Thursday, March 5, 2015

Open call for evidence of Russian protests

I am aware there are protests going on in Moscow regularly against the dictatorship of Vladimir Putin. Given the significant restrictions on freedom of the press, it is not safe for Russians to post pictures of the protests without becoming the next target of the FSB (the successor to the KGB).

Because of this unfortunate reality, if you have evidence of the current protests and you want to make sure the world can know about what is going on please send pictures to stidmatt@gmail.com so I can post them here so the world can know what is happening today. The world needs to see as many pictures as possible, and the people who are protesting against the status quo need to be as safe as possible, so posting with your own name is not safe. If there are protests in other authoritarian states and you want to make sure the world knows, please feel free to send me those pictures as well.

You will remain anonymous if you don't give me your name and I will not ask for your name for your safety.

If you send me a photo that is not from where you claim to be I will find out and you will be blacklisted. Don't even try to recycle old pictures.

Warning: I have a virus scanner so don't even try to send me any bad code. If you send me one bad email you will be forwarded directly to spam forever so don't even try.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

A tribute to Boris Nemtsov

I feel obliged to write this, given what happened in Russia on Friday. Boris Nemtsov was murdered on Friday, and he was a leading figure to the opposition in Russia, despite not currently holding a position in government.

Russia has lost a true patriot with this killing, and the reversion back to the bad old days (to use a phrase from the other side of the Iron Curtain) is going to look more and more apparent to observers.

The United States and EU don't have much they can do in response. A power vacuum from a political assassination attempt would destabilize Russia and its colonies(?) (Not sure exactly what word to use in reference to Belarus, Crimea, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Kazakhstan), and the person who replaces Putin could then be much worse. Starting World War III through invasion is also off the table.

So here we are with the world's 6th largest economy being controlled by the richest man in the world who is killing his political opposition through bullets. There are no truly liberal parties which actually oppose Putin's policies in the Duma (the leader of A Just Russia is deeply involved in Ukraine) and parties which truly do oppose Putin are not on the ballot. There is clearly a large movement for a different tone in Russia, with so many people protesting in Moscow yesterday, but with no ballot access for their party making change through their system is going be practically impossible.

It is a sad month for Russia and all the world. The Soviet Union is back.