Lately I've been hearing a lot about Russia in the news. I thought the Cold War was over?

Lately I've been hearing a lot about Russia in the news. I thought the Cold War was over?


They're still communists, deep down, it never goes away.

It's like a tumor.

yeah, dick cheney, i think it was?, spanked russia over moving away from democracy -- talk about calling the kettle black! -- and so putin just gave a real nasty speech talking about US secret detention centers and whatnot.

neither country is really moving in a particualrly encouraging direction at the moment, if you ask me.

yeah, dick cheney, i think it was?, spanked russia over moving away from democracy -- talk about calling the kettle black! -- and so putin just gave a real nasty speech talking about US secret detention centers and whatnot.

neither country is really moving in a particualrly encouraging direction at the moment, if you ask me.


I didn't ask you, but I didn't need to.

It's true, both the US and Russia are moving away from what we preach and they replicate.

Putin is essentially a communist, that can't be denied, do you think we could get a whole cube of evil going on?

I didn't ask you, but I didn't need to.

daaag. takin' on mafia don tia.


It's true, both the US and Russia are moving away from what we preach and they replicate.

Putin is essentially a communist, that can't be denied, do you think we could get a whole cube of evil going on?

you know, they still call it the kgb. like they still call the german airforce the luftwaffe. and the government building the reichstag.

daaag. takin' on mafia don tia.
you know, they still call it the kgb. like they still call the german airforce the luftwaffe. and the government building the reichstag.


Mafia don tia usupred my position, yo!

The KGB is still active you know, they watch us/.

neither country is really moving in a particualrly encouraging direction at the moment, if you ask me.


Yeah Russia is turning back into the U.S.S.R.(or were they ever not?) and for a dose of tragic irony, despite having "won" the Cold War, the U.S.A. seems to be turning into the U.S.S.A :D

Like they keep talking about national ID cards, which would essentially create an internal border system.  They used to have that in the Soviet Union as well.

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When someone talks about the incumbency reelection rate in the US they always compare it (unfavorably) with the USSR, that is, incumbents win reelection in the US more than they did in the Soviet Union.


:D :o

....

That is f*cking crazy.

They're still communists, deep down, it never goes away.

It's like a tumor.

The real tumor is the organized crime syndicates that have gained economic control the failed state.  Anyway, the U.S. and Russia still have nukes pointed at each other! Could be major trouble!

The real tumor is the organized crime syndicates that have gained economic control the failed state.  Anyway, the U.S. and Russia still have nukes pointed at each other! Could be major trouble!


Yeltsin screwed Russia.

He allowed the Mafya (Not mafia) to gain so much control. If Putin were to wipe them out there would be a vast power vacuum.

you know, they still call it the kgb.


Actually, that's not true. The KGB, the secret police of the old Soviet Union, was dissolved in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kgb

At the present time, the intelligence agency of the Russian government is the FSB:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FSB_%28Russia%29
http://www.fsb.ru/

Yeltsin screwed Russia.

He allowed the Mafya (Not mafia) to gain so much control. If Putin were to wipe them out there would be a vast power vacuum.

I'm not a big fan of Putin myself, but I'm not sure if the Russian government was at all prepared to handle the "power vacuum," as you say, after the collapse of the Soviet government. The Soviet government was faking it for decades. Anybody who wanted to get anything done went to the black market. If you waited for the state, you could wait forever. There were crime syndicates waiting in the wings before the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. What the Russia really lost that year was the Soviet state repression. The Soviets were effective at repressing free speech, free press, free enterprise, freedom of religion, but they weren't much good for anything else.
Well, they repressed free enterprise, but they couldn't stop it. They just drove it underground. That was the black market that could get things done.

The Western fantasy was for a Russia prospering with good clean capitalism after they were freed from the yoke of the communist dictatorship. Unfortunately, what Russia got was the "Wild East" of lawless thuggery, and there was no Wyatt Earp to ride into town and clean up the place!

They're still communists, deep down, it never goes away.

It's like a tumor.


But what about before they became communist? Russia was Communist for only 74 years: they were a Fuedaldom controlled by a Tsar for centuries before that. Perhaps deep down they are Communists. But even deeper down they are something else. Just like one of those Russian dolls...

They're still communists, deep down, it never goes away.

It's like a tumor.


ITS NOT A TUMAH!

Actually, that's not true. The KGB, the secret police of the old Soviet Union, was dissolved in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kgb

At the present time, the intelligence agency of the Russian government is the FSB:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FSB_%28Russia%29
http://www.fsb.ru/
oh. huh. i wonder who told me that.

Well, Putin was with the KGB, maybe thats what they meant.  That a lot of ex-KGB are running things.

[quote author=