Protests in Moscow - end of Putin's era?

Tens of thousands, perhaps over a hundred thousand protesters out on the streets right now. Officially only 3.5k and 700 of them are reporters LOL. Details in article so I won’t bother repeating here. You can watch it live if you want:

There were similar scale protests in 2012, but nothing happened in the end. Hopefully something changes this time. They really need to learn from HK, too peaceful right now.

Putin will do anything to hold onto power. This will be dangerous. He has made too many enemies in Russia. The oligarchs will be waiting for him like vultures. There is a reason Putin is likely the wealthiest person in the world besides maybe Poo bear in China.

1 Like

Still, Russia is relatively free compared to china right now. If he will do anything, then surely tanks would be out on the street by now. He also tolerates the main opposition’s news and detective work posted on youtube every week (although right now their office and studio are both being searched as I type). Try doing that in China.

He tolerates them because they can’t touch him right now. This is why I say it’s dangerous. He will do anything and everything to hold onto power imo.

Unless you’re LGBT+ of course. Russia may be even more hostile to gays than China.

He’s really fucking up though if he wants to stay in power. Can someone explain to me how robbing his people creates stability for his regime? Economy is about to go into recession, people’s incomes are falling or at least stagnating, government controlled monopolies keep charging more for food and oil, pension age went up above average life expectancy for men, people are taking more credit than they can afford which is leading to an inevitable bubble, etc. In China there’s the “social contract” that people won’t rebel as long as quality of life keeps improving. Putin seems to be doing the exact opposite. Either he’s too smart that no one understands his plans, or he’s too powerless to control the rest of the cronnies and prevent them from stealing too much.

1 Like

Hmmm debatable. Russia does not actually have laws that target LGBT people from what I know. China has at least one that I know of like censorship of gay scenes on TV and maybe movies.

But generally I think there is more hatred for gays from people than in China.

Idk the answer to Putin. He is a man of mystery. He is notoriously hard to read from what I heard from people who tried to negotiate and deal with him.

Homosexuality is classified as a mental illness there though. That’s pretty savage.

2 Likes

I don’t think China does. But gay conversion therapy was or maybe still is big there. Maybe Russia has the same thing. I just know it’s a thing in China.

Sorry, I meant Russia in regards to the mental illness classification, not China.

I’m not surprised gay conversion therapy is popular in China. Gay conversion is also a crock, but it goes on even in some very conservative areas of the US. It was just recently outlawed in California.

No, I got you.

I wonder what they do to “treat” gay people in Russia If it’s a mental illness.

I don’t think such a thing is ethical. And what they have is probably a shame and barbaric.

But I am in the mind that it could be possible to mess with a persons sexuality. But it’s probably not something we should try to experiment on.

1 Like

A high profile Russian hockey player Artemi Panarin spoke out against Putin lately. He’s probably one of the top 5 Russian players and recently became the highest paid I think. Not sure what that means if anything, but something I guess. Puts him a bit at odds with some other players like Ovechkin who is a vocal Putin supporter.

1 Like

They can settle their differences through one of hockey’s most hallowed traditions… the bloody, ice-rink brawl.
image

I think our boy Panarin has dropped the gloves before but we can’t have him squaring off with Ovi :slight_smile:

https://youtu.be/phvMyYKrZLc

Interesting, I noticed most Russian athletes usually like Putin unless I’m missing a bunch that don’t.

The Russians I’ve met mostly don’t like Putin, but it’s probably skewed since they don’t live in Russia.

1 Like

tenor

Hahahaha, suckers!

1 Like

Clearly not the end.

Last Wednesday, by voting in favor of groundbreaking constitutional changes, the Russian people slapped this Westphalian order in the face. Closely monitored by the Kremlin, the referendum proposed, among other things, to allow Vladimir Putin to remain president until 2036 (if reelected), to ban same-sex marriages, to include the notion of “belief in God” in the Russian constitution, and to emphasize the primacy of Russian law over international norms. In short, the Russian people were offered a choice between embracing modernity or rejecting its foundations, and they chose the latter. A negative vote would have paved the way to the rise of a Russian nation-state, in the Westphalian sense of the term. Putin’s czarist aspirations could have been frustrated. The last bastion of Western anti-liberalism could have fallen — but it did not.

From what I saw on the news there was about 30+ parts to the referendum, things like better healthcare, support for the economy, environmental protections, better support for elderly, hiding the more controversial parts within it.