Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

[scriver]

Ahh, ever the passive-aggressive optimist...

To be fair, that is the best kind of optimist :v

Even the EU is looking far less tenable than it did in the 1990s.

Remember that war in the Balkans? As for Europe, the fact that our countries are actually able to coexist without waging war with every single other European country every few years is a step away from shitsville that has only happened after WWII.

[Bohandas]

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!

More importantly, everything that the USA had to say about communism during the Cold War has been repudiated. A quarter of a century after the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of Russian communism Russia is still a dank hole run by massively corrupt shitlords. (come to think of it, that was the case before the Soviet Union as well; the poor conditions were what allowed the Soviet Union to happen)

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.

To be fair the ones who actually believe in things outside of themselves are even worse. Hitler, Stalin, the religious nutjobs in the middle east, et cetera.

[Loud Whispers]

More importantly, everything that the USA had to say about communism during the Cold War has been repudiated. A quarter of a century after the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of Russian communism Russia is still a dank hole run by massively corrupt shitlords. (come to think of it, that was the case before the Soviet Union as well; the poor conditions were what allowed the Soviet Union to happen)

Russian Fed > USSR, there is no argument there possible. The dead stay dead, how do you 'repudiate' that.

[Sheb]

Well, depends what period of the USSR. Once Stalin was dead, it was still a repressive dictatorship and the buildings where grey and drab, but life wasn't that bad for the average guy. But yeah, Russia now is in most aspects better than the USSR ever was I guess. And other former communists countries did even better (Czech Republic comes to mind a the poster child here.)

Anyway, does anyone got more details on that embassy seizures? It was apparently a ruling of some arbitration court, it seems strange to me that Russia accepted its juridiction. Also, should embassy assets have some kind of diplomatic immunity? I don't remember the assets of the Argentinian embassy being seized when a US court rules they should pay the owner of that debt they defaulted on.

[Sergarr]

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, you need to realize that in Russia, death does not hold the same place as in Europe, probably due to just how many Russians died during the previous century, in WW1, in WW2, in famines, in gulags, in 90s economical crisis...
If we were commemorating all mass deaths that have happened during 20th century, we would be commemorating them almost every day. Thus, we don't commemorate mass deaths. And Chechens won't do that, too, while we're here. They're not an exception.

P.S.: Stalin said it best: "One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic."

[Jopax]

That's like, wow...

"Hey, we lost a bunch of people to various shit so we can't be bothered remembering them all, that means you can't be bothered by that either!"

I honestly fail to see any reasonable excuse for that.

[Sergarr]

That's like, wow...

"Hey, we lost a bunch of people to various shit so we can't be bothered remembering them all, that means you can't be bothered by that either!"

I honestly fail to see any reasonable excuse for that.

Lack of "basic human decency", probably.

I don't think this is a thing in Russian culture. At least not in a sense that Owlbread means when he says that.

[scrdest]

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, you need to realize that in Russia, death does not hold the same place as in Europe, probably due to just how many Russians died during the previous century, in WW1, in WW2, in famines, in gulags, in 90s economical crisis...
If we were commemorating all mass deaths that have happened during 20th century, we would be commemorating them almost every day. Thus, we don't commemorate mass deaths. And Chechens won't do that, too, while we're here. They're not an exception.

P.S.: Stalin said it best: "One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic."

Considering it used to be a holiday, it means that someone gave a shit before. It's not like 'oh yeah, that could be a neat idea, but we don't do that kinda thing in Russia', it was explicitly a thing that Kadyrov decided won't be a thing anymore - and it just so happens to be really uncomfortable politically to keep it.

[Sergarr]

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, you need to realize that in Russia, death does not hold the same place as in Europe, probably due to just how many Russians died during the previous century, in WW1, in WW2, in famines, in gulags, in 90s economical crisis...
If we were commemorating all mass deaths that have happened during 20th century, we would be commemorating them almost every day. Thus, we don't commemorate mass deaths. And Chechens won't do that, too, while we're here. They're not an exception.

P.S.: Stalin said it best: "One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic."

Considering it used to be a holiday, it means that someone gave a shit before. It's not like 'oh yeah, that could be a neat idea, but we don't do that kinda thing in Russia', it was explicitly a thing that Kadyrov decided won't be a thing anymore - and it just so happens to be really uncomfortable politically to keep it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Lentil_%28Caucasus%29#Remembrance

It was their local initiative, at the time when they wanted to go separate from Russia. So they started to promote it, as a symbol "how those evil Russians were to their ancestors". Same story with Holodomor. (Did you know that the biggest percentage of people in local region that died during 1932-1933 famine was actually in Kazakhstan? I bet you didn't, because Ukraine promotes it as if it was a genocide against Ukraine, and Ukraine only)

[Owlbread]

I think considering the Chechen independence movement was led by deportees or children of deportees it's no wonder they made it a political touchstone. Also, has it occurred to you that maybe Chechens didn't feel comfortable commemorating a time like that while under Russian rule?

[Sergarr]

I think considering the Chechen independence movement was led by deportees or children of deportees it's no wonder they made it a political touchstone. Also, has it occurred to you that maybe Chechens didn't feel comfortable commemorating a time like that while under Russian rule?

Yes it did occur to me. I've even said why they didn't feel comfortable about that - because of Russian attitude towards commemorating any mass death events.

[scrdest]

I think considering the Chechen independence movement was led by deportees or children of deportees it's no wonder they made it a political touchstone. Also, has it occurred to you that maybe Chechens didn't feel comfortable commemorating a time like that while under Russian rule?

Yes it did occur to me. I've even said why they didn't feel comfortable about that - because of Russian attitude towards commemorating any mass death events.

I think you kinda missed Owlbread's point.

Which is to say, I suspect most people get uncomfortable given enough polonium.

[Sergarr]

Well that's a factor, too. But that's just a part of curbing down Chechen separatism.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

Owlbread, you need to realize that in Russia, death does not hold the same place as in Europe, probably due to just how many Russians died during the previous century, in WW1, in WW2, in famines, in gulags, in 90s economical crisis...
If we were commemorating all mass deaths that have happened during 20th century, we would be commemorating them almost every day. Thus, we don't commemorate mass deaths. And Chechens won't do that, too, while we're here. They're not an exception.

Strange. In Ukraine we do care about national tragedies of XXth century and have nationwide commemorations.

[Sergarr]

Owlbread, you need to realize that in Russia, death does not hold the same place as in Europe, probably due to just how many Russians died during the previous century, in WW1, in WW2, in famines, in gulags, in 90s economical crisis...
If we were commemorating all mass deaths that have happened during 20th century, we would be commemorating them almost every day. Thus, we don't commemorate mass deaths. And Chechens won't do that, too, while we're here. They're not an exception.

Strange. In Ukraine we do care about national tragedies of XXth century and have nationwide commemorations.

That's not strange if you consider that your current country was literally built on "defying the will of those evil Russians/Soviets". A difference on the central unifying themes of countries creates a different national consciousness.