Sound Familiar?
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Authoritarianism | Contra Tyrannum | Dictatorship | Tyranny | Vladimir Putin — Comments (12) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
The A Russian opposition activist has been sent to a psychiatric hospital by authorities a day before a planned demonstration.
Read on . . .
Artem Basyrov's detention is the latest in a series of incidents suggesting a punitive Soviet-era practice is being revived under president Vladimir Putin.
Mr Basyrov, 20, was ordered to be held at a hospital in the central region of Mari El on November 23, a day before planned demonstrations, said Alexander Averin of the opposition National Bolshevik Party.
The party is part of the Other Russia coalition which organised the so-called Dissenters' Marches across the country this year.
Mr Basyrov ran for the local legislature as an Other Russia candidate.
Police who originally detained him claimed he had assaulted a girl.
A local psychiatric board agreed, deciding the activist suffered from a mental illness and he was committed to the psychiatric hospital three weeks ago.
He was only transferred from an isolation ward and allowed to have visitors on Thursday, said Mikhail Klyuzhev, a National Bolshevik member from the city of Yoshkar-Ola.
Why not just have public tributes to Stalin while we are at it? Oh wait, that's already happening.
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Sound Familiar? 12 Comments (0 topical, 12 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
The problem with letting mainstream Democrats, as represented by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, onto such a site is that it would defang the site.
Contra Tyrannum posts on Red State are able to call for action against tyranny. An equvalent site with Democrats would be limited to tut-tutting and hand-wringing.
Along with the occasional "But Bush is just as bad..."
Well, I'm a Democrat. And after living in Turkmenistan for the past 26 months let me tell you: I'm against dictatorship. Let me also tell you, "Bush's America" (whatever that means) isn't even remotely close to what I saw and experienced as a true dictatorship.
Anyway, the solution, as I see it, would be to follow the Freedom House rankings as published annually in the Journal of Democracy. I believe that Iran, Venezuela, and Russia aren't doing so hot. If you pinned the general objective norm to the Freedom House rankings you could transcend partisanship to some point.
I could tell you're a Democrat from the way you phrased it. That's why I qualified my statement carefully, specifically limiting my statement to mainstream Democrats, and giving two examples of who I meant as the leadership of the group I label that way.
Unfortunately active opposition to tyranny just isn't in the Democratic mainstream anymore.
Hey Neil -- I view myself as a "mainstream democrat" and Pelosi and Reid ... and their agenda do not represent me or any of my mainstream Dem friends. In fact, I don't know a single Dem that has bought a ticket on the Pelosi/Reid "Magical Mystery Blame and Excuse Tour" bus. The polls on congress kind of bear this out.
Opposition to tyranny is an "American" thing. Always has been. I know we're on the same page on that. :)
Moveon and Markos think they are mainstream Democrats too. Probably CodePinkers, too.
This doesn't say anything about you, but we see what seems to be coming from the leaders of your Party and it's what Neil said it is... handwringing and tut-tutting, with a little "tsk-tsk, promise not to do it again, and we'll give you whatever you want" thrown in on occasion.
I agreed on the Pelosi/Reid "handwringing." I'm just trying to point out that the majority of us "mainstream" Dems are not keen on Pelosi/Reid and less so on the views of Moveon and Kos. Sun Tsu expounded on knowing the enemy. If you view Kos as representative of us, you might be focusing on the wrong adversary.
As an example, a lot of us like Huckabee. McCain and Thompson also have our eyes open. Doubt you'll find that opinion on Kos.
you make the claim of being a mainstream Democrat. In your mind, no doubt you are. I consider myself a mainstream conservative. Guess what, I am -- in my own mind -- and those of his supporters.
Dan Rather is mainstream, in his own mind. So is Ron Paul in his own fevered mind. Nancy Pelosi is as mainstream as it comes. So is Reid.
On the other hand, mainstream isn't mainstream anymore. The Mainstream Media does not represent the beliefs of most of middle America.
What point am I trying to make? Mainstream is nothing but a codeword for, "they agree with me."
preview is my friend.
you make the claim of being a mainstream Democrat. In your mind, no doubt you are. I consider myself a mainstream conservative. Guess what, I am -- in my own mind
Dan Rather is mainstream, in his own mind. So is Ron Paul in his own fevered mind -- and those of his supporters. Nancy Pelosi is as mainstream as it comes. So is Reid.
On the other hand, mainstream isn't mainstream anymore. The Mainstream Media does not represent the beliefs of most of middle America.
What point am I trying to make? Mainstream is nothing but a codeword for, "they agree with me."
I concur with what you said except for the last part: "they agree with me."
I base my "Mainstream Dem" take not just on what I think but on how my views line up with everyone I know, both personal and professional. I'm liberal and I go to the meetings! ;) Everyone I know, and it's really everyone, have a similar view to what I articulated here.
Maybe I'm alone on some bizzaro liberal island, but living in the San Francisco Bay Area, it's no likely. Pelosi, Reid and Rather are, by their nature, atypical. They use what they need to further their own personal cause, whatever that might be.
A notable Republican spoke of "a silent majority." I think in this cycle, it speaks to the other side, and that is clearly not the Kos folks and should not be discounted.
There was the noted writer a from New York that commented after Richard Nixon's demolition of McGovern in 1972. She questioned HOW Nixon could possibly have won -- she didn't know a single person who had voted for him.
I am certain she was mainstream. :-)
and the results tend to be bad for the entire region (or world). Russia is heavily dependent on oil revenues. Combine the nationalist beligerance with a sudden drop in oil prices and Russia could start looking for convenient external enemies.
I sort of wish Contra Tyrannum was its own blog. Not for any reason other than I'm sure there's more Tyrannums to be Contra'd than can fit on Redstate's front page. And it'd be a good venue for a separate, pro-democracy, somewhat non-partisan (in that the site's mission might not be necessarily partisan) discussion. Anyway, there'd be an interest I bet.