Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby 8bitagent » Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:44 pm

Also I keep hearing that "Anti Russian sentiments is Pro Western neocon propaganda".

Um, while Mccain and maybe a couple neocons have a gripe against Russia...America has seemed rather buddy buddy with Putin as well as China, Saudi Arabia and all these
other crooked tyrannical governments. Russia and China essentially arm the genocide in Sudan, and ain't shit done about it?
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby MayDay » Fri Aug 17, 2012 8:56 pm

http://rt.com/news/50-detained-pussy-riot-956/

Over 50 detained at Pussy Riot courthouse demo (PHOTOS)

Published: 17 August, 2012, 22:57
Edited: 18 August, 2012, 03:03
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Police detain a Pussy Riot supporter outside the Khamovnichesky Court (Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin)



More than 50 of Pussy Riot's supporters and detractors have been detained outside the Moscow court where three members of the punk rock collective were sentenced to two years in prison for hooliganism and inciting religious hatred.

Hundreds of people, many clad in Pussy Riot T-shirts, had packed onto a narrow street outside of the Khamovnichesky Court as the verdict was being handed down. Supporters cried "shame" and "Putin scum" upon hearing the verdict, while opponents held religious icons and sang prayers.

Police said those taken into custody had committed various acts in violation of public order. A source within the police station where the detainees were taken said some would get off with a warning, while others would be charged with unspecified administrative offenses.

Opposition leaders Gary Kasparov and Sergey Udaltsov were also taken into custody outside the court.

Kasparov told the TASS news agency by phone that he had been slightly roughed up, but would not need medical assistance as he was "able to bear it.” Police, however, accused Kasparov of biting an officer while he remanded the former world chess champion into custody. The officer was reportedly forced to go to hospital for treatment and police say they are looking into the incident. Kasparov called the accusation “nonsense.”
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Police detain Left Front leader Sergey Udaltsov at a rally in support of punk group Pussy Riot (RIA Novosti / Aleksandr Utkin)

http://rt.com/files/news/50-detained-pu ... ld-366.jpg
Police detain former world chess champion and Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov (RIA Novosti / Andrey Smirnov)


Left Front leader Udaltsov said he had been accused of organizing an unsanctioned rally in front of the Khamovnichesky Court and of blocking the flow of traffic. He is to appear in court on August 23, and if found guilty, could be fined up to $1,000.

Following a highly charged trial that has split Russian public opinion down the middle and galvanized international attention, the judge presiding over the trial said Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich had shown flagrant disregard for church parishioners and the fundamentals of the Orthodox faith. The judge said they consciously knew their actions would be an affront to Orthodox believers, making the guerrila performance an act of religious hatred.

The women were sentenced to two years in a medium-security prison minus time served, a year shy of the sentence prosecutors were gunning for. Defense lawyer Nikolay Polozov said the verdict was illegal as it had been marred by numerous procedural violations. While the defense team will have 10 days to appeal the decision, Poloznov said he might appeal to the European Court of Human Rights rather than the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.

The trio were first arrested in March after performing a politically charged "punk prayer" in Russia's main Orthodox Cathedral, located in the heart of Moscow. They vehemently denied being motivated by religious hatred, with Alyokhina, one of the convicts, saying the trial embodied a travesty of justice.
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A police officer pursues a Pussy Riot supporter on a chain-link security fence outside the courthouse (RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev)

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Blogger Aleksey Navalny outside Moscow′s Khamovnichesky Court (RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev)

http://rt.com/files/news/50-detained-pu ... upport.jpg
RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich

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An Orthodox priest at a rally in support of the indictment of Pussy Riot members(RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev)
RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev

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RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev


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RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev

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RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev


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Reuters / Sergei Karpukhin

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Reuters / Tatyana Makeyeva
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby Project Willow » Fri Aug 17, 2012 11:02 pm

Jeff wrote:On the day of sentencing, a member of Femen cuts down a cross in Kiev in solidarity.


I have a few issues with how the young woman simultaneously exploits and rebels against her object status, but I can't think of many acts that should be more quintessentially feminist than cutting down a cross. It's a testament to the power of enculturation, and perhaps savvy, that an anti-religious stance is a minor and contentious rather than a major thrust of feminist activism. If cross-cutting had been adopted as a symbolic act, we still wouldn't have the vote, let alone title IV.

Canadian_watcher wrote:I dunno 'bout this whole thing.

the balaclavas & the 24 7 coverage add up to no good in my books.

something stinks.


Jack rather aptly laid out the "what stinks" in his post above.
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby Luther Blissett » Fri Aug 17, 2012 11:50 pm

Canadian_watcher wrote:I dunno 'bout this whole thing.

the balaclavas & the 24 7 coverage add up to no good in my books.

something stinks.


I think that, for the west, maybe it is because they are good-looking. This is probably similar to Missing White Girl Syndrome for the average middle American, with the message being only a secondary feature. It's extra evocative and seductive to us because of the leftist politics and the aesthetics / style.
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby lupercal » Sat Aug 18, 2012 1:31 am

^ Yes it's almost as if the whole thing was scripted to play well on CNN. Oh wait, it was. I wasn't going to say anything but now that the cat's out of the bag, yes CW, it is a stunt coordinated by your southern neighbors, like those demonstrations in Tahir square that Alice used to gush about. Notice how Egypt is now run by an ex-Cal State Northridge professor who just fired the Egyptian heads of the military and intel agencies and replaced them with US-trained, US-friendly stooges. Here's a pretty good account of what's going in in Russia, which with China is proving a major thorn in NATO's butt because they refuse to greenlight a UN-blessed decapitation of Syria:

Sunday, August 5, 2012
Who or What is Russia's "Pussy Riot?"
by Tony Cartalucci | Land Destroyer Report | August 6, 2012

Tasteless PR Stunt the Work of the US State Department

The Guardian is absolutely correct when they call the "Pussy Riot" proceedings a "show trial." However, they are wrong in claiming that the showmanship is the work of the Russian Federation. Instead, it is showmanship put on by the Western media and the US State Department's vast network of faux-NGOs. . . .

According to the Guardian, the defense "tried to call 13 witness, including opposition leader Alexey Navalny." Navalny, of course, is a longtime operative receiving both political and financial support from the West in efforts to undermine the Russian government and bring back the days of Wall Street and London's unhindered plundering that marked the 1990's.

Alexey Navalny

MayDay wrote:http://rt.com/news/50-detained-pussy-riot-956/
Image
Blogger Aleksey Navalny outside Moscow′s Khamovnichesky Court (RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev)


Alexey Navalny was a Yale World Fellow, and his profile states:

"Navalny spearheads legal challenges on behalf of minority shareholders in large Russian companies, including Gazprom, Bank VTB, Sberbank, Rosneft, Transneft, and Surgutneftegaz, through the Union of Minority Shareholders. He has successfully forced companies to disclose more information to their shareholders and has sued individual managers at several major corporations for allegedly corrupt practices. Navalny is also co-founder of the Democratic Alternative movement and was vice-chairman of the Moscow branch of the political party YABLOKO. In 2010, he launched RosPil, a public project funded by unprecedented fundraising in Russia. In 2011, Navalny started RosYama, which combats fraud in the road construction sector."

The Democratic Alternative, also written DA!, is indeed a National Endowment for Democracy fund recipient, meaning that Alexey Navalny is an agent of US-funded sedition. And despite posing as a champion for "transparency," Navalny is willfully hiding this from his followers. The US State Department itself reveals this as they list "youth movements" operating in Russia:

"DA!: Mariya Gaydar, daughter of former Prime Minister Yegor Gaydar, leads DA! (Democratic Alternative). She is ardent in her promotion of democracy, but realistic about the obstacles she faces. Gaydar said that DA! is focused on non-partisan activities designed to raise political awareness. She has received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy, a fact she does not publicize for fear of appearing compromised by an American connection."

Navalny was involved directly in founding a movement funded by the US government and to this day has the very people who funded DA! defending him throughout Western media. The mention of co-founder Mariya Gaydar is also revealing, as she has long collaborated, and occasionally has been arrested with, Ilya Yashin, yet another leader of a NED-funded Russian "activist" opposition group.

Image

Photo: Alexei Navalny, Yale World Fellow and co-founder of US National Endowment for Democracy Da! or "Democratic Alternative/Yes in Russian." It is yet another Otpor-esque organization courtesy of the United States government and willful traitors to their motherland.
....

If "Pussy Riot's" defense is calling up a documented agent of Western interests as a "witness," one wonders under what context and to what degree Navalny, and by consequence, the National Endowment for Democracy, is involved with the defendants. Navalny admits that he is "acquainted" with one of the band members, but was not actually a "witness," and rather would have testified in order to "defend law and justice."

Clearly then, the defense's attempts to include him in the trial were politically motivated, having nothing to do with either law or justice, and serves simply as a means to link "Pussy Riot" to the US State Department's subversive opposition, many of whose leaders were caught filing into the US Embassy in Moscow earlier this year.

Also telling, is that Oksana Chelysheva - board member of the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum and a steering committee member of the NED, convicted criminal George Soros Open Society-funded FIDH, Open Society, Ford Foundation, Sigrid Rausing Trust-funded Front Line Defenders, and US State Department-run Amnesty International-affiliated EU-Russia Civil Society Forum - is heading "Pussy Riot's" support campaign.

Images: "Pussy Riot's" support campaign is spearheaded by Oksana Chelysheva of the US State Department-funded "Russian-Chechen Friendship Society," a clearing house for Chechen terrorist propaganda. Along with US State Department-subsidized Alexey Navalny and the West's media outlets on their side, the hooligan anti-establishment "punk rockers" now on trial in Moscow have a decidedly "establishment" backing. (click images to enlarge)
....

Chelysheva was also "Deputy Executive Director" of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, fully funded by the US State Department via the National Endowment for Democracy. The "Friendship Society" was essentially a public relations front of Al Qaeda-aligned Chechen terrorists ravaging Russia's Caucasus region - a plot offered new relevance as the US, NATO, and Gulf States openly support similar groups of terrorists now ravaging Syria. The "Friendship Society" served a similar function to the now discredited "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights." . . .

Helping to push down on this political lever are propaganda outfits like the Guardian, portraying the trial as a case of liberal Russian opposition groups fighting against a judicial throwback to the Soviet Union. In reality, it is another Wall Street-London production in the same vein as Serbia's US-funded Otpor movement, the Kony 2012 fraud and the US-engineered "Arab Spring."

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/ ... -riot.html


More at the link, but you get the idea. And that's pretty much what's going on, IMHO.
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby wordspeak2 » Sat Aug 18, 2012 8:37 am

Um, yeah. 8bitagent, you're missing the obvious. It's not apologetic to Putin to point out that the U.S.-led Empire would much rather him out of power and the oil oligarchs who totally ran the country under Yeltsin back in effective power. In order to maintain his nearly two-thirds popularity (down from 80+% at one point) Putin/Medvedev have been relative economic nationalists; much of the financial and energy sectors are in Russian hands, rather than the U.S./Empire-preferred transnational corporate hands. The fact is, the vast majority of Russians; knowing socialism in their not-too-distant past, and the majority believing life was better under Stalin, do not want the country's wealth completely privatized. Putin has held onto power by giving the masses what they want to a certain degree, though of course nowhere near the liking of Russia's Communist Party. Also, Russia under Putin/Medvedev is relatively friendly with Iran, which worries the U.$., as well as Putin's support of Assad. Not to mention Russia selling Venezuela some serious military arsenal a couple years back, as I recall. It's blatant from a geo-political perspective that the Empire would rather have a subservient client regime in power in Moscow than the current one. Read capitalist think tank press, and they spell all this out. Hillary Clinton wanted a "reset" in U.S. relations with Russia, but that ended up being a bungled media stunt, and relations as it were have not improved, i.e. Russia is not doing exactly what the U.S. says.
So, anyway, hence the western press has given massively disproportionate coverage to every tiny anti-Putin protest over the past couple years, with Gary Kasparoz as their hero media darling. The usual stealth capitalist foundation operators, such as Soros' OSI and the Ford Foundation, are doing their thing supporting and propping up "opposition" bloggers and the like while Reuters and AP etc. have been hyping up every "pro-democracy" (pro-complete-privatization, pro-west) anti-Putin demonstration or figure who surfaces.
Pussy Riot, though clearly well-intentioned activists with good feminist politics and understandable rage at the government, was nonetheless a gift to the western media/foundation apparatus. By pulling an Abby Hoffman type stunt, "enticing the system to over-react," PR contributed to a hell of a media hit against Putin, and an easy one, considering it's true that locking these women up for two years over a free speech stunt is draconian. The comparison to Serbia's western-supported Otpor movement is apt, as they're both youth organizations formed sincerely within the country with totally legitimate grievances that the west harnessed as unwitting pawns in its broad effort to unseat a leader who was/is not exactly socialist but refuses to be completely controlled by transnational corporatism, due to the widespread sentiments among the populace and the leader's desire to stay in power (well, not that foundations are directly supporting Pussy Riot as far as I know; I imagine it's just a carpe diem media hit). It certainly doesn't mean that Putin's power is currently in jeopardy, but it's doing a lot to turn global public opinion against Russia, and that's a big part of the game in this globalized world, and it seems to be making some impact domestically, though most Russians are not sympathetic to Pussy Riot.
The CFR magazine Foreign Affairs' latest coverage of the Pussy Riot fiasco:
http://www.cfr.org/russian-fed/stake-pu ... e_in_putin’s_cul-081612

From the article: "The center is holding--but it's embattled. And there are new challenges ahead: Russia may be sliding into a recession. If that happens, will Putin be able to retain the loyalty of his disadvantaged working-class supporters? If the price of oil continues to slide, how will he resolve disputes about budget shortfalls?"

Also from the article:
"...with developments like the Pussy Riot trial, Russia has, in some ways, become a kind of international laughing stock. For many people, [the country seems] further behind in modernizing itself and coming into the European mainstream than Putin [would probably care to acknowledge]. But Putin never claimed that Russia was going to be guided by international opinion."
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby compared2what? » Sat Aug 18, 2012 9:04 am

lupercal wrote:
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Who or What is Russia's "Pussy Riot?"
by Tony Cartalucci | Land Destroyer Report | August 6, 2012

Tasteless PR Stunt the Work of the US State Department

The Guardian is absolutely correct when they call the "Pussy Riot" proceedings a "show trial." However, they are wrong in claiming that the showmanship is the work of the Russian Federation. Instead, it is showmanship put on by the Western media and the US State Department's vast network of faux-NGOs. . . .


They're not necessarily mutually exclusive perps, you know. It could be a show-trial contest between the two. You know. Like everyone in the whole damn world probably assumes it is as a matter of course. ("The Russian Federation? Politically motivated? GET OUT. And....What's that you say? There's some kind of beef between them and the U.S. State Department/Western media? No way!")

According to the Guardian, the defense "tried to call 13 witness, including opposition leader Alexey Navalny." Navalny, of course, is a longtime operative receiving both political and financial support from the West in efforts to undermine the Russian government and bring back the days of Wall Street and London's unhindered plundering that marked the 1990's.

Alexey Navalny



Okay. He sounds like an operative and/or fellow traveler of Western interests.

If "Pussy Riot's" defense is calling up a documented agent of Western interests as a "witness," one wonders under what context and to what degree Navalny, and by consequence, the National Endowment for Democracy, is involved with the defendants.


Naturally, one asks oneself that.

Navalny admits that he is "acquainted" with one of the band members, but was not actually a "witness," and rather would have testified in order to "defend law and justice."


Wait. If he was not actually a "witness," on what grounds did their defense just get accused of calling up

a documented agent of Western interests as a "witness"?


I mean, is there any reason to think that he couldn't possibly have just shown up and showboated in the pursuit of his own (Western) interests purely because he recognized something real and wished to exploit it?

Or that Pussy Riot's defense (and Pussy Riot, ftm) mightn't have wanted to cooperate with him for limited reasons of their own, such as -- JUST FOR EXAMPLE -- because most non-powerful people facing the prospect of being sent to prison for years for a piece of political protest art would actually want as much international support and attention given to their cause as they could get without actively compromising themselves?

None that I can think of. So. What we've got here wrt his involvement with the defendants so far is that he's "acquainted" with someone in Pussy Riot, though not necessarily with a defendant, I guess.


Clearly then, the defense's attempts to include him in the trial were politically motivated, having nothing to do with either law or justice, and serves simply as a means to link "Pussy Riot" to the US State Department's subversive opposition, many of whose leaders were caught filing into the US Embassy in Moscow earlier this year.


That's not actually clear at all. It's not even clear where the initiative to "include" him as not a "witness" came from.

Additionally, why would whatever attempts Pussy Riot's defense might or might not have made to include him in the trial even call for an explanation of their motivation? Having him and the publicity he commands hanging around would self-evidently be good for Pussy Riot's defense.

Also telling, is that Oksana Chelysheva - board member of the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum and a steering committee member of the NED, convicted criminal George Soros Open Society-funded FIDH, Open Society, Ford Foundation, Sigrid Rausing Trust-funded Front Line Defenders, and US State Department-run Amnesty International-affiliated EU-Russia Civil Society Forum - is heading "Pussy Riot's" support campaign.


Of course she is. That says nothing about them, though.

Images: "Pussy Riot's" support campaign is spearheaded by Oksana Chelysheva of the US State Department-funded "Russian-Chechen Friendship Society," a clearing house for Chechen terrorist propaganda. Along with US State Department-subsidized Alexey Navalny and the West's media outlets on their side, the hooligan anti-establishment "punk rockers" now on trial in Moscow have a decidedly "establishment" backing. (click images to enlarge)
....

Chelysheva was also "Deputy Executive Director" of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, fully funded by the US State Department via the National Endowment for Democracy. The "Friendship Society" was essentially a public relations front of Al Qaeda-aligned Chechen terrorists ravaging Russia's Caucasus region - a plot offered new relevance as the US, NATO, and Gulf States openly support similar groups of terrorists now ravaging Syria. The "Friendship Society" served a similar function to the now discredited "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights." . . .

Helping to push down on this political lever are propaganda outfits like the Guardian, portraying the trial as a case of liberal Russian opposition groups fighting against a judicial throwback to the Soviet Union. In reality, it is another Wall Street-London production in the same vein as Serbia's US-funded Otpor movement, the Kony 2012 fraud and the US-engineered "Arab Spring."

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/ ... -riot.html


More at the link, but you get the idea. And that's pretty much what's going on, IMHO.


Of course it is.
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby wordspeak2 » Sat Aug 18, 2012 9:24 am

Thanks for that, c2w.

This is a good piece, below, on current Russian-Iranian relations.

In highlight:
-Russia does not oppose Iranian nuclear development (for scientific purposes, as it were)
-Putin is about to sell anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.
-Russia and Iran both strongly oppose the proposed missile shield in Poland, long a wet dream of froth-at-the-mouth U.S. hawks.
-Russia and Iran's energy sectors have a generally cooperative relationship, and apparently improving.

http://www.payvand.com/news/12/may/1201.html

Iranian-Russian Relations during Putin's Third Presidency
By Hassan Beheshtipour, Expert on Russia and Central Asia Affairs (source: Iran Review)

As Russian President Vladimir Putin officially commences his third tenure of presidency on 6 May 2012 (17 Ordibehesht 1391 in Persian calendar), the examination of his plans and policies in the areas of domestic politics and foreign relations over the coming six years may prove noteworthy and interesting for politicians and policy-makers. So, this article seeks to analyze relations between the Islamic Republic and Russia during Putin’s third term as president.

Based upon an assessment of his declared positions and political behaviour in practice, one can argue that Putin’s approach during his third term of presidency will probably be fundamentally different from his policies in the two previous periods. This is primarily because Russia found out, after four years of futile interaction with the United States, that it could not count upon the US as a trustworthy and reliable partner. The issue raised further suspicion and cynicism in the atmosphere of relations between Moscow and Washington, particularly after the Obama administration failed to make good on its promise to provide Russia with security guarantees about its missile defence plans, that is, its pledge to refrain from deploying a so-called missile defence shield near Russian borders in Europe. Russia is well aware that the US offensive missile system is mainly aimed at Russia and in fact imposes further restrictions on Moscow’s military policies.

Now Putin will try, during his third term as Russian president, to distance himself from the US policies while building closer relations with the countries that are critical of American unilateralism. Along this course, Putin neither desires nor can afford to turn Russia into the leader of anti-American front in the international arena. Rather, only through criticizing the expansionist policies of the United States, he will seek to align himself with the nationalist and leftist groups inside Russia - which are similarly critical of Washington’s approach - so that he can manage to isolate the West-oriented current in the Russian politics on the one hand and set up a new front in concert with such actors as Iran, China, India, Brazil and South Africa in order to create balance in international relations. The most significant issues that can prepare the ground for cooperation between the Islamic Republic and Russia can be summed up as follows:

1) The Syrian crisis has provided new common ground for cooperation between Iran, Russia and China, in the sense that if Putin manages to prevent the coming to power of a West-inclined government in Syria, he will be able to cat with greater latitude and manoeuvrability in relations with the United States.

2) It may be anticipated that thanks to his dominance over Russia’s military, oil and gas industries through his close associates and allies, Putin will take more serious action in two policy areas in order to offer greater assurance to Tehran. First, he will help finalize Iran’s nuclear energy case and push for the cancellation or at least reduction of US-led sanctions against the Islamic Republic as Russia harbours no opposition to nuclear enrichment for medical research purposes in Iran. Second, he will move to revoke the former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s order to suspend the deal about selling S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Tehran. The issue drew attention particularly after a trade arbitration court in France voted in favour of Iran after studying its appeal against Russia. With this argument in mind, it goes without saying that if the two fundamental measures are taken, then the circumstances for cooperation will become better and more favourable than the past.

3) Putin might be willing, once again, to play the Iran card in Moscow-Washington relations, but the experience of past four years has awakened him to the reality that Russia can no longer treat its relations with Iran as a variable dependent upon the United States. He needs to free Iranian-Russian relationship from under the heavy shadow and influence of the West once and for all. In point of fact, Putin pursues Russia’s long-term interests by taking into consideration the fact that its relations with Iran needs to be tailored on the basis of both sides’ mutual interests and regardless of the US concerns and considerations.

4) The US-sponsored missile system, called “missile defence shield,” is another issue of central importance which both Iran and Russia oppose for different reasons. The two sides can probably consult with each other on the existing ways to confront the system and then arrive at mutually accepted common solutions and ideas.

5) It is highly expected that upon Putin’s return to office, the issue of the Caspian Sea - which is the world’s greatest lake - and its legal regime will be put on the agenda and the Islamic Republic and Russia will manage to pursue the articles of Tehran summit in 1997 and achieve practical results in the upcoming meeting of Caspian Sea states, which is set to be held in Moscow. Formulating a new legal regime for the Caspian Sea has been the second most important issue of Iranian foreign policy after the nuclear energy programme over the past ten years, and once such a regime is put in place after the resolution of related differences, Iran may be able to develop its relations with Russia and other countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus with greater ease and latitude.

6) Energy - oil and gas - is another area in which Iran and Russia have good opportunities for cooperation in the future. Though Moscow appears to be Tehran rival in terms of energy production and supply, the two countries can indeed cooperate with each other in an effective way on creating and controlling gas and oil markets. It is rather common practice in the contemporary world that rival countries cooperate with each other on strategic issues to exert greater influence on consumer markets while competing with each other in a constructive way. The withdrawal of Russian petroleum company, Lukoil, from working on an oil field in Iran under the excuse of financial problems as well as its refusal to fulfill its commitments in 2009 under the US pressure have left a negative legacy in Iranian-Russian relations during the presidency of Medvedev. It is thus expected that new negotiations will be initiated between the two countries during the Putin era to expand joint activities regarding oil production issue.

As for the future of Moscow-Tehran ties, one may argue that Russia will probably adopt a distinct approach independent from the West, which will in turn contribute to the relative improvement of Iranian-Russian relations. Though one cannot expect Putin to perform miracles about the bilateral ties, Russia’s interests require that it free itself from any Western influence in adjusting its relations with the Islamic Republic. Putin’s Russia will seriously need greater cooperation with Iran in the next six years to boost its influence at the regional and international levels as it cannot score points from the West by playing the Iran card. During the presidency of Putin, Moscow will probably offer Tehran further help to develop its peaceful nuclear energy programme because as the Islamic Republic needs the Russian vote in the United Nations Security Council as well as its military-industrial technology, Russia needs Iranian influence in the Middle East and the Islamic world. Moreover, Moscow’s strategic plans, not least in the areas of gas and oil, will be more effectively enacted in cooperation with Iran.

And finally, Iran's potential membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will both benefit Russia and create a balance of power in this regional organization while enabling the Islamic Republic to play a greater role in Central Asia. It also seems that SCO’s role in confronting American unilateralism will be bolstered in international equations during the coming six-year presidency of Putin in Russia.
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby Jeff » Sat Aug 18, 2012 9:55 am

Look at it this way, through the lens of recent history.

Occupy erupts, forcing the inequities and crises of finance capitalism into polite discourse. The most prominent and best-funded news channel providing exhaustive, sympathetic coverage is Russia Today.

Clearly, says the little Glenn Beck on my shoulder, Occupy is a catspaw of the Russkies. Er, right?

Or maybe it's that rival powers look to exploit one another's vulnerabilities. Oh: and also, perhaps rivals could both be monstrous systems of oppression.

Could be.
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby JackRiddler » Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:04 am

Jeff wrote:Look at it this way, through the lens of recent history.

Occupy erupts, forcing the inequities and crises of finance capitalism into polite discourse. The most prominent and best-funded news channel providing exhaustive, sympathetic coverage is Russia Today.

Clearly, says the little Glenn Beck on my shoulder, Occupy is a catspaw of the Russkies. Er, right?

Or maybe it's that rival powers look to exploit one another's vulnerabilities. Oh: and also, perhaps rivals could both be monstrous systems of oppression.

Could be.


Show us your NED check and your CFR junior member's card, miscreant!

I can't believe how much justifyin' of domestic repression by crude authoritarian gerontocratic patriarchs we're seeing here on the basis that if they're economic nationalists opposed to Anglo-American plunder, that's all we need to know! Did the Western media make it up that the Moscow city government just banned gay marches "for 100 years" in response to an application for a 100 year permit for Pride? Pat Robertson approves, by the way.

Also, the only time Anglo-American propaganda will cover an opposition movement to one of the ODE's (officially designated enemies) is if it's front-to-back an op. (Therefore by reversing the McCarthy, as you point out, Occupy is a Russian front - as was every other Western movement from anti-nuclear to Central America solidarity.)

Talk about a unipolar world view. Particularly funny to see it coming from... anarchists?

.
Last edited by JackRiddler on Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby JackRiddler » Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:14 am

compared2what? wrote:

[politely dismantles Tony Cartalucci doing crude sinister insinuation learned at McCarthy's knee]



You're noble to stoop. I think you should write a novel, however. Obsolete though these may be.

Actually, that was projection, wasn't it? ;)
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby JackRiddler » Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:57 am

wordspeak2 wrote:It certainly doesn't mean that Putin's power is currently in jeopardy, but it's doing a lot to turn global public opinion against Russia...


Such a mystery, since after all what could the Russian authorities have done instead to avoid this?!

You know, you give them an inch, they'll occupy the Kremlin. It's what the US authorities also understood with the minority movement known as Occupy. The only choices are zero tolerance or capitulation!
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby wordspeak2 » Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:18 am

You guys have lost me a little. Who's "justifyin' domestic repression by crude authoritarian gerontocratic patriarchs"? Did I miss that? Personally, I'm just trying to understand what's happening geo-politically. The Russian government is very oppressive, yes; they're not the good guys in the world. The only real good good guy governments are in Latin America and Cuba, with an arguable case for the Scandinavian countries, unless I'm forgetting something. (Libya was actually relatively humanitarian, but NATO saw to that) There does seem to be sides being drawn between the primary powers, where it's not inconceivable that there could be a war in our lifetimes, with Iran, Russia, and China lining up against NATO/Israel, with India and Pakistan as wild cards. I sure hope not; I hope there's a global grassroots uprising first. Personally, I think the real hope of spurring one lies in psychedelics and psychedelic consciousness.

Anyway, the western news coverage of Russia's small anti-Putin protests over the past couple years have been *vastly* disproportionate, and obviously reflects an anti-Putin bias. We get a million people in the streets here in the states, and we get significantly less coverage than Garry Kasporov and ten thousand of his "pro-democracy" buddies gets on the other side of the world. It's blatant; the Cold War rages on. The capitalist intelligentsia clearly doesn't want Putin in power, because he's an economic populist who is supporting some of the U.S.'s (and Israel's) key enemies at the moment. This doesn't make him a good guy, but it's the fact of the matter.

As for "Russia Today"- well, they're often sloppy, but they do a much better job than U.S. press, so... it just is what it is. It's mostly accurate in what it does. Does it have an anti-US agenda? Of course, but they seem to mostly do a good journalistic job, offering exponentially more depth than any corporate media entity, which are supposed to be "independent." And I don't see the U.S. or a U.S. corp starting any equivalent.
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby wordspeak2 » Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:24 am

JackRiddler wrote:
wordspeak2 wrote:It certainly doesn't mean that Putin's power is currently in jeopardy, but it's doing a lot to turn global public opinion against Russia...


Such a mystery, since after all what could the Russian authorities have done instead to avoid this?!

You know, you give them an inch, they'll occupy the Kremlin. It's what the US authorities also understood with the minority movement known as Occupy. The only choices are zero tolerance or capitulation!



I suppose... but the authorities actually let Occupy go for months before cracking down, right? And in Russia the court could have given PR a slap on the wrist, but instead they sentenced the women to two years. Nobody's about to be occupying the Kremlin, honestly; Putin has two-thirds support in the country. It's the western press that's misleading you to believe there's some sort of anti-Putin mass movement going on.
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Re: Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Postby barracuda » Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:35 am

compared2what? wrote:There's some kind of beef between them and the U.S. State Department/Western media? No way!"


Yes way.

And please note Mr. Carlucci's poorly drawn equivalence of Pussy Riot's actions with some of the more notorious anti-semites in semi-recent history:

The West Has Jailed Many For Similar or Lesser Offenses


- 3 Years in Jail for Revising History: In 2006, the BBC reported, "British historian David Irving has been found guilty in Vienna of denying the Holocaust of European Jewry and sentenced to three years in prison." The BBC also reported, "the judge in his 2000 libel trial declared him "an active Holocaust denier... anti-Semitic and racist."" Irving's beliefs, as unpopular as they may be, were expressed in his writings and speeches, not in the middle of a synagogue he had burst into.

- 4 Years and 2 Years in Jail for Operating "Racist" Website: For the crime of operating a US-based "racist" website and possessing with intent to distribute "racist material," two British men, Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle were sentenced to 4 years and 2 years respectively in the UK in 2009. The presiding judge, according to the BBC, "told the men their material was "abusive and insulting" and had the potential to cause "grave social harm."" Unlike Pussy Riot, however, these 2 men only crammed their leaflets into the door of a synagogue - instead of bursting in. Still they received 3-4 years in prison.


...which seems like a bit of a stretch to me. The entry above at "Land Destroyer" concludes with a passage of music criticism to boot, like so:

Tony Cartalucci wrote:Finally, "Pussy Riot" are not punk rockers. They are US State Department-backed instruments of corporate-financier hegemony, used as leverage against a Russian government standing in the way of Wall Street and London's order of international corporatocracy. The punk culture, ironically represents the antithesis of such an international order - ironic indeed that so many have superficially defended "Pussy Riot" as targeted "punkers" when substantively they are "poseurs."


I don't know what cuts he's listening to, but when I combine these two singles...





..with the two year sentence for hooliganism, I obtain a recipe for some rather solid punk credentials. Personally.
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