3 ms·

Yeah, the statement is all well and good, but I'm no fan of being lectured about the spread of dangerous ideas by a man who thinks homosexuality is contagious a

by zw 13y ago

Yeah, the statement is all well and good, but I'm no fan of being lectured about the spread of dangerous ideas by a man who thinks homosexuality is contagious and whose power was mostly gained by family ties and rank in the Kremlin pre-collapse.

foxhedgehog 13y ago
This is actually a very generous account of how Putin rose to power. See: http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Without-Face-Unlikely/dp/1594486514 http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Without-Face-Unlikely/dp/15944...
Malician 13y ago
I don't think things are all as simple as Putin's personal opinions on homosexuality. In fact, I think it is very helpful to see what an eloquent and reasonable public statement can be created by someone who advocates policies so awful. We are inclined by nature to treat the public opinions and actions of world leaders as internal to themselves, rather than ones simply chosen by expediency. If Russia were in a different situation, if Russia's public felt differently, if Putin ruled a different nation, the same man would produce a statement through the bureaucracy and the PR folk which would be entirely different. In other words, when reading statements by world leaders, our natural inclinations to judge the accuracy, worth and truth of what is said are entirely worthless. The whole thing is manufactured by highly, highly competent organizations which can produce whatever gems are required of them.
DominikR 13y ago
Putin is not agains homosexuality, he has concerns that the persons behind the gay rights protests are in fact trying to facilitate a colour revolution style coup. link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_revolution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_revolution Another move that makes it plausible that this is in fact his reasoning for the "gay propaganda" law is the "foreign agent" law. The foreign agent law makes it mandatory for NGO's to be transparent about who they are associated with, and from which foreign country they receive money. To me, this paranoia is going overboard, but on the other hand there are precedents where coups happened after NGO's, that received money and other resources from foreign governments, incited protests. And inciting protests from within is probably one of the few options left, if you want to facilitate a regime change in Russia, since conventional war is not going to go well with that many nukes on both sides of the table.

by zw 13y ago

foxhedgehog 13y ago

This is actually a very generous account of how Putin rose to power. See: http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Without-Face-Unlikely/dp/1594486514 http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Without-Face-Unlikely/dp/15944...

Malician 13y ago

I don't think things are all as simple as Putin's personal opinions on homosexuality. In fact, I think it is very helpful to see what an eloquent and reasonable public statement can be created by someone who advocates policies so awful. We are inclined by nature to treat the public opinions and actions of world leaders as internal to themselves, rather than ones simply chosen by expediency. If Russia were in a different situation, if Russia's public felt differently, if Putin ruled a different nation, the same man would produce a statement through the bureaucracy and the PR folk which would be entirely different. In other words, when reading statements by world leaders, our natural inclinations to judge the accuracy, worth and truth of what is said are entirely worthless. The whole thing is manufactured by highly, highly competent organizations which can produce whatever gems are required of them.

DominikR 13y ago

Putin is not agains homosexuality, he has concerns that the persons behind the gay rights protests are in fact trying to facilitate a colour revolution style coup. link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_revolution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_revolution Another move that makes it plausible that this is in fact his reasoning for the "gay propaganda" law is the "foreign agent" law. The foreign agent law makes it mandatory for NGO's to be transparent about who they are associated with, and from which foreign country they receive money. To me, this paranoia is going overboard, but on the other hand there are precedents where coups happened after NGO's, that received money and other resources from foreign governments, incited protests. And inciting protests from within is probably one of the few options left, if you want to facilitate a regime change in Russia, since conventional war is not going to go well with that many nukes on both sides of the table.