Russia Draws The Same Line Again Between Themselves

Russia has drawn another figurative line in the sand again that's not just a line but sharp blade intended to hack off the voices of those who disagree with advancing dictatorship. But more it's not even a figurative line in the sand. But new brand of proverbial fast drying cement. Because under the cover of rebuilding Russia the same old powerful institutions are subverting the will of the people to be individuals equal with the all-powerful state. 

Through the smoke and mirrors of elected politics these acts to foil sedition are nothing more than petty elitist territorialism.

So I'll not just refer to some major metropolitan paper's reaction to government supremacy as per usual. Let's instead notice how a community generally thought of as the smaller of the Minnesota Twin Cities is informed. As my point for the Russian President Putin has consistently been, EVERYONE KNOWS.

The St. Paul StarTribune published under the title, Russia expands treason law, critics say now anyone who dissents can be branded a traitor. By the Associated Press' Vladimir Isachenkov who begins - Adding to fears that the Kremlin aims to stifle dissent, Russians now live under a new law expanding the definition of treason so broadly that critics say it could be used to call anyone who bucks the government a traitor. 

Of course this sounds scary but, in the history of growing nationhood, always seems to happen. The second President of the United States himself, John Adams had enacted an Alien and Seditions Act in 1789. 

Raymond Chandler

In fact even today it's debatable that corrupt power doesn't still control America as happened in the days the great novelists Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett satirized America's political power cozily in bed with corruption. 

Dashiell Hammett in 1951 taken to court accused of abetting communism

So it's not as if there's not precedents for the Russian government to try to protect their country, but what's not in sync is the protection protects an elite against peaceful dissent. How many decades/centuries did America take to get closer to a level playing field? The problem is it's no surprise who still rules Russia. The revenue is controlled and lost to the greater public that just wants some of it let go so the desperate at the top and bottom let them live in peace. Mr. President?

Settling this civilly can't be done, right? Any powerful leader surely knows showing weakness is tyranny's end.

So what exactly is in the law?

According to the StarTribune - The law took effect Wednesday, just two days after President Vladimir Putin told his human rights advisory council that he was ready to review it. 

Funny right? Wrong. It's going through the motions that everyone is fed up with all over the world. Leaders may be laid to peaceful rest once you've made it to your prestigiously prepared graves, but your legacies will read few rose to much more than mere selfish, greedy kings on earth, such as Henry the VIII, for instance.

Where has all the American money gone? Since we don't really know then confiscatory taxes will settle our debts and the honest will be poorer and  hidden wealth thrive as it always has. 

That's all the laws against sedition in Russia are, preserving the status quo. When so many fought to start over again, so many more really never had much of a start at all unless they were members of which mob, Mr. President? 

Mr. Isachenkov continues - But what Putin might consider a problem is unclear. His opponents say a series of measures enacted since Putin returned to the Kremlin in May for a third term show he is determined to intimidate and suppress dissidents. One recent measure imposes a huge increase in potential fines for participants in unauthorized demonstrations. Another requires non-governmental organizations to register as foreign agents if they both receive money from abroad and engage in political activity. And another gives sweeping power to authorities to ban websites under a procedure critics denounce as opaque. While the previous law described high treason as espionage or other assistance to a foreign state that damages Russia's external security, the new legislation expands the definition by dropping the word "external." Activities that fall under it include providing help or advice to a foreign state or giving information to an international or foreign organization. The definition is so broad that rights advocates say it could be used as a driftnet to sweep up all inconvenient figures.

In other words there's no more room for other opinion in a Great Dictatorship.

According to the ITAR-Tass news agency, human rights council member Liliya Shibanova said, "I believe this law is very dangerous." She also heads Golos, Russia's only independent elections watchdog group. "If, for example, I pass on information about alleged poll violations to a foreign journalist, this could be considered espionage," she said.

Rachel Denber, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division, told The Associated Press, "It's very broad and it's very dangerous," and it's not clear yet how vigorously Russian authorities will enforce the bill, but says it recreates a "sense of paranoia and suspicion and uneasiness about foreigners."

Fabulous.

As Mr. Isachenkov reflects - Putin has repeatedly dismissed opposition leaders as pawns of the West and once accused U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of instigating protesters to weaken Russia.

You too, Vladimir. You weaken dissent enough, the clans fighting for supremacy won't need you either. Fiefdoms really don't need kings, they're just figureheads.

Now here's the kicker according to The Associated Press -The law, which was drafted by the Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency known under its Russian acronym of FSB, also introduced a punishment of up to eight years for simply getting hold of state secrets illegally even if they aren't passed to foreign hands. 

Undermining the cause of their own people is just an added bonus then, huh?

Tamara Morshchakova, a former Constitutional Court judge, told the presidential rights council meeting Monday that the new law is so broad the FSB no longer needs to provide proof that a suspect inflicted actual damage to the nation's security. Morshchakova said, "Their goal was simple: We have few traitors, it's difficult to prove their guilt, so it's necessary to expand it. Now they don't have to prove it any more. An opinion of law enforcement agencies would suffice."

While in my naiveté I don't understand why Russia's powerful need the pretense of law at all.