Saluting Mr. Putin

[Mike Bredsbey]

Salutin Putin inside a Russian troll house World news The Guardian
Everyone is aware of this practice of leading a psychological war.
Are these trolls really dangerous for the US?
I doubt it.
There is too much fuss around these useless internet fighters.
We may find enough another Savchuks in Russia to hold their progress.

 

[Stratford57]

Look at those numerous "New Arrivals" to USMB (Lisitsyn, Amigo, Jack London) who have been posting basically the same message about "Russian trolls" the same day they all joined USMB for a few days in a row (Thursday, Friday, Saturday). They multiply like rabbits and now another one, Mike Bredsbey (the author of this wonderful thread), has arrived and posted his very first (as well as the second!) message about "Russian trolls" today. Somebody must have been breeding them, we need to find the nest. It would be just funny if it were not so annoying...

 

[jwoodie]

Salutin Putin inside a Russian troll house World news The Guardian
Everyone is aware of this practice of leading a psychological war.
Are these trolls really dangerous for the US?
I doubt it.
There is too much fuss around these useless internet fighters.
We may find enough another Savchuks in Russia to hold their progress.

They must have copied the DNC.

 

[william the wie]

Look at those numerous "New Arrivals" to USMB (Lisitsyn, Amigo, Jack London) who have been posting basically the same message about "Russian trolls" the same day they all joined USMB for a few days in a row (Thursday, Friday, Saturday). They multiply like rabbits and now another one, Mike Bredsbey (the author of this wonderful thread), has arrived and posted his very first (as well as the second!) message about "Russian trolls" today. Somebody must have been breeding them, we need to find the nest. It would be just funny if it were not so annoying...

Yeah, that has been noticeable to a great extent, makes you wonder if the NSA budget is having problems, don't it?

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - he don't know what he doin'...

Few jobs and little hope, but rural Russia sticks with Putin
Sep 12,`15 -- When asked if Vladimir Putin is to blame for their economic squeeze, residents of the small town of Galich overwhelmingly say: "He doesn't know."

More than 15 years after Putin became president, Russians like these, part of what is known as "Putin's majority," still see no alternative to him. At the same time, their faith in positive change is diminishing and many are resigned to seeing no improvements in their lifetime. Voters will cast ballots Sunday across Russia to elect local legislators and governors, and the Kostroma region, which includes Galich, was alone among 11 regions voting for regional parliaments in allowing the anti-Putin opposition to run. Kostroma, an economically depressed area ranked 79 out of the 83 Russian regions in average income, is best known for the unkempt beauty of its crumbling medieval churches and weedy banks of the Volga River. Once the heartland of the medieval Russian state, its capital Kostroma is a typical provincial city with potholed roads.

The Russian opposition was hoping to run in four regions, including more cosmopolitan areas like Russia's third-largest city of Novosibirsk. But with election authorities refusing them registration elsewhere, opposition activists were left to canvass in Kostroma and places around it, like the sleepy medieval market town of Galich with 17,000 people. Small towns like Galich, 400 kilometers (240 miles) north of Moscow, have been the foundation of Putin's popularity. In the 2012 presidential election, Putin won about 53 percent of the vote in the Kostroma region, with turnout at about 61 percent. On Sunday, most voters are likely to stay home. "What's the point?" 26-year-old Alexander Shatunov said with a smile, even though he was at his wits' end trying to fix the engine on his 2005 minivan. "They will have decided everything for me anyway."

Natalya Gruzdeva stands at the threshold of her home in Galich, 400 km (250 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia. Voters will go to polls on Sunday across Russia, and the anti-Putin opposition was allowed to run in only one Russian region, Kostroma.

This is a recurrent sentiment in these parts, reflecting the helplessness and apathy resulting from the Kremlin's paternalistic policies and control over the political process. Russia's oil-driven economic boom has transformed big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg into cosmopolitan centers where you can get a Frappuccino even in the most remote neighborhood. Life in Galich, however, has remained largely unchanged. Most people still live in one-story wooden cottages with slanted roofs and carved window frames and rely on the food grown in their gardens. The main difference is that many young men now go to Moscow to work on construction sites or as security guards in one of the dozens of shopping malls. "Half of Galich goes to Moscow," Shatunov said. But with the economic downturn, aggravated by Western sanctions and flagging energy prices, jobs are more difficult to come by, even in Moscow. Shatunov spent April to October last year outside Moscow, building summer cottages and bathhouses. This year, he said, demand was low and he was there just for a couple of weeks.

His neighbor, 57-year-old Natalya Gruzdeva, helps her son and daughter-in-law with their three children since she is out of work and past retirement age, which is 55 for women in Russia. She was making 11,000 rubles ($160) a month as a cook in a local cafe when she retired. With the family's combined income they bought a crumbling house without a roof years ago, a small one-story stone structure with a wood stove and no running water. They took out a loan of 500,000 rubles ($7,400) to pay for the repairs and new roof. These loans are now overdue. "I wake up in the morning and I think: I don't know how to repay the loans," Gruzdeva said. "Banks keep calling and they threaten me. I tell them I can't pay and I won't able to pay." She thought about going to Moscow and getting a job as a nanny, but was needed at home to help with her grandchildren. She is discouraged but convinced that Putin is not to blame. If only, she sighs, he could visit Galich and see it for himself, rather than relying on what local officials tell him. "He doesn't see the scale of the problems, they cheat him," he said.

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