. Thus, nobody really cares about who tells what (and neither does the government). There are two reasons for this: a) Everyone knows that every official, every man in the government and the Duma are corrupt criminals anyway, so nothing about them would really surprise people; and b) Nobody really trusts journalists or politicians enough to take what they say or write at face value. Everybody lies.

Originally Posted by Ramil

a) Everyone knows that every official, every man in the government and the Duma are corrupt criminals anyway, so nothing about them would really surprise people; and b) Nobody really trusts journalists or politicians enough to take what they say or write at face value. Everybody lies.

How depressing. I don't know how you can live like that. No wonder so many people emigrate from Russia. And as a follow on; why should anyone fight and/or die protecting a country run by crooks and liars? If this is true, then patriotism in Russia ought to be stone dead!

Originally Posted by Hanna

And as a follow on; why should anyone fight and/or die protecting a country run by crooks and liars? If this is true, then patriotism in Russia ought to be stone dead!

First, I don't think that the picture is strongly differ from any country around the world. All politicans are crooks and liars, didn't you know that? Second, Russia was run like that for centuries, patriotism has nothing to do with this, do you think that we never had some patriotic feelings?

Originally Posted by chaika

Judging by how many Russian journalists have been murdered over the past few years and strangely enough few of the murderers have been found, somebody seems to take them seriously

I strongly doubt that Putin gives orders to kill some journalists. More likely the majority of those who were murdered touched some interests of some criminal bosses. And they haven't been found because our police (militia) sucks. They usually don't do nothing to catch a criminal if he wasn't caught at the crime scene.

Originally Posted by Basil77

All politicans are crooks and liars, didn't you know that?

Absolutely true. This is not just a usual politician-baiting rant from Basil. It's a basic fact. Not a single politician has become a politician for the good of the public. Politics is an endless quest for power. And corruption is in the nature of power. There's no room for optimism.

Hanna, you originally come from one of the most democratic parts of the world, and live in one of the oldest continuous democracies. It's no surprise that you find Basil's (and Ramil's) views rather cynical. But a Greek, or an Iranian, would be much more likely to agree with them.

@Basil:
Two questions:
1-What do you think of Vladimir Zhirinovsky? I'm just curious.
2-That Soviet joke. Here's a slightly different version, told by someone you definitely know (starting from around 2:13). What do you think of that guy?

Nice new avatar, by the way!

Originally Posted by Misha Tal

@Basil:
Two questions:
1-What do you think of Vladimir Zhirinovsky? I'm just curious.

You should ask Ramil about Zhirinovsky, at least he voted for him. I think that if all politicans are cynics than Zhirinovsky is a squared super-cynic. His party was known as 'pay and we vote for anything' in the former Duma while their votes still mattered. He sucsessfully playing a role of clown to stay in the politic. I really wonder how people can vote for such a jerk:

2-That Soviet joke. Here's a slightly different version, told by someone you definitely know (starting from around 2:13). What do you think of that guy?

I think of him exactly as the joke says - he was complete as$hole. His 'star wars' doctrinie (so-called strategic defence initiative), 'Empire of Evil' (wtf!), even current financial world crisis is a result of financial policy started by the same ol' Ronny. He should stay an actor and play in sh!tty movies instead of becoming a politican.

Nice new avatar, by the way!

Thanks! I took it from here: It's from 'Scandinavia and the World' series by Danish cartoonist.