Something's happening here, but you don't know what it is. Russian students are

[VanGoghRocks]

outside the U.S. embassy in Moscow (Russian Federation), kneeling down with hands raised in the "Don't Shoot" pose. I am speechless.

https://twitter.com/MrMilitantNegro/status/502310678590259200/photo/1

[JI7]

1. it's happening around the world, many are doing it to take attention away from their own

abuses like in cases like russia, china, the iranian ayatollah.

but it is being watched by the world.

[VanGoghRocks]

2. "Ferguson is America's selfie!" ~Chris Williams, RT.com

[JI7]

3. RT is a joke

[VanGoghRocks]

4. If you say so. Are the students outside the U.S. embassy in Moscow also a joke?

[JI7]

5. not if they agree russia sucks when it comes to rights also

[VanGoghRocks]

6. Sigh. So sorry they don't meet your standards of moral purity. Would Jesus the

Nazarene pass your test? (Not holding my breath, mind you.)

[arthritisR_US]

33. Definitely don't hold your breath on that one. nt

[JoeyT]

42. Wait, I thought a country didn't have to be perfect to criticize other countries.

Wasn't that the justification paraded around when people pointed out that a government that openly protects its own war criminals and the war criminals of its allies, after invading multiple sovereign nations shouldn't be throwing too many rocks?

[JI7]

43. I didn't say they had to be perfect

I said they should acknowledge the lack of rights in their own country.


My issue with this is I just see it as Putin being behind it. I don't think the students dEcided to do this on their own.

[treestar]

53. they are far less perfect than we are

and they'd be doing whatever they claim we're doing wrong if they had the power and money.

[MADem]

7. No, everyone pretty much says so--except Putin. And yes--the students ARE a joke.

You do realize Putin controls that propaganda arm of the Russian government?

And of course, it's impossible--because they're "students" - that they haven't been motivated by governmental agencies to conduct their demonstration...?

It was "students" that created the laser light show of Obama fellating a banana....but hey, they're "foreign" which means everything they say or do is motivated by pure purpose and ideals. (Cough, horseshit, cough.)

Funny how a nation known for their "loathsome racial humor" would suddenly give a shit about black people in America?

Yeah, right. I'm not buying it.



http://www.dailydot.com/politics/russia-obama-birthday-racist-laser-show/

[Behind the Aegis]

8. It would be even better if the Russian signs were translated.

Is it an actual show of support or a protest against the US in general? It is interesting you brought up the lightshow because there were a few posters who claimed it wasn't racist at all.

[MADem]

11. You can be damn sure those signs don't give a shit about "Equality" for all.

The goal--and it's masterminded by the Kremlin, because nothing happens without their say-so--is to "embarrass" Obama, because in Putin's Russia, the thought of US states managing their own affairs unless and until they fuck up mightily is foreign to that crew.

And yes, I know that there are some people who played the "What, that? Who, ME? I don't see it that way" card. They were the same ones, most likely, who were insisting that Putin didn't really MEAN it when all that gay-hating shit went down in the run up to their failed and shoddy Olympics.

All I can do is smh.

[VanGoghRocks]

12. "In Russia I felt for the first time like

a full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice like in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being."

~Paul Robeson

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

Cue the "But Robeson was a Communist" red-baiting in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .

[MADem]

24. Awwww....no one took your "commie" bait.

Like I said, Putin and Robeson weren't friends.

And if you are black in Russia, you are going to get beaten--and sometimes, to death.

So the embassy "demo" is, at the very least, laden with irony and hypocrisy.

You have a far better chance of getting murdered for being black in Russia, where there are only tens of thousands of blacks in residence, than you do in the worst cities of the USA.

[kelliekat44]

47. I also remember protests against Putin policies by Russian students and some entertainers.

Squashed and blackballed but nonetheless it happened. I simply do not believe that ALL Russians support Putin. And yes, this is probably done to embarrass Obama and the US but the motive behind it does not lessen the impact.

[MADem]

49. Of course they don't all support Putin, and they'll support him less and less as sanctions take hold

But you can bet yer bippy that the students in front of that embassy DO support Putin.

This isn't an accident, it's carefully orchestrated propaganda.

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/08/18/major-human-rights-abusers-giddy-over-ferguson/20948782/

[VanGoghRocks]

9. Silly me, I guess I didn't get the memo that Putin = Stalin = Hitler. (Somehow, the

fact that Putin presides over a multi-party parliamentary democracy called the Duma caused me to miss that equivalence.)

Why, I bet Putin's body count is approaching that of Stalin + Mao COMBINED!



"In Russia I felt for the first time like a full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice like in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being." ~Paul Robeson

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

[MADem]

13. You said it. Silly you--you didn't get the memo that Putin's a dictator.

Putin presides over a regime that Putin controls, down to the dissemination of propaganda via RT and every Russian media outlet, all controlled by Putin, and if you think otherwise, you're naive. To be polite.

But hey, you want to cheerlead for that gay-hater, you go right ahead. Knock yourself out.

Here in America, it's possible to express all sorts of views, even odious ones.

And there's no in that truth.

Who knew that Paul Robeson and Putin were such good buddies? I'll bet Paul would have had something to say about the "light show" Putin's little students put up on the embassy for Obama's birthday....but hey, he's DEAD, so we can't get his opinion!

Talk about a pointless reference....

[VanGoghRocks]

14. Putin the evil dictator . . . with an 88% approval rating, according to

notoriously conservative Gallup.

Oh, wait! Putin used his nefariously awesome mind-control powers to make Russians approve of him and his statecraft.

[MADem]

19. Yeah--Joe Stalin said it doesn't matter how people vote--it matters who COUNTS those votes!

You trust "notoriously conservative" Gallup? That's your first problem--those idiots predicted Mitt in a landslide.

More to the point, you believe that the Russians collecting the data worked for Gallup, and Gallup alone? I have a bridge to sell you--good price.

Your naivete is almost quaint. And you have absolutely nothing to laugh about, rolling on the floor or otherwise, because you are woefully ill-informed. Your double-down apologias are pretty disturbing, frankly.

Here's some light reading/viewing for you, since you're back in the days of "REDS" when it comes to Russian racial attitudes:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4737468.stm

While much of the violence seems to be purely racist, some believe Africans are also targeted as scapegoats for Russian society's ills and the media is often accused of fostering an image of African students as drug-dealers.

The attacks have turned murderous in recent years. In St Petersburg, three Africans have been killed in suspected race attacks since September.

Non-African foreign students have also been murdered, but it is the black students who attract most attention from the racists.

Juldas, now leader of the African students at RUDN, says "monkey" insults and actual assaults are so frequent that students have ceased reporting them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8230158.stm

Nearly 60% of black and African people living in Russia's capital Moscow have been physically assaulted in racially motivated attacks, says a new study.
Africans working or studying in the city live in constant fear of attack, according to the report by the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy.
A quarter of 200 people surveyed said they had been assaulted more than once. Some 80% had been verbally abused.
But the number of assaults was down from the MPC's last survey in 2002.
The report's clear conclusion was that Africans living in Russia exist in a state of virtual siege, says the BBC's Rupert Wingfield Hayes in Moscow.

"This is not a place where a black man should live for long."

Black/African beating gay bashers with no free press. Keep cheerleading! Rah, rah, siss-boom-bah! Maybe they need to attend to the beam in their OWN eye, eh?

Bottom line--no wonder George Bush and Pootie Poot saw eye to eye--Vlad don't care about black people, either.

[Cha]

27. Wow, thanks for the revelations.. I hadn't heard anything about racism per se in Russia but

I saw that board that was lit up on the President's birthday with the Russians portraying him eating a banana or some such idiot drivel. that's why I called him a racist as well as homophobic in my previous post. So it goes much freaking deeper than that..

"Nearly 60% of black and African people living in Russia's capital Moscow have been physically assaulted in racially motivated attacks, says a new study.
Africans working or studying in the city live in constant fear of attack, according to the report by the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy.
A quarter of 200 people surveyed said they had been assaulted more than once. Some 80% had been verbally abused.
But the number of assaults was down from the MPC's last survey in 2002.
The report's clear conclusion was that Africans living in Russia exist in a state of virtual siege, says the BBC's Rupert Wingfield Hayes in Moscow."

So Russia isn't as pure as the putinistas would have us believe.. and always conveniently leaving out how dangerous it is to be Gay in Russia.. those poor people living under the fear of putin's homophobic wrath. Or a journalist who disagrees with his dictorial policies.. and under his thumb on the internet.

[MADem]

36. It's HORRIBLE there--and black people are scapegoated; used as a way to vent frustrations, just like

gay people are targeted. It's why I find this "Embassy demonstration" hypocritical in the extreme.

The Russian government doesn't give a shit about black people, and they are actively opposed to gay people. They are simply using the situation in Ferguson to goad/bait Obama.

As for the demos in Russia, anyone who cannot see the Kremlin's hand in orchestrating them is being willfully obtuse:

The police response in Missouri — and Russia’s official smirking — has caused deep consternation among critics of the Kremlin here. They see it as being exploited to excuse Russia’s much more pervasive and deep-rooted restrictions on civil liberties, as well as its often arbitrary — and Kremlin-dominated — law enforcement and judicial systems.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/world/europe/in-russia-scenes-from-ferguson-are-played-as-nothing-shocking-its-america.html

[Cha]

38. "The Russian government doesn't give a shit about black people, and they are actively opposed to

gay people. They are simply using the situation in Ferguson to goad/bait Obama."

That's what I thought..

From your link.. "The Russian government itself weighed in on Tuesday. In a long statement, Konstantin Dolgov, the Foreign Ministry’s special representative for human rights, baldly accused the United States of hypocrisy, and said Washington would do better to focus on its own problems rather than intervening in other countries “under the false pretext of defending democracy and human rights.”

IOW, Dolgov's saying.. leave us alone to be racists. human rights abusers, and homophobic assholes.

It's Not the President Policy like it is Putin's.. they better be careful with their fucking hypocrisy. Putin's more like Chief Jackson in Ferguson, MO. Who do they think they're fooling? Or that's right.. the pro Russian/Anti-American internet warriors.

thank you for the link, MADem

[Cha]

15. Thank you, MADem, for addressing so well.. the putin propaganda.

[MADem]

21. More in post 19.

I am appalled that we see people defending that gay-hating racist here on this ostensibly progressive message board.

It's egregious.

[Cha]

22. Thanks.. it's old hat now.. one leaves and another one pops up. We've

read about this.. and anything to stick to the USA even if It means acting like a fool for the racist, homophobic Dictator.

[mimi85]

34. And egregious

is putting it nicely. I've found myself coming here less all the time.

And hello Cha. Keep fighting the good fight. You are amazing. As well as MADem.

[kelliekat44]

48. Like our media isn't controlled by the corporate government here. nt

[MADem]

50. You're free to start a thread on that topic and see how many bites you get. nt

[treestar]

54. good point. It's not like they have freedom of speech there

but this will be allowed for serving the government's purposes.

[951-Riverside]

17. American Law Enforcement is brutal and extremely oppressive

Pointing rifles, making threats to kill people, shooting unarmed people, boiling a man alive in a jail shower.

You don't see that shit anywhere else except for maybe Burma and a few other really shitty 3rd world nations.

And I don't need PutinToday to tell me that.

____________________________________________

Florida man boiled to death by prison guards



http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/25/4200651/for-prison-shower-death-inquiry.html

____________________________________________

[VanGoghRocks]

30. Hey there. Thanks for posting. Well, at least we're not led by an evil Satanic dictator who

is Stalin and Mao's incestuous child.

That's small consolation to America's poor, minorities and dispossessed. But, hey, it's something!

[treestar]

52. Yes, they'd do better to deal with their own problems there

[WestCoastLib]

10. Sincere or not- the point is the world is watching

It's increasingly becoming a global world and you can't hide your warts. Obviously this was bound to be seen as public as it's become, but anything posted online is seen by everyone all over the globe now.

Are these really Russians supporting Brown or are these Russians mocking the USA? I don't know. And it doesn't matter, because it's beside the point. The point is they see us and they see what's going on.

[Behind the Aegis]

16. "Are these really Russians supporting Brown or are these Russians mocking the USA? "

It does matter. The first choice is honorable and laudable, the second is opportunistic and deceptive. Yes, it is important the world sees, but it is also important not to use this tragedy as "political fodder to score points", that's just disrespectful.

[VanGoghRocks]

18. Putin the evil genius has compelled those young Russians to gather in

front of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

Because Putin is a cold-hearted dictator and so everyone must do what he says as soon as he says it. Or gulag. Or something.

[Behind the Aegis]

20. Where did I say Putin is behind this?

I didn't? Oh, that must mean your comment is nothing but a logical fallacy commonly known as a "strawman."

[VanGoghRocks]

25. Sorry, didn't mean to suggest you were saying Putin was behind this and apologize

mightily if it came off that way. I was mocking another poster's anti-Putin virulently Russo-phobic sentiments.

[Behind the Aegis]

26. Russo-phobic sentiments? Whom made those comments?

[VanGoghRocks]

28. I give you . . . post #7:

"Funny how a nation known for their "loathsome racial humor" would suddenly give a shit about black people in America?"

I respond with Robeson quote:

"In Russia I felt for the first time like a full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice like in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being."

I'm then greeted with a sputtering "But Putin didn't know Robeson."

Since you mentioned 'straw manning,' please allow me to mention 'moving the goal posts.'

[MADem]

31. You apparently are confusing FACTS with "Russo-phobia." The truth is not "phobia." It's the truth.

The fact that you quote "loathsome racial humor" like it's some kind of "Oooh La La" tells me you didn't even bother to read the link I provided you. There was a reason for those quotes.

And I was not "sputtering"--you were. You're trying to compare the old Soviet Union to modern day Russia--now that's some "sputtering" because, not that it's a news flash, they aren't at all the same--just ask the African students who are brutalized on the streets of Russia each and every day.

Now I'm getting a sense of how you have a discussion--it's revealing.

I never did welcome you to DU.

You might want to take the time to read the TOS before you get yourself in real trouble with the aspersions and name-calling.

[Behind the Aegis]

32. Yes, your strawman was upped by your goalpost moving, but I don't see the relevance.

Do you read Russian? What do some of the signs say?

[LarryNM]

35. +1 n/t

[Tommymac]

41. Right On WestCoastLib

We live in a glass house. We cannot lecture the World on Human Rights Abuse when We practice it right here in the heartland of the good ole USA.

The World IS Watching

[VanGoghRocks]

29. Russo-phobia, anyone?

[mimi85]

37. Are you fucking serious? nt

[MADem]

44. Those fact-free assclowns at RT are giving Russians the impression that there are riots from coast

to coast in USA.

Ferguson is serious enough an issue for us all in Ferguson, but ya have to wonder why they have a need to flat-out lie.

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/08/18/major-human-rights-abusers-giddy-over-ferguson/20948782/

[VanGoghRocks]

55. No, it's all an elaborate global joke:

Governments scolded by the United States over their human rights records have seized on racial unrest and a police crackdown in the Missouri town of Ferguson to wag their fingers back in disapproval.

Adversaries and uneasy allies from Russia and Iran to China and Egypt have accused the United States of hypocrisy as images of police brandishing lethal weapons and tear-gassing protesters have been shown around the world.

They have also pointed to the problems faced by black Americans.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/20/us-usa-missouri-shooting-world-idUSKBN0GK1NS20140820

[newfie11]

46. The truth hurts

Especially when pointed out by children.

[Rhiannon12866]

40. Are you there?

I have high hopes for the Russian people, but then I've been there and met some terrific people.

[VanGoghRocks]

51. I was there back in 1985 (Leningrad) but have not been back since the break-up of the USSR. The

U.S. should erect a monument to the USSR, imo, for fighting and defeating Hitler along a 2,000-mile front. Without the Soviet Union's sacrifice, we'd probably all be goose-stepping and speaking German. Those who weren't like me sent to the camps, that is.

[Sunlei]

45. We see them! , what do their signs & tee shirts say?