Russian opposition parties form anti-Putin alliance

Found this interesting it appears that Putins opposition is getting more vocal despite the possibility of death or jail at least according to them. It appears Putin is uniting different groups to come up with basically one platform. The basis of that platform is Putins abuses of power. Dont think this is what Putin had in mind when he said he wanted to unite the Russian people.

Russia's political opposition has in recent years been riven by infighting, weakening its ability to challenge President Vladimir Putin.
A former deputy prime minister, Nemtsov was gunned down in Moscow in February.
In a joint statement on Friday, the two parties called on opposition figures to "consolidate on a common platform of a rejection of lies, corruption and aggression".
Mikhail Kasyanov, co-chairman of RPR-Parnas and a former prime minister, said the parties would form an alliance rather than merge.
Mr Kasyanov later announced they had been joined by a third party, Democratic Choice, led by a former energy minister, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.
"We expect that our movement will continue and other opposition parties will join us," Mr Kasyanov said.

Normally id make a second thread here but since the article covers both topics ill keep them together, Its on the murder of Nemtsov. Aparently the opposition parties are going to pin the murder on Putin Zaur Dadayev is now recanting his story. He now claims he was beaten into a confession and apparently a Russian human rights council agrees. Also note apparently they are trying to finish his work before the murder and tie Putin to Ukraine.

Zaur Dadayev, a Chechen policeman who was arrested with four alleged accomplices days after the murder, was initially said by authorities to have confessed to the crime.
But a member of Russia's human rights council who visited Mr Dadayev in prison said there was evidence the policeman had been tortured into giving his confession.
Mr Dadayev himself said there was no evidence against him, and that he had made a confession after being threatened with death.

www.bbc.com...

Do you think this will turn into major protests or is Putins grip on the press absolute at this point???

a reply to: dragonridr

Putin his grip on press is not absolute when they have just given CNN a new licence and Voice of America has been broadcasting for decades already.

Before the previous elections there was also a coalition of the opposition, most have actual left Russia because they realized it is useless, so the ones left are not that strong.

And seeing that the economic attack on Russia has failed (a lot of pumping up in Western press doesn`t mean it reflected reality), I don`t see this will mean that much.

What Sanctions? The Russian Economy Is Growing Again

Dont worry .. uncle scam will fund them and stir the pot in attempt to bring freedumb and dumbocrappy to russia .. and the show goes on ...

hasn't putin got a 90% approval rating or something like that. I watched a program on the rising nationalism in Russia and the guy is seen as a hero over there , especially among the young. It was bbc so not russian propaganda. The rise of far right nationalism in Russia is scary, well it scared me. His army of young supporters are a bunch of violent thugs, who would eat the obama youth for breakfast. They feel they are being humiliated by sanctions and seem to hate the west with a passion.

a reply to: dragonridr

Ultimately this coalition was inevitable. Their primary goal should be to try to remove him and his cohorts from power to be replaced with a progressive modern government.

The only alternative would be another revolution, and that's not going to be pretty in Putin's Russia. The people will tire of the economic struggle, the Orthodox clampdown on media and the arts is only angering the younger voters even more.

I hope they do this right and focus their efforts on the younger voters, while highlighting the economic difficulties many are now facing. If you're in your 20's or 30's in Russia you're not likely to ever own your own home, or have a secure job paying you enough to comfortably live, that's where Putin's political weakness is.

originally posted by: woodwardjnr
hasn't putin got a 90% approval rating or something like that. I watched a program on the rising nationalism in Russia and the guy is seen as a hero over there , especially among the young. It was bbc so not russian propaganda. The rise of far right nationalism in Russia is scary, well it scared me. His army of young supporters are a bunch of violent thugs, who would eat the obama youth for breakfast. They feel they are being humiliated by sanctions and seem to hate the west with a passion.

I'm sure BornAgainAlien will be along any moment now to claim that all those fascists in Russia are nothing more than CIA plants and that this is all just propaganda... Fascism only exists in Kiev, the USA and Europe, remember? lol

There has always been a lot of fascism in Russia, but while it is on the rise there are a lot of younger people there who either want to leave or move their country forward and away from all this.

Of course it doesn't help that Putin is feeding this extreme nationalism, what with the Orthodox Church now seemingly in control of dictating "culture".

originally posted by: BornAgainAlien
a reply to: dragonridr

Putin his grip on press is not absolute when they have just given CNN a new licence and Voice of America has been broadcasting for decades already.

Before the previous elections there was also a coalition of the opposition, most have actual left Russia because they realized it is useless, so the ones left are not that strong.

And seeing that the economic attack on Russia has failed (a lot of pumping up in Western press doesn`t mean it reflected reality), I don`t see this will mean that much.

What Sanctions? The Russian Economy Is Growing Again

He seems to have a very strong grip. On the press however I doubt it can be maintained if groups begin to attack him. As far as the economy of course it improved the price of crude oil went up and the Russian economy is directly tied to that. Problem is doesn't address inflation or capitol Flight. Both these conditions will continue for several years.

originally posted by: Expat888
Dont worry .. uncle scam will fund them and stir the pot in attempt to bring freedumb and dumbocrappy to russia .. and the show goes on ...

There will be no foreign funding of there were ot makes them in eligible under Russian law. They would be required to register and effectively shut down the opisit on party. All there funding will have to be from Russian cirizens.

Opposition alliances are largely meaningless, so I wouldn't put much stock in them.

Evidence: Canada...every time there is a majority or close to majority minority government, the opposition parties attempt to create alliances.

This must be more sinister though, it did have the word Russia in the article.

originally posted by: Rocker2013
a reply to: dragonridr

Ultimately this coalition was inevitable. Their primary goal should be to try to remove him and his cohorts from power to be replaced with a progressive modern government.

The only alternative would be another revolution, and that's not going to be pretty in Putin's Russia. The people will tire of the economic struggle, the Orthodox clampdown on media and the arts is only angering the younger voters even more.

I hope they do this right and focus their efforts on the younger voters, while highlighting the economic difficulties many are now facing. If you're in your 20's or 30's in Russia you're not likely to ever own your own home, or have a secure job paying you enough to comfortably live, that's where Putin's political weakness is.

He definately is having problems with the middle class. He manages to avoid their wrath with the Crimea thing. He's using patriotism and an anti western platform to get people to ignore the economy.

Russians started making money than they started looking at what there government does for them.jere as what I mean Russia increased the budget recently for military currently 40 percent. At the same time Putin cut back on social programs like pensions which he cut by 2 percent. He's cut government workers and has even reduced funding for health care.

Now as we can see concern for thw people just isn't there and this will indeed catch up with him. Throw in the fascist takeover hrs done of the government consolidating all power with him. Than your right either the anti putin forces must act or leave there is no alternative.

a reply to: Rocker2013

Having been to Russia several times yes there is a nationalism seeping into Russia. And to me at least it has Nazi tones. I've seen people being accepted as friends of Putin basically bikers. Who wear swastikas but at parades are accepted because they wave the Russian flag and praise Putin. It's scary what's accepted by the Russian populous.

originally posted by: dragonridr

originally posted by: Expat888
Dont worry .. uncle scam will fund them and stir the pot in attempt to bring freedumb and dumbocrappy to russia .. and the show goes on ...

There will be no foreign funding of there were ot makes them in eligible under Russian law. They would be required to register and effectively shut down the opisit on party. All there funding will have to be from Russian cirizens.

If you believe that ... I have some nice beachfront property in the gobi desert to sell you ... uncle scam been doing it for decades all over the world ..

originally posted by: Expat888

originally posted by: dragonridr

originally posted by: Expat888
Dont worry .. uncle scam will fund them and stir the pot in attempt to bring freedumb and dumbocrappy to russia .. and the show goes on ...

There will be no foreign funding of there were ot makes them in eligible under Russian law. They would be required to register and effectively shut down the opisit on party. All there funding will have to be from Russian cirizens.

If you believe that ... I have some nice beachfront property in the gobi desert to sell you ... uncle scam been doing it for decades all over the world ..

Putin put laws in place to prevent foreign funding failire to follow the rules you end up in jail. So there will be no foreign funding in the next election. This is going to have to be a grass roots campaign by Russians. And this is obviously the start they will have to show Putin as oppressive and against the people's best intrest. Surprisingly there starting to speak out against him that means even at great risk to their lives they are going after Putin.

a reply to: dragonridr

We should trade off.

Those in opposition to Putin there can come live here in the west and the people in the west who love Putin can move to Russia.

Everyone would be happy.

Hell have each move into the others houses and take over their jobs and social life.

I would pay a buck to see that.

Here is a very long article that explains the changes to nationalism which Putin is cementing in Russia. Here ill highlight some of the things i found interesting. Putin is using nationalism to reform Russia. Problem is when you play with Nationalism it can easily trap you into courses of action. People here mentioned fascism taking over in Russia and i thought of this article it kind of documents the changes as they occurred. Heres a couple of point the article made. Also notice that Putin has a sense of paranoia if you will thinking the west is plotting against him. Probably from all those years he was in the KGB plotting against the west.

2009, after Putin had ceded the Presidency to Medvedev, he hosted Obama at his country residence and lectured the U.S. President on the history of American deceptions. It was an hour before Obama managed more than “hello.” McFaul, who was at that meeting, said, “It was grossly inaccurate, but that is his theory of the world.” Putin demanded that the U.S. cede to him the former Soviet republics—Ukraine above all—as a Russian sphere of influence. He felt that the United States had, in the glow of post-Cold War triumphalism, pushed Russia around, exploiting its weakness to ignore Yeltsin’s protests and bomb Belgrade and Kosovo. Gorbachev had always said that the U.S. had promised that, in exchange for his acquiescence to the reunification of Germany, NATO would not expand to the east. In 2004, NATO absorbed seven new countries—Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and the three Baltic states, which Putin took as a particular offense and a geopolitical threat. And then, later that year, came the Orange Revolution, in Ukraine, which Putin saw as a Western project and a foreshadowing of an assault on him.

But Putin was determined that his opportunity not be truncated: “Give me twenty years,” he said, “and you will not recognize Russia.”

And so now, instead of nurturing the business and creative classes in the big cities, he turned on them. He vilified them on TV; he weakened them with restrictions, searches, arrests, and selective jail terms. He sided now with the deeply conservative impulses, prejudices, and habits of mind of the Russian majority. “There was an idea to gain the support of the majority, to distinguish it from the minority,” Boris Mezhuev, a conservative columnist at Izvestia and the editor of the Web site politconservatism.ru, told me. “This was done harshly.”

Putin’s speeches were full of hostility, lashing out at the West for betraying its promises, for treating Russia like a defeated “vassal” rather than a great country, for an inability to distinguish between right and wrong. He denounced the United States for its behavior in Hiroshima and Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, the Balkans and Libya. He cut off adoptions to America, claiming that “our” babies were being abused by cruel and heedless foreigners. The West was hypocritical, arrogant, self-righteous, and dissolute, according to Putin, so he strengthened his alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church to reëstablish “traditional Russian values.” He approved new laws on “non-traditional” sexual practices—the so-called “anti-gay propaganda” laws.

There is an air of defiance, even a heedlessness, to Putin’s behavior. As the conservative commentator Stanislav Belkovsky put it to me, “It was clear that the actions in Crimea would lead to sanctions, capital flight, and a deterioration of Russia’s reputation, but nobody supporting the aggression thought twice. The imperial horn has been sounded. But we are a Third World kleptocracy hiding behind imperial symbols. There are no resources for a true imperial revival.”

www.newyorker.com...

Its called COVERT AID - means its OFF the record and OFF the books ... meh... nevermind keep living in lala land thinking that some silly law will keep uncle scam from meddling ..

a reply to: Expat888

So has Russia. Currently they're funding far right groups across Europe because they're anti-EU. Hell some of the groups even have neo-Nazi ties. But of course since it's Russia there are members on here that will support them while at the same time deriding Western nations for funding opposition parties in other countries. Talk about hypocrisy.

a reply to: Expat888

Yeah, even Canada was exposed on wiki leaks for sending military aid in the form of troops and combat aircraft to Iraq for example.

Germany and France built up Iraq's chemical weapons production capabilities during the war with Iran.

Everyone had soldiers employed with black water during Iraq. Even still. Its a second UN army.

I understand your experience during the Vietnam war and later on with the US armed forces has sent you down this road to this solidified sentiment you hold about the US government. I ask if it hasn't blinded you to the reality that there are no innocents?

There is no government on earth that isn't guilty of clandestine operations selling arms or war for profit.

Is the US the puppet master, or just another puppet?

What you see is not what you get. If all we see is the US involvement but KNOW others are involved....perhaps the real puppet master is still unseen. The strings as it were, arent even indicative of the hand that moves them.

There is a tangled mess of strings and no known hidden hand....everyone has a finger in this show....

I hope you see that. Like you must know, trust no one. If you must blame one, know its not honest criticism. You should blame everyone.

Or awaken to the reality that THIS IS human nature and THIS IS our world. All else is an illusion of the last century...but that illusion wont last into the next.

originally posted by: Expat888
Its called COVERT AID - means its OFF the record and OFF the books ... meh... nevermind keep living in lala land thinking that some silly law will keep uncle scam from meddling ..

So you think Russian special Sevices are inept and wouldn't notice?? Any body who says anything negative about Putin and his policies is considered a threat to the state. And as such they get attention from Russian special services. They get tailed by them have harass and of course jail. Trust me the last thing any Putin opisition is going to do is accept help from foreign anything. For some reason you feel the need to believe this fantasy is it because it excuses people for believing Putin is destroying Russia.

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
a reply to: Expat888

So has Russia. Currently they're funding far right groups across Europe because they're anti-EU. Hell some of the groups even have neo-Nazi ties. But of course since it's Russia there are members on here that will support them while at the same time deriding Western nations for funding opposition parties in other countries. Talk about hypocrisy.

Right wing fascist throughout Europe see Putin as an ally. He has provided funding especially if France and greece. But this is part of why the Putin opisit ion is concerned and joining together. They see the march of Russia to an authoritarian regime.