Author Archives: RomanInUkraine

Significant Protests in Russia

@JuliaDavisNews · 7h 7 hours ago

Moscow right now. People chant: “Down with chekists… Putin huilo… No Putin – no war… Crimea is not ours.”

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@russian_market · 7h 7 hours ago

117 protesters detained in Moscow this evening.

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@JF991 · 6h 6 hours ago

Just like in Kiev – Plain clothes thugs in groups sent into crowd and beating up people

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No way to dispose of toxic lightbulbs in Lviv.

You know those toxic “green” lightbulbs which the enviro-fascists have been promoting until recently? The ones filled with mercury?

There seems to be no proper infrastructure for disposing them in Lviv.

I even asked in a lightbulb/lamp store. They said “throw it in a dumpster, but as far away from our store as you can.”

A French historian discusses The Black Book of Communism

“So, if we talk about ‘overcoming’ Lenin’s legacy in the minds of Ukrainians, the most important and most difficult part of this work is liberating consciousness. A special role here belongs to ‘curing’ memory, both individual and collective. Memory makes up the basis of identity and personal identification. If you have lost your memory, you have lost your identity as well. The same applies to the collective memory. That is why the Communists sought to destroy the historical truth that could call into question their version of the ‘glorious past.’

http://www.day.kiev.ua/en/article/topic-day/french-historian-discusses-black-book-communism

Machiavelli describes Ukraine

Machiavelli describes Ukraine:

— ‘Many examples in ancient history prove how difficult it is for a people that have been accustomed to live under the government of a prince to preserve its liberty, if by some accident it has recovered it, as was the case with Rome after the expulsion of the Tarquins. And this difficulty is a reasonable one; for such a people may well be compared to some wild animal, which (although by nature ferocious and savage) has been as it were subdued by having been always kept imprisoned and in servitude, and being let out into the open fields, not knowing how to provide food and shelter for itself, becomes an easy prey to the first one who attempts to chain it up again. The same thing happens to a people that has not been accustomed to self-government; for, ignorant of all public affairs, of all means of defence or offence, neither knowing the princes or being known by them, it soon relapses under a yoke, oftentimes much heavier than the one which it had but just shaken off. This difficulty occurs even when the body of the people is not wholly corrupt; but when corruption has taken possession of the whole people, then it cannot preserve its free condition even for the shortest possible time, as we shall see further on; and therefore our argument has reference to a people where corruption has not yet become general, and where the good still prevails over the bad.’ —

N.Machiavelli – Discourses, Book I, Chapter XVI.

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When I read this part:

The same thing happens to a people that has not been accustomed to self-government; for, ignorant of all public affairs, of all means of defence or offence, neither knowing the princes or being known by them, it soon relapses under a yoke, oftentimes much heavier than the one which it had but just shaken off. This difficulty occurs even when the body of the people is not wholly corrupt

I think of the fear Ukrainians have of defending themselves (gun ownership, militia) & their insistence that someone do it for them.

Don’t get me wrong, whatever happens will be an improvement. I’m quite proud to be Ukrainian right now. But it will also be a missed opportunity.

Catherine similarly tried to play ‘englightened despot’ as Putin is today

Interesting read:

Nearly 250 years ago, Empress Catherine II “the Great” played a similar hand when she attempted to impress the West while ruthlessly enforcing her authority over Russia and the surrounding region. Catherine presented herself to the world as an “Enlightened” autocrat who did not govern as a despot but as a monarch guided by the rule of law and the welfare of her subjects. Yet at the same time, she annexed much of what is now the Ukraine through wars with the Ottoman Empire and the partition of Poland and brutally supressed the largest peasant rebellion in Russian history.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-catherine-great-invaded-crimea-and-put-rest-world-edge-180949969/

Survey: Ethnic Russians in Baltic Countries ‘Love Russia but Don’t Consider It Their Home’

Ethnic Russians living in Latvia and Lithuania “view themselves as a community and respect Russian culture but consider their native home to be the countries where they live rather than Russia,” and this is true even of those born in Russia or who are not citizens of their countries of residence, according to a new study.

The study, entitled “The Identity of the Russian Ethnic Group and Its Expression in Lithuania and Latvia,” was prepared by Arvidas Matiulionis of the Institute of Sociology of Lithuania and Monika Frejute-Rakauskiene of Ethnic Research of Lithuania, has been published in “Mir Rossii: Sotsiologiya, Etnologiya” of the Moscow Higher School of Economics (mirros.hse.ru/2014-23-1/118335684.html; summarized at opec.ru/1776568.html).

The two scholars compared the ethnic self-definitions and identities of the Russian ethnic group in Lithuania and Latvia.

http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2014/12/window-on-eurasia-ethnic-russians-in.html?spref=tw

Sweden and Denmark summon Russian ambassadors

Sweden and Denmark have summoned Moscow’s ambassadors to their countries in the wake of an incident in which a Russian warplane almost collided with a passenger jet.

The warplane’s key radar instrument or transponder was switched off, which could potentially have caused an air disaster, Ukraine Today reports.

NATO has been witnessing an abnormal escalation of the Kremlin’s military activity lately, especially close to the Baltic States, with 21 Russian warplanes intercepted in the area last week alone.
Read more on UNIAN: http://www.unian.info/world/1022347-sweden-and-denmark-summon-russian-ambassadors-video.html

http://www.unian.info/world/1022347-sweden-and-denmark-summon-russian-ambassadors-video.html

Russian survey. 62% say “Order” > Human rights

The survey, conducted by the independent Levada Center on Nov. 21-24, saw 62 percent of respondents say that order in the government takes priority over the protection of human rights in Russia right now, amid the ongoing economic crisis and deteriorating relations with the West over the Ukraine crisis.

Twenty-nine percent saw human rights as more important than order, and another 9 percent expressed difficulty in answering the question.

The results of the poll came as many began to fear an uphill battle for the country’s economy, with Russian currency having significantly deteriorated in recent weeks after the West hurled wave after wave of sanctions against Russia over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Human rights also played a central role in the poll, though freedom of speech and freedom of religion ranked fairly low on the list.

Sixty-five percent of respondents cited the right to life as the most important right, followed by the right to free education, medical aid and pensions with 64 percent, and the right to privacy and a home with 50 percent.

The right to a well-paying job in one’s specialty came next, with 43 percent — followed by the right to own property, with 39 percent.

The right to free speech was cited as the most important by only 30 percent of respondents, and freedom of religion by only 22 percent. Twenty percent cited the right to information as the most important, and 19 percent cited the right to elect representatives in government.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/order-more-important-than-human-rights-most-russians-say/513774.html

Curt on Ukrainian men

You see men in America who worry about their social status. You see the very same men here in Ukraine worry about finding work to feed their families. You see men check out of society in the states to watch sports and play video games. You see men check out of society to drink and watch sports here because they have no alternative.

The only difference between Canada and Ukraine is the influence of the major power next door. The only thing preventing a prosperous Ukraine is 20K lawyers and judges imported, and the conduct of law in english. And the ostracization of all Russian sympathizers from all walks of life. You think that’s a crazy idea: it’s freaking genius.

I hate seeing willing men whose lives go wasted.

I don’t care about whose race they belong to by the way.

I just care more about my tribe first, as all aristocracy should.