all 28 comments

[–]casparvoneverecBig tiddy respecter 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

A positive development.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Is it a development? Was gay marriage legal in Russia before this?

[–]Nasser 4 insightful - 5 fun4 insightful - 4 fun5 insightful - 5 fun -  (3 children)

Agree with the trans one disagree with outlawing same sex marriage. I think it should be by the priest's choice whether he wants to do the marriage. Civil Unions are fine.

[–]VraiBleuScots Protestant, Ulster Loyalist 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Nah, marriage is the state/religious sanctioned union of a man & woman with the intention of encouraging children & stable families.

I’ve got nothing against homosexuals since they’re born that way but it should be encouraged to be kept low key & certainly out of the public sphere.

Why do you agree with the trans one but not the gay? Isn’t that just taking the liberal positon of 10/20 years ago?

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Not the guy you replied to but gay marriage isn't that big a deal, it doesn't harm anyone or society at large. Men pretending to be women and vice versa is different

[–]VraiBleuScots Protestant, Ulster Loyalist 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I mean, it’s not the biggest issue of the day no... but I’d definitely consider it something we should oppose.

Homosexuality unnerves people, in that it makes a taboo of more legitimate male bondings, breaks up families, alienates children from their parents, neighbour from neighbour, encourages degenerate lifestyles, the list goes on. In short, it affects society in every way that transvestism does to a lesser degree. The pushing of the latter is just the system growing more brazen as it gains power. Ideally it should ALL be rolled back.

If marriage is a public State sponsored union that comes with it certain expectations & rewards, why should two guys shacking up be able to reap the benefits? Does it do anything for society in return at all?

[–]Richard_Parker 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (21 children)

I love Putin! We need someone like him in the US and Europe, but with even more strongarm!

[–]Lugger 6 insightful - 3 fun6 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 3 fun -  (19 children)

We need someone like him in the US and Europe

U want a corrupt authoritarian ruler who has been plundering his country for decades? The leader who only succeeded in making himself and his oligarch friends rich by selling Russian natural resources and keeping the country a poor backward shithole? The one who destabilized a friendly neighboring country (Ukraine) by starting a bloody war only to get beaten and withdraw his army in disgrace?

No, thanks. I'd choose a Eurocuck elected official over a corrupt dictator like Putin any day.

[–]Richard_Parker 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

Actually he put a lot of oligarchs in jail, stopped what was doing on long Yeltsin. Lost the war against Ukraine? So Ukraine annexed the Crimean Peninsula, and not the other way around?

[–]Lugger 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (7 children)

Actually he put a lot of oligarchs in jail, stopped what was doing on long Yeltsin.

I don't think so. I'm not an expert on Russia, but I know for sure that Putin's regime has been kind to the vast majority of oligarchs, and they continue to prosper under his rule to this day. Many of them are his close friends.

Come on, man. Russia is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, and it's all Putin's fault. How long has he been in power? Since the 1990s? Putin is just an ordinary corrupt dictator who only rules to enrich himself and his inner circle, while the country's population remains poor as fuck and the country itself is a shithole filled to the brim with mud, litter and cheap labor from the former Soviet stans: I've seen a few videos that show the life of average Russians, and... Holy Jesus, I wouldn't want to live in that place. That's what happens to authoritarian regimes where the elites care about nothing but their bank accounts.

As cucked as Europe is, at least it enjoys high standarts of living and low levels of corruption — neither of which would be possible under an authoritarian regime, especially of someone like Putin.

Russia under his rule reminds me of African countries: the dictator and the elites reside in luxury palaces and enjoy first world standarts of living while the common folk, dressed up in rags, dwell in shit-stained huts located in equally shitty neighborhoods.

Such a good president, isn't he?

Lost the war against Ukraine? So Ukraine annexed the Crimean Peninsula, and not the other way around?

I was talking about the war against Ukraine, bro. Not the annexation of the Crimean Penisula! The war happened a little bit later when Russian-backed separatists and a few Russian army units occupied parts of the Eastern Ukraine.

Don't remember how well the separatists perfomed against the Ukrainians, but the Russian army suffered heavy casualties and was forced to withdraw, even though the Ukrainian military of that time was a total joke. The Russians even lost some of their newest tanks and APCs.

[–]TheJamesRocket 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

I don't think so. I'm not an expert on Russia, but I know for sure that Putin's regime has been kind to the vast majority of oligarchs, and they continue to prosper under his rule to this day. Many of them are his close friends.

Lugger, you continue to display an amazing ability to be utterly wrong on almost every subject you care to talk about. This latest comment of yours is just another example. You explicitly reject the claim that Putin did any kind of house cleaning against the Russian oligarchs, but your rejection can only be sustained by ignoring what happened in the first years of Vladimir Putins rule.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky was a Jewish billionaire and one of the wealthiest men in Russia. But then when Putin became President, he launched a campaign to reign in the oligarchs. Khodorkovsky was one of the few elites who refused to play by the new rules. As a result, he was imprisoned for nearly 10 years, his wealth was confiscated, and his business was destroyed.

Wealth confiscation is pretty much the worst thing you can ever do to a Jew. Their self worth is entirely based on their net worth. Taking their wealth is akin to destroying their soul. When Putin took his wrath out on Khodorkovsky, Jewish oligarchs all over the world were horrified. After this brutal demonstration, the rest of the Russian elites tended to fall in line.

Come on, man. Russia is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, and it's all Putin's fault. How long has he been in power? Since the 1990s?

You don't know what your talking about. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia became a killing ground for foreign oligarchs who swept in to buy up the oil and gas industrys for bargain prices. They set up shop in the ruined country and went about creating their own monopolys, while aided and abetted by Russian elites.

They were even able to bribe Boris Yeltsin and get him to facilitate their shameless looting of the country. These oligarchs got the Russian government to sign on to their predatory loans, which they were unable to repay and were forced to default on. This eventually led to the Ruble crisis, one of the lowest points in Russian history.

Under the guidance of Vladimir Putin, the country has made an amazing recovery. The main thing that enabled this was his campaign to reign in the extractive elites who were sucking Russia dry. Once this was done, the country was able to slowly return to normal. It is clear that Putin has done a phenomenal job in halting the decline of his country, especially when considering that he only came into power in 2000.

[–][deleted] 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

And all this that Putin does for Russia, and sure he's making himself super rich in the process, but in the end, so what? All this makes him a target for the media and politicians worldwide, a bit like Trump.

Putin isn't playing by the internationalist (essentially modern day Bolshevik) rules, and that is why he is talked about as being so evil. Does he have to step on some toes to make Russia great again? Sure. Name a ruler, a true leader, who has not!

My point is, a great leader needs more than 4 years to implement his vision. Turning a country around is a decades-long affair, and requires a steel grip on the nation's inner workings. That's why democracy never achieves anything, but the likes of Hitler and Putin have achieved things that seem near impossible.

[–]TheJamesRocket 6 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

And all this that Putin does for Russia, and sure he's making himself super rich in the process, but in the end, so what?

The thing about nationalist elites is that their wealth is ultimately tied to the well being of their own country. Thus, they have every incentive to make sure their nation prospers. In contrast, globalist elites are rootless individuals whose wealth is not tied to any country at all. Their loyalty is to multinational corporations and the free flow of wealth around the world. For this reason, the globalists are fundamentally opposed to nationalism, which disrupts their fragile ecology of power.

All this makes him a target for the media and politicians worldwide, a bit like Trump.

The American establishment hated Trump for many reasons. One of the larger points of tension was that he refused to get the country involved in any new wars, which infuriated the Neocons and the Zionists. They had a window of opportunity to destroy Syria and possibly Iran, but Trump never did anything more than cruise missile strikes or drone strikes. Now, even though Biden is in office, both of those countrys have rearmed and signed pacts with Russia, which makes them much less vulnerable to attack. The Americans are now at a strategic impasse in the Middle East and elsewhere, all because of Trumps aversion to war. His Presidency was a curse to the Deep State.

[–]Lugger 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Mikhail Khodorkovsky was a Jewish billionaire and one of the wealthiest men in Russia.

...

Good to see you, bro! Unfortunately, your arguments are based on faulty assumptions.

Yeah, of course the Russian elites and oligarchs succumbed to Putin, but you are forgetting one key fact: they never stopped plundering the country. I don't know why Putin destroyed this Mikhail Khodorkovsky guy you mentioned, but, considering the fact that oligarchs and corrupt politicians loyal to him are rich as ever, I'm pretty sure that he was a threat to Putin's rule and therefore had to be taken out of the picture.

However, if by saying that the elites "fell in line" u meant that they had become Putin's vassals who get state protection in exchange for a share of profit and unconditional support, then yeah, that was exactly what I mean't, wasn't it?

Putin cleansed the country of all the people who posed a threat to his power (including a couple of oligarchs) and established his corrupt-as-fuck-system, thanks to which Russia is still the mess it is.

You don't know what your talking about. After the collapse of the Soviet Union...

...

You're missing key details... again. Putin never stopped Russian oligarchs from looting the country; he merely took them under his wing.

Under the guidance of Vladimir Putin, the country has made an amazing recovery.

This argument is easily refuted by reminding you that the "recovery" you're talking about is owed to the fact that oil prices were extremely high when Putin came to power. It doesn't tell us anything about Putin as a ruler because any semi-competent President would have managed to do the same, given how much oil Russia has.

It is clear that Putin has done a phenomenal job in halting the decline of his country, especially when considering that he only came into power in 2000.

Yeah, man... Putin only has been in power for 21 years. LOL! Even some kings didn't rule for as long as he does.

I wouldn't even be so hard on him if he was at least an honest politician who loved his people. But no, he is a run-of-the-mill corrupt power hungry asshole who is directly responsible for the shitty state of his country.

Good luck refutting the facts that Russia is one of the most corrupt places in Europe and the Russian elites have made themselves rich by plundering the country. Unsurprising, really, because that's how the system build by Putin works.

Lugger, you continue to display an amazing ability to be utterly wrong on almost every subject you care to talk about.

Right back at ya!

[–]TheJamesRocket 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Russia has ALWAYS been ruled by a central power that is undemocratic and unaccountable to the people. The Tsars held absolute power for over 400 years, and the Soviets ruled with an iron fist for 74 years. What Putin does is fundamentally no worse than what any other Russian leader did. Corruption and authoritarianism have been constant features throughout their history. You need to remember that Russians are not European: They are Eurasian. Sadly, there never was much in the way of individual rights in Russia. Criticising Putin on that count isn't very illustrative.

Good luck refutting the facts that Russia is one of the most corrupt places in Europe and the Russian elites have made themselves rich by plundering the country.

Again, no one is denying that there is corruption and profiteering in Russia. But the level of exploitation going on now is nothing like the horrendous episodes of the 1990s. Russia was basically a playing ground for international elites who had free reign to do whatever they wanted. But with Putin in charge now, there are rules and limits. The oligarchs aren't allowed to suck the country dry. Arguably, you could say that Russia experiences less exploitation than America does today with the coronavirus plandemic/great reset.

But again, you will never accept any of this because you are an American jingoist with a bad case of Russophobia. Keep telling yourself that the U.S.A. is Number 1: Meanwhile, you will be subject to more and more draconian rules in the name of combating the coronavirus, while your country is sucked dry by international elites.

[–]Richard_Parker 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This comports withmy understanding as well. Not to say Putin has not had his hand in the cookie jar, but nowhere near what Yeltsin and end the oligarchs did.

[–]SaidOverRed 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

high standarts of living and low levels of corruption — neither of which would be possible under an authoritarian regime

that's not always true, just usually. It's possible to "stagnate" standards of living pretty easily if they are already high. That's not to say that capitalism doesn't have it's place, but I'm just pointing out that managed flatlining is a thing (see Japan).

As far as corruption being inevitable for authoritarianism, I'd challenge that too. It's certainly the almost entirely likely scenario because most philosophical precepts that get one to authoritarianism start out wrong and therefore stay wrong further on. But when starting out righteously, it could be possible to maintain with extreme transparency and enforced honesty. Basically I'm saying that the decay isn't inevitable. But it will bring to the forefront any problems that were already there under less rigid systems, like how communism shows the faults that already existed under the more 'happy' socialist systems that would have taken far longer to destroy those societies without course-correction.

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (9 children)

You really have no idea, do you? Putin kicked the banksters OUT, without the country's currency getting instantly devalued to zero. THAT is worth all the sacrifices, all the "authoritarianism", pretty much EVERY SINGLE SACRIFICE you can think of. You know why? Russians are not slaves. YOU ARE A SLAVE. WE ARE ALL SLAVES. But Russians are free. They might be relatively poor, but fuck, THEY ARE the only non-slave country besides Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea.

Yes, some of the rulers of these are real assholes. Guess what, most politicians are scummy, rotten, lice-infected assholes.

[–]TheJamesRocket 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I've argued with Lugger before. This guy is a total moron who believes all the propaganda about Vladimir Putin. Don't listen to anything he says.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks for looking out my dude. :-)

I'll stop wasting keystrokes now!

[–]Lugger 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Don't forget to take your pills, pal.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Study central banking and money creation, then come back and tell me you aren't a slave.

[–]SoylentCapitalist 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

I'd rather live in the UK/US than Russia without a doubt.

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Exactly.

[–]arainynightinskyrim 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Lol no, Putin spoke against ethno nationalism and Russia is being flooded by immigrants from central asia and the caucasus.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Based Putin! I love that man, a dude with a vision and the will to see it through.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Meh. As an atheist this is neither positive nor negative, there is simply no reason for me to care about homosexuality. Only religious people have a reason to view this as good news