No, This Article Was Not Written in 2004
Some people are a little slow on the uptake:
Perceptions Grow Of Putin Personality Cult
As Prime Minister Vladimir Putin prepares to return as president for six years or even 12 years, Russians are increasingly aware of a cult of personality surrounding the leader, according to a recent poll.
Fully a quarter of Russians now say that all the signs of a Putin personality cult are already apparent, compared with only 10 percent in March 2006, according to a survey published Thursday by the Levada Center. Meanwhile, the proportion of Russians who say there aren’t any signs of a Putin personality cult shrank to 33 percent in the October survey, from 57 percent in March 2006.
Wow. “Fully a quarter.” WTF are the other 75 percent thinking? Well, we know 33 percent are delusional as they don’t see “any signs.”
Putin is the modern poster boy for personality cults. Anybody that doesn’t see that is really drinking the Coolaid.*
In other shocking news, apparently there won’t be an America Today–or “AT”–in Russia any time soon:
Russia will not change legislation forbidding foreigners to set up media outlets in the country when it joins the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“Our main restriction on the media is that foreign nationals and stateless persons cannot act as founders,” Maxim Medvedkov, Russia’s chief WTO negotiator, told reporters on Wednesday.
Take heed, all you “libertarian” cheerleaders for RT–and full fledged members of the VVP personality cult. Which is all too weird.
* Inside joke. The other day some Twitter troll pretending to be Mr. All American Libertarian was defending Russia, Putin, RT. He made several errors that no American would–including saying that someone was really drinking the “Coolaid.”
Putin has a personality cult for much the same reasons as Teddy Roosevelt, or Chuck Norris.
That is because they are awesome, and are only disliked by girly men.
Russia will not change legislation forbidding foreigners to set up media outlets in the country when it joins the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Foreigners usually can’t start businesses in a foreign country they do not have residency in, and as private media companies tend to be businesses, why should there be an exception for them?
In any case, it is pretty irrelevant. Anyone who has actually lived in Russia for any amount of time will know that channels such as Euronews, the BBC or CNN are as easily accessible to Russians as RT is for Americans.
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — November 16, 2011 @ 11:27 am
Yep, I’ve watched EuroNews plenty of times in Moscow. CNN International is on at all the hotels and hotel bars. Your point then?
Comment by Mr. X — November 16, 2011 @ 12:46 pm
There’s already an AT, it’s called VOA and RFE/RL, paid for with my taxpayer dollars. As you used to say about Putin and America, RT is so in your head it’s not even funny.
Comment by Mr. X — November 16, 2011 @ 12:54 pm
And you’re gonna love RT even more when Ron Paul wins in Iowa and we hear it means NOTHING from our media, so they start (correctly) pointing out the hypocrisy of The Man trying to keep Brother Ron down.
Comment by Mr. X — November 16, 2011 @ 12:57 pm
Ohhhhhhh Yeeeeaaahhhhh.
In unrelated news, 33% of Russians being surveyed reported to being too drunk to read the questionnaire and to instead have the government-associated questioner fill out said questionnaire on their behalf.
Comment by BRM3 — November 16, 2011 @ 1:04 pm
Ahem, Mr. X, there is a difference between having correspondents in a country, and actually having a network in a country.
Of course you are brainless enough to not understand the difference between TV shown in bars intended for foreigners, and the state controlled rubbish the average Russian is fed……
Comment by Andrew — November 16, 2011 @ 1:19 pm
And Sublime Retardation, most countries allow foreigners to set up or own businesses, as it tends to employ people.
It usually takes a little longer than being a local, but that does not mean it is banned.
Really you are retarded.
Comment by Andrew — November 16, 2011 @ 1:27 pm
@BRM3–you said what I was thinking!
Really the reason people like SWP hate RT is because they keep coming up with inconvenient stories like this.
http://rt.com/usa/news/police-occupy-seattle-francisco-503/
They really, really hate countenancing the thought that the US might actually be every bit as much as police state as, say, Russia.
In unrelated news, 33% of Russians being surveyed reported to being too drunk to read the questionnaire and to instead have the government-associated questioner fill out said questionnaire on their behalf.
You forgot to mention the ones too busy playing balalaikas to their pet bears.
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — November 16, 2011 @ 4:44 pm
http://rt.com/news/london-rally-snatch-squad-267/
UK police provocateurs
Don’t forget this goodie from Airstrip One.
SWP’s motto: Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia.
Comment by Mr. X — November 16, 2011 @ 5:10 pm
Why the crickets about Ron Paul and his ideas? The man is not his followers, for better or worse.
I’ll answer your angry ‘Paulians’ question Professor:
It is not the Russian government that has fought at least three wars of choice in the past decade and is threatening a 4th against Iran.
It is not the Russian Central Bank that has massively exported inflation, admitted to waging economic warfare against the country’s top trade partner (China), and increased the price of food every time I and every other American go shopping. It is not the Russian government, to our or anyone’s knowledge, that feels it must wargame for other major economies shifting to the gold standard as if this would be an act of war rather than of rational economic self interest. How exactly the Pentagon carrying out such wargames advances the national interest, as opposed to bankster interests, is not explained. Nor do you or any other mainstream figure wish to explain why.
It is not the Russian government that has ordered TSA agents to grope you and me in security theater every time we fly.
I could go on, but that’s just a short, undeniable list. And all your criticisms of the same are here and there, and the more repressive the U.S. government gets in preparation of social upheaval due to this economic disaster it has created, the more you harp on Russia’s problems. But Russia is not dragging down the whole world economy with it.
Comment by Mr. X — November 16, 2011 @ 5:32 pm
It’s that simple. Unlike S/O I will not be sitting here singing Putin’s praises. I’m just sick and tired of Oceania always being at war with Eurasia as a distraction from the looming collapse of Oceania’s financial banksterist empire from New York to London to D.C.
Comment by Mr. X — November 16, 2011 @ 5:37 pm
Unless Putin can set the price of oil, it’s a cargo cult.
Comment by So? — November 16, 2011 @ 7:11 pm
S/O I watched your RT video. I didn’t know you had a Zherman accent. 🙂
Comment by Mr. X — November 16, 2011 @ 7:52 pm
And Professor, if you want criticism of Putin, here it is: I think his coming back and not remaining as PM in the tandem is a big mistake, and I disagree with S/O about that. If he had finished as PM by 2016 after successfully pulling off the Sochi Olympics (and I mean personally showing up at Sochi, as pathetic as the ‘hands on Czar’ approach is, to make sure people aren’t failing to build things due to embezzlement) Putin’s legacy would have been overwhelmingly positive. Unfortunately he’s going to stick around long enough for the Western and Chinese economic collapses to drag Russia down, and thus take some of the blame. So there, I said it. And there were plenty of Russians Senor Equis met in Moscow, including former Putin ‘colleagues’ who were disappointed in the announcement too. One former Soviet diplomat told me ‘why bother even having the upcoming election?’.
So there, are you happy now? Can you criticize American foreign policy, I dunno, when the bombs start falling on Iran? Can you do more than critique the Fed and suggest that maybe perhaps maybe it’s time for it to go and be replaced with a basket of commodities backing the currency alongside gold and free silver?
Comment by Mr. X — November 16, 2011 @ 8:09 pm
Agree with Adomanis here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markadomanis/2011/09/24/the-return-of-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and-why-this-is-bad-news-for-russia/
And lastly, here’s an explanation from Jim Grant of how a world would work without money supply central planning courtesy of Ben ‘we have a technology called a printing press’ Bernanke:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CapitalAccount#p/u/43/RmF0I2JimRE
Comment by Mr. X — November 16, 2011 @ 8:11 pm
Any media outlet supported by the Kremlin is hated because of the domestic policies the Kremlin pursues. There is no ethical motivation behind any such outlet.
Comment by pahoben — November 16, 2011 @ 10:01 pm
Would that include Gazprom-owned Echo of Moscow, pahoben?
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — November 16, 2011 @ 11:18 pm
Sublime-I know it is available over the internet but I am not a listener.
Comment by pahoben — November 17, 2011 @ 9:24 am
As it stands now with the political process completely co opted by Putin it is not possible to glimpse behind the veil and determine who might be more or less ethically motivated. If you were to start a чай партия with your blogging it would be a great help in evaluating Russian politicians. How about it?
Comment by pahoben — November 17, 2011 @ 9:37 am
I know it is available over the internet but I am not a listener.
Echo of Moscow is an ultra-liberal radio station / website that regularly features the (self-appointed) liberal opposition like Milov, Nemtsov, Kasparov, etc. The whole pantheon of heroes idolized by this blog.
It is also owned by Gazprom, which is as Kremlin-funded as it gets.
Now that you have some context, do you hate it too? I surely hope so, because otherwise you would be very inconsistent.
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — November 17, 2011 @ 11:35 am
Gazprom-owned Echo of Moscow…
Nothing like concentrating on core business, is there? That must be why Gazprom is so efficient. I wonder why Statoil don’t buy Radio Norge?
Comment by Tim Newman — November 17, 2011 @ 12:00 pm
You missed my point. Do to Putin co opting the political process I do not have a reasonably informed opinion about any of the men you mention. That is why I asked you to start a Tea Party in Russia to start peeling back the veil of these politicians so that it would be possible to know more about their backgrounds and possible motivations.
Gotta have respect for Kasparov for his chess days.
Comment by pahoben — November 17, 2011 @ 1:59 pm
I agree its absurd. Not only that, but the Russian state (via Gazprom) is essentially feeding the mouth that bites.
But that brings us to another interesting point. You see Tim, ironically enough, if Gazprom were to let go of Echo of Moscow it will, in all likelihood, go quickly bankrupt, because of the very limited size of the liberal audience in Russia – and the understandable hesitancy of advertisers to associate themselves with it. In other words, it would be an example of US-style “manufacturing consent” via the natural processes of capitalism, as convincingly outlined by Chomsky.
Which will not, of course, stop the Western media from relishing in another juicy story about a “Kremlin clampdown” on the “last vestiges of free media.”
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — November 17, 2011 @ 2:03 pm
That is why I asked you to start a Tea Party in Russia to start peeling back the veil of these politicians so that it would be possible to know more about their backgrounds and possible motivations.
I have no ideological affinity with the Tea Party. I might have been tempted to participate in some kind of Occupy Moscow project had Medvedev continued in the Presidency, with the liberal ideologues gaining increasing influence. But this horrifying possibility has evidently been forestalled, with Putin returning. There is no longer any need to occupy the Kremlin.
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — November 17, 2011 @ 2:07 pm
in case ya’ll missed it from the other thread:
“Trends forecaster Gerald Celente, who lost gold futures at MF Global in the six figure range, has discovered a video of CME Executive Chairman, Terrence Duffy, holding a press conference last year in which he unequivocally states that no ‘customer has ever lost a penny as a result of a clearing member default that CME Group.’”
http://www.infowars.com/celente-cme-did-not-guarantee-oversight-in-mf-global-scandal/
Comment by Mr. X — November 17, 2011 @ 3:58 pm
The devil is always in the details:
1)Euronews is shown, but not in full — it’s an edited version. People do have access to BBC and CNN through pay TV, and of course via Internet. But they have to speak English and have enough money.
2) Ekho is the only radio station that regularly invites liberals and oppositional leaders. It also gives airtime to the far left. Its audience reach is small. Sometimes I think it is not pulled off the air just so jerks can point to it all the time as “proof” that there is press freedom, but the head of the station explains it a bit differently. It is allowed to exist because it lets off steam and because the members of the government actually need an unedited source of information and opinion.
Comment by mossy — November 18, 2011 @ 4:51 am
RT at its finest.
Comment by Tim Newman — November 18, 2011 @ 9:45 am
Sometimes I think it is not pulled off the air just so jerks can point to it all the time as “proof” that there is press freedom…
Except that there is also REN TV for TV; Novaya, Nezavisimaya, and Vedomosti for newspapers; and websites too many to mention.
Maybe, just maybe that there aren’t more it has something to do with the fact that your views are unpopular?
Now I know that the liberals will only be satisfied when every single media outlet and individual is forced to tow their party line like in a tinpot totalitarian regime, but most Russians and “jerks” would beg to differ.
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — November 18, 2011 @ 1:11 pm
“Now I know that the liberals will only be satisfied when every single media outlet and individual is forced to tow their party line like in a tinpot totalitarian regime, but most Russians and “jerks” would beg to differ.” How about banning sites for ‘copyright violations’ when they sample articles in a fair use manner and shutting people down for ‘lying on the Internet’? These bastards won’t rest until they require a retina scan from every Internet user and come and take you away whenever you complain about their banksterism.
Comment by Mr. X — November 18, 2011 @ 6:57 pm
“These bastards won’t rest until they require a retina scan from every Internet user and come and take you away whenever you complain about their banksterism.”
Indeed We won’t! Otherwise, We might face impediments in the exercise of Our first principle “All for Ourselves and nothing for other people.”
And We are grateful to the good Professor and his supporters for their criticism of Our rebellious servant Vladimir! An excellent diversion as We… extract… Our due from Western populations!
Comment by a — November 19, 2011 @ 6:00 am
S/O, how many times do we have to go through this? One major radio station with small reach. A couple of newspapers with small reach. One tv station with very small reach. Websites with very small reach. Yes, there is “press freedom” in limited doses on media that have… let’s see if you’ve been paying attention… small reach.
Why don’t you respond to what the station head said?
Why do I bother?
Comment by mossy — November 19, 2011 @ 9:04 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8KQmps-Sog&ob=av2n
Celente should star in Muse videos.
Comment by Mr. X — November 19, 2011 @ 12:57 pm
But WHY do they have a small reach?
Is it because relatively few people care to read or watch them, or is is really Putin / the KGB / ? who is responsible?
And BTW, all three of the publications I mentioned are major national papers, which you can find at any stall selling newspapers. REN TV is available throughout Russia. So their potential reach is huge, it’s just that most Russians don’t want to listen to lying and prevaricating liberals such as yourself.
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — November 19, 2011 @ 2:42 pm
Карликовые березы
Comment by peter — November 19, 2011 @ 3:51 pm
SUBLIME PSYCHOPATH:
If nobody in Russia would want to listen to an America Today, then the the Kremlin would have no reason to ban such an institution. It’s BECAUSE the Kremlin knows people would listen that it gets banned.
Nothing you say can change the fact that Russia Today is permitted to operate in the USA but an America Today would not be, and is not, permitted. That is because America is a confident, successful country that does not fear criticism while Russia is a craven failure that does.
And Russia does need an America Today, to cover stories like this:
http://www.novayagazeta.ru/photos/49548.html
Comment by La Russophobe — November 20, 2011 @ 6:44 am
There is an American Today, several in fact, they are called RFERL and Voice of America. You might want to check them out.
And the Americans need Russia Today to cover stories like this:
http://rt.com/news/police-onslaught-students-video-003/
Comment by Sublime Oblivion — November 20, 2011 @ 12:14 pm