Russian Elections

[ONA 133]

I wonder if U.S. officials can deny petitions due to the person being a commie or at least supporting them.

I-485 form (petition for AOS) actually has a question "have you ever been a member of a communist party?" or something like that. I laughed so hard when I was filling the form out, because my husband always jokes about the commies.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I-485 form (petition for AOS) actually has a question "have you ever been a member of a communist party?" or something like that. I laughed so hard when I was filling the form out, because my husband always jokes about the commies.

What's even funnier is that the US is funneling money to the Communist Party in Russia. They do it sneaky like using NGO's as a front man.

[SMR 368]

The party names in Russia don't really mean anything. The people who vote for communists aren't communists, the liberals aren't liberals, and many of the party names don't even mean anything.

[slim 1,530]

The people who vote for communists aren't communists, the liberals aren't liberals, and many of the party names don't even mean anything.

So it's just like here then.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/day-protest-against-vote-fraud-begins-russia-074604927.html

Day of protest against vote fraud begins in Russia

By JIM HEINTZ | AP – 22 mins ago

MOSCOW (AP) — Russians angered by allegedly fraudulent parliamentary elections and the country's ruling party took part in protests Saturday in cities from the freezing Pacific Coast to the southwest, eight time zones away — a striking show of indignation that poses a challenge to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's hold on power.

Protests took place in at least 15 cities, most them attracting crowds of several hundred to a thousand. And the day's centerpiece was yet to take place — a massive rally in Moscow that was expected to gather more than 30,000 people.

The protesters are both angered by reports of flagrant vote fraud in the Dec. 4 election and energized by the sense that the elections showed Putin and his United Russia party to be newly vulnerable. The party held an overwhelming two-thirds of the seats in the previous parliament, but its share plunged by about 20 percent in the recent vote.

That result was a significant loss of face for the party that has dominated Russian politics, and protesters say that even its reduced performance was inflated by ballot-box stuffing.

"The falsifications that authorities are doing today have turned the country into a big theater, with clowns like in a circus," said Alexander Trofimov, one of the early arrivals for the protest at Bolotnaya Square, on an island in the Moscow River adjacent to the Kremlin.

Others say the elections were just the catalyst for them to show their anger over many issues.

"I don't think any citizen of the country can say he is very happy with anything. We don't have an independent judiciary, there is no freedom of expression — all this combined creates a situation where people are forced to protest," said demonstrator Albert Yusupov, who was in civilian clothes but identified himself as a member of the Russian army.

Thousands of miles (kilometers) away, in the city of Vladivostok, several hundred protesters rallied along a waterside avenue where some of Russia's Pacific Fleet warships are docked. They shouted "Putin's a louse" and some held a banner caricaturing United Russia's emblem, reading "The rats must go."

Police stayed on the fringes of that demonstration and made no arrests. But the Interfax news agency reported that about 15 people were arrested at a protest in the Siberian city of Perm and about 30 in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk when a flash-mob started an unauthorized protest.

Officials in many cities, including Moscow, gave permission for the protests, an unusual largesse in a country where opposition rallies are frequently banned or limited to small attendance.

But in what appeared to be an attempt to prevent young people from attending the protest, Moscow's school system declared Saturday afternoon an extra school day for grades 9-11. Students were told of the move only on Friday, news reports said.

President Dmitry Medvedev conceded this week that election law may have been violated and Putin suggested "dialogue with the opposition-minded" — breaking from his usual authoritarian image. The Kremlin has come under strong international pressure, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling the vote unfair and urging an investigation into fraud.

If Saturday's protests are a success, the activists then face the challenge of long-term strategy. Even though U.S. Sen. John McCain recently tweeted to Putin that "the Arab Spring is coming to a neighborhood near you," things in Russia are not that simple.

The popular uprisings that brought down governments in Georgia in 2003, in Ukraine the next year and in Egypt last spring all were significantly boosted by demonstrators being able to establish round-the-clock presences, notably in Cairo's Tahrir Square and the massive tent camp on Kiev's main avenue. Russian police would hardly tolerate anything similar.

Opposition figures indicated Friday that the next step would be to call another protest in Moscow for next weekend, with the aim of making it even bigger. But staged events at regular intervals may be less effective than daily spontaneous protests.

The opposition is also vulnerable to attacks on the websites and social media that have nourished the protests. This week, an official of Vkontakte, a Russian version of Facebook, reported pressure from the FSB, the KGB's main successor, to block access to opposition groups, but said his company refused.

On election day, the websites of a main independent radio station and the country's only independent election-monitoring group fell victim to denial-of-service hacker attacks.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/russias-stunning-protests-end-hint-change-181105176.html

Russia's stunning protests end with hint of change

By JIM HEINTZ and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV | AP – 33 mins ago

MOSCOW (AP) — Tens of thousands of people held the largest anti-government protests that post-Soviet Russia has ever seen to criticize electoral fraud and demand an end to Vladimir Putin's rule. Police showed surprising restraint and state-controlled TV gave the nationwide demonstrations unexpected airtime, but there is no indication the opposition is strong enough to push for real change from the prime minister or his ruling party.

Nonetheless, the prime minister seems to be in a weaker position than he was a week ago, before Russians voted in parliamentary elections. His United Party lost a substantial share of its seats, although it retains a majority.

The independent Russian election-observer group Golos said Saturday that "it achieved the majority mandate by falsification," international observers reported widespread irregularities, and the outpouring of Russians publicly denouncing him throughout the country undermines Putin's carefully nurtured image of a strong and beloved leader.

Putin "has stopped being the national leader — in the eyes of his team, the ruling political class and society," analyst Alexei Malachenko of the Moscow Carnegie Center wrote on his blog.

Putin, who was the president of Russia in 2000-2008 before stepping aside because of term limits, will seek a new term in the Kremlin in the March presidential elections. The protests have tarnished his campaign, but there is not yet any obvious strong challenger.

A statement released late Saturday by Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, acknowledged the day's protests by people "displeased" with the elections but noted demonstrations in support of the elections in recent days.

"We respect the point of view of the protestors, we are hearing what is being said, and we will continue to listen to them," the statement said.

"The citizens of Russia have a right to express their point of view, in protest and in support, and those rights will continue to be secured as long as all sides do so in a lawful and peaceful manner."

The most dramatic of Saturday's protests saw a vast crowd jam an expansive Moscow square and adjacent streets, packed so tight that some demonstrators stood on others' toes. Although police estimated the crowd at 30,000, aerial photographs suggested far more, and protest organizers made claims ranging from 40,000 to 100,000 or more.

Elsewhere in Russia, some 7,000 protesters assembled in St. Petersburg, and demonstrations ranging from a few hundred people to a thousand took place in more than 60 other cities. Police reported only about 100 arrests nationwide, a notably low number for a force that characteristically quick and harsh action against opposition gatherings.

The police restraint was one of several signs that conditions may be easing for the beleaguered opposition, at least in the short term. Although city authorities generally refuse opposition forces permission to rally or limit the gatherings to small attendance, most the protests Saturday were sanctioned. In a surprise move, Moscow gave permission for up to 30,000 people to rally and police took no action when the crowd appeared to far exceed that. Just as striking, police allowed a separate unauthorized protest to take place in Revolution Square.

State-controlled television, which generally ignores or disparages opposition groups, broadcast footage not only of the Moscow protest — which was so big it would have been hard not to report — but in several other cities as well.

United Russia official Andrei Isayev on Saturday acknowledged that the opposition "point of view is extremely important and will be heard in the mass media, society and the state."

Yet the concessions may be only a way of buying time in hope the protests will wither away. The opposition says the next large Moscow protest will be on Dec. 24. What it will do in the interim to keep morale high is unclear.

In addition, the social media that nourished Saturday's protests may be coming under pressure. A top official of the Russian Facebook analog Vkontakte said this week his company has been pressured by the Federal Security Service to block opposition supporters from posting. On Friday, he was summoned by the service for questioning.

Meanwhile, though United Russia may be shaken by the last week's events, it still can count on a large cadre of supporters. The head of its youth wing, Timur Prokopenko, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying he had nearly 170,000 activists "who are ready at moment to go to rallies" in support of the government.

Saturday's Moscow protest was notable not only for its size, but also for attracting political forces from across the spectrum — from liberals to communists to extreme nationalists.

"United Russia made a miracle, prompting all of us to unite against it," nationalist leader Konstantin Krylov told the rally.

Thousands of protesters also were allowed to march from a gathering place near the Kremlin across downtown to a square where the main rally was held. Police were out in force, blocking all side lanes to prevent the demonstrators from approaching government buildings.

"Russia will be free!" ''Russia without Putin!" ''United Russia is a Party of Crooks and Thieves!" protesters chanted.

"We will fight to the end, to the cancellation of this shameful, false election," said Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the liberal Yabloko party that failed to make it to parliament in last Sunday's vote. "We are launching a campaign to drive Putin from power."

The organizers sought to send a message of unity, urging the crowd to respect the diversity of speakers' views.

At one point, the audience booed a military veteran when he called for the restoration of the Soviet Union, but chanted slogans of support when he denounced the vote-rigging and said the army was with people.

"The army is with us, 80 percent of officers hate the defense minister," retired Maj.-Gen. Yevgeny Kopyshev shouted.

The organizers also praised police for helping maintain order, as demonstrators chanted "Police with people!"

The rally demanded the cancellation of the election results, the punishment for officials responsible for vote-rigging, registration of the opposition parties that were denied it, liberalization of the electoral law and holding new elections. The organizers urged protesters to brace for another rally in two weeks.

"We'll come again!" the crowd chanted.

The Moscow organizers appeared to realize they are facing a tough challenge of keeping protest momentum.

"Nothing will change it if it remains a single rally," said Sergei Parkhomenko, the editor of Vokrug Sveta monthly magazine who was one of the demonstration's organizers. "It must be the first in a long series of protests."

Vladimir Milov, a former energy minister who is now an opposition activist, also acknowledged that the organizers need to plan their strategy to preserve the protests' energy. "Otherwise people will just grow tired and stop attending the rallies," he said, adding that the opposition must focus on next year's presidential election.

Yevgeniya Albats, editor of the liberal New Times weekly, said the opposition must gather signatures for the cancellation of the vote results and for Putin to step down. "This is only the beginning of a long and difficult struggle," she said. "This is our land, and we must get it back."

Oleg Orlov, the head of Memorial rights group, said the rally turned a new page in history.

"We are now changing the nation's history to the better," Orlov said. "We will force the government to realize that they will have to pay a price for rigging the vote, and the price is their legitimacy."

Orlov said the protests must focus on challenging Putin's re-election bid. "We can deal a blow on this rule of thieves next March and show the real price to that "national leader,'" he said.

The organizers read a letter from Ilya Yashin, an opposition leader jailed for taking part in a protest earlier this week. "Even behind bars we are feeling free, unlike those who are hiding from the people in the Kremlin," Orlov said.

Edited December 11, 2011 by Why_Me

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/protesters-chant-russia-without-putin-194311358.html

Protesters chant for a "Russia without Putin"

By Steve Gutterman | Reuters – 15 hrs ago

MOSCOW (Reuters) - In the middle of the crowd on Saturday at Russia's largest opposition protest in years, a big banner bore a simple message: Putin must go.

Anger over Russia's December 4 parliamentary election drew a diverse crowd to a cold embankment in Moscow, where they stood for hours under wet snow to demand a rerun of a vote Putin's foes say was rigged in his ruling United Russia party's favor.

But while organizers did not include the prime minister's resignation in their list of demands, much of the ire was directed at Putin.

For Olga, 38, the vote reconfirmed a conviction that as Putin has gained power over more than a decade as president and then prime minister, the people he governs have become increasingly powerless.

"It's his system," said Olga, a Muscovite who would not give her last name.

Felix, 68, a retired military officer who remembers the hug demonstrations that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union 20 years ago, said he wanted Putin out but had no hope that this could be accomplished through elections.

"There is no way to change those in power within the electoral system they have set up, so we need to use other methods," he said, waiting for friends on a subway platform before the rally and ignoring a policeman with a megaphone calling for people to leave the station.

"More radical actions are needed, but the people are not ready for that yet ... so for now we will protest," he said. "People must have their say and express their opinion."

PUTIN ON PATH BACK TO PRESIDENCY

At the protest, one man did so silently. Standing almost motionless for minutes at a stretch, he held a simple A4 size sheet of paper printed with the slogan: "Mr Putin, my civil rights are not your property."

Most of the protesters were more vocal, mixing shouted calls for a new election with chants of "Down with Putin!" and -- one of the standard slogans at much smaller protests held by Kremlin foes before the election -- "Russia without Putin!"

That Russia may not come for years, despite nationwide protests whose size -- unthinkable even a few weeks ago -- prompted one speaker to say that opposition flags would soon fly from the Kremlin's towers.

Recent opinion polls have shown Putin, president for eight years until 2008 and prime minister since then, remains the most popular politician in Russia.

He can count on millions of votes in a March 4 presidential election in which polls indicate he will win a six-year term. If he does, he could run again and potentially rule until 2024.

"Putin won't leave and there won't be any major changes in the country," said Ernst Klyavitsky, 75, a rewired electrician who said he had "never missed a protest" against Communist rule as the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse.

"But the authorities need to know how angry we are," he said.

They know now and are frightened, said Boris Baranov, 36, analyst and translator for a Moscow engineering firm who waited outside a kiosk near the protest site as his friends stocked up on rolls to fortify them during the four-hour rally.

"Authoritarian governments are more sensitive to public opinion than many think," Baranov said.

On the streets around the protest site at Bolotnaya Square, hundreds of helmeted riot police with truncheons and body armor and trucks full of troops seemed to support his argument.

"You can tell that those in power are worried -- they fear this," Baranov said of the protests.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/russias-putin-under-heavy-pressure-mass-protests-134421989.html

Medvedev orders Russia poll inquiry, gets insults

By Timothy Heritage | Reuters – 5 hrs ago

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an investigation on Sunday into allegations of fraud in Russia's parliamentary election, one day after tens of thousands of protesters demanded it be annulled and rerun.

Medvedev responded on his Facebook site to the protesters' complaints that the December 4 election, won by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia, was slanted in its favor.

But he did not mention their calls for an end to Putin's rule and received one insult after another on his Facebook site from people who made clear his reply was insufficient.

"I do not agree with any slogans or statements made at the rallies. Nevertheless, instructions have been given by me to check all information from polling stations regarding compliance with the legislation on elections," Medvedev said in a post on the social media site.

His statement was a sign that the Russian leadership feels under pressure after the biggest opposition protests since Putin rose to power in 1999. The protesters themselves used social media to organize their rallies.

But the protesters have demanded much more than just an investigation and are unlikely to be satisfied.

They want a rerun of the election, the sacking of Central Election Commission chief Vladimir Churov, the registration of opposition parties and the release of people they define as political prisoners.

Within hours of his statement, Medvedev had received several thousand comments on his Facebook site, many of them negative, plenty of them disrespectful and some of them highly insulting.

"We don't believe you," wrote Natalia Akhi.

Irina Arapova asked: "And who's going to do the checking? The executive authorities (United Russia)?"

The next big day of protests is planned on December 24 when Alexei Navalny, one of the protest leaders, will have served a 15-day jail term received for his role in a protest last week.

CHANGE OF MOOD

Like Saturday's protests, which followed big opposition rallies in Moscow and St Petersburg last week, the responses to Medvedev underlined how Russians' faith in their leaders has fallen and that they are no longer afraid to show it.

Anger over the election -- which international monitors and the United States found fault with -- unleashed years of pent-up frustration with Putin and his tight political controls. Frustration had mounted since September, when he announced plans to reclaim the presidency next year, opening up the possibility of him ruling until 2024.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Russia's leaders should allow demonstrations to go ahead and learn lessons from the election for next year's presidential vote.

"People don't like it when one plays with the democratic process. 'I am Prime Minister, and I'll leave you the Presidency' and vice-versa... that's something that ends up shocking people," Juppe said on RFI radio.

"We call on the Russian authorities to hold a dialogue, prevent violence, let the opposition demonstrate and learn the lessons for the organization of the next presidential elections."

In a sign the authorities are starting to sense the change of mood, city authorities across Russia allowed Saturday's peaceful protests to go ahead and riot police hardly intervened.

State television and other channels broadcast footage of Saturday's big protest in Moscow, attended by tens of thousands, breaking a policy of showing almost no negative coverage of the authorities, although they included no criticism of Putin.

But there is no indication that Putin, Russia's paramount leader, is about to bow to the protesters' demands and most political experts still expect him to win the presidential election next March and swap jobs with Medvedev.

He is likely now to look for ways to show he has registered their concerns but try to ride out the protests, hoping they will fizzle out as quickly as they began. A statement by Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, gave no hint of concessions.

"We respect the point of view of the protesters, we are hearing what is being said, and we will continue to listen to them," Peskov said.

RESURGENT OPPOSITION

"December 10, 2011 will go down in history as the day the country's civic virtue and civil society was revived. After 10 years of hibernation, Moscow and all Russia woke up," Boris Nemtsov, an opposition leader, wrote in his blog.

"The main reason why it was such a big success is that a feeling of self-esteem has awakened in us and we have all got so fed up with Putin's and Medvedev's lies, theft and cynicism that we cannot tolerate it any longer ... Together we will win!"

It may not be that simple. The opposition has long been divided, most mainstream parties have little or no role in the rallies and keeping them up across the world's largest country is hard at the best of times but especially in winter.

Most Russian political experts say Putin, the former KGB spy who has dominated the world's largest energy producer for 12 years, is in little immediate danger of falling, despite anger over widespread corruption and the gap between rich and poor.

But they say the 59-year-old leader's authority has been damaged and may gradually wane after he returns as president unless he acts to address the new mood.

"Putin has a formidable task. He has lost Moscow and St Petersburg, crucial cities where everything usually starts," said political analyst and author Liliya Shevtsova. "He looks out of touch."

Putin, as president for eight years until 2008 and as prime minister since then, built up a strongman image by restoring order after the chaos in the decade after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. But he no longer seems invincible.

He could release the state's purse strings to satisfy the financial demands of some critics but many of the protesters in Moscow are middle-class people demanding more fundamental changes, such as relaxing the political system he controls.

His charges last week that the United States encouraged the protesters and financed them provoked scorn on the Internet.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-church-head-warns-against-internet-rally-155442623.html

Russia's Orthodox Church head warns against Internet before rally

Reuters – 15 hrs ago

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The leader of Russia's Orthodox Church warned Russians Friday against trusting social networking sites, which have spearheaded the organization of mass opposition protests, saying they made people "vulnerable to manipulation."

Some 40,000 people have signed up on Internet sites to attend a protest in central Moscow Saturday against a disputed election parliamentary election which earlier this month gave Vladimir Putin's ruling party a slim majority.

"The naive confidence of a modern person in the information available on social networks along with the moral disorientation and the loss of basic (moral) values make our cohorts ... vulnerable to manipulation," Patriarch Kirill was reported as saying to Interfax news agency.

He made no specific reference to the rally, where Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and opposition blogger Alexei Navalny are to speak. The rally is expected to add pressure on Prime Minister Putin, who has responded with only minor concessions and who is widely expected to win a presidential election in 2012.

Patriarch Kirill also said political change alone could not transform society, it could only happen with a "metamorphosis of the soul."

Endorsed by Kremlin leaders as Russia's main faith, the Church has grown increasingly powerful since communism fell two decades ago. Its role has drawn criticism from human rights groups who say it undermines Russia's separation between religion and state.

The Internet has been vital for organizing protests in the country of more than 140 million, where state television is tightly controlled and has paid little attention to the biggest opposition rallies since Putin rose to power in 1999.

Opposition leaders have said they hope at least 50,000 people will attend Saturday's rally in Moscow, the second major demonstration since the December 4 election.

International monitors said the poll was slanted in favor of Putin and marred by indications of ballot stuffing.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-gather-protests-russia-113323914.html

Mass rally in Moscow raises pressure on Putin

By Andrey Ostroukh and Thomas Grove | Reuters – 42 mins ago

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of flag-waving and chanting protesters called on Saturday for a disputed parliamentary election to be rerun, increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin as he seeks a new term as Russian president.

The protesters chanted "Russia without Putin" and "New elections, New elections" as speakers called for an end to Putin's 12-year domination of the country at the second big opposition rally in two weeks in central Moscow.

"Do you want Putin to return to the presidency?" novelist Boris Akunin asked from a large stage.

Whistling and jeering, protesters chanted: No!"

Police said at least 28,000 attended the rally on Prospekt Sakharova (Sakharov Avenue), named after Soviet-era dissident Andrei Sakharov. One opposition leader put the crowd size at up to 100,000 people.

The big turnout is likely to encourage organizers to believe they can keep up the momentum of the biggest opposition demonstrations since Putin rose to power 12 years ago, although the prime minister seems intent on riding out the protests.

Tens of thousands of people protested in Moscow on December 10 and many more demonstrated across the world's largest country the same day to complain against alleged vote-rigging in the December 4 election won by Putin's United Russia party.

The protesters were heartened by the Kremlin's human rights council saying a new election should be held, although it is only an advisory body whose recommendations are regularly ignored by Russia's leaders.

Many of the protesters wore white ribbons, the symbol of the protests, and others carried balloons and flags at the rally, which brought together liberals, nationalists, anarchists, environmentalists and urban youth on a bitterly cold day.

"The last protest made a huge impression and I want others to come and realize they can stand up for their right. We all know the election result and we all know how dishonest they were," said Andrei Chernyshov, a 22-year-old student.

PROTESTERS DISMISS CONCESSIONS

President Dmitry Medvedev, who is stepping aside next year to let Putin take his place after four years as prime minister, has promised electoral reforms to relax the Kremlin's grip on power, including restoring the election of regional governors.

But the opposition has rejected these conciliatory efforts and says Putin and Medvedev have ignored its key demand for a rerun of the parliamentary poll, which handed a slim majority to the ruling United Russia party.

The protesters say United Russia benefited from widespread voting irregularities and international monitors said the vote was slanted in the ruling party's favor.

"The party of swindlers and thieves are the only ones who benefit from the preservation of the status quo," journalist Leonid Parfyonov said on a video message shown on a screen.

Protesters held signs saying: "For Russia without Putin."

Dozens of police trucks lined the capital's main ring road nearby and the police blocked off roads around the protest site, but they did not intervene.

Putin is still expected to win the presidential election in March and return to the post he held from 2000 until 2008 but there are growing doubts that he will win outright in the first round of voting. The opposition is largely divided and has no candidate to unite it in the March presidential poll.

The former KGB spy's popularity has declined since he and Medvedev announced plans in September to swap jobs next year, a decision which many Russians said showed a disregard for democracy.

Putin, 59, has suggested that many of those taking part in the protests have been paid to turn out and accused the United States of encouraging the protests. Many people, who answered calls to protests on social networking sites, say this underlined that he is out of touch.