Vladimir Putin’s landslide reelection
He gets so much good press about it around the world, I wonder why he doesn’t have himself elected more often. Once a year perhaps, on Vladimir Putin day.
WDYM ‘not free and fair’? Citizens could vote for any of the names on the ballot.
The fact that the ballots only had one name on them isn’t relevant…
They actually had 3 others than Putin but they were only the candidates who would never have a chance.
- Vladislav Davankov, New People Party
- Leonid Slutsky (lol), Liberal Democratic Party
- Nikolay Kharitonov, Communist Party
Boris Nadezhdin was initially also allowed to run on an anti-war platform for the Civic Initiative party, but was then later disqualified (perhaps he was getting too much support?).
They should have voted for Slutsky
Sadly, I think that would just have meant ‘no more Slutsky’.
All three were slutskies. At least he is honest about it.
At the point where Putin can quite easily have any popular opposition stricken from the ballot, imprisoned, or worse still coincidentally fall from a building or endure some “freak accident”, is there all that much use in pretending any opposition ever had a chance to win?
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Here in Utah the democrats don’t even bother to run a candidate, since no non-republican can win office here. Most democrats like myself don’t bother to vote, since the only options are for GOP candidates and trumpists.
But, it’s also because gerrymandering has made it impossible for anyone but a republican to win, so what’s the use of trying. You can’t change a system that is so perfectly evil.
There was no chance Putin wouldn’t stay in office, more’s the pity as it says all that needs be said about why mankind is unreedemable and unworthy of any sort of salvation. Humanity is a cesspool, and Putin is just one of many pieces of feces that swirl around thinking it is better than the rest of the stinking filth swirling around it.
Why can’t we just have the nuclear war we were meant to have by now? Why is it taking so long for us to hit those buttons and get this nasty shit over with once and for all? It’s the only outcome that will ever be possible, why are we prolonging it??
That went from zero to apocalypse very quickly.
I think you’ve been chasing the news dragon too long and too hard. Past a point, it doesn’t make you more informed, just… sadder. More given to misanthropy and despair.
We’re here, and we’re not all bad. Most of us want the same things: health, happiness, love, and camaraderie. We want those things for the people we care about— sometimes more than for ourselves.
The vast, vast majority of us are just people. We get caught up in things, and we forget it sometimes, but that’s a people thing too. And so is helping— when tragedy strikes, or those times we create tragedy, people are also the ones running toward the danger and uncertainty to help save those who cannot save themselves.
I tried to do a 'splosion sound at the end just to dramatize the effect.
Chasing the news dragon, indeed I have - perhaps down too many a rabbit hole. I’d rather be chasing the opium dragon at the moment, i think i need a big batch of homemade horse tranquilizers to deal with the horrors of the world.
Ok I grant you most people aren’t all that bad. Although many many of them are. Here in Utah I think we have a higher proportion who are because of misinformation, lack of real education and a general Okay-ness with bigotry toward others and minority groups.
Some say the world will end in fire, and some say ice. I hold with those who favor fire. Think of the marshmallow roasts we could have. There is no doubt in my mind that nuclear war will happen, and it will be pretty final for most of us. It’s a question of when, not if.
But until then we can do the best we know, build our house, and bake our bread, and make our garden grow (thanks L. Bernstein!).
Are they who are bad by through misinformation or under-education truly bad? Can they be damned with the same vigor as those who promulgate disinformation and have every reason to know better?
No— condemnation is a useful tool, but only sparingly. It does not make the world a kinder place, but a more embittered and distrustful one.
Just as you are convinced of this world’s end by way of the information air you breathe, the information air they breathe leads some to bigotry. The vast, vast majority of them don’t hate for hating’s sake— they want to do good. That is their aim. Everything they think they know points them toward a particular path to do good. When the information is flawed so are the actions. Garbage in, garbage out.
I think I’ve known enough of hate to know that for destruction ice is also good and would suffice.
The world will end someday, somehow. Nuclear war is a modern flavor, but there’s always been some imminent doom nigh upon the world. Life is fragile, fleeting, and I wonder if an obsession with eschatology is a means of distracting ourselves from a more personal existential crisis.
It’s a peculiar switch to flip in oneself to not fixate on the inevitable. Most problems we run into we solve by thinking about them, so we keep throwing thought on the fire. But there are some problems we cannot think ourselves out of, and in those, the bigger problem becomes our fixation with it. It distracts us; sucks joy away, and obscures the business of living from us. The problem is not the end— that’s a moment— it’s living in that end our whole lives through.
Perhaps the world ends in nuclear holocaust— so what? Anticipating it does nothing to prevent it, and can but make me sad or scared or bitter. Let us, as you say, build our house, bake our bread, and let our garden grow, but seek to do so unfettered by whatever the end might be.
And from our gardens, perhaps we’ll see the complicated panoply of humanity: flawed people who sacrifice for others, foolish people who nonetheless find love, timid hearts all, wanting to do good, and waiting for an invitation to be better.
Being bad because of under education is one thing, and can be remedied. But choosing to spread disinformation and horror is truly something that deserves widespread condemnation.
Well I am convinced of humanity’s end, but not just by way of the information I absorb. I do read a lot including several newspapers and I watch a lot of news channels, but it isn’t just that. I’ve had more than a fair share of premonitions about it and I think I know how this will all truly end.
I’m not sure the world itself will end, but the people who inhabit it perhaps. But that’s not to say there aren’t reasons to work for solutions to our immediate problems and to think ahead. The end could come tomorrow - or 345 years from now.
And the only “so what” I can give in regard to asserting the world will end by nuclear holocaust is, there are so many people who naively think it won’t end that way, and that somehow such an end can be avoided. That’s my only point - it IS the way things will end, no matter how many other things we do manage to solve and find ways to work around.
I’m not saying, “dont try or bother to make things better.” We have to go on. We have to strive, that’s what we people do. Maybe some will find a way forward for a better life, and if so, I hope they live it to the utmost.
I will do my best to make the world a better place…it aint much but its what I can and will continue to do. Dont be too quick to press red buttons the rest of us are working on solutions!!!
That’s all you can do, my friend. Build your house, make your garden grow, enjoy the life you can while you can. It won’t be long now until the fiery end of humanity, for it will end soon and by nuclear war, there’s no doubt - but until then you should find happiness when and wherever you can.
