The unfree world - Russia

Russia

Russia was one of the worst countries in the world for most of the 20th century. So it is perhaps no surprise that it is still an appalling dictatorship, human rights abuser, and threat to other countries.

But it is still sad. After the fall of the evil Soviet Empire in 1989, we had hopes of so much better.

• The Soviet Union

• List of presidents of Russia
  • After a brief, fragile experiment with democracy in the 1990s, Russia is now a non-democracy again.
  • Vladimir Putin was the man who ended democracy in Russia and returned it to its natural autocratic and imperial rule.

• Some people deny that Russia is now a dictatorship. So here are some links:
  • Freedom House - Russia is ranked "Not Free".
  • HRW
  • Amnesty
  • Democracy Index (The Economist) - Russia is ranked "Authoritarian".

• Economic freedom:
  • Some people are under the impression that Russia is now "capitalist".
  • However, Russia is ranked by the Heritage Foundation as one of the least economically free countries in the world - "Mostly Unfree" (close to "Repressed").

Freedom House ranked Russia "Partly Free" until 2003.
From 2004 on, it is ranked "Not Free".
Extract here from 2010 report.

RT, Putin's propaganda TV, is endorsed by British fascist Nick Griffin. Says it all.

John McCain had Putin's number in 2007: "when I looked in Putin's eyes I saw 3 letters: a 'K', a 'G' and a 'B'."

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Human rights

• Human rights in Russia
• Gay rights in Russia

• Freedom of religion in Russia has been restricted under Putin.
• Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
  • Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia

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Freedom of the press

• Freedom of the press in Russia was mostly ended under Putin.
• Censorship in Russia
• List of journalists killed in Russia

• Journalists, critics, opponents and dissidents killed or attacked by Putin:
  • Anna Politkovskaya 2006
  • Alexander Litvinenko 2006
  • Sergei Magnitsky 2009
  • Boris Berezovsky 2013
  • Boris Nemtsov 2015
  • Denis Voronenkov 2017
  • Sergei Skripal 2018
  • Nikolai Glushkov 2018
  • Maksim Borodin 2018
  • Alexei Navalny poisoned 2020, arrested 2021, finally killed 2024.

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Russian imperialism

Under Putin, Imperial Russia is back to attacking its neighbours and others again.

• Russia-Georgia war 2008

• Russian involvement in the Syrian civil war
• Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war

• There will not be a new Cold War or Third World War, because, unlike the Soviets or Al Qaeda, the new Russia has no revolutionary ideology it wants to spread everywhere. We should be grateful for that.
• The new Russia will bully its neighbours, and it will be hard for anyone to protect them. Russia has chosen not to join the West in freedom and prosperity, but rather to be a thug state the West will not partner with.

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Russian invasion of Ukraine

• Russia-Ukraine war 2014 to date

• 2019 Ukrainian presidential election
• 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election

• 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Western sanctions

• After the brutal invasion of Ukraine, the West needs to treat Russia as a terrorist state, with the most extreme forms of sanctions.
• It is important to say, in case any Western leader is nuts, that the West should not go to war with Russia. The West cannot enforce a no-fly zone in Ukraine. The risks are too high.
• What the West can do is arm Ukraine, and impose the most extreme, crippling sanctions on Russia, to stay in place until Putin falls.
• Russia must be defeated in Ukraine. The Putin regime must end.

• International sanctions against Russia
• 2022 Russian financial crisis

• Already done:
  • Expel Russia from the G8. This is now the G7.
  • Expel Russia from the Council of Europe.
• Being done now:
  • Expand NATO as much as possible.
  • Restrict Russian access to international trade.
  • Restrict Russian access to international finance.
  • Restrict military sales to Russia.
  • Restrict technology sales to Russia.
  • Restrict Russian access to international airspace.
• Also can be done:
  • Restrict Russian access to the Internet.
  • Expel Russia from the G-20 (Although other tyrannies are members.)
  • Expel Russia from the OSCE. (Although other tyrannies are members.)
  • Expel Russia from the World Trade Organization. (Although other tyrannies are members.)
  • Russia should of course not have a UN security council seat either. (But neither should China.)
  • Declare Russia a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

• The long-term consequence is the shame and guilt and pariah status that will hang over Russia and Russians for decades to come.

Posted here on 10 March 2022, at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which some victim-blamers were trying to claim was "provoked" by Eastern European countries wanting to join NATO.

Some appalling Westerners support or defend Russia in this war.
This shows the different types of appalling Westerners.
From NAFO.

• Vatniks: a baseball card thread. Lists Westerners who support or defend Russian imperialist aggression.

Russia attacks Ukraine for no reason, 2022.
Thousands dead. Millions of refugees.
Russia is a terrorist state.
All global trade with Russia must stop until the Putin regime falls.

Graphic video shown by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to U.S. Congress, 16 March 2022.
The world must arm Ukraine. Russia must be defeated.
Putin is a war criminal who must be deposed and put on trial.

As Ukraine fights back:
Scenes at the liberation of Kherson from Putin's troops in Nov 2022.
Similar to the liberation of Paris from Hitler's troops in Aug 1944.

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