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[Owlbread]

Al Jazeera have produced a documentary on the appalling human rights situation in the Russian-enforced dictatorship in Chechnya. From what I have seen of the preview Chechnya under Putin/Kadyrov is literally North Korea/Oceania 1984 now, I'm not even joking. Unfortunately I haven't been able to watch the documentary as it seems like the content is unavailable to Europeans like myself, apparently only Americans can watch it. If any Americans here want to see it, it would be good to hear your thoughts.

Spoiler: Angry rant about horrible things, read at own risk (click to show/hide)

One thing I did read though on that page is that Kadyrov has now banned the Day of Remembrance that commemorated/mourned the time the entire Chechen nation (literally EVERYONE) was deported thousands of miles in railway trucks to Kazakhstan as a collective punishment for WW2 by Stalin. Kadyrov has banned the commemorations despite the fact that his own family were deported; it's just not helpful to the Russian administration though to talk about times of genocide in living memory.

The documentary may be biased heavily against the regime (that's not exactly hard when they're clearly the bad guys), but that fact about Kadyrov's ban on commemorating the dead and exiled just... I mean, he's human garbage. He's not a Chechen, he's a traitor to his people and a monster.

The thing is, it's possible to be pro-Russian as a Chechen without being this evil. It's possible to believe in Chechnya's future in the Russian Federation without personality cults, death squads, brutality and erasing history. This isn't about independence, this is about basic human decency. Kadyrov does not seem to have that, nor does Putin if he backs him. Regardless of your opinion on Chechen nationalism surely everyone can see that what is going on in that country right now is not right. You may say "oh well, without Kadyrov they'd be in the Islamic State by now" but to be honest I think right now they're past the point where the Islamic State would be much worse than Kadyrov's own Islamic extremist rule.

EDIT:

I'm being daft, it's not an Al Jazeera film, they're just giving it a platform. Here is a link if you want to watch it on youtube. I will watch it tomorrow morning because I don't want to go to sleep thinking about that stuff.

[Owlbread]

I cannot find a link to the video proper in that article.

It seems to be at the top. Europeans can't watch it though, it's very irritating.

[Culise]

I couldn't find one in the article, either.  I ended up finding this on Youtube, though.  It has the same title and author, or at least, it has been labelled with the same; that doesn't make me automatically sure if it's the same referred to in the article.

[Owlbread]

I couldn't find one in the article, either.  I ended up finding this on Youtube, though; it has the same title and author (or at least, it has been labelled with the same), but I'm not sure if it's the same referred to in the article.

I think that's it, I realise now that Al Jazeera didn't actually make it. They're just giving the film maker a platform.

[martinuzz]

The Pentagon released information that they are considering placing new nuclear cruise missiles on European soil, in response to Putin's recent announcement that he is going to produce a new generation of nuclear missiles that have been designed to pierce NATO anti-missile defenses.

Yet another blow to non-proliferation, and yet another step up for Cold War v2.0

[smjjames]

The Pentagon released information that they are considering placing new nuclear cruise missiles on European soil, in response to Putin's recent announcement that he is going to produce a new generation of nuclear missiles that have been designed to pierce NATO anti-missile defenses.

Yet another blow to non-proliferation, and yet another step up for Cold War v2.0

And another tick forward on the doomsday clock.

[RedKing]

I'm increasingly inclined to think the 1990's were just a brief intermission in the general "Slide Towards Shitsville" in world affairs post-WWII.

[wierd]

Hooray.  Good to see my faith in global politics has been vindicated.

...

What? Did you think my faith was positive? Oh goodness no! Don't be silly! It has always been my belief that global leaders think about their own shit first and foremost-- the rest of the world can go fuck itself.  As such, things like this escalate quickly. Putin strikes me as the kind that is not put off the way his predecessors were about the cold war and MAD.  As such, he will happily stockpile and deploy, if he thinks he can win.

He's NOT going to back down.  That's honestly what I believe.  Glad to see my faith was vindicated, and that our own politicians are playing right in.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

I'm increasingly inclined to think the 1990's were just a brief intermission in the general "Slide Towards Shitsville" in world affairs post-WWII.

Problem of 1990s is that the West decided to not finish off communism by continuing the cold war against Russia\Ukraine\Belarus and all other USSR republics that opted to not eliminate communism.

What West did in 1990s is the same as if they signed peace with Germany in 1944 allowing them to have majority of pre war territory under their control, satisfied only with removing top Nazies from power and going back to multiparty system. In that Case Germany would need only 10-15 years to get ready

BTW, WW2 happened because WW1 wasn't quite finished. If you create something harsh like Versailles treaty than make sure it works and act as soon as Germany breaks it in any way.

[mainiac]

\
BTW, WW2 happened because WW1 wasn't quite finished. If you create something harsh like Versailles treaty than make sure it works and act as soon as Germany breaks it in any way.

Cuz that worked so well for the French in 1806.  Cuz that worked so well for Prussia in 1871.

I'm increasingly inclined to think the 1990's were just a brief intermission in the general "Slide Towards Shitsville" in world affairs post-WWII.

Yeah!  Besides the massive decline in global poverty, great reductions in epidemics worldwide, unprecedentedly low rates of death in conflict, year over year improvement in world education rates, and more people then ever living in democracies, what has the 21st century done for us?

[MarcAFK]

\
BTW, WW2 happened because WW1 wasn't quite finished. If you create something harsh like Versailles treaty than make sure it works and act as soon as Germany breaks it in any way.

Cuz that worked so well for the French in 1806.  Cuz that worked so well for Prussia in 1871.

I'm increasingly inclined to think the 1990's were just a brief intermission in the general "Slide Towards Shitsville" in world affairs post-WWII.

Yeah!  Besides the massive decline in global poverty, great reductions in epidemics worldwide, unprecedentedly low rates of death in conflict, year over year improvement in world education rates, and more people then ever living in democracies, what has the 21st century done for us?

Console gaming and porn.
Also much more awesome guns, hoorah!

[RedKing]

I'm increasingly inclined to think the 1990's were just a brief intermission in the general "Slide Towards Shitsville" in world affairs post-WWII.

Yeah!  Besides the massive decline in global poverty, great reductions in epidemics worldwide, unprecedentedly low rates of death in conflict, year over year improvement in world education rates, and more people then ever living in democracies, what has the 21st century done for us?

Ahh, ever the passive-aggressive optimist...

I dunno, why don't you ask the Middle East and Central Asia which period has been a better deal for them? Even the EU is looking far less tenable than it did in the 1990s. The two regions where things are genuinely better now than in the 1990s are South/Central America, and Southeast Asia. Which could quickly be nullified if China decides to make shit get real in the South China Sea.

[Radio Controlled]

Hooray.  Good to see my faith in global politics has been vindicated.

...

What? Did you think my faith was positive? Oh goodness no! Don't be silly! It has always been my belief that global leaders think about their own shit first and foremost-- the rest of the world can go fuck itself.  As such, things like this escalate quickly. Putin strikes me as the kind that is not put off the way his predecessors were about the cold war and MAD.  As such, he will happily stockpile and deploy, if he thinks he can win.

He's NOT going to back down.  That's honestly what I believe.  Glad to see my faith was vindicated, and that our own politicians are playing right in.

Why the hell would you be glad for that? "Gee, that orphanage sure burned down to the ground with all the kids in it, like I predicted, sure glad I was right."

((Unless unclear sarcasm. In which case, yeah, it's all rather fantastic.))

[wierd]

Hooray.  Good to see my faith in global politics has been vindicated.

...

What? Did you think my faith was positive? Oh goodness no! Don't be silly! It has always been my belief that global leaders think about their own shit first and foremost-- the rest of the world can go fuck itself.  As such, things like this escalate quickly. Putin strikes me as the kind that is not put off the way his predecessors were about the cold war and MAD.  As such, he will happily stockpile and deploy, if he thinks he can win.

He's NOT going to back down.  That's honestly what I believe.  Glad to see my faith was vindicated, and that our own politicians are playing right in.

Why the hell would you be glad for that? "Gee, that orphanage sure burned down to the ground with all the kids in it, like I predicted, sure glad I was right."

((Unless unclear sarcasm. In which case, yeah, it's all rather fantastic.))

Yes. The sarcasm was meant to be so thick that you could sink in it like quicksand. 

[Radio Controlled]

Most of it was clear, but the last line wasn't ("honestly what I believe"). I've seen plenty of people who'd rather have things be horrible but be right, than be proven wrong and things be great.