Cossack militaristic resurgence in Russia

**Wallachian** · February 27, 2014, 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by PikeStance

I didn't see them do anything "provoking." They were making a video. The only group that looked bad was the "whipping bullies." To argue otherwise would be tantamount to saying "boys will be boys to excuse poor behavior. Also, to claim that abuse is a "a part of our culture" and YOU "westerners" can't understand is condescending. Political culture is like all aspects of culture; slow moving, but it is not fixed or static.

Amen to that, that is exactly how I feel about all this! You can't use that behaviour either with culture or with being provoked.

**Darios** · February 27, 2014, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by PikeStance

I didn't see them do anything "provoking." They were making a video. The only group that looked bad was the "whipping bullies." To argue otherwise would be tantamount to saying "boys will be boys to excuse poor behavior. Also, to claim that abuse is a "a part of our culture" and YOU "westerners" can't understand is condescending. Political culture is like all aspects of culture; slow moving, but it is not fixed or static.

After the recent terrorist bombings in Volgograd, everyone in the world knew that Russia would be taking a tough stance on any type of political disturbances/hooliganism during the Olympics. Pussy Riot knew the same thing yet they gathered a bunch of western reporters, went to an area where they knew Cossacks would be hanging out and decided to make a scene. Sure I believe in the right to free speech but there is also something called respect. You do not go into a church and make "punk prayers." You do not go to a huge international event where everyone is nervous and tense about a potential terrorist attack and record political rock songs. All of these things have a time and a place, and common sense should dictate it. I have lived in Romania for the past three years and I have had to change many of my cultural habits in order to better fit in with this society whether I agree with their respective social norms or not. I am not a Muslim yet last summer I visited an old Ottoman mosque on the Black Sea (my first ever visit to a mosque!) and I treated it as solemnly as I possibly could. I don't give two spits for Kim Jong Un but if I were to visit North Korea I would follow whatever rules were placed upon me there. Their country = their rules. Pussy Riot got what were asking for.

**Condottiere 40K** · February 27, 2014, 03:49 PM

Actually, they got more:

My opinion of Cossacks nosedived. The mystique they tried to cultivate certainly didn't survive the pussy whipping.

**ivan_the_terrible** · February 27, 2014, 05:36 PM

No I think this was the best possible outcome for Pussy Riot: no permanent damage, and wide-spread international outrage.

**Knight of Heaven** · February 27, 2014, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

Well they are known for public fornication under the term of art etc. I can understand if people don't want to see it...

I saw the video they filmed, and it was in a closed doors museum, at night, nobody there to see it safe for themselfs, and it was another activist group, with some members of pussy riot, it wasnt even a pussy riot thing...
it wasnt realy in the mid of the street with everyone watching, it but whataver, that doesnt excuse whiping of people ffs.

And to be blunt you see alot worse in america

**PikeStance** · February 27, 2014, 07:31 PM

Originally Posted by Darios

After the recent terrorist bombings in Volgograd, everyone in the world knew that Russia would be taking a tough stance on any type of political disturbances/hooliganism during the Olympics. Pussy Riot knew the same thing yet they gathered a bunch of western reporters, went to an area where they knew Cossacks would be hanging out and decided to make a scene. Sure I believe in the right to free speech but there is also something called respect. You do not go into a church and make "punk prayers." You do not go to a huge international event where everyone is nervous and tense about a potential terrorist attack and record political rock songs. All of these things have a time and a place, and common sense should dictate it. I have lived in Romania for the past three years and I have had to change many of my cultural habits in order to better fit in with this society whether I agree with their respective social norms or not. I am not a Muslim yet last summer I visited an old Ottoman mosque on the Black Sea (my first ever visit to a mosque!) and I treated it as solemnly as I possibly could. I don't give two spits for Kim Jong Un but if I were to visit North Korea I would follow whatever rules were placed upon me there. Their country = their rules. Pussy Riot got what were asking for.

There is not a whole lot of substance in this..... there is an emotional appeal , irrelevant fact, and a lot of smoke screen of the real issue.

Fact: They were making a music video. They publicized it so western media was there to film it. There was no suspicion that they were terrorist.
Fact: It was does outside in a public space and no Russian laws were violated
Fact: Cossacks used violence because they disagree with their political views.
Fact: You disagree with their view, so you agree that the violence is justified.

I could address the other shenanigans in your post, but I think you know how each one is irrelevant for your stance.

Originally Posted by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

Well they are known for public fornication under the term of art etc. I can understand if people don't want to see it...

I didn't see anything to suggest an intent to "fornicate" in public, so I hardly see how that is remotely relevant. Public fornication is illegal in most country is not all. I am certain the Russian police would had made an arrest is this was to happen.

**Darios** · February 28, 2014, 01:41 AM

Originally Posted by PikeStance

There is not a whole lot of substance in this..... there is an emotional appeal , irrelevant fact, and a lot of smoke screen of the real issue.

Fact: They were making a music video. They publicized it so western media was there to film it. There was no suspicion that they were terrorist.
Fact: It was does outside in a public space and no Russian laws were violated
Fact: Cossacks used violence because they disagree with their political views.
Fact: You disagree with their view, so you agree that the violence is justified.

Well, I do not exactly disagree with their point of view in its substance. On the contrary, if Russians decide to change their society in one way or another then all the more power to them. What I do disagree with are their methods, and how the Western media treats them as some type of oppressed freedom fighters and their instruments for injecting Western values into a different society. We recently saw something similar with the Ukrainian government literally get run out of its own house due to Euro-American bankers latching on to Western Ukrainian nationalism and driving it towards a $1 billion loan that everyone knows that are probably full of (economic/military) concessions and that Ukraine will never be able to pay back. Instead of giving a country a chance to rise up and get things together in their own ways (albeit with Cossacks), foreign powers latch themselves to the lowest elements in society (Pussy Riot, Neo-Nazis from Lviv, etc.) and use them to champion their own causes.

**PikeStance** · February 28, 2014, 02:24 AM

Originally Posted by Darios

Well, I do not exactly disagree with their point of view in its substance. On the contrary, if Russians decide to change their society in one way or another then all the more power to them. What I do disagree with are their methods, and how the Western media treats them as some type of oppressed freedom fighters and their instruments for injecting Western values into a different society.

If you are pro oppression then change can never occur. Change happens when people question the world they live in. If they use "western media" to help get their message out then that is fair game. They trying to make a change. [BTW, I don't have a clue what they are protesting and I don't care either].

We recently saw something similar with the Ukrainian government literally get run out of its own house due to Euro-American bankers latching on to Western Ukrainian nationalism and driving it towards a $1 billion loan that everyone knows that are probably full of (economic/military) concessions and that Ukraine will never be able to pay back. Instead of giving a country a chance to rise up and get things together in their own ways (albeit with Cossacks), foreign powers latch themselves to the lowest elements in society (Pussy Riot, Neo-Nazis from Lviv, etc.) and use them to champion their own causes.

We should get Alex Jones on this ASAP!

**Geronimo2006** · March 09, 2014, 12:58 PM

It's never right to beat a woman as far as I am concerned. No exceptions. They remind me of Brownshirts.

**vokram** · July 27, 2014, 02:43 AM

I suppose the Cossacks see extreme acts of self-expression in public as a threat to public order, but it doesn't warrant brutality -- that just makes the Cossack movement look like a bunch of undisciplined barbarians, rather than white blood cells.

**Heathen Hammer** · July 27, 2014, 05:18 PM

Any idiot can buy Cossack uniform or join one of many Cossack groups. You can't really judge millions of people who identify themselves as Cossacks by one or two individuals.
Also Pussy Riot are provocateurs and most likely act on Kremlin's behalf, given how their idiotic actions have done literally nothing to actually oust Putin, but caused a great deal of conflict within the Russian opposition.