[media=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot2ifVM32I0] Don't wanna be a f'ing Russian idiot Don't wanna be some Putin pinko commie nut Nor want to live where the land never thaws I never learned my alphabet from ahh to jah
They all live on borscht and bear meat And they live in apartments without heat They don't even know what's a shopping mall And you know what else is puzzling? All that Vodka that they're guzzling Can't take 'em seriously at all
Nerve agents and chaos is what they export They treat murder just like it's a real sport They think their accent is mysterious That it makes them sound more imperious
Sure they got their national anthem As the Red Army goes goose-steppin' But they got Maria Sharapova Never pushed that button called "Reset" Dream of flyin' a MiG fighter jet From Murmansk to Kamchatka
Don't wanna be a f'ing Russian idiot And I can't stand Vladimir's crafty smugness Tell you the truth, he makes me kinda nervous So we need a higher state of readiness
Always hear the same kind of story Him talking about past days of glory Tell me what kind of freaks are that obsessed? It's gotta mean they're all up to somethin' So quick, before they see it comin' Time for a pre-emptive strike!
Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and compatriots found themselves outside Russian territory. Moreover, the epidemic of disintegration infected Russia itself.
Individual savings were depreciated, and old ideals destroyed. Many institutions were disbanded or reformed carelessly. Terrorist intervention and the Khasavyurt capitulation that followed damaged the country's integrity. Oligarchic groups – possessing absolute control over information channels – served exclusively their own corporate interests. Mass poverty began to be seen as the norm. And all this was happening against the backdrop of a dramatic economic downturn, unstable finances, and the paralysis of the social sphere.
Vladimir Putin Annual Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation April 25, 2005, The Kremlin, Moscow
@beckyromero The Soviet Union for all its (many) flaws did provide a basic safety net for its citizens. That was ripped away when the Berlin Wall came down and the life expectancy for Russians went down... for men by a decade. The shock of a sudden change to free market capitalism caused huge social stress and was informed by Chicago school economists. Russian state industry was seized by oligarchs who were ex communist party people.
Putin rose in these conditions from an KGB officer to dictator. He evokes anti Americanism and post Soviet nostalgia to get the public on his side but he is not a communist in any sense.
He is reasserting Russian military power to distract from problems at home and what is seen as lost pride by Russians.
I despise Putin for all of these reasons, in addition to the fact that he is poster boy for the nationalist right. However, he doesn't want to reconstruct the Soviet Union or any kind of state communism, he wants to keep his billionaire buddies inside and his public compliant.
This whole situation has echoes of the cold War but its not a re run. Its about empires clashing and egos clashing but is not about ideology.
@beckyromero That merely undelined my point. It's about a clash of national identities and power agendas. It's not about ideology. Putin is not a communist. Trump is not a communist.
@beckyromero What definition of communism are you using here? Like, what is a communist to you?
Wanting to reclaim old USSR territory is not communist or capitalist, it's just expansionism. Communism is about the economy. And Russia's economy is very capitalist.
The reference in the song is, of course, to Vladimir Putin.
So, what did he have to say on the matter as recently as 2016?
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is and has always been fond of communist “ideas”, while also comparing the Soviet code of conduct to the Bible, independent news agency Interfax reported.
Last week, Putin came under scrutiny from the Russian Communist Party for criticizing Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union. Putin attacked his fellow Vladimir, holding Lenin responsible for the collapse of the USSR. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov then defended the president’s statement.
At a forum in Stavropol on Monday, Putin piled more criticism onto Lenin, but insisted his attitude to Communist ideas had never wavered and that to this day he keeps his party membership ticket at home.
“You know that I, like millions of Soviet citizens, over 20 million, was a member of the Communist Party of the USSR and not only was I a member of the party but I worked for almost 20 years for an organization called the Committee for State Security,” Putin said, referring to the KGB.
“I was not, as you know, a party member by necessity,” he said. “I liked Communist and socialist ideas very much and I like them still.”
In his speech, Putin insisted he was never just a “functionary” when it came to party matters and said the Moral Code of the Builder of Communism—a set of rules to be followed by all party members—“resembles the Bible a lot.”
The Communist Party is, nearly 20 years after the Berlin Wall came down, still the second largest political party in Russia's Duma.
Many of those in United Russia are, like Putin, card-carrying communists and the third most powerful party, that demagoguing fruitcake Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, is no different.
That so many Russians themselves still support communists is evident that Russia isn't that far removed from the days of the Soviet Union.
And, I will tell you from now that I will not get into a debate with you "but the Soviet Union wasn't really a communist country" or other such nonsense like that.
I'm going to keep this VERY BRIEF. I'm not going to get into a long definition or debate over this since Putin HIMSELF says he's a communist.
Suffice to say it's extreme government control over vast sectors of a nation's economy, extreme limits on private property and thus extreme limits on personal freedom.
Do you believe that according to your definition, Russia is a communist state? Understanding that Putin has been in charge for the better part of 20 years.
Do you believe that according to your definition, Russia is a communist state? Understanding that Putin has been in charge for the better part of 20 years.
Let's put it this way. If/when Putin feels he could 'restore' the USSR and it's communist-style of governing, he would do so. By turning Russia into a "gas station" as it is sometimes sarcastically said, he is achieving a greater goal of his that worrying about that oligarchs are making money: it's money for his increasing military budget.
Right now, he's biding his time, building up the Russian military, flexing Russian muscle abroad, interfering in our elections to cause chaos, waging war on Ukraine and threatening the Baltic states.
@beckyromero You don't need to convince me he's a baddie looking to expand his empire. I mean, Canada has a ton of troops in Latvia right now for a reason. I am under no illusion that Putin is a positive actor and consider him a blight upon this world.
But I don't buy the idea that a guy who has been running an openly capitalist country for twenty years, has all this time been a semi-secret communist who is just waiting for the right moment to wave his magic wand and then instantly nationalize everything. There's just nothing to go on with that beyond him paying lip service to how he likes socialism. He wouldn't be busy privatizing more industries if he had any intent of seizing the entire economy.
But I don't buy the idea that a guy who has been running an openly capitalist country for twenty years, has all this time been a semi-secret communist who is just waiting for the right moment to wave his magic wand and then instantly nationalize everything.
Didn't we doubt enough tyrants in the 20th Century after they more than hinted at what they intended to do?
Ever hear of a "national emergency"? A war would give him that excuse.
@beckyromero I mean, like with Georgia? Or the entire Chechnya debacle?
The gangster capitalism system they have right now works because it makes Putin and his cronies extraordinarily rich.
If they were to suddenly abandon capitalism the west would stop trading with them. Right now although Russia is a rival, they're open for business. You can be as heinous as you want, but provided you'll let free enterprise make a buck, people will put up with a lot (such as with Saudi Arabia). If Russia suddenly nationalized a bunch of foreign-owned businesses they'd be isolated from the rest of the planet.
There's literally no incentive for them to change their economy, and no sign they'd do it.
