6 ms·

> 1 in 6 Russian entrepreneurs are in jail, 1 in 3 prisoners are businessmen The title is pure FUD.

by Fice 15y ago

vog 15y ago
> The title is pure FUD. Would you care to elaborate?
- Fice 15y ago
  That is from the definition: «Fear, uncertainty and doubt, frequently abbreviated as FUD, is a tactic used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics and propaganda. FUD is generally a strategic attempt to influence public perception by disseminating negative and dubious/false information designed to undermine the credibility of their beliefs.» (Wikipedia) And I am not talking about the whole article, only the dubious "1 in 6, 1 in 3" statement.
- kds 15y ago
  One Possible Elaboration, Part I: (without claims for the absolute truth attached to it) The biggest nightmare in the minds of the ruling class in the anlgo-saxon world (chief US and UK political and business powers) is that Russia might create an Eurasian political and economic union with Germany and France (and EU generally), with high mutual economic, political, military and cultural benefits. That would mean huge loss of markets, power and influence for Washington and London. There are such tendencies, no matter how improbable in the short-term they look to the casual political observer who doesn't follow closely what's really going on. So in a certain way the Cold War is needed (if not required) to continue, even after pretending it is something of the past. One PR-related nasty form of this war - only bad news or no news allowed from Russia in the mainstream western media. The less people think Russia, Russian, (or even just Russians) are notions you could attach nice, friendly, good-minded connotations, the better! The president Putin really pissed-off the western state and big-business powers that in a period of rising petrol/gas prices in 2000s they couldn't extract the tens of billions $ they used to do easily in the 90s - back then with the help of the local oligarchs enriched overnight by criminally grabbing ownership of state economic base and infrastructure they themselves had not built in the preceding decades. Putin even had the temerity to use the extra-profits for increasing the country's living standard and modernizing the armed forces - one of the 3 to 5 really formidable military organizations in the world. And he started doing the really unthinkable - gently probing EU, Asian and African (think Libya) countries for this disgusting idea of selling energy resources for currencies other than the $. (And this in times of this self-inflicted financial crisis.) On the [re]New[ed] Cold War - just a few points of thought or questions for someone to ponder over, if really interested: How come NATO still exists when its mirror-antagonist military organization of the former socialist EE-countries from the soviet block has gone to history, dissolved peacefully and voluntarily? Why are there still US military bases (old and new) across the EU-countries today since Gorbachev retreated back the Russian/Soviet armed forces from East Germany and Eastern Europe? Why was the Gorbachev's 80-year jubilee held in London? If he was uniformly acknowledged as such a good doer to humanity and democracy why wasn't that an event held in his home country and among his own people proud of him? What does the average ordinary Russian think of Gorbachev? Actually who was robbed and who profited from the neo-liberal economic policies he had been instrumental to be installed in Russia? (continues...)
  - phishphood 15y ago
    russian army is not formidable military organizations and hasn't been since 1970s, may be earlier. the only thing formidable is the level of corruption. There was an article few days ago that they feed dog food to their conscripts. The only thing that keeps them being taken seriously is the nuclear threat, which they parade (literally) every single opportunity they get
    - olegious 15y ago
      the not formidable Russian army made mincemeat out of the US backed Georgian army a few years ago.
  - Jd 15y ago
    I think it is worth the widespread but rarely (for obvious reasons) publicly articulated sentiment that various US groups are actively involved in suppressing German culture and preventing Germany from having its own national defense. Russia in some ways is as much a proxy for a revived Germany free of US occupation as it is about Russia proper.
- kds 15y ago
  One Possible Elaboration, Part II (and final): (without claims for the absolute truth attached to it) (... continuation from above or below in this thread ...) Why is Gorbachev today so rudely harsh towards modern China - the possible future N:1 economy in the world - when expressing his opinion about this country? What's the purpose of NATO today - fighting terrorism? Who trained and armed the dead-officially-now Bin Laden in the first place in the 80s, and against whom? How come Turkey is considered a country worthy of pondering about if and when to invite for EU-membership, while the same idea and attitude towards Russia - historically a truly European country with undeniable historic and cultural influence on Europe and the world - countless world-renown writers, poets, composers, scientists... you name it... plus a huge territorial span till the Pacific with all the resources, people, and real economic potential - is something highly exotic? (And this put in best possible terms.) P.S. I do not deny that Russia has a corruption problem and also, in the years ahead, huge-impact policy decisions and measures are needed in the economic sphere. But this is something skillfully used in the practice of the western variety of propaganda called PR, the part of it that serves governmental strategy goals of US and UK. (BTW, A pair of most powerful countries in a "special relationship" as Her Majesty the Queen so rightly stated during the recent Obama's visit in the Buckingham Palace, London). P.P.S. " - But isn't the media really free and independent in the western world? How come ever such a FUD possible - serving international state policy strategic goals and forming popular western mass perceptions? " " - Well, this is really a Hacker-News after all... I have a suggestion for you - you do your own homework research on the topic and report back if you're really intrigued. For starters - check topdocumentaryfilms.com."
  - olegious 15y ago
    agree with you 100%. My favorite example of the Western media's clear bias comes from the WSJ- early in Putin's presidency they wrote an editorial calling on him to take down oligarchs and praising his leadership style. A few years later, the same editorial section called his use of the word "oligarch" an anti-semitic slur and defended the very people they encouraged him to confront years earlier. Russia is far from a perfect place, but that doesn't mean we should support far from perfect media coverage of it.
  - tokenadult 15y ago

> 1 in 6 Russian entrepreneurs are in jail, 1 in 3 prisoners are businessmen The title is pure FUD.

by Fice 15y ago

> 1 in 6 Russian entrepreneurs are in jail, 1 in 3 prisoners are businessmen The title is pure FUD.

vog 15y ago

> The title is pure FUD. Would you care to elaborate?

Fice 15y ago
That is from the definition: «Fear, uncertainty and doubt, frequently abbreviated as FUD, is a tactic used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics and propaganda. FUD is generally a strategic attempt to influence public perception by disseminating negative and dubious/false information designed to undermine the credibility of their beliefs.» (Wikipedia) And I am not talking about the whole article, only the dubious "1 in 6, 1 in 3" statement.
kds 15y ago
One Possible Elaboration, Part I: (without claims for the absolute truth attached to it) The biggest nightmare in the minds of the ruling class in the anlgo-saxon world (chief US and UK political and business powers) is that Russia might create an Eurasian political and economic union with Germany and France (and EU generally), with high mutual economic, political, military and cultural benefits. That would mean huge loss of markets, power and influence for Washington and London. There are such tendencies, no matter how improbable in the short-term they look to the casual political observer who doesn't follow closely what's really going on. So in a certain way the Cold War is needed (if not required) to continue, even after pretending it is something of the past. One PR-related nasty form of this war - only bad news or no news allowed from Russia in the mainstream western media. The less people think Russia, Russian, (or even just Russians) are notions you could attach nice, friendly, good-minded connotations, the better! The president Putin really pissed-off the western state and big-business powers that in a period of rising petrol/gas prices in 2000s they couldn't extract the tens of billions $ they used to do easily in the 90s - back then with the help of the local oligarchs enriched overnight by criminally grabbing ownership of state economic base and infrastructure they themselves had not built in the preceding decades. Putin even had the temerity to use the extra-profits for increasing the country's living standard and modernizing the armed forces - one of the 3 to 5 really formidable military organizations in the world. And he started doing the really unthinkable - gently probing EU, Asian and African (think Libya) countries for this disgusting idea of selling energy resources for currencies other than the $. (And this in times of this self-inflicted financial crisis.) On the [re]New[ed] Cold War - just a few points of thought or questions for someone to ponder over, if really interested: How come NATO still exists when its mirror-antagonist military organization of the former socialist EE-countries from the soviet block has gone to history, dissolved peacefully and voluntarily? Why are there still US military bases (old and new) across the EU-countries today since Gorbachev retreated back the Russian/Soviet armed forces from East Germany and Eastern Europe? Why was the Gorbachev's 80-year jubilee held in London? If he was uniformly acknowledged as such a good doer to humanity and democracy why wasn't that an event held in his home country and among his own people proud of him? What does the average ordinary Russian think of Gorbachev? Actually who was robbed and who profited from the neo-liberal economic policies he had been instrumental to be installed in Russia? (continues...)
- phishphood 15y ago
  russian army is not formidable military organizations and hasn't been since 1970s, may be earlier. the only thing formidable is the level of corruption. There was an article few days ago that they feed dog food to their conscripts. The only thing that keeps them being taken seriously is the nuclear threat, which they parade (literally) every single opportunity they get
  - olegious 15y ago
    the not formidable Russian army made mincemeat out of the US backed Georgian army a few years ago.
- Jd 15y ago
  I think it is worth the widespread but rarely (for obvious reasons) publicly articulated sentiment that various US groups are actively involved in suppressing German culture and preventing Germany from having its own national defense. Russia in some ways is as much a proxy for a revived Germany free of US occupation as it is about Russia proper.
kds 15y ago
One Possible Elaboration, Part II (and final): (without claims for the absolute truth attached to it) (... continuation from above or below in this thread ...) Why is Gorbachev today so rudely harsh towards modern China - the possible future N:1 economy in the world - when expressing his opinion about this country? What's the purpose of NATO today - fighting terrorism? Who trained and armed the dead-officially-now Bin Laden in the first place in the 80s, and against whom? How come Turkey is considered a country worthy of pondering about if and when to invite for EU-membership, while the same idea and attitude towards Russia - historically a truly European country with undeniable historic and cultural influence on Europe and the world - countless world-renown writers, poets, composers, scientists... you name it... plus a huge territorial span till the Pacific with all the resources, people, and real economic potential - is something highly exotic? (And this put in best possible terms.) P.S. I do not deny that Russia has a corruption problem and also, in the years ahead, huge-impact policy decisions and measures are needed in the economic sphere. But this is something skillfully used in the practice of the western variety of propaganda called PR, the part of it that serves governmental strategy goals of US and UK. (BTW, A pair of most powerful countries in a "special relationship" as Her Majesty the Queen so rightly stated during the recent Obama's visit in the Buckingham Palace, London). P.P.S. " - But isn't the media really free and independent in the western world? How come ever such a FUD possible - serving international state policy strategic goals and forming popular western mass perceptions? " " - Well, this is really a Hacker-News after all... I have a suggestion for you - you do your own homework research on the topic and report back if you're really intrigued. For starters - check topdocumentaryfilms.com."
- olegious 15y ago
  agree with you 100%. My favorite example of the Western media's clear bias comes from the WSJ- early in Putin's presidency they wrote an editorial calling on him to take down oligarchs and praising his leadership style. A few years later, the same editorial section called his use of the word "oligarch" an anti-semitic slur and defended the very people they encouraged him to confront years earlier. Russia is far from a perfect place, but that doesn't mean we should support far from perfect media coverage of it.
- tokenadult 15y ago