Re: Russia today
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2021 11:47 pm
January 31: Kremlin and State Department. Who benefits from protests?
01/31/2021
Information and analytical review
On January 31, unauthorized protests against the current government swept through major cities of Russia. Pro-Kremlin commentators scoff at the meager number of protesters compared to the country's population. However, simple arithmetic does not work in political clashes. It is not for nothing that human rights activists report more than 4 thousand detainees. The intensity of passions is pushing for active actions that would have been impossible under normal conditions ... Who provoked the clashes, how the State Department and the Foreign Ministry quarreled with each other, and why was the center of Moscow blocked? Understanding the final news now.
"Rosgvardeets" caught off guard by protesters
On the eve of the protests, the Moscow authorities gave the protesters a wonderful "psychological gift": they announced the closure of a number of metro stations in the city center, as well as the complete blocking of pedestrian traffic in a large area around the Kremlin and some central streets. The authorities also announced the closure of cafes and restaurants in the area and warned of possible additional "situational overlaps" . Indeed, such overlaps occurred: at the request of the police , the metro stations "Sukharevskaya", "Krasnye Vorota" and "Sokolniki" were additionally closed .
From the point of view of political technology, such protective measures, taken in advance and demonstratively, only inspire the opponents of the Kremlin. By their preparatory actions, the authorities seem to be sending their opponents an unambiguous signal: we are afraid of you, we are defending ourselves from you. It is difficult to say to what extent this factor influenced the radicalism of the protesters, but there is no doubt about the radicalism itself.
The most serious clashes took place, as usual, in Moscow and St. Petersburg . The clashes between the protesters and Rosgvardia took place in different places - from the vicinity of the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center to Komsomolskaya Square . As in the previous time, the protesters not only acted actively, but also resisted the law enforcement officers. Apart from the events of the past week, the last time a clash of such intensity took place in Moscow in the summer of 2019, on the eve of the elections to the Moscow City Duma . In St. Petersburg, clashes were no less fierce, while the attack on the "Russian Guard" was noted. The press published footage of a video in which law enforcement officers take away their wounded colleague. A criminal case has already been opened against the attacker .
However, despite the mass arrests, the participants in the clashes behaved bolder and angrier. A new trend is taking shape: fear of the "siloviki" is falling . Most likely, this is recklessness, which arose in the heat of the hustle and bustle of the streets and reinforced by a sincere hatred of the regime and its servants. But a fact is a fact: if any valiant "guardsman" suddenly found himself at a distance from his fellows, then he could no longer always behave arrogantly and with impunity.
Rosgvardia officer grabbed a service weapon
The feeling that "something is going wrong", apparently, did not leave the law enforcement officers themselves. No wonder in St. Petersburg during one of the episodes of a street fight, when the "siloviks" had to retreat under the pressure of the crowd, one of the officers of the Russian Guard grabbed a pistol . And although there were no shots, who knows how things will turn out next time. Not always both sides may have enough intelligence and nerves ...
And in Moscow, during the clashes , a Ford Transit police car suddenly caught fire . The capital's headquarters of Rosgvardia claims that the reason was "technical malfunctions" . Whether this is so or not, we are unlikely to know.
The struggle was also going on in virtual space. "Network security officials" from Roskomnadzor threatened social networks with fines and blocking for publications with "inflated figures on the number of participants in illegal rallies . " Interestingly, these threats do not apply to those posting low numbers. For example, the website of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for Moscow , which has published a clearly underestimated figure of 2,000 people, feels good. But the threat was directly addressed to the US Embassy , which once again noted the demands for Russia to "respect human rights . " The Russian Foreign Ministry published a large text in response, in which he accused the United States of "interfering in internal affairs" and recalled responsibility.
Russian Foreign Ministry responds to the US Embassy
By evening, the clashes subsided, and at about 6:00 pm the Moscow metro returned to normal operation. Passions have subsided, and now we can draw some conclusions.
1. Street polls carried out by journalists and various political groups indicate that not all protesters are Navalny's followers . Among them there are many who are dissatisfied with what is happening in the country and want to somehow express their protest. “I came to the rally because I was tired of lawlessness and would like to somehow express my civic position ,” says a Muscovite in an interview with one left-wing publication. “We did not meet ardent anti-communists there ,” says an activist of the RKWP from Novosibirsk . - Everyone comes out against Putin, because he is tired of ... The talk that there are only schoolchildren is a lie. At least in Novosibirsk ... Most of the people aged 20-45 come out to stocks in January 2021 ” .
2. Repressions and courts only cease to intimidate. Among socially active citizens, there are more and more those in whom the repressions of the authorities cause not fear, but anger and even hatred.
3. Protests remain spontaneous and fragmented. It is quite possible that this meets the interests of both the authorities and the organizers of the protest. The crowd is blind, it is easy to manipulate it , and in addition, it is easy to send provocateurs into the ranks of the protesters who will wreak havoc on camera.
4. The lack of ideology of the protest with a slight bias towards liberalism also plays into the hands of the "puppeteers" on both sides. The absence of a political program , obsession with the simplest slogans ( "against Putin" , "release Navalny" ... and then what?) Makes it easier to manipulate the protest.
Without denying the interest of the West, I would like to remind that the Russian government itself may well be interested in such protests. Social stratification in the country is growing, the crisis is deepening, the population en masse is poorer and shrinking . The debt hole is sucking in the last pennies of millions of citizens. There is hopelessness ahead. And the authorities can only offer "economy class food" , empty talk and a club. Obviously, a social explosion is imminent. And in these conditions, the rulers of Russia are applying a whole range of measures to ensure that this explosion bypasses them. Aleksey Navalny , convenient to the authorities , was re-elected as the leader of the protest , who is put under arrest on a completely ridiculous reasonand thus deliberately create a martyr's halo. And the chaotic and unprincipled nature of the protest, despite its apparent power, facilitates the task of demonstrative suppression of discontent. This suppression can later be raised on the shield by government propaganda in order to prove to the millions of working people the futility of any resistance , to instill in them despondency and apathy.
But will everything go according to plan? ..
Clashes in Russia January 31, 2021
https://www.rotfront.su/31-yanvarya-kre ... vygodny-p/
Google Translator
01/31/2021
Information and analytical review
On January 31, unauthorized protests against the current government swept through major cities of Russia. Pro-Kremlin commentators scoff at the meager number of protesters compared to the country's population. However, simple arithmetic does not work in political clashes. It is not for nothing that human rights activists report more than 4 thousand detainees. The intensity of passions is pushing for active actions that would have been impossible under normal conditions ... Who provoked the clashes, how the State Department and the Foreign Ministry quarreled with each other, and why was the center of Moscow blocked? Understanding the final news now.
"Rosgvardeets" caught off guard by protesters
On the eve of the protests, the Moscow authorities gave the protesters a wonderful "psychological gift": they announced the closure of a number of metro stations in the city center, as well as the complete blocking of pedestrian traffic in a large area around the Kremlin and some central streets. The authorities also announced the closure of cafes and restaurants in the area and warned of possible additional "situational overlaps" . Indeed, such overlaps occurred: at the request of the police , the metro stations "Sukharevskaya", "Krasnye Vorota" and "Sokolniki" were additionally closed .
From the point of view of political technology, such protective measures, taken in advance and demonstratively, only inspire the opponents of the Kremlin. By their preparatory actions, the authorities seem to be sending their opponents an unambiguous signal: we are afraid of you, we are defending ourselves from you. It is difficult to say to what extent this factor influenced the radicalism of the protesters, but there is no doubt about the radicalism itself.
The most serious clashes took place, as usual, in Moscow and St. Petersburg . The clashes between the protesters and Rosgvardia took place in different places - from the vicinity of the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center to Komsomolskaya Square . As in the previous time, the protesters not only acted actively, but also resisted the law enforcement officers. Apart from the events of the past week, the last time a clash of such intensity took place in Moscow in the summer of 2019, on the eve of the elections to the Moscow City Duma . In St. Petersburg, clashes were no less fierce, while the attack on the "Russian Guard" was noted. The press published footage of a video in which law enforcement officers take away their wounded colleague. A criminal case has already been opened against the attacker .
However, despite the mass arrests, the participants in the clashes behaved bolder and angrier. A new trend is taking shape: fear of the "siloviki" is falling . Most likely, this is recklessness, which arose in the heat of the hustle and bustle of the streets and reinforced by a sincere hatred of the regime and its servants. But a fact is a fact: if any valiant "guardsman" suddenly found himself at a distance from his fellows, then he could no longer always behave arrogantly and with impunity.
Rosgvardia officer grabbed a service weapon
The feeling that "something is going wrong", apparently, did not leave the law enforcement officers themselves. No wonder in St. Petersburg during one of the episodes of a street fight, when the "siloviks" had to retreat under the pressure of the crowd, one of the officers of the Russian Guard grabbed a pistol . And although there were no shots, who knows how things will turn out next time. Not always both sides may have enough intelligence and nerves ...
And in Moscow, during the clashes , a Ford Transit police car suddenly caught fire . The capital's headquarters of Rosgvardia claims that the reason was "technical malfunctions" . Whether this is so or not, we are unlikely to know.
The struggle was also going on in virtual space. "Network security officials" from Roskomnadzor threatened social networks with fines and blocking for publications with "inflated figures on the number of participants in illegal rallies . " Interestingly, these threats do not apply to those posting low numbers. For example, the website of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for Moscow , which has published a clearly underestimated figure of 2,000 people, feels good. But the threat was directly addressed to the US Embassy , which once again noted the demands for Russia to "respect human rights . " The Russian Foreign Ministry published a large text in response, in which he accused the United States of "interfering in internal affairs" and recalled responsibility.
Russian Foreign Ministry responds to the US Embassy
By evening, the clashes subsided, and at about 6:00 pm the Moscow metro returned to normal operation. Passions have subsided, and now we can draw some conclusions.
1. Street polls carried out by journalists and various political groups indicate that not all protesters are Navalny's followers . Among them there are many who are dissatisfied with what is happening in the country and want to somehow express their protest. “I came to the rally because I was tired of lawlessness and would like to somehow express my civic position ,” says a Muscovite in an interview with one left-wing publication. “We did not meet ardent anti-communists there ,” says an activist of the RKWP from Novosibirsk . - Everyone comes out against Putin, because he is tired of ... The talk that there are only schoolchildren is a lie. At least in Novosibirsk ... Most of the people aged 20-45 come out to stocks in January 2021 ” .
2. Repressions and courts only cease to intimidate. Among socially active citizens, there are more and more those in whom the repressions of the authorities cause not fear, but anger and even hatred.
3. Protests remain spontaneous and fragmented. It is quite possible that this meets the interests of both the authorities and the organizers of the protest. The crowd is blind, it is easy to manipulate it , and in addition, it is easy to send provocateurs into the ranks of the protesters who will wreak havoc on camera.
4. The lack of ideology of the protest with a slight bias towards liberalism also plays into the hands of the "puppeteers" on both sides. The absence of a political program , obsession with the simplest slogans ( "against Putin" , "release Navalny" ... and then what?) Makes it easier to manipulate the protest.
Without denying the interest of the West, I would like to remind that the Russian government itself may well be interested in such protests. Social stratification in the country is growing, the crisis is deepening, the population en masse is poorer and shrinking . The debt hole is sucking in the last pennies of millions of citizens. There is hopelessness ahead. And the authorities can only offer "economy class food" , empty talk and a club. Obviously, a social explosion is imminent. And in these conditions, the rulers of Russia are applying a whole range of measures to ensure that this explosion bypasses them. Aleksey Navalny , convenient to the authorities , was re-elected as the leader of the protest , who is put under arrest on a completely ridiculous reasonand thus deliberately create a martyr's halo. And the chaotic and unprincipled nature of the protest, despite its apparent power, facilitates the task of demonstrative suppression of discontent. This suppression can later be raised on the shield by government propaganda in order to prove to the millions of working people the futility of any resistance , to instill in them despondency and apathy.
But will everything go according to plan? ..
Clashes in Russia January 31, 2021
https://www.rotfront.su/31-yanvarya-kre ... vygodny-p/
Google Translator