dagblog - Comments for "Russian Opposition Leader Arrested Amid Mass Protest in Moscow"

Nice piece Vanity Fair piece

artappraiser — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 20:43:14 +0000

In reply to Russian Opposition Leader Arrested Amid Mass Protest in Moscow

Nice Vanity Fair piece comparing and contrasting Putin's alternate reality narratives with Trump's

In Protests, Kremlin Fears a

artappraiser — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 11:09:19 +0000

In reply to Russian Opposition Leader Arrested Amid Mass Protest in Moscow

In Protests, Kremlin Fears a Young Generation Stirring

New York Times/News Analysis, By ANDREW HIGGINS and ANDREW E. KRAMER from Moscow, March 27

The youthfulness of the anticorruption protesters across Russia this weekend surprised even organizers, and clearly rattled the government of Vladimir V. Putin.

Nice, what I needed to kick

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 00:52:10 +0000

In reply to Juan Cole (admittedly, not a

Nice, what I needed to kick off my next piece.

Juan Cole (admittedly, not a

artappraiser — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 00:26:29 +0000

In reply to Russian Opposition Leader Arrested Amid Mass Protest in Moscow

Juan Cole (admittedly, not a Russian expert) makes some nuanced points about Navalny being more like Trump in manty ways than Putin is. He points to an 2013 Atlantic article on Navalny by Robert Coalson, Radio Free Europe/Liberty reporter, Is Aleksei Navalny a Liberal or a Nationalist? that is worth a glance.

It does seem to me, though, that this kind of nationalism would be a given after the Soviet Union fell apart, all part of the process, people re-forming old nations are going to go through it. It's the opposite of what's happening elsewhere, like in say, France, people basically no longer brothers but basically becoming competitors, have to rationalize borders and identities that they were supposed to downplay for 90 years.

I don't Michael. This is a

ocean-kat — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 01:35:59 +0000

In reply to There is a great deal of

I don't Michael. This is a continuation of a debate I had with OGD on another blog where I cited a couple of polls to support my claim that Putin was popular in Russia. OGD's post above "Putin's polls? Well..." was pointed at me, as if these protests were evidence that disproved that polling data.

Agree. It is definitely a

CVille Dem — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 01:34:11 +0000

In reply to I watched Fareed Zakaria's

Agree. It is definitely a worthy watch. Moreso than most of what is available to read, actually.

I watched Fareed Zakaria's

artappraiser — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 00:46:38 +0000

In reply to Russian Opposition Leader Arrested Amid Mass Protest in Moscow

I watched Fareed Zakaria's documentary on Putin early this afternoon, it was just coincidence that CNN was re-playing it (premiered earlier in March) instead of his live show. It's EXCELLENT, learned some things about Trump love over there and Putin's hatred of Hillary and how Putin thinks of Trump as his "Apprentice". I highly recommend it, especially on the cultural angle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=052NHa39opk

Funny as I was writing my

artappraiser — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 00:26:25 +0000

In reply to There is a great deal of

Funny as I was writing my comment below, before I read yours, I was thinking to myself "you know, it's kind of like Egypt."

How about we settle this by

artappraiser — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 00:25:08 +0000

In reply to Putin''s thugs... Uhhhh...

How about we settle this by taking the word of one of those protestors on it? From the NYT coverage:

Another protester, Ilya Amutov, 25, said: “Russia is divided into two totally different worlds. There are those who believe in fairy tales about how great Russia is doing — 86 percent of the people believe this — and the rest of us who live in cities or have more education.”

“There is a Russia that believes in myths and a Russia that believes in reality,” he added, complaining that corruption was eating away at the country.

You could go argue with him that all those polls are wrong. I'd prefer to just take it from them, that they are trying to wake up their country from a problem that has been deep in its culture for a very long time. One which Putin is an expert at manipulating.

What's interesting and exciting about this is that that might actually finally be happening.

There is a great deal of

Michael Wolraich — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 00:23:41 +0000

In reply to Head bashing of protesters,

There is a great deal of apathy in Russia. One reason people don't protest is pessimism; they don't believe it will accomplish anything. People were much more optimistic during Arab Spring, particularly after Tunisia. They believed that massive protests could topple the brittle Mubarak regime, and they were right. That optimism has faded now in Egypt and elsewhere, which is one reason the protests have subsided. That's not to say that Putin isn't popular. He is. But I wouldn't gauge his popularity by the size of the protests.