Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Democratic Protest in Russia


A lesson for Russophobes in the US and West who follow the U.S. propaganda line that Putin is a dictator and Russia is a dictatorship. Dictatorships or tyrannical oppressors shoot down demonstrators (Israel, Egypt) or their leaders exhort their followers to use violence (the U.S., Philippines) but this anti-government demo was peaceful and had a permit to march and protest. The story also indicates that the Russian government's internet ability is not as sophisticated as portrayed in the West and the Russians may not be actually able to carry out the kind of cyber attacks the U.S. alleges -- it couldn't properly manipulate an app from a Russian company! The Russian people, at any rate, don't seem cowed.
About this article
The rally, which began as a protest of the crackdown on the Telegram messenger app, quickly morphed into a protest against Vladimir V. Putin.
NYTIMES.COM

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