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As Russian joke these days goes "Russia is going to be the Northern-most of all the Northern Koreas of the world". It took Putin 22 years yet we're here. Last t

by trhway 5y ago

As Russian joke these days goes "Russia is going to be the Northern-most of all the Northern Koreas of the world". It took Putin 22 years yet we're here. Last time a KGB guy ran the country - Andropov - it also was tremendous tightening of the screws to the point of total breaking of things and thus resulted in "perestroyka" and all what followed it. Russian officials store huge amount of cash out of banks, so that new law is really just to be used selectively to punish, not to really fight corruption (naturally no surprise here). It is like in USSR - one just couldn't have any large bank account back then, and so all those Party bosses, municipal leaders, police officers, factory directors, etc. had piles of cash and jewelry at homes.

foverzar 5y ago
> As Russian joke these days goes "Russia is going to be the Northern-most of all the Northern Koreas of the world". Is there actually such a joke? Seems like there isn't.
- trhway 5y ago
  Man, I wish I could produce such jokes myself :) anekdot.ru is the last stand of sanity there.
toyg 5y ago
> It is like in USSR Except this time it doesn't have even the pretense of working for the common good. Putin has funded the worst sort of racists across Europe for decades.
- trhway 5y ago
  They supported dictators. Another back to USSR thing -with Western condom brands pulling out of Russia it is going to be only low quality domestic rubber like back then.
saiya-jin 5y ago
I recall a case few years ago in Moscow, where they found cca 100 millions $ in flat of some low bureaucrat. Everybody was surprised how on his low position he could amass so much. So yeah, what seems to be happening rapidly now is Russia abandoning last bits of democracy and going full dictatorship quickly. To block any dissent in its beginning by possibility of state terror. Not sure if it will work in 2022, for sure hoping it won't.
- sega_sai 5y ago
  He was not just a bureaucrat, he was a colonel of the police https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE,_%D0%94%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%B0%D1%80... and he was part of the unit fighting corruption ))

by trhway 5y ago

foverzar 5y ago

> As Russian joke these days goes "Russia is going to be the Northern-most of all the Northern Koreas of the world". Is there actually such a joke? Seems like there isn't.

trhway 5y ago
Man, I wish I could produce such jokes myself :) anekdot.ru is the last stand of sanity there.

toyg 5y ago

> It is like in USSR Except this time it doesn't have even the pretense of working for the common good. Putin has funded the worst sort of racists across Europe for decades.

trhway 5y ago
They supported dictators. Another back to USSR thing -with Western condom brands pulling out of Russia it is going to be only low quality domestic rubber like back then.

saiya-jin 5y ago

I recall a case few years ago in Moscow, where they found cca 100 millions $ in flat of some low bureaucrat. Everybody was surprised how on his low position he could amass so much. So yeah, what seems to be happening rapidly now is Russia abandoning last bits of democracy and going full dictatorship quickly. To block any dissent in its beginning by possibility of state terror. Not sure if it will work in 2022, for sure hoping it won't.

sega_sai 5y ago
He was not just a bureaucrat, he was a colonel of the police https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE,_%D0%94%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%B0%D1%80... and he was part of the unit fighting corruption ))