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The things happening in Russia before the protest on Saturday is dystopian. Police take into custody anyone who is trying to promote it, schools are suddenly op

by nikivi 6y ago

The things happening in Russia before the protest on Saturday is dystopian. Police take into custody anyone who is trying to promote it, schools are suddenly open and students are being scared by threats of disqualification if they go outside on that day. I hope this dictatorship ends soon. I wouldn’t want to live in a country where nearly all your taxes get spent on building a palace and enforcing more police and military. If anyone is curious on what’s happening, I made a Twitter list. Most tweets are in Russian though. https://twitter.com/i/lists/1351120526220152839 https://twitter.com/i/lists/1351120526220152839 Oh yeah and some russian citizens who are members of Navalny anti corruption fond are told by government to leave their own country..

lurker281 6y ago
no different than what was happening in Victoria, Australia recently regarding COVID protests, people getting arrested at home for promoting the protest on facebook etc.
AstralStorm 6y ago
As long as third of Russia wants a Tsar (or another authoritarian strong man) some other 20% want USSR back (remember how corrupt that was too) and most of the rest is silent nothing will change there. Oppression was standard in both of these setups.
gdy 6y ago
"I wouldn’t want to live in a country where nearly all your taxes get spent on building a palace and enforcing more police and military." I wouldn't want to have UKOS returned to the owners who got it dirt-cheap during 'privatization' in 90s and taxes on the extraction of natural resources reduced to the pre-Putin level. This one thing -- raising taxes on the wealth generated from selling natural resources -- pays a hundred times for Putin's palace. As for our military, I'd rather have it strong, why wouldn't you?
- hvis 6y ago
  That extracted wealth should flow back into the country and translate into well-being of your citizens. Not just continue lining the pockets of the president's closest friends. I'd rather have our military strong on the borders of our country and outside of it. Instead of having that military power used to strong-arm Russian citizens (and yes, the opposition is among them).
  - gdy 6y ago
    It does flow back. About half of the federal budget is formed from the taxes on natural resources. I think last time our military was used against Russian citizens was during Chechen wars. Another time was in 1993 when Eltsin used it to shoot at the Parliament building.
twelve40 6y ago
"nearly all your taxes get spent on building a palace" hyperbole much? like, really? "all your taxes" - 12 trillion roubles, roughly $171 billion in one year out of the total federal budget of ~20 trillion roubles ($285 billion) Федеральная налоговая служба администрировала за год доходы на 12 трлн 612,13 млрд рублей https://www.interfax.ru/business/691856 https://www.interfax.ru/business/691856 the palace, whoever owns it, cost ~$1.5 billion, presumably over 15 years > Стоимость дворца с постройками ФБК оценивает в 100 миллиардов рублей "siloviki" budget - 2 trillion roubles, ~$28 billion https://www.rbc.ru/politics/23/10/2016/580a526d9a7947cb56546df8 https://www.rbc.ru/politics/23/10/2016/580a526d9a7947cb56546... military budget - $65 billion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_... Let's do some math: $28 billion for the "police" $65 billion for the military (U.S. spends ~$700 billion of the total federal budget of $3.9 trillion for FY2018, that's about ~20%, about the same) $1.5 billion for the "palace" None of this stuff combined is "nearly all your taxes", so why would you claim something like that? "more police and military" seems to be no different then what the other countries are doing. The dude might have stolen this palace, but why would you make nonsensical claims?
- nikivi 6y ago
  The palace is just one event. Lots more money gets stolen not for the sake of building a palace but enriching few individuals in various other ways. It is a hyperbole indeed and thank you for the detailed breakdown. The truth is, if not 'nearly all', it's certainly a very sizable portion of the tax budget that gets stolen. Enjoyed this video on the topic from one politician in Moscow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMWyzudWioY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMWyzudWioY Also on the topic of breakdowns that you cited, I have hard time believing things that get written in these 'official reports'. There are many ways to hide where money actually gets spent. This also gets talked about in the above video.
  - gdy 6y ago
    "It is a hyperbole indeed" I'd say it was a lie.

by nikivi 6y ago

lurker281 6y ago

no different than what was happening in Victoria, Australia recently regarding COVID protests, people getting arrested at home for promoting the protest on facebook etc.

AstralStorm 6y ago

As long as third of Russia wants a Tsar (or another authoritarian strong man) some other 20% want USSR back (remember how corrupt that was too) and most of the rest is silent nothing will change there. Oppression was standard in both of these setups.

gdy 6y ago

"I wouldn’t want to live in a country where nearly all your taxes get spent on building a palace and enforcing more police and military." I wouldn't want to have UKOS returned to the owners who got it dirt-cheap during 'privatization' in 90s and taxes on the extraction of natural resources reduced to the pre-Putin level. This one thing -- raising taxes on the wealth generated from selling natural resources -- pays a hundred times for Putin's palace. As for our military, I'd rather have it strong, why wouldn't you?

hvis 6y ago
That extracted wealth should flow back into the country and translate into well-being of your citizens. Not just continue lining the pockets of the president's closest friends. I'd rather have our military strong on the borders of our country and outside of it. Instead of having that military power used to strong-arm Russian citizens (and yes, the opposition is among them).
- gdy 6y ago
  It does flow back. About half of the federal budget is formed from the taxes on natural resources. I think last time our military was used against Russian citizens was during Chechen wars. Another time was in 1993 when Eltsin used it to shoot at the Parliament building.

twelve40 6y ago

"nearly all your taxes get spent on building a palace" hyperbole much? like, really? "all your taxes" - 12 trillion roubles, roughly $171 billion in one year out of the total federal budget of ~20 trillion roubles ($285 billion) Федеральная налоговая служба администрировала за год доходы на 12 трлн 612,13 млрд рублей https://www.interfax.ru/business/691856 https://www.interfax.ru/business/691856 the palace, whoever owns it, cost ~$1.5 billion, presumably over 15 years > Стоимость дворца с постройками ФБК оценивает в 100 миллиардов рублей "siloviki" budget - 2 trillion roubles, ~$28 billion https://www.rbc.ru/politics/23/10/2016/580a526d9a7947cb56546df8 https://www.rbc.ru/politics/23/10/2016/580a526d9a7947cb56546... military budget - $65 billion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_... Let's do some math: $28 billion for the "police" $65 billion for the military (U.S. spends ~$700 billion of the total federal budget of $3.9 trillion for FY2018, that's about ~20%, about the same) $1.5 billion for the "palace" None of this stuff combined is "nearly all your taxes", so why would you claim something like that? "more police and military" seems to be no different then what the other countries are doing. The dude might have stolen this palace, but why would you make nonsensical claims?

nikivi 6y ago
The palace is just one event. Lots more money gets stolen not for the sake of building a palace but enriching few individuals in various other ways. It is a hyperbole indeed and thank you for the detailed breakdown. The truth is, if not 'nearly all', it's certainly a very sizable portion of the tax budget that gets stolen. Enjoyed this video on the topic from one politician in Moscow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMWyzudWioY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMWyzudWioY Also on the topic of breakdowns that you cited, I have hard time believing things that get written in these 'official reports'. There are many ways to hide where money actually gets spent. This also gets talked about in the above video.
- gdy 6y ago
  "It is a hyperbole indeed" I'd say it was a lie.