az posted:

"I'll have the Soviet Union with a side of Oligarchy, but hold the socialism and the communism. Oh and pour some hyper nationalism over the whole thing, I love that!"

Majorian posted:

This is well-put, but that's Russia. That's the empire of Peter the Great, three hundred years later.

az posted:

Well there are several distinct differences. For one, Putin isn't interested in adopting western culture and technology, quite the opposite unfortunately.

twoday posted:

So Youtube just recommended this video to me. It's in Russian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mug1Mx7sKHQ

It's called "Ukraine - see what kind of Europe awaits you!" and is blatant propaganda, and as such is pretty entertaining. It follows the classic format for propaganda of two debating voices. The woman in this one is pro-european, saying things like, "But everyone is always smiling! And they have such modern infrastructure!" while the man has an anti-EU, anti-capitalist answer, saying things like, "Those supposed sound barriers on the highway are actually there to hide from sight the wretched hovels where the average european lives, prostituting themselves and burning wood for heat because their salaries have been ravaged by the EU!"

"Look at these barbed wire fences and guard towers!"
"But they are just surrounding a field of vegetables"
"A field of vegetables less than 50 km from the birthplace of Hitler!"
(actual quote)

I highly recommend this if you can understand Russian; it's like a modern day Reefer Madness.

Towards the end a rat-faced mulleted Italian peasant explains the plan for Ukraine - "It would be great if they joined because of all the resources in Ukraine! We can exploit all their highly educated men and attractive women in our factories and brothels!"

hailthefish posted:

I would definitely enjoy an alternate version of the speech, bonus points if it includes the phrases "he no can" and "give back da 'aina".

New Division posted:

It was totally outside of the international system. We ignored the UN and went in with that farcical coalition of the willing, knowing drat well that the UN would be forced to accept what happened after the fact. After all, who's gonna enact economic sanctions against the U.S.? No one.

twoday posted:

Phlegmish posted:

Do people actually still speak Hawaiian pidgin?

A Buttery Pastry posted:

I'm sorry that you had to find out this way, but we're taking you back.

OhYeah posted:

Hey if we get your pensions and health care and bacon, I'm all for it. Better you than the Russians, their bacon sucks!

Phlegmish posted:

...
Holy poo poo, no way. That is absolutely hilarious. I'm assuming even Russians realize this is over the top.

Ardennes posted:

Actually that really isn't true at all, Moscow and the rest of Russia is only becoming more Westernized as commercial and popular culture go and if anything Russia imports all types of technology from the West. They have a independent arms industry still, but so did Peter. If you walk around Moscow especially you can see globalization already has had its impact.

It is really the social morays that are different, and whether Russia ever embraced those fully is up to debate.

Phlegmish posted:

I'm assuming even Russians realize this is over the top.

az posted:

glorious Rassiya

az posted:

Oh of course, I've been to Moscow, although the countryside is a completly different story. What I meant was that Putin, and his people, personally have little interest in bringing the country in closer with the west as Peter did, travelling Europe for innovations back home. He is more interested in Russia being an island of russianness. They aren't to the point of resenting everything and all from the west but they've been working on at least dampening the cultural globalization recently, see the image with Ukraine choosing between the decadent west and glorious Rassiya.

mobby_6kl posted:

Who's voting that up though, or is it all ironic? I can totally see people buying this stuff, even though of course anything that really sucks in europe (and I don't mean parking ticket machines) is way, way worse in Russia.

kalstrams posted:

Wrong assumption.

Phlegmish posted:

Do people actually still speak Hawaiian pidgin?

Paladinus posted:

Oh, come on. I've seen so many crazy 'documentaries' from all over the world and it's not even the most insane one, so I know that just as any other country Russia has its own share of conspiracy theorists and simply uneducated folks who'll swallow everything thrown at them.
That said, this film's got nothing on Belarusian propaganda. I'll try to find the one film I liked the most about horrors of American regime and Illuminati fraternities. It was shown on national television, too. It had so little factual information, you've got to admire the craft.

Berke Negri posted:

It hit 90% after 9/11, and then got a bump after Iraq, but yeah you can even see a bump after e surge in the end years. Really around the flag effect is like 101 stuff and if you see anyone uncritically reporting it as a sign you can write them off.

Mr. Nice! posted:

Holy gently caress yes. It's the only language you'll hear in quite a few parts of the islands.

az posted:

Oh of course, I've been to Moscow, although the countryside is a completly different story. What I meant was that Putin, and his people, personally have little interest in bringing the country in closer with the west as Peter did, travelling Europe for innovations back home. He is more interested in Russia being an island of russianness. They aren't to the point of resenting everything and all from the west but they've been working on at least dampening the cultural globalization recently, see the image with Ukraine choosing between the decadent west and glorious Rassiya.

Ardennes posted:

Also to be frank, the Russian population in general sees Crimea as "Russian" at least on an emotional level. The biggest gain for Putin seems to have been domestic support, which I assumed was his reasoning from the beginning.

Cheatum the Evil Midget posted:

Well even peter the great did the usual "enlightened monarch" flip flop when faced with the streltsy rebellion and started furiously moving his slider back to narrowminded

awesome-express posted:

I remember catching a glimpse of some Russian TV a while ago at my gran's place in Klaipeda, it was a documentary on ~western conspiracies~ and these old Russian gray-haired "experts" talking in dark rooms with creepy music playing in the background. All narrated by a gruff voice. The kicker? My grandparents, who were brought up in Glorious Soviet Germany and Lithuania, eat all that poo poo up.

What makes me weep even more is that my granddad was a goddam senior marine engineer and later a math professor at uni in his heyday. Like, he was one of the smartest and most enlightened dudes around. He was one of the main guys on the team who engineered the first Soviet bathyscaphe. I don't even get his Russian bias. His siblings were all murdered by Stalin, all 6 brothers - shot. He painfully recalls his last moments with them before they got disappeared. He has their portraits on his wall all neatly aligned and in plain sight. Yet still thinks Russia is awesome and has a picture of Putin as his desktop background on his iMac.

Gravel Gravy posted:

Man I love Europa Universalis. Maybe Putin wanted to take over Crimea to prevent a future attack from the Crimean Golden Horde?

Ardennes posted:

It is really the social morays that are different, and whether Russia ever embraced those fully is up to debate.

kalstrams posted:

I do not say that everyone, Jesus, I just point out that there are people who will trust it, probably even more so than in other countries. Belorussian propaganda is better though, I agree on that. Some of their media portrayed Sashko Biliy as the governor of Western Ukraine. Not even speaking of Banderians boiling Russians alive and praying to Hitler.

A Buttery Pastry posted:

I'm sorry that you had to find out this way, but we're taking you back.

Lawman 0 posted:

Time to form glorious Scandinavia and promote your monarchs to emperors?
(At this point that actually seems like maybe a good idea? Would let you guys serve as a northern buffer between Russia and the EU I guess.)

kalstrams posted:

This is so on so many levels.

Lawman 0 posted:

Time to form glorious Scandinavia and promote your monarchs to emperors?
(At this point that actually seems like maybe a good idea? Would let you guys serve as a northern buffer between Russia and the EU I guess.)

Sandweed posted:

gently caress that we are not sharing any oil with the swedes.

Paladinus posted:

In my opinion, it's a pinnacle of Belarusian propaganda. Even if you don't know Russian it's interesting to watch how they mix archive footage and news to draw some crazy parallel. The guy behind that film was later fired from national TV for a drunk fight, by the way.

twoday posted:

It's called "Ukraine - see what kind of Europe awaits you!" and is blatant propaganda

"Those supposed sound barriers on the highway are actually there to hide from sight the wretched hovels where the average european lives, prostituting themselves and burning wood for heat because their salaries have been ravaged by the EU!"

twoday posted:

Does anyone know how to add subtitles to a youtube video? I can try to translate that documentary. Or does that count as disseminating propaganda? Is that a crime here in the West? Does it still count if the propaganda is ridiculous?

twoday posted:

Does anyone know how to add subtitles to a youtube video? I can try to translate that documentary. Or does that count as disseminating propaganda? Is that a crime here in the West? Does it still count if the propaganda is ridiculous?

Cheatum the Evil Midget posted:

In actual news, the Ukraine has agreed to be stretched on the IMF rack to stave off total bankruptcy:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/27/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA2Q0MR20140327

The photo at the top is also interesting - did the Russians manage to seize some modernized Ukrainian T-72s? If so, that's got to be a blow, Ukraine only has so many modern tanks (though they certainly have thousands of old ones)

twoday posted:

Does anyone know how to add subtitles to a youtube video? I can try to translate that documentary. Or does that count as disseminating propaganda? Is that a crime here in the West? Does it still count if the propaganda is ridiculous?

twoday posted:

So Youtube just recommended this video to me. It's in Russian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mug1Mx7sKHQ

It's called "Ukraine - see what kind of Europe awaits you!" and is blatant propaganda, and as such is pretty entertaining. It follows the classic format for propaganda of two debating voices. The woman in this one is pro-european, saying things like, "But everyone is always smiling! And they have such modern infrastructure!" while the man has an anti-EU, anti-capitalist answer, saying things like, "Those supposed sound barriers on the highway are actually there to hide from sight the wretched hovels where the average european lives, prostituting themselves and burning wood for heat because their salaries have been ravaged by the EU!"

"Look at these barbed wire fences and guard towers!"
"But they are just surrounding a field of vegetables"
"A field of vegetables less than 50 km from the birthplace of Hitler!"
(actual quote)

I highly recommend this if you can understand Russian; it's like a modern day Reefer Madness.

Towards the end a rat-faced mulleted Italian peasant explains the plan for Ukraine - "It would be great if they joined because of all the resources in Ukraine! We can exploit all their highly educated men and attractive women in our factories and brothels!"