Putin Steps Up Crackdown on Opposition Press
Putin is not satisfied, of course, to ruthlessly suppress just mainstream media; he’s declared war on the blogosphere as well. Russia’s most-read blogger, Rustem Adagamov (who blogs on Live Journal as “Drugoi” or “The Other”), accuses the Kremlin of “unparalleled police brutality” as it escalates its attacks on opposition political demonstrations. He proclaims: “The Internet is the last free territory — but it won’t stay that way for long.”
Last week, there was a horrifying example of just what Adagamov meant: one of Putin’s ranking goons felt confident enough to openly brag that his forces were intercepting and reading e-mail correspondence sent by opposition political leaders, and using the contents to affect preemptive arrests and shut down demonstrations.
That was nothing, however, compared to what Putin himself had to say. Putin openly stated his forces would crack the skulls of any opposition party activists who dared to assemble in public without official police permission, and once again he ordered the arrest of former First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, who was taken into custody for doing nothing more than distributing his scholarly criticism of the Putin government’s performance at the outskirts of a rally.
The response of the Obama administration to all this neo-Soviet horror has been truly nauseating and unsettling.
A press release from the Clinton State Department says that Obama’s people are having a “conversation” about its “concerns” relating to the repeated violations of the Russian constitution, which contains the same right-of-assembly provisions as its U.S. counterpart. No mention of Putin’s remark, no mention of Nemtsov’s name, no direct support for the activists who are risking their lives to defend the American values set forth in the Russian constitution.
I would say we have a coward for a president, but to say so would imply that Mr. Obama believes in American values enough to stand up for them. Increasingly, that seems difficult to believe. Obama is not just silent on Russia, he’s been actively helping to legitimize the Putin regime, most recently by munching cheeseburgers with Putin’s figurehead president Dmitry Medvedev.
It’s heartening, however, to see that — at long last — the Republican Party has awoken from its stupor. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, stated bluntly:
Putin’s overt and public threat to beat democracy protestors has taken Russia’s ongoing assault against human rights and democratic rights to a whole new, disturbing level [and Russia] must be held accountable for its crackdown on all forms of dissent — including the murders of journalists. Responsible nations cannot overlook Russia’s downward spiral towards tyranny and oppression, and must deny Russia membership in the World Trade Organization and all of the other perks which it does not deserve.
Hopefully, the GOP has now realized that standing up for American values is not just the right thing to do, it’s good politics. Americans want their nation to stand behind its creed, and they know that their best future lies in a world of freedom and open competition in which their efforts can be fully recognized and rewarded. If Barack Obama doesn’t share that view, it’s time to teach him the error of his ways.
Ahhh, the 2nd Amendment. . . it must be defended at all costs. . . its the only thing keeping the Putins and obamas from doing the same thing to us here.
Ha! Barack Shabazz DREAMS about having that kind of power. Far from being critical and defending “American values” he fulminates at the fact that he is CONSTRAINED by them. Maybe when he is forced out in another year, he can become s “special consultant” to the Russian government. That’s if Chavez isn’t interested.
Do not take this as a “racist” observation, but the pot will hardly call the kettle black. That is, Obama will never criticize Putin or any other tyrant or dictator. Call it “power envy.” Putin, Chavez, Castro, King Abdullah are all models of what he would like to be. Excellent article by Zigfeld that exposes not only Putin natural thuggishness, but the encouraging appeasement policy of Obama and that bad penny that keeps turning up, Hillary Clinton. I wonder how many Americans are left who still think Obama “means well.” Their numbers are dwindling faster than a snowball in hell.
Who says “Communism is dead”
And in America…we have a media that is “in the tank” with the Socialist-Democrats…
Remember in November
DUMP ALL DEMS IN NOVEM
“Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink.” P.J.O’Rourke
Speaking of press crackdowns, would someone at Pajamas Media please tell me where/why Jamie Glazov’s post on Muslim inbreeding has disappeared? Much appreciated.
Kim,
It’s nice that this time you at least made an effort to make some American parallels which makes you article more accessible to us and more reasonable. So, this time I do not have negative comments for you as I always had in the past ( save for the irrelevance of “Putin openly stated his forces would crack the skulls of any opposition party activists who dared to assemble in public without official police permission.” Even in US one will get in trouble for demonstrating without permit.)
But again, do not you find it puzzling that your first 4 commenter’s are far more focused on Obama, rather than Putin? It is interesting, is not it? Well I think the explanation for it is our self –interest and self-involvement. Speaking personally of myself: nothing in Putin offends me as much as those his deals with Iran. I can’t feel much about internal troubles in Russia because we do not feel entitled to impose on Russian our values. It is just for Russian people to do and all what America can do is to support those who think alike (Do not expect it from Obama, he will envy Putin and Chavez for the power they have). But direct infringement on our interest, like helping Mullahs to make nukes is may be the best way to convince me why Putin sucks. Even though I know that all those nukes will be first used against Russia by Chechens (just to provoke nuclear conflict) and only later against us, I still feel that I have much stakes.
Please tell Putin to stop helping Iran. Thanks.
“Alexander Rahr, a Russia expert with the German Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank, said Tuesday that Putin departed from his previously cautious attitude toward U.S. President Barack Obama at the closed session. ‘I was very interested in how warmly Putin spoke about Obama. He even called him a like-minded fellow,’ Rahr said by telephone.”
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/foreign-money-in-khodorkovsky-still-out/415162.html