Slog - Comments on From Russia With Clubs http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs Posted by Ryan S. Jackson How badly has the situation in Russia deteriorated? The Exile, the Moscow ex-pat bi-weekly, sent editor Yasha Levine to cover a pre-election demonstration by the anti-Putin "Other Russia" coalition in St. Petersburg. Russian troops responded to the protest with a violent wave of mass-arrests, and Levine was amongst those who found himself in custody. This is what its like to be part of the diminishing number of unfriendly journalists in Putin's Russia: They frog-marched me toward an ordinary Soviet delivery truck, the kind you'd see unloading kolbasa and pelmeni at your local produktovy magazin. But... Copyright 2008 Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:10:17 -0800 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:30:12 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by DOUG. No tear gas? No rubber bullets? No concussion grenades? These cops are freakin' amateurs.

]]> DOUG. http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860610 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860610 News Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:23:56 -0800 Comment by Greg Classy. Just when you thought that nobody knew how to do old-school fascism any more...

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860612 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860612 News Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:25:31 -0800 Comment by Fnarf Has anybody looked into Putin's soul recently?

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860645 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860645 News Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:53:14 -0800 Comment by unPC Now that Putin knows how to ATTACK his opponents. How to ATTACK the media.

Those Hillary ATTACKS are nuttin'.

]]> unPC http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860650 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860650 News Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:58:24 -0800 Comment by infrequent @3... and lived?

]]> infrequent http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860668 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860668 News Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:16:02 -0800 Comment by Red M Thanks for the excellent and informative post.

]]> Red M http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860691 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860691 News Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:36:09 -0800 Comment by gnossos Yes, thanks.

As a side note on odd-bedfellows: one of Garry Kasporov's chief co-conspirators in the opposition is Edward Limonov, who was a longtime writer for the eXile...the alt-paper that makes the Stranger look prim, proper, respectable and decidedly non-snarky

]]> gnossos http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860773 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860773 News Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:49:35 -0800 Comment by gnossos Oh, and following up on Fnarf's reference to looking into Putin's soul. Almost every Russian I know makes reference to Bush's inane remark and then most burst out laughing and say "Putin was KGB and FSB, he is mafia." For them this seals the deal for regarding Bush as a half-wit at best.

]]> gnossos http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860775 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860775 News Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:53:47 -0800 Comment by R.Jackson, Intern to the Stars Dear @7,


A copy of Memoirs of a Russian Punk sits on the very desk I'm writing at. The post-Taibbi eXile appears to be turning around, if slowly. The days with Ames as the lone editor were grim.

]]> R.Jackson, Intern to the Stars http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860776 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860776 News Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:00:40 -0800 Comment by gnossos Memoirs is great book.

And yes, Ames needed some help.

]]> gnossos http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860807 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860807 News Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:25:11 -0800 Comment by Judah People who talk about the United States becoming a police state might want to take this opportunity to examine their position in some greater depth.

Also, isn't it funny that American politicians accuse every leader in the world of being "a Hitler" except the ones who might actually qualify?

]]> Judah http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860925 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860925 News Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:12:20 -0800 Comment by snark Relax, it's coming soon to a street in YOUR neighborhood.

Take those cell phone pics for anyone who will give a shit.

The rest will be watching NASCAR on a flat screen purchased with a no-down, no interest contract with their life as collateral.

]]> snark http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860952 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860952 News Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:42:05 -0800 Comment by DOUG. Judah @11: Were you in Seattle in November 1999? Were you in NYC in August 2004?

"Free speech zones" behind barbed wire, catch-all obstruction statutes, mass arrests without warrants, undercover police infiltration, "no protest zones"...

No, we are not "becoming a police state." We're already there.

]]> DOUG. http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860996 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c860996 News Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:21:35 -0800 Comment by Judah Let's see, Seattle on November 30, 1999? Yeah, I think I was on 6th and Pine that day, now that you mention it. I saw it all pretty up-close, and you know what?

Not a fucking police state. Nothing like what's happening in Russia. Not remotely comparable on any level.

]]> Judah http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c861056 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c861056 News Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:02:10 -0800 Comment by DOUG. So your argument is that just because things are worse in Russia, there's no way the US can be defined as a police state? Do you think it's an accident that we have the largest incarceration rate in the world?

]]> DOUG. http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c861162 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c861162 News Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:08:37 -0800 Comment by Judah So your argument is that just because things are worse in Russia, there's no way the US can be defined as a police state?

Yes, that's my argument exactly. You're very clever. You perceived the very root and core of what I was attempting to convey. Keen and incisive isn't the half of it with you. I bet all your friends say so.

Do you think it's an accident that we have the largest incarceration rate in the world?

No, but neither would I consider our incarceration rate a clear indication that we live a police state, especially since most of the people we incarcerate are poor, and have been incarcerated for violent crimes, property crimes or drug crimes -- rather than, say, political dissidents and journalists whose incarceration is part of a totalitarian political agenda. The shit a person can say in this country and have no fear of any kind of meaningful military or judicial oppression is simply mind-boggling.

So yeah, basically you're full of shit, but I'm not going to spend all day chasing you around about it. Get yourself a tinfoil hat and a compound in Texas if it pleases you. I couldn't care less and, likely, neither could the "police state".

At least you'll be out from underfoot.

]]> Judah http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c861182 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c861182 News Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:20:23 -0800 Comment by DOUG. Not all police state's are created equal, and your definition is quite narrow.

]]> DOUG. http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c861199 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/from_russia_with_clubs#c861199 News Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:30:12 -0800