It will probably never happen, since if the charges aren't dropped, dozens of prominent civil rights lawyers will probably offer to defend these guys pro bono.
And it would be hard to convince a jury that these guys actually intended to perpetrate a terrorism hoax. Who'd believe that someone could mistake glitter that fell off a sign for a dangerous substance?
That's all fine and well, but it reveals an underlying system of anti-democratic behavior by our security services. This is certainly not the first or last instance they have used counterterrorism as a justification to go after activists.
You could always emigrate to a country that celebrates their constitution and whose president publicly states that people have a right to speak out. In Russia, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Consitution of the Russian Federation, they are freeing many convicted prisoners including some of those who were arrested at political protests during the last election. As one politician said, those who were called to the protest and misguidedly agreed but are now apologetic will be freed, but those who organized the violence and incited others to join in will not. And the president of Russia, addressing a meeting of leaders of the various regions and republics in the Federation as well as church, mosque and synagogue leaders, made it a point to state that Russian, unlike the EU and the IMF, will not demand Ukraine to take any particular internal actions in return for financial help and is only offering it to join in a customs union as a partner.
The above is all paraphrased from a couple of news reports in Russian that I watched last week.
There is a well known phenomenon in politics and society of the pendulum swing. Childhood friends who discovered politics in University and hated each other because one was socialist and the other capitalist, find that after 40 years they have EACH reversed their positions and still can't reconcile. Or the USA who used to hold up the Soviet Union as an example of the wrong way to do things and consequently avoided doing things that might appear to be Soviet style. But now that there is no Soviet Union to compare itself to, the USA has copied the worst excesses of Stalin's KGB. Meanwhile, the Russian Federation still holds out the Soviet Union as a standard of comparison -- it is their history after all -- and actively moves away from Soviet style solutions embracing capitalism and individual liberty to a far greater degree than Western countries. While corruption in the USA grows unchallenged, the Russian Federation is in the second decade of a campaign to root it out both high and low.
KGB was formed in 1954, after Stalin's death. It is historically meaningful because of all the changes that were happening right after Stalin's death when USSR was changing from mass violence oppressive state of Stalin to the totalitarian state with more targeted violence. In particular the role of agency like KGB (while still having the same goal of state security) was shifting to being of less of enforcer/executioner and more of information gatherer and "mind controller" Big Brother style.
What's really really funny is if you are a Stalin nerd like me and you've read everything there is to read about Stalin and his rise to power some aspects of what we've seen unfolding before us over the last decade just seems so oddly familiar.
What Stalinism was about was the use of organized crime tactics that Stalin had used during the revolution and previously being brought into use in government. The thing that usually prevents this from happening in a normal situation is that the mob bosses get obsessed with material possessions, women and comforts and get distracted from running a government. In Stalin's case though he wasn't going to be satisfied until he had completely taken over the world in the name of Marxism/Leninism and that kept him focused throughout his political journey. It also didn't hurt that he had an enormous intellect and memory to keep the whole thing together. It's weird because it was all ideologically consistent and had probably seemed all practical and reasonable to the cadres. Simon Sebag-Montefiore explained this in his book "Court of the Red Tzar" as them thinking of themselves as "Warrior Priests". Molotov, a true believer himself, even complained that after Stalin the government became filled with opportunists and not revolutionaries.
I'll bet its even rarer that you have visited Putin's Russia or talked to any of the citizens who live there, not emigrants who have left but the people who still live there and who do not want to leave.
I live in Ukraine and can confirm that this comment is total and utter crap. The only thing that Russia is embracing is a mix of extreme corruption, nepotism and corporatism.
Thoroughly obvious sockpuppet/shill. In Russia, it's 99.9% of people who are poor, 0.1% of people who are outstandingly mega-rich, and no middle class. A common yearly salary for a developer in Russia is three thousand dollars. The Russian Federation is increasingly corrupt and repressive, escalating dramatically as Putin realizes that his support is disappearing as fast as public support for the ACA website implementation.
Comments
Imagine what will happen if they are found guilty and actually get a 10 year sentence.
Every single person will think twice about attending a protest next time, which would be the end of democracy (if it isn't already gone in the USA)
It will probably never happen, since if the charges aren't dropped, dozens of prominent civil rights lawyers will probably offer to defend these guys pro bono.
And it would be hard to convince a jury that these guys actually intended to perpetrate a terrorism hoax. Who'd believe that someone could mistake glitter that fell off a sign for a dangerous substance?
That's all fine and well, but it reveals an underlying system of anti-democratic behavior by our security services. This is certainly not the first or last instance they have used counterterrorism as a justification to go after activists.
Alas, with the explosion in the number of statutory crimes on the books, intent is about the last thing that's necessary to end up a felon.
You could always emigrate to a country that celebrates their constitution and whose president publicly states that people have a right to speak out. In Russia, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Consitution of the Russian Federation, they are freeing many convicted prisoners including some of those who were arrested at political protests during the last election. As one politician said, those who were called to the protest and misguidedly agreed but are now apologetic will be freed, but those who organized the violence and incited others to join in will not. And the president of Russia, addressing a meeting of leaders of the various regions and republics in the Federation as well as church, mosque and synagogue leaders, made it a point to state that Russian, unlike the EU and the IMF, will not demand Ukraine to take any particular internal actions in return for financial help and is only offering it to join in a customs union as a partner.
The above is all paraphrased from a couple of news reports in Russian that I watched last week.
There is a well known phenomenon in politics and society of the pendulum swing. Childhood friends who discovered politics in University and hated each other because one was socialist and the other capitalist, find that after 40 years they have EACH reversed their positions and still can't reconcile. Or the USA who used to hold up the Soviet Union as an example of the wrong way to do things and consequently avoided doing things that might appear to be Soviet style. But now that there is no Soviet Union to compare itself to, the USA has copied the worst excesses of Stalin's KGB. Meanwhile, the Russian Federation still holds out the Soviet Union as a standard of comparison -- it is their history after all -- and actively moves away from Soviet style solutions embracing capitalism and individual liberty to a far greater degree than Western countries. While corruption in the USA grows unchallenged, the Russian Federation is in the second decade of a campaign to root it out both high and low.
KGB was formed in 1954, after Stalin's death. It is historically meaningful because of all the changes that were happening right after Stalin's death when USSR was changing from mass violence oppressive state of Stalin to the totalitarian state with more targeted violence. In particular the role of agency like KGB (while still having the same goal of state security) was shifting to being of less of enforcer/executioner and more of information gatherer and "mind controller" Big Brother style.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Soviet_secret_pol...
As for the rest of your post - it is just propaganda blabber.
What's really really funny is if you are a Stalin nerd like me and you've read everything there is to read about Stalin and his rise to power some aspects of what we've seen unfolding before us over the last decade just seems so oddly familiar.
What Stalinism was about was the use of organized crime tactics that Stalin had used during the revolution and previously being brought into use in government. The thing that usually prevents this from happening in a normal situation is that the mob bosses get obsessed with material possessions, women and comforts and get distracted from running a government. In Stalin's case though he wasn't going to be satisfied until he had completely taken over the world in the name of Marxism/Leninism and that kept him focused throughout his political journey. It also didn't hurt that he had an enormous intellect and memory to keep the whole thing together. It's weird because it was all ideologically consistent and had probably seemed all practical and reasonable to the cadres. Simon Sebag-Montefiore explained this in his book "Court of the Red Tzar" as them thinking of themselves as "Warrior Priests". Molotov, a true believer himself, even complained that after Stalin the government became filled with opportunists and not revolutionaries.
It's rare that I've ever read such unadulterated bullshit on Hacker News.
This. To suggest that Putin's Russia is a freedom-loving country beggars belief.
I'll bet its even rarer that you have visited Putin's Russia or talked to any of the citizens who live there, not emigrants who have left but the people who still live there and who do not want to leave.
Conversely, there are many 'citizens' who would rather see Russians leave.
Chechnya (Ichkeria)... Sochi (Circassia)... Karelia (Finland)... and so many more...
In other words, ask the very people who, if any the claims about Putin's Russia are true, wouldn't dare or know to speak out.... sure.
I live in Ukraine and can confirm that this comment is total and utter crap. The only thing that Russia is embracing is a mix of extreme corruption, nepotism and corporatism.
Thoroughly obvious sockpuppet/shill. In Russia, it's 99.9% of people who are poor, 0.1% of people who are outstandingly mega-rich, and no middle class. A common yearly salary for a developer in Russia is three thousand dollars. The Russian Federation is increasingly corrupt and repressive, escalating dramatically as Putin realizes that his support is disappearing as fast as public support for the ACA website implementation.
Many people that should never have been locked up in the first place.
Except cut off their gas supply if they do not go with Russia.
Somehow, mysteriously, rooting out corruption is mostly successful against opponents of Putin.
Too much RussiaTV (a.k.a. KGB-TV) too little your own brain usage.