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So, the Russian Duma just voted in favour of the new constitution drafted by Putin's minions... er I mean administration.
There will be a referendum on April 22nd on whether the new constitution should be adopted.

Apart from a lot of nonsence that should not belong in a constitution, such as that "marriage is between a man and a woman" or that "the Russian people are the backbone of the Russian republic" a nifty little concept has been inserted - Putin can basically become president for life.

The draft of the new constitution actually confirms that no president can sit more than two consecutive terms (of six years).
But it also resets the clock, so that terms served prior to the new constitution taking effect do not count.

This means that Putin can stand for reelection in 2024 and then serve until 2036.

As the man is 67 today and will be 71 in 2024, he can sit till he's 83.
And if he is still alive at that point(life expectancy for men in Russia is currently at 71.6 years, even lower than in the USA! ), I assume he can just rewrite the constitution again.

Referendums are a dictator's best friend.

They give of a nice scent of democracy but are rather easy to manipulate when you have all the power, control all the media and is in command of those who do the counting.

Per wrote: ↑Wed Mar 11, 2020 3:38 am So, the Russian Duma just voted in favour of the new constitution drafted by Putin's minions... er I mean administration.
There will be a referendum on April 22nd on whether the new constitution should be adopted.

Apart from a lot of nonsence that should not belong in a constitution, such as that "marriage is between a man and a woman" or that "the Russian people are the backbone of the Russian republic" a nifty little concept has been inserted - Putin can basically become president for life.

The draft of the new constitution actually confirms that no president can sit more than two consecutive terms (of six years).
But it also resets the clock, so that terms served prior to the new constitution taking effect do not count.

This means that Putin can stand for reelection in 2024 and then serve until 2036.

As the man is 67 today and will be 71 in 2024, he can sit till he's 83.
And if he is still alive at that point(life expectancy for men in Russia is currently at 71.6 years, even lower than in the USA! ), I assume he can just rewrite the constitution again.

Referendums are a dictator's best friend.

They give of a nice scent of democracy but are rather easy to manipulate when you have all the power, control all the media and is in command of those who do the counting.

I am about 98% certain Trump has his "people" looking into this and seeing if he can do the same thing.

Russian joke making the rounds:

Putin dies at age 83 and is told he may enter heaven, but only if he agrees to have the Devil ass-rape him once for every presidential time served.

OK, Putin thinks, it's only six, I can handle that, and then I get to go to heaven. So he agrees.

He is then let into a room where the devil awaits him.
Next to the Devil stands the female duma representative that presented the bill that allows him to get reelected.

"Wait a minute," says Putin. "What is she doing here?"

"OH, no biggie," says the Devil. "She is just here to reset the clock every time we reach four."

Russian opposition leader Navalny unconscious and hospitalized after being poisoned...

https://www.foxnews.com/world/alexei-na ... ed-reports


Yeah... it’s Russia. What do you expect?

Confirms my healthy suspiscion to drinking tea.

German doctors have determined that Navalny was poisoned with Novichuk.

This means there is only one possibly culprit: Russian intelligence.

Novichuk is a series of nerve poisons developed by the Soviet Union during the cold war. and kept under lock and key.
No other country has had access to it, but the Russians have used it before in a handful of assassinations, most famously in Salisbury against Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Thus the Russians, despite denying all involvement, clearly wanted to send a message by their choice of weapon.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... -of-menace

Per wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:48 am German doctors have determined that Navalny was poisoned with Novichuk.

This means there is only one possibly culprit: Russian intelligence.

Novichuk is a series of nerve poisons developed by the Soviet Union during the cold war. and kept under lock and key.
No other country has had access to it, but the Russians have used it before in a handful of assassinations, most famously in Salisbury against Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Thus the Russians, despite denying all involvement, clearly wanted to send a message by their choice of weapon.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... -of-menace

And nothing will be done about it, in reality there is little anyone can do about it except start a war.

Same as the meddling of China and Russia in other countries politics.

2Fingers wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 8:45 am And nothing will be done about it, in reality there is little anyone can do about it except start a war.

Same as the meddling of China and Russia AND AMERICA in other countries politics.

Fixed.

2Fingers wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 8:45 am

Per wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:48 am German doctors have determined that Navalny was poisoned with Novichuk.

This means there is only one possibly culprit: Russian intelligence.

Novichuk is a series of nerve poisons developed by the Soviet Union during the cold war. and kept under lock and key.
No other country has had access to it, but the Russians have used it before in a handful of assassinations, most famously in Salisbury against Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Thus the Russians, despite denying all involvement, clearly wanted to send a message by their choice of weapon.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... -of-menace

And nothing will be done about it, in reality there is little anyone can do about it except start a war.

Same as the meddling of China and Russia in other countries politics.

I’m pretty sure there will be sanctions. Or, rather, that the sanctions already in place against Russia will be expanded to include more goods and more people.

Also, most European leaders want to tell Putin (and the Russian people) that they know he is behind it.
The thing is, Putin wants the Russian people to know, but with deniability. He wants the opposition to know that he is prepared to break any rule to take them out. At the same time he let’s the West deliver the message, and then he just shrugs and says ”Of course not. We have done no such thing.” And then he smiles.

His supporters are convinced it’s western propaganda while the opposition gets a chilling death threat. It’s all good.
That’s why the sanctions are important, because they actually do hurt him in so much as that a sagging Russian economy leads to increased discontent with his regime. The old KGB colonel is good at these mind games though.

Strangelove wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 2:04 pm

2Fingers wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 8:45 am And nothing will be done about it, in reality there is little anyone can do about it except start a war.

Same as the meddling of China and Russia AND AMERICA in other countries politics.

Fixed.

Yeah I was going to say that, it is not like Britain, France and the USA don't do it. But at least they are on our side, right

Putin is having problems...

Protests in Belarus ever since the sham elections. People marching in the streets demanding that Lukashenko And apart from the Russia backed insurgents in eastern Ukraine, Lukashenko is the only really loyal ally Russia has in Europe.

Protests in Siberia. After a governor in one of the far east regions was arrested on murdercharges, people have taken to the streets and demanded his release. The locals are convinced of his innocence and claim it’s a coupe orchestrayed from the Kremlin.

The failed murder of Navalny. The opposition leader was given a neurotoxin before boarding a four hour flight to Moscow. As he started to fall ill, the pilot requested to make an emergency landing. The request was denied, and he was instructed to continue to Moscow where an ambulance would meet up. The pilot ignored the orders and made an emergency landing anyway. Navalny was brought to a hospital, given the proper antidotes and placed in intensive care. Because of the pilot and hospital staff, the murder attempt failed, and Navalny was later, after several days of diplomacy transferred to a German hospital.

Interestingly, the journal from the Russian hospital denies he was poisoned, but states he collapsed from a combinatopn of sleep deprivation, too much alcohol and a lack of food. Yet the treatment they gave him was to combat the effects of neurotoxins...
Obviously the hospital staff did what was necessary to save his life, but then doctored the journals according to instructions...

Oil prices are too low for Russia to make a profit, and the sanctions imposed because of his invasion of Crimea and e Donetsk region are also hurting the .

And finally, his candidate in the US presidential elections is trailing in the Polls.

I( thi9nk you've really hit on something with the Swedish history as Hollywood villains Per. There is something sinister about Swedes that makes them great cinematic baddies.

I think you forgetting the evil Mr Tidball (Tim Conway) in The Carol Burnett Show though.