Ask a Russian

[Takhisis]

That is meaningless as all Putin did was ride the oil bubble and steal ever more as time goes on. Putin hasn't done anything meaningful to reform the underlying rot in Russia's economy and actively made it worse by eliminating the rule of law.

Well, yes, I've never claimed he was a good ruler. But ‘not as bad’ will do, especially when people have lived through such a crisis as that which took place in the 1990s.

That's pretty standard in PR systems. Germany uses the same cutoff, for instance. Reading about this, it appears Russia went to a 7% cutoff for a couple of election cycles. I would suspect the goal for raising it then was to keep liberal parties like Yabloko out, but now they poll so low that there's no reason not to just revert it back to 5%.

Oh, I know it applies almost everywhere, otherwise anyone who can get his wife and children to vote him gets a seat in Parliament -imagine a wife punishing you by making you a politician!

From what I can see, it seems that Western-style liberalism really does have an approval rate in the low single digits in Russia, thanks to the fallout from the 1990s and Putin's grip over the propaganda machinery. It is kind of interesting to see an electoral system where voting for a liberal party is like voting for a third party in the US, for all the chance they have of getting any representation. Illiberal democracy at its finest!

There's a lot of apathy if 20-30% of the electorate don't show up to vote and

Also, a liberal economy, i.e. selling state resources dirt cheap and running them into the ground, was introduced to them in the 1990s. Russia is not the only place where ‘liberalism’ is not welcome -see large chunks of South America and Africa as examples.

It's also interesting to see how the Russians finally figured out how to make good propaganda. My impression, which could be wrong, is that Soviet citizens rarely actually believed Pravda or other communist propaganda. Now it appears that state-owned or aligned media are believed in general by most Russians today, to a much greater extent than they believed the Communist propaganda.

Are you treating all former Soviet citizens as ‘Russians’ when discussing the Communist period?

 

[Bootstoots]

For continuity's sake, it would make the most sense to consider only the people within the Russian SFSR (edit: plus perhaps ethnic Russians who moved to other republics?). I'm not really sure how public opinion differed between Russia and the other Soviet republics during the Communist era.

 

[FriendlyFire]

It's also interesting to see how the Russians finally figured out how to make good propaganda. My impression, which could be wrong, is that Soviet citizens rarely actually believed Pravda or other communist propaganda. Now it appears that state-owned or aligned media are believed in general by most Russians today, to a much greater extent than they believed the Communist propaganda.

I'd imagine like Republicans Fox News shaping the news to fit the mainstream view of Russians helped retain viewers. Ideas such as Russia is still a world superpower and should be respected as such, Problems are the fault of the "west". This message is receptive, comforting and has worked well to drown out dissident views

Soviet era propaganda was clumsy, crude and backfired.
I suspect the Russian media is coming close to the tipping point now, its pretty much peaked with the Crimea. Trust in Media accuracy is declining in Russia now.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Even the Russian Robots are fleeing for the West
In Germany they also made Robots and allow it to roam free, later this robot was tested in the US where it ended up dead destroyed. At least in Russia it was only arrested.

Robot arrested by Russian police at political rally in Moscow

The rally was for Valery Kalachev, a candidate for the Russian Parliament, who had rented the robot for his campaign.

Police have not confirmed why they detained the machine named Promobot, but local media was reporting the company behind the robot said police were called because it was "recording voters' opinions on [a] variety of topics for further processing and analysis by the candidate's team".

A Promobot representative suggested it was detained because "perhaps this action wasn't authorised".

Mr Kalachev has featured the robot at previous campaign stops.

A different Promobot model made headlines in June when it made two breaks for freedom from a scientific research lab in Moscow.

The robot was being taught to move around on its own when a worker reportedly left a gate open.

Promobot travelled to a nearby street, stopping when its battery ran out, the BBC reported.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-...n-police-at-political-rally-in-moscow/7854764

Moderator Action: 'Ask a...' threads are for questions and answers: while some level of discussion is tolerated, posting a news article out of the blue without a question is not.

 

[red_elk]

It's also interesting to see how the Russians finally figured out how to make good propaganda.

We had good teachers.

 

[red_elk]

@Red_elk: tell us for who you voted for

"A Just Russia", social-democrats.

 

[Takhisis]

For continuity's sake, it would make the most sense to consider only the people within the Russian SFSR (edit: plus perhaps ethnic Russians who moved to other republics?). I'm not really sure how public opinion differed between Russia and the other Soviet republics during the Communist era.

In the Baltic republics there was very little enthusiasm for Communism, for the regime, or for even staying in a post-Communist union. Watch Elavad Pildid by Hardi Volmer if you can get a copy.

(Un)fortunately I was born in a younger era when the Communist block was collapsing, so I must refer to the testimonies of local Russian emigrés for the rest.

 

[Gigaz]

So, United Russia won significantly more seats than they had last time. How do urban Russians feel about that? Happy? Sad? Angry? No particular mood?

 

[Bootstoots]

We had good teachers.

I'd imagine like Republicans Fox News shaping the news to fit the mainstream view of Russians helped retain viewers. Ideas such as Russia is still a world superpower and should be respected as such, Problems are the fault of the "west". This message is receptive, comforting and has worked well to drown out dissident views

Soviet era propaganda was clumsy, crude and backfired.
I suspect the Russian media is coming close to the tipping point now, its pretty much peaked with the Crimea. Trust in Media accuracy is declining in Russia now.

Yeah, the parallels between RT and American media outlets with clear biases like Fox News and MSNBC, as well as even the most mainstream ones, are pretty clear.

I know that Chomsky likes to say that the US ended up with the most advanced public opinion-influencing machinery (more private than pubic) precisely because it has a rather free population who actually have to be convinced, while authoritarian regimes need not worry as much about how believable their propaganda is. It definitely seems that a lot of what we learned ended up being picked up on by the pro-Putin media, producing Russia's first ever system of believable propaganda.

In the Baltic republics there was very little enthusiasm for Communism, for the regime, or for even staying in a post-Communist union. Watch Elavad Pildid by Hardi Volmer if you can get a copy.

(Un)fortunately I was born in a younger era when the Communist block was collapsing, so I must refer to the testimonies of local Russian emigrés for the rest.

Well yeah, I would expect that public opinion in the Baltic states was strongly anti-Soviet. But I'm not sure about opinions of the USSR in Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, or the Central Asian states.

 

[red_elk]

It's good to see that you have watched Forrest Gump.

What's so funny about Forrest Gump?

So, United Russia won significantly more seats than they had last time. How do urban Russians feel about that? Happy? Sad? Angry? No particular mood?

It was expected, Putin is popular. Not least due to West's behavior in the last few years.

 

[FriendlyFire]

It was expected, Putin is popular. Not least due to West's behavior in the last few years.

Can someone in Russia explain why ?
Or is soviet Russia Internet is NOT for P0rn ?

I not understand Russian thinking, besides there entire internet is awash with porn, that blocking two of them will be like a drop in the ocean.

Russia bans Pornhub, YouPorn

Two of the biggest porn sites in the world have been blocked by Russia's media regulator, a decision which has apparently prompted uproar on the country's social media.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...zens-to-meet-someone-in-real-life/?comments=1

 

[Gigaz]

It was expected, Putin is popular. Not least due to West's behavior in the last few years.

Right, blaming the foreigners works in America, in Europe and in Russia equally well.

 

[red_elk]

It's true, though for this particular thing they might rather want to blame themselves.

 

[Yeekim]

Can someone in Russia explain why ?

Wild guess: "Christian family values" etc.
Sits well with ideas such as outlawing abortion, decriminalizing domestic abuse and barring women who have not given birth from obtaining higher education.

See, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelena_Mizulina

I'm hoping red_elk voted for Just Russia despite this lovely lady being one of them, not because of it.

Dearth of viable alternatives, as I was saying...

 

[red_elk]

Wild guess: "Christian family values" etc.
Sits well with ideas such as outlawing abortion, decriminalizing domestic abuse and barring women who have not given birth from obtaining higher education.

Do you really think these are mainstream ideas in Russia?

 

[Verbose]

It was expected, Putin is popular. Not least due to West's behavior in the last few years.

One of the real propaganda triumphs is this Russia use of "the West" as a monolithic concept onto which whatever shenaningans that work for Russians can be pinned.

The beam in the eye is also apparent. Putin's Russia MIGHT have been able to gain and maintain an actual moral high-ground of upholding some kind of principles beyond "do as I tell you" and "might is right" in international politics over, in particular, the US. But that's not what it's doing, and so unless inside this apparent "Russian bubble", it doesn't work. (Instead Russia comes across as aspiring to be like the US at its worst, except with even worse excuses, bordering on the non-existant- That is when not simply going for increasingly flimsy and transparent denials about what it's up to).

It's still a problem that Russia has invaded and annexed parts of a direct neighbour, with no actual excuse to do so. For all its faults the US hasn't. Nor anyone else.

Especially if the US invasions on concocted pretexts, bending UN resolutions out of all shape, creation of extrajudicial prison systems outside any legal control (Guantanamo) is a concern. Then Russia is downright unhelpful, since all it has managed is to back-handedly confirm the US correctness in all these doings, by wanting to use it as a get-out-of-trouble-for-free-card for anything Russia might do.

 

[Yeekim]

Do you really think these are mainstream ideas in Russia?

Among general population? I hope not. But they are definitely part of a trend, from what I see.
And if they are being pushed by respective Duma Committee, it is hard to write them off as irrelevant fringe either...

 

[red_elk]

One of the real propaganda triumphs is this Russia use of "the West" as a monolithic concept onto which whatever shenaningans that work for Russians can be pinned.

You mean I'm brainwashed by Putin's propaganda and don't understand that the West consists of many countries which may disagree with each other? Because that's what reads in your message. I'm not sure then, what you want to discuss with me - maybe you should try to get off your high horse and formulate a question.

No, usage of term "the West" doesn't necessarily imply this is a monolithic concept, just as your usage of term "Russians" doesn't mean all Russians think exactly the same.

Putin's Russia MIGHT have been able to gain and maintain an actual moral high-ground of upholding some kind of principles beyond "do as I tell you" and "might is right" in international politics over, in particular, the US.

No, it never had a chance to gain moral highground in your eyes. If not Crimea, you would find another excuse.

Among general population? I hope not. But they are definitely part of a trend, from what I see.
And if they are being pushed by respective Duma Committee, it is hard to write them off as irrelevant fringe either...

To be honest, I have never heard about "barring women who have not given birth from obtaining higher education" proposal.
And the source which cited in that wiki page, says that she also proposed things like "giving Russian women president's sperm to create new 'military and political elite'".
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...perm-create-new-military-political-elite.html
So, it looks like another tabloid nonsense to me.

These proposals look too Saudi-Arabia like, even for Mizulina. You may take them for granted, but I would rather do some fact checking.

Edit:
From Russian wiki page, she didn't even propose to outlaw abortion. Her proposal was about forbidding free abortion, unless there are health-related reasons.

 

[Yeekim]

And the source which cited in that wiki page, says that she also proposed things like "giving Russian women president's sperm to create new 'military and political elite'".
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...perm-create-new-military-political-elite.html

Figured that one was a fake , so I didn't mention it.
But I'm pretty sure when the higher education ban proposal was reported some years ago, I read a seemingly legit Russian (not Ukrainian ) source about it. Can't find it now, however...

 

[red_elk]

Figured that one was a fake , so I didn't mention it.
But I'm pretty sure when the higher education ban proposal was reported some years ago, I read a seemingly legit Russian (not Ukrainian ) source about it. Can't find it now, however...

This one is a fake too:
http://www.trud.ru/article/12-07-20...preta_postupat_v_vuz_devushkam_bez_detej.html

As well as the one where she allegedly proposed to ban oral sex.

She is quite a dickhead (or rather female equivalent of it), and often comes up with all sorts of controversial proposals, but these ones are obviously over all limits. I guess the fake news about her proposals originate from inside Russia, from people who just troll her.