Author
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Topic: The Other Russia and the Left in Russia
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N.Beltov
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4140
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posted 03 September 2008 09:25 AM
There was some discussion on having a thread on this topic in the most recent Georgia, South Ossetia, etc. thread. I've found something in English. It makes reference to something called the National Assembly, which is a kind of alternative Parliament aimed at "the restoration of democracy" in Russia. In Lieu of Public Debate, Opposition Disagrees Over War It's a start.
From: Vancouver Island | Registered: May 2003
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It's Me D
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 15152
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posted 03 September 2008 12:01 PM
Thanks for starting this thread and putting up that interesting article N.Beltov!From Beltov's Article: quote: Kasparov responded to critics of the National Assembly who say that it split and became unworkable when it was faced with the ongoing crisis in Georgia. “Quite the opposite! It became the only platform where such issues are discussed,” he said.
quote: In debates on Georgia that followed, Andrei Dmitriyev, the local leader of the mildly nationalist NBP, delivered his party’s view that it supported the Russian authorities’ decision to invade Georgia.“Once in blue moon, Russia’s leadership acts in the right way,” said Dmitriyev, who said he spent several days in Tskhinvali and the Georgian town of Gori soon after the military action took place.
quote: Dmitriyev described the liberals’ anti-war position as a “big political mistake” because it allows the authorities to present the opposition as “internal exiles.”“We, natsbols [NBP members], don’t want to be in a ghetto, we are struggling against the despotism of those in power, we are not struggling against the Russian people and against our country,” he said. Finally, Dmitriyev asked that his words be taken not as an attempt to destroy the coalition but as criticism toward comrades-in-arms, and called for renewed focus on the country’s internal problems such as the absence of free elections and various social problems. While many in the audience seemed to disagree with Dmitriyev, Kasparov drew attention to the fact that the NBP has defended its position for many years — unlike pro-Kremlin youth groups such as Nashi or the Young Guard. “Limonov’s position on this issue hasn’t changed for 16 years, I think it’s important to note this,” Kasparov said.
As I mentioned in the lengthy Georgian conflict thread I am a supporter of Limonov. I had written the Other Russia seeking the clarification this article provides. The Other Russia coalition IS at odds over this conflict, with Liberals siding with the west and Leftists and Nationalists siding with Putin (who these Other Russia coalition members generally dispise). Kasparov's conciliatory approach is laudible, hopefully this coalition of "odd bedfellows" will survive its split on this issue. I knew Limonov wouldn't have changed his stance on this mater, I'm glad to have such clear confirmation that I was right.
From: Parrsboro, NS | Registered: Apr 2008
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It's Me D
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 15152
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posted 05 September 2008 10:55 AM
In the interest of stimulating this thread, although it is a little old and not directly related to the recent conflict in Georgia, I want to introduce a voice of dissent from Putin's Russia:Limonov vs Putin, by Eduard Limonov (English) This is essentially a combination biography of Putin/articulation of some of Limonov's politics. On the difference between Limonov and Putin (there is a lot of this sort of material in the earlier sections of the book, as the two politicians are similarly aged): quote: In university, in the beginning of the fifth session Putin was recruited by state security agents. And after graduating he was directed to the KGB Moscow school where he spent a year. According to his own words Putin “accepted to work in the KGB instantly and without hesitating for patriotic reasons”. One of his friends remembered that in youth Putin himself tried to initiate his recruitment but he didn’t succeed – the KGB was suspicious of initiative takers. However they have apparently noticed the promising guy and later found him by themselves.My acquaintance with the State Security Committee happened a couple years earlier than Putin’s. In October 1973 I fell in their vision field, apparently for many reasons at once: I was rubbing elbows with dissidents (in particularly with the famous V. Gershuni), with foreigners (with my wife I visited Venezuela’s embassy and was close with its ambassador in Moscow R. Burelli), my wife’s sister was married to a former Lebanese attachй and lived in Beirut and according to some sources was a GRU agent (with which the KGB’s external intelligence always had hostile relations). I was arrested in my apartment on Maria Ulyanova Street and later called many times to the KGB office on Dzerzhinsky Street. I categorically refused the offer to be an informer and report to the KGB about what happens in Venezuela’s embassy and among the nonconformists, artists and poets to whose circle I belonged. In response to my stubborn answer I received the proposition to leave Russia, which I did with my wife in the following 1974 year. So the KGB had taken part in my life, influenced it and my formation as a person. Because all of this took place in the West where I was expelled thanks to the KGB efforts.
On the war in Chechnya, quote: Russia is leading a war in Chechnya, the nazbols were right: for Putin’s personal ratings, for his “tough guy” reputation. But I will add – also for the reputation of a tough Russia and for the quite false supposition that if they “release” Chechnya other North Caucasian and Muslim republics will follow suit. The supposition is false because by releasing Chechnya, the negative impression of this “release” could be balanced by taking into Russia the fertile lands of Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia. I will note that besides, in other North Caucasian republics the population is mostly Russian or mixed. Chechnya and the Chechens are rather a huge exception from the rule, than the rule.
quote: Now more about the motives that led Putin to war in Chechnya. I will add another one to the ones enumerated by the nazbols. In essence Putin might have given Chechnya to Kadirov Senior right after he was elected president of the Chechen republic. This did not happen because president Putin does not lead this war only for his ratings and the image of a tough guy but also for maintaining the de facto state of emergency regime that reigns in Russian cities. If Chechnya is released, there will be no pretext for the police State in the RF to continue its existence. The wrecker groups will stop to send suicide bombers from Chechnya – then good-bye, metal detectors and searches, they will have to remove part of the police from the streets and a part of the hatred for the Caucasians will disappear. Even the society we have will ask for relaxation in the end when it will see that the Chechens have gotten to their business after the Russian troops finally left their territory. I formulate it again: Putin needs the Chechen war to sustain the police State in Russia, to limit the personal and political rights of the citizens in order to keep and reinforce his power.
I know that this is a long read but for getting a sense of uniquely Russian anti-Putin opposition I think there is no better source. I hope some babblers find it interesting.
From: Parrsboro, NS | Registered: Apr 2008
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It's Me D
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 15152
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posted 05 September 2008 07:11 PM
Fidel:From Limonov vs Putin as I linked to above: quote: I knew that there was a book by Korzhakov called “Boris Yeltsin: from dusk till dawn”, but I have not read it until lately. Only recently I fell upon it, living in a secret apartment, where I was hiding from repressions. The cover and the pictures first shocked me. The cover shows a probably sunbathing Yeltsin with the angry face of a criminal. And the pictures are so revealing that they could serve as evidence against Yeltsin and his people in a trial over them. Meaty, angry, drunken, baggy, looking like tramps and thugs, Yeltsin and the members of his government are odious. Visibly supposing to write an apology of himself, Korzhakov has in fact made an exposing book. Among others exposing himself, a dull-witted, unpleasant, simple half-police, half-FSB officer, and a man of violence, understanding only violence. Korzhakov is in such rapture when he describes the bloody events of October 1993, how glad he is at the proposition of a certain 1st rank captain Zakharov to shoot down the White House from tanks! As for Yeltsin he just appears like a boor, the regular of some foul cheburek-house. These are the kind of people who were governing us in 1991-1999. There is picture that is particularly impressive. There are three persons on it: a visibly frozen Yeltsin in a coat with hands under his armpits and wearing an ugly, shit-colored huge beret pushed on his front. He sits at a table with the rests of loathsome appetizers on it. Beside him sits Chernomirdin in a leather cap, with a beer and on the other side an anonymous alcoholic hiding his face with his hand. The leaders of Russia!
As N Beltov said of the Other Russia earlier, politics makes strange bedfellows; Kasparov is not the only member of this coalition, nor does he set policy for other coalition parties besides his own.
From: Parrsboro, NS | Registered: Apr 2008
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George Victor
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 14683
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posted 06 September 2008 12:50 AM
Russian invasion spooks investors By Rupert Wingfield Hayes BBC Moscow correspondent After further falls on Friday, the Russian stock market has plunged more than 30% since the country's invasion of Georgia last month. Investor confidence has been hit hard by the conflict. Some international banks estimating that between up to $20bn (£11bn)in foreign capital has been pulled out of Russia in the last month alone. Since the invasion the value of the rouble has slumped, reportedly leading to the central bank stepping in. So whereas Russia may have got away with a slap on the wrist from Europe for its invasion, Moscow is being punished much more directly by international investors. Analysts in Moscow say Russia is now seen as a risky place to invest and it will be a long time before confidence returns. But Russia is not in any danger of imminent economic crisis. More than $1bn a day flows in from oil and gas exports and Russia is sitting on foreign exchange reserves of more than half a trillion dollars, the third largest in the world. But the financial fall out from Russia's Georgian adventure may now be giving the Kremlin reason to pause for thought. Story from BBC NEWS: ------------------------------------------------
And then again, it may not be givng pause for thought.
From: Cambridge, ON | Registered: Oct 2007
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