this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
325 points (97.1% liked)

World News

38550 readers
2812 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Russian President Vladimir Putin can choose not to hold presidential elections next year because he will “obviously” win re-election, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said late Sunday.

all 35 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] The_one_and_only@feddit.nl 59 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

That he will win them is indeed obvious. Since there have not been fair elections in Russia for quite some time, one cannot expect these to be fair.

[–] teegus@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 year ago

Also, any relevant opposition tends to end up poisoned or jailed or both.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 59 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] bauhaus@lemmy.ml 35 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’m surprised he waited so long, honestly. all this tip-toeing around rigged elections and shoving his political opponents out of windows into cups of polonium tea is lot of work for a guy who has to shop for gigantic conference tables all day and poop into a collection bag for his secret service guys to catalogue for whatever reason. when you combine all of that with his busy schedule of genociding Ukranians, well… obviously, one of those activities will to have to go. an evil autarch has only so much time in the day!

[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think at this moment, there could be protests even with a rigged election. Take away the election entirely and maybe it's a lower chance of protests. No opposition to galvanize around, etc.

[–] bauhaus@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Kind of hard to be sarcastic when thinking about that

[–] KIM_JONG_JUICEBOX@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Ukuli@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago
[–] vlad76@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 1 year ago

That's when they stop pretending.

[–] MaxPower@feddit.de 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Russian President Vladimir Putin can choose not to hold presidential elections next year because he will “obviously” win re-election, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said late Sunday.

I agree, why even bother?

If the russian population is eating the bullshit thrown before them, why hold elections... Save yourself the hassle and stop pretend to be a democracy.

And yeah, I imagine the TRUMP-MAGA-GOP is cumming right in their pants without even touching when Putin actually just calls of the elections.

[–] DarkThoughts@kbin.social 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think at this point he knows that he can do fuck all without any Russian uprising.

[–] entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

IMO we're more likely to see Russia break into a pile of separate republics than a big unified uprising. Maybe that pile of republics gets unified by a new dictator or Putin, maybe not. As it is, the core Russian ethnic group is shrinking while several of the other ethnicities are growing within their respective regions.

Eventually the Russians won't have enough young men to conscript and continue maintaining control of their already massive territory, which will lead to existing regional governments declaring independence while Russia proper will be able to do fuck all about it unless they wanna start nuking their neighbors.

[–] nitrolife@rekabu.ru 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Russia break into a pile of separate republic is practically impossible, as it will cause colossal pain for literally all states. It is much easier to negotiate with one dictator with a nuclear button than with twenty.

[–] entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Look, I'm not arguing what I think makes sense for people to do, I'm thinking about how people in large groups tend to act, regardless of whether it's logical. Competing for power is inevitable whenever a centralized system can't maintain outright dominance.

[–] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's already started: that's what Progozhin's march was all about.

In Russia, leadership is ALL about the appearance of strength, and they have proven that throughout history with not only the leaders they have kept, but the leaders they have killed.

Putin is supposed to be a man's man, the epitome of strength in leadership, unquestionable, unassailable, all-knowing and all-wise. This is his attraction to Russians, and how he came into power through the apartment bombings.

With a strong, wise leader in a strong, unassailable country, Progozhin should never have made it past the border.

Instead, he made it to the outskirts of Moscow itself -- with a continued challenge to keep marching if that's how Putin wanted to play it.

And meanwhile, the miles and miles of roadsides along the march were packed like sardines with all the Russians who did NOT give a shit and stayed home to demonstrate their support of the Putin regime.

(Compare this to the invasion of Ukraine, where even unarmed babushkas were confronting the occupiers, offering them sunflower seeds to keep in their pockets so that when they died on Ukrainian soil there would at least be something good to show for their presence.)

Prigozhin didn't march on Moscow to capture Moscow. He didn't want Moscow. What he wanted, and got, was to reveal Putin's massive weakness to the world.

That day was the day Putin's regime ended, because it was the day Putin's own country stopped seeing him as a strongman, and that was always the source of his authority. It's gone now. Done. He's still a crazy motherfucker cornered like a rat with nukes, he's still living in the palaces, but it's all superficial. He was already sick, and that was dangerous enough, but this put even the appearance of strength in his leadership permanently to rest.

There is literally no future for Putin in Russia anymore, and he can't flee either, which is why he can no longer hold presidential elections, or allow any activity that further pulls back the curtain on his political vulnerability. It's literally only a matter of time before he is killed or dies, and how many people he can manage to rob, imprison, and kill between that day and now.

TL;DR: Whatever happens now will not undo what Prigozhin did to lil' man Putin on the road to Moscow on June 25, 2023.

[–] nitrolife@rekabu.ru 0 points 1 year ago

Yes yes. The evil Putin has usurped all power alone and is standing up to the entire government like a real Russian. And he probably shot Nemtsov personally.

In fact, there are many interested forces in the government. People for war, people against war, people who don't care. Everything is like everywhere else.

Prigozhin went on his march because Putin tried to legally ban Wagner by transferring all financial flows to the army. Prigozhin received the money and quietly left. probably literally everyone knows this. how fashionable it is to believe in the image of a strong old man is a mystery to me.

[–] nitrolife@rekabu.ru 0 points 1 year ago

then you don't quite understand how the Russian economy works. The regions do not have their own economic system and their own army either. Both money and people pass through Moscow. how to find resources for the collapse in such conditions is unclear to me. If only you believe in the people in a single impulse organizing their own government. This is also very unlikely.

[–] Hazdaz@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Don't feel bad for the Russian people.

They deserve this shit for putting up with this year after year as they could clearly see him grabbing more and more power. If they revolted against him 10 or even 15 years ago when he had a fraction of the power that he does now, it never would have gotten so bad and this pointless war in Ukraine might have never happened.

[–] Glide@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

"It's the abusee's fault for putting up with them".

[–] MxM111@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

So, what happened with not serving more than 2 consecutive terms in Russia? Was it already removed?

[–] Turkey_Titty_city@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago

yeah when he became president again 6 years ago.

[–] stebo02@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

guess he doesn't want to be prime minister again

[–] Moonrise2473@feddit.it 7 points 1 year ago

At least he should pretend to get the 101% of the votes

Too lazy

[–] sndmn@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago

That shithole is nothing but a Potemkin country.

[–] Pringles@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

I'm actually curious how open and fair elections would play out in Russia. I think he would probably still win comfortably if only for the limited amount of information a lot of Russians get. Hell, apparently even toilets are a luxury there.

[–] theodewere@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

all the manpower they would use to rig the elections is lying in ditches in Ukraine

[–] IncognitoWolf@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Ahh, I see Russia is playing Tropico in real life

[–] Anonbal185@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago

He won't hold elections.

He's a dead man if he's not the president or if he loses the war. There's no way out for him, it's all in until the end.

[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When was the last time they actually held a real election???

[–] sndmn@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

Back in '03

1803 that is.

[–] Kata1yst@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

Something tells me they're going to test this theory lmao

[–] potterpockets@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

Republican party leadership like

https://tenor.com/IvPt.gif