The Russians Are Coming

[poliphilo]

I grew up during the Cold War. I remember playing a game called "Russian spies" which involved talking in a silly voice and brandishing crayoned drawings of space rockets. My friend and I never could figure out what Russian spies actually did. It was fun drawing the space rockets but the rest of it palled very quickly.

So I've got this conditioning. Russia is the "Evil Empire"- all that Reaganite crap. 

But

When I was a little older I discovered the Russians had written the best books in the world. Later I found out they'd also made some of the best films.

AND they defeated Hitler.  Yes they did. We helped out at bit, but they were the ones who fought the biggest battles and took the biggest losses. 

So LJ is now owned by the Russians. 

Yes I know the President of Russia is a scary bloke. (So is  the President of the USA if you hadn't noticed.)

But he's less likely to want to kill us- right- now we're his customers.  

We live in a global economy. And in a global economy this is what happens. Russians also own Chelsea football club and much of London.
 
The shop's new owner has a funny accent. Get over it. 

A capitalist is a capitalist is a capitalist. Are you trying to tell me  Russian capitalists are intrinsically more evil than American capitalists? (Or British capitalists, or Australian capitalists). That's silly. Go read some history. 

Comments

[happydog.livejournal.com]

The problem is not Russophobia. The problem is that in Russia, LJ is one of the few media outlets that is not controlled or influenced by Putin's people. Since Putin has a rep for taking over that which he disapproves of, how long is it before Putin or a front company controlled by Putin buys out SUP, thus putting LJ under the same restrictions that Russian media have?

Secondly: does SUP allow data mining, and if so, do I want information about me going to a company that could possibly end up getting owned by a guy who used to be top dog in the KGB and still has a great deal of influence over the KGB's successor organization, the FSP? Bad enough that the US government has access to my private info.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is a worry.

I'm already wondering whether Russian politics is now an off-limits topic of conversation.

Not that I've ever wanted to discuss Russian politics before today.

[happydog.livejournal.com]

It's something I keep an eye on. I like Russian people in general and as you have said, their literature and art is second to none. But I trust this Putin fellow just about as much as I trust Dick Cheney.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't trust any politician. They all try to concentrate power in their own hands. Apart from anything else, being a dictator is so much easier than being democratically accountable

[happydog.livejournal.com]

"No matter who you vote for, the government always gets in!"