Dec 22, 2008

Unrest in the Russian East


Picture provided by Elustrator.

YahooNews: Riot police clubbed, kicked, and detained dozens in the Pacific port of Vladivostok on Sunday in a harsh crackdown on a protest that was one of dozens across Russia by people outraged over an increase in car import tariffs.

With unemployment spiking, prices rising and the ruble sliding, the protests over a seemingly mundane tariff appear to be broadening into a wide expression of public discontent — and beginning to present a genuine challenge to the Kremlin.

Comment: Maybe if these people weren't repressed all the damn time, there would be less problematic protests and less protests in general. Let's do the check list: rising unemployment, devaluation of currency, randomly occurring fees that make a hard life even harder....check check check. We have all of those things in America. And while we bitch about it, we don't have so many protests and certainly very few that end with breaking out the riot gear. Just a thought, not a sermon.

4 comments:

Pirates(and)Diplomats said...

It's sad, but true.

jaybird said...

I heard the UAW had a hand in this...

BabaYaga said...

I also read that the Communists and other opposition parties are trying to take advantage of this discontent to organize more broad-themed protests, but that even when they plan the protest the participants only bring signs about the Car Tax.

Ern said...

LOL! I sincerely hope that's true. It would be good for the Kremlin to see that just because someone doesn't want a high car tax, it doesn't mean they're about to start a revolution.