The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing
By brendochka39 on September 24, 2024
An article by RadioFreeEurope/
“Punishment for ‘Russophobia’ To Be Added To Russian Criminal Code.”
Well, that sounded as though the Russian people were now going to be punished for being afraid of . . . whom? . . . themselves? That made no sense. And reading on, hoping for clarity, I found only further obfuscation:
“Russian authorities plan to amend the Criminal Code by adding punishment for ‘Russophobia,’ defined as discrimination against Russian citizens and residents of the Russian Federation by foreigners and foreign officials abroad or calls for such actions.” [RFE/RL, September 23, 2024.]
Did you catch that: “ . . . by foreigners and foreign officials abroad . . .” ??!!!
So I wondered whether that meant that, by sitting here in the comfort of my own home in the United States and writing the truth about the Putin regime, I could be tried in absentia in Moscow and convicted of something that is not and never has been a crime where I “committed” it. And it turns out, that is exactly what it does mean.
Well, when that law goes into effect (as it almost certainly will), add one more point of pride to my resume: Wanted Criminal (but only in Russia).
Me . . . and countless millions of others.
But the language of the proposed new law hasn’t been finalized yet. For one thing, the draft as approved by the Cabinet said that the punishment for this new crime would be the “barring of convicted individuals from occupying certain posts and conducting certain activities in Russia.” But someone in the government realized that didn’t make sense, as the law was meant to affect only individuals living outside of Russia. [Id.]
Glad they caught that one, since the Cabinet apparently can’t tell a local from a foreigner.
As presently drafted, the law also fails to specify what is considered “discrimination” of Russian citizens and residents. Perhaps that was left intentionally obscure to allow maximum latitude to the courts in determining guilt.
Did I say “perhaps”?? Hell, just look at the people who have been convicted of high treason for “insulting the Russian military,” or simply criticizing the government. One dual U.S.-Russian citizen, Ksenia Karelina, a legal resident of Los Angeles, California, is in a Russian prison now for having contributed — in the United States — $51.80 to a charity that offers assistance to victims of the war in Ukraine. (She made the mistake of going to visit family in Russia, where she was promptly arrested.)
Who needs specifics when you have a president who seems to have a phobia of Russophobia?
Vladimir Putin has publicly spoken of the West’s “cancellation of the Russian culture”; and officials in the Foreign Ministry, among others, have labeled Western sanctions imposed since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine an “expression of Russophobia.” [Id.]
So we — that would be everyone outside of Russia — are now to be judged by the Russian government for being critical of any member of the government, from Putin on down to the Kremlin cleaning staff, or presumably of any and all things that might be considered part of the “Russian culture.”
*. *. *
I think I’m in big trouble. Because I believe Putin is as corrupt a despot as ever lived; Dmitry Medvedev is a crazed, war-mongering lunatic; Sergey Lavrov needs a facelift; the war in Ukraine is illegal; and I hate borshch. In fact, I hate beets. Period.
So sue me.
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
9/24/24
…………..
And this is the RFL article:
Punishment For ‘Russophobia’ To Be Added To Russian Criminal Code
https://www.rferl.org/a/russophobia-criminal-code-ukraine-invasion-draft-law-russia/33131027.html
I’m surprised the old girl does not know that Borscht, like most things the putinaZis thieved, is Ukrainian, not ruZZian. She has a Ukrainian granny too.
Apart from that glitch, an excellent comment piece about the crazed, festering evil that is putlerstan.
Properly prepared, Borscht is one of the finest soups you can ever enjoy.
“Timothy Snyder, Professor of History at Yale University, during his presentation at the UN Security Council in March 2023 described the term Russophobia as a tool used by modern Russia to justify its armed forces’ alleged war crimes in Ukraine.”
As usual, the prof is spot on. In the following brief clip from yesterday, he talks about Ukrainian freedom:-
Why the U.S. Misjudged Ukraine — The Influence of Russian Imperial Narratives on U.S. Policy
Helsinki Commission
Yale Professor Timothy Snyder testifies before the U.S. Helsinki Commission at its hearing on Russia’s Imperial Identity.
In this segment, Snyder explores the connection between Russian empire and the way the United States has thought about the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Snyder suggests that many Americans are aware of Russia’s big history, big literature, and big past, such that many Americans imbibe the Russian imperial narrative according to which other peoples were secondary, irrelevant, troublemakers, nationalists to somehow be dismissed. He believes this helps account for the misjudgments that Americans made in general in February 2022 when we took for granted as a society and as a polity that Ukraine would break within a few days when Russia invaded.
Snyder suggests that Americans have seriously underestimated the potential of Ukrainian Armed Forces and the potential of Ukrainian society partly because they have taken in imperial assumptions themselves. He suggests that the Russians have been able to control the strategic discourse, setting up for us new rules in war, which have never existed before. Like, for example, that when you invade another country, the entire war should take place on the territory the country you’ve invaded.
He notes that no one has ever said that before because it’s completely absurd, and yet somehow it’s been accepted in the United States as normal that this war should be fought on Ukrainian territory. He says that another idea that the Russians have that we’ve accepted is that it’s normal, for example, for ballistic missiles to rain down on Kyiv, but it’s somehow not normal for ballistic missiles from Ukraine to go into Russia.
Snyder believes it has a great deal to do with imperial thinking, which we have accepted. He says that people think there’s something precious, special about Russia, and somehow it’s okay for Ukrainians to be victims because they always have been victims. He says we need to investigate that understructure of thinking, which he believes has guided U.S. policy in the wrong way.
Finally, he suggests that the Ukrainians are right when they tell us that the Russians are going to negotiate peace when they believe they are losing. He suggests that if anyone is serious about negotiation, that that person should be trying to get the Russians into a position where they think they might be losing. He says the Ukrainians get that, but they’re having a really hard time making us understand that. He says that when they talk about a victory plan or a peace plan, what they mean is together, the West and Ukraine, do enough to get Russia to a point where it might negotiate sincerely.
Timothy Snyder is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. A scholar of history of Central and Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and the Holocaust, Snyder speaks five and reads ten European languages, has written 16 books, including six on Ukraine, and co-edited two. His work, published in forty languages, has inspired political demonstrations, sculpture, posters, punk rock, rap, film, theater, opera, and earned him six state orders and decorations from Austria, Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland, four honorary doctorates, and numerous prizes and awards.
Snyder writes and speaks in the international press on Ukraine, American politics, strategies for averting authoritarianism, digital politics, health, and education, also appearing in documentaries, on network television, in major films, and as an expert witness to Congress. He is an ambassador to United 24 where he launched the Safe Skies fund for military defense of Ukraine. Snyder leads 90 scholars in the Ukrainian History Global Initiative, a charitable foundation for research on prehistory of Ukrainian lands, the spread of Indo-European languages, international relations, nation building, and imperialism.
“Snyder suggests that Americans have seriously underestimated the potential of Ukrainian Armed Forces and the potential of Ukrainian society partly because they have taken in imperial assumptions themselves. He suggests that the Russians have been able to control the strategic discourse, setting up for us new rules in war, which have never existed before. Like, for example, that when you invade another country, the entire war should take place on the territory the country you’ve invaded.”
An absurdity that as we see is persisting. David DeBatto has commented on this :
US Spouts BS To Ukraine: “We Have Always Supported A Ukrainian Victory!”
Please watch my new YouTube podcast where I rip U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink for her slavish parroting of Biden adminstration talking points to the point of absurdity. Contrary to her claptrap, the US has NEVER articulated a strategic vision for this war, and it has NEVER said they support a Ukrainian VICTORY over Russsia…until this embarrassing Q&A with the Kyiv Independent.
Watch my, umm… passionate observations at: