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Only in the three absolutist Abrahamitic Religions could such a thing be possible. (Death penalty for creating a graphical mock-up of any religious symbol as for criticism of religion, regardless of context. The populace often is ready to kill for much less.)
A Moscow judge on Wednesday sentenced a former bar employee to three years and 25 days in prison for making a hookah out of an Orthodox Easter cake.
Ksenia Belousova achieved viral fame in April for an Instagram video showing a hookah with a bowl shaped like a kulich, a traditional Russian Easter pastry.
âEven Christ would rise from the dead for this,â Belousova said in the video, which she later deleted after facing backlash from pro-government channels.
Despite apologizing online for what was meant to be a joke, police arrested Belousova last month and forced her to apologize again on camera.
A municipal court in Moscowâs Lefortovo district on Wednesday found Belousova, 27, guilty of offending the feelings of religious believers, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison.
She was initially sentenced to 200 hours of community service, but the judge combined the conviction with a three-year probation sentence that Belousova received in August for drug possession to mandate real prison time.
Belousova pleaded guilty, allowing her case to be heard under a fast-tracked procedure.
The exiled news outlet Mediazona reported that Belousovaâs father is a distinguished police officer, while her brother is a decorated soldier currently fighting in the war against Ukraine.
Belousova said in court that she âoccasionally donates to charities,â including those that support Russiaâs war effort in Ukraine. She is currently employed at T-Bank, according to Mediazona.
"I know nothing in Russiaâs military history more disgraceful or more shameful than the current war. This is a Great Patriotic War of the Ukrainian people against an invader. Unfortunately, the invaders are our people."
Interesting signals of internal political strain appearing in Russia. This thread was posted by a Professor of Cultural Studies for Central and Eastern Europe on bsky (auto translated)
snip.. âa kind of Nazification is on the rise in Russia itself: The mood of the âBlack Hundred,â anti-migrant hysteria, and social racism are on the rise.
In contrast, the account Verum Regnum complains about government measures: âA full-scale war has been waged against the peopleâwith tariffs, taxes, and bans of all kinds, which are presented as concerns for security, yet security is not increasing but decreasing.
The supportive Prilepin-style response from this mid-sized Z-account concludes: âItâs unimaginable how this can be presented as a victory, how this can be accepted as a victory. Conclusion: The SVOâs objectives have not been achieved; the SVO to achieve these objectives is essentially already over.â
And then the account ends on a grim note by declaring a completely different, actual war for the survival of the Russian state, which was certainly not conceived as a war aim on February 24, 2024: âRussiaâs goal is to hold out, to endure, to survive.â
Conclusion: Actors with ties to the âNew Russiaâ project continue to distance themselves from the regime and directly criticize the Kremlin. They remain enemies of Ukraine but view the war as lost. They discuss in detail scenarios for the âaftermath.â
I didn't suggest the ratings were a direct result of corruption.
The similarities were that they use nationalism to inflict counterproductive policies on the country/people.
Corruption plays a part in that depending on the location/system. Ultimately the ideology du jour plays a larger role.
The ratings are a response to those counterproductive policies.
No doubt we'd argue over which/why they are counterproductive.
actually, I have no argument with this. Europe is battling the same right-wing anti-immigrant fervour being whipped up by various actors (both domestic and external) as many other countries around the world.. all of it a huge distraction to the real problems.
Merz and his party is particularly hamstrung as they are trying not to lose more voters to the AFD but are too timid to take a strong course against the AFD. This is the main reason for his low popularity.
All have interests to be sure. Netanyahu and Putin even have national interests.
Putin has an interest in a good relationship with Israel/Netanyahu. 15% of Israelis are Russian-speaking. Israel imports a lot of Russian oil and refined products.
He has an interest in achieving a relationship with Trump/US that is less adversarial. I don't buy the Manchurian puppet stories.
I doubt the 15% of Israelis who are Russian Jews, many of whom bailed because of antisemitism, are much of a fan base for putin
acknowledged .. see my edit re Merkel and Schmidt. But these ratings are due more to the current political environment plagued by massive uncertainty and threats without any apparent solutions being on the horizon, not, as you were suggesting, rampant corruption among the leadership.
I didn't suggest the ratings were a direct result of corruption.
The similarities were that they use nationalism to inflict counterproductive policies on the country/people.
Corruption plays a part in that depending on the location/system. Ultimately the ideology du jour plays a larger role.
The ratings are a response to those counterproductive policies.
No doubt we'd argue over which/why they are counterproductive.
acknowledged .. see my edit re Merkel and Schmidt. But the current low ratings are due more to the political environment plagued by massive uncertainty and threats without any apparent solutions being on the horizon, not, as you were suggesting, rampant corruption among the leadership.
The main reason for the negative favourability ratings of European leaders lies in the proportional representation system. Any leader is almost certainly a leader of a minority party that is only in government because it builds a coalition. That means their voting base will always be below 50%. You can't compare this to FPTP systems.
Because most are corrupt but on a different scale and/or area (not always money but other levers of power/influence), and not as flagrantly obvious.
Again, chalk and cheese.
Power always attracts corruption (read your Bakunin), which is why we have laws against it and a free press and a proportional representation system to stem the flow... unlike a number of other countries I can think of.
The main reason for the negative favourability ratings of European leaders lies in the proportional representation system. Any leader is almost certainly a leader of a minority party that is only in government because it builds a coalition. That means their voting base will always be below 50%. You can't compare this to FPTP systems.
edit, that said, Merkel and Schmidt both enjoyed high ratings.. different times I guess.
No, the red herring was yours. I was comparing the leadership styles of N, T and P and you lumped them in with just about every other government out there. Obfuscation much?
And no European leaders have raked in billions through corruption like Trump and Putin have. Chalk and cheese. Speaking of which, how corrupt is N?
Because most arecorrupt but on a different scale and/or area (not always money but other levers of power/influence), and not as flagrantly obvious.
In the context of the discussion: significantly positive net favourability ratings in a pluralistic society are a good thing!
No, the red herring was yours. I was comparing the leadership styles of N, T and P and you lumped them in with just about every other government out there. Obfuscation much?
And no European leaders have raked in billions through corruption like Trump and Putin have. Chalk and cheese. Speaking of which, how corrupt is N?
