Posted by loungelizard (here)
Thanks for your thoughts about the bigger picture, Bill. I’ll make a coffee and have a careful read through them.
In the meantime, could you please explain how you see Putin as “the new leader of the free world” when the people of the country over which he rules are having their freedoms increasingly eroded.
I’ve already posted a list of the main freedoms that are being curtailed, but I was reading today about the assault on academic freedom, and the right to freedom of expression in Russia. No dissenting opinions are tolerated in schools or universities, and academic freedom is being obliterated. The Kremlin’s narrative is being pushed to schoolchildren - see this video about Kremlin propaganda in schools
Students are expelled should they dare speak out against the part line, and educators are being sacked for making anti-war remarks (sometimes informed on to the authorities by their students, which is reminiscent of the Hitler youth). Some educators are under “administrative arrest” and there are massive fines being imposed:
Roman Melnichenko, Associate Professor at Volgograd State University;
Elena Baybekova, a maths teacher from Astrakhan;
Alexander Kynev a lecturer at HSE;
Evgenia Paygina, a lecturer at Amur State University;
Irina Gen, an English teacher from Penza;
Marina Dubrova, at School No. 6 in the city of Korsakov;
Denis Skopin, an associate professor at St. Petersburg State University;
Kamran Manafly, a teacher from School Number 498 in Moscow’s Tagansky District
… and these are just the few that we know about. In addition, there are many others who have resigned their positions in protest at the restrictions on freedom of expression.
I genuinely don’t understand why people aren’t horrified by all this.
We all know that actions are what counts.
Putin’s actions against the people of his own country are the actions of a man who believes that freedom, human rights and civil liberties are of less value than the preservation of his absolute power.
Words are cheap.
Lies are easy.
Manipulation is key.
Control is everything.Oh, but there is.Posted by pounamuknight (here)
However, there's no nationwide law that bans educators (or anyone in Russia) from voicing there views of the SMO
Not one, but two new laws - one criminal (article 207.3) and the other administrative (article 20.33) - were passed on 4th March 2022.
These laws criminalise independent war reporting and protesting the war, with penalties of up to 15 years in prison.
Putin signed them, and brought them into effect on that day.
Anyone protesting, calling for an end to the war, publicising allegations of war crimes by Russian forces or calling for sanctions against Russia can be prosecuted.
And if they’re outside the country, there is the potential for extradition. Any information about the war in Ukraine that does not fit the narrative of the Russian Ministry of Defense
is to be considered fake news and is punishable with imprisonment.
These new laws have already been used to detain thousands of people who have simply and peacefully objected to the war.
These institutions are not independent of the government. They do not act autonomously.Posted by pounamuknight (here)
It's not Putin firing those educators. Its those heads/boards of those particular institutions within those oblasts
Faculty and students are overt pressure to conform. There is increased surveillance by the Federal Security Service (the FSB, the successor of the KGB) and in many universities,
the FSB is now actively participating in the review of student admissions and academic personnel cases.
Because of their public or, in some cases, private criticism of the Kremlin, a clear message was sent that disloyal faculty might be fired or arrested. It happens all the time.
I wish him luck with that. There is no point in “fighting in court” in Russia. The judiciary is not independent. Everything to do with the courts is Kremlin-controlled. And since RomanPosted by pounamuknight (here)
However, it was only this particular teacher that got fired by the university heads. He has lots of local support in Volgogagrad who are protesting
his termination. And he (along with his supporters) are actively fighting his termination in court
was arrested by agencies of the government and will be appearing in a court run by those same agencies, he doesn’t stand a chance of appeal.
Here is Roman talking about his situation:
https://www.rferl.org/a/fired-and-ch.../31869992.html
In his words: "The intellectual elite has the power to make the ruling elite lose the foundations of its power; that's why there is such a harsh reaction against universities".
This is not simply a matter of a few petty-minded bureaucrats wielding their limited powers (as may perhaps be the case in the US for example). Educational institutions arePosted by pounamuknight (here)
Its probably the same with the other examples cited. These are unfortunate and individual cases of overzealous educational institute heads
picking on teachers
not independent of the government in Russia. The persecution is Kremlin-led.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/23/...ech-university
I understand how you may think that, but unless you understand what actually happens in Putin’s Russia when it comes to the appointment of rectors and the increasingPosted by pounamuknight (here)
Unfortunate decisions made by those institutions. Not by Biden or the US government nor by Putin or the Russian government
government influence on the appointment of deans and faculty, you won’t be aware of the course Putin has pursued, increasing autocratic control and a cleansing of university
leadership. Dozens of universities now have new, Kremlin-approved rectors.
If you don’t follow the Kremlin narrative, you won’t be anywhere near the board of an educational establishment: the education watchdog, Rosobrnadzor, works in close
communication with the FSB.
Other countries have their own problems. Whataboutism never gets anyone anywhere .Posted by pounamuknight (here)
Earlier this year, WaPo had a story that 160 teachers in the US were fired for publicly voicing their political opinions[/URL]