Scandinavia and the World
Scandinavia and the World

Comments #9738193:


Say hello to my little friend 27 2, 7:13pm

@Ninian

You apparently neither read what I wrote, nor goggled very effectively.

I wrote:

"We do get reports of protests in Russia as well some times"

And goggling "Nemtsov's memory march" which you mentioned, amongst other western media gives you this result from BBC, which you just ridiculed for mentioned someone arrested over protesting with an inflatable duck:

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-43192010/thousands-attend-nemtsov-memorial-march-in-moscow

So yes, protest in Russia ARE covered in the west.
Certainly not as extensively as the few independent Russia media sources that still exists - but it is covered.

And you have to remember - media in every country is of course more interested in and more knowledgeable about their national affairs then foreign affairs.

I promise you there are a lot of things happening in other countries your media (either state loyal or independent) doesn't cover as well as media in those countries does - that's only natural.
I can assure you there are protests against leaders in any number of nations right now that neither you nor I know anything about, because our media doesn't cover those protests very well.
But Russia is a large and important country, so we do still get reports in western media about protest in your country.

"THAT is not an example of oppression and fuel for red scare, after all. So no need to put THAT into any article, right?"

You're the victim of your own prejudice here.
You BELIEVE that western media could only possibly be interested in what happens in Russia if it shows examples of oppression or can be used to fuel a red scare - and unfortunately that's precisely what Putin (and before him Soviet propaganda) WANTS all Russians to believe.

That we in the west only want to look down on Russia and it's people and portray the worst possible image of you to fuel our own propaganda - but that's not actually the case!

Of course there are such people here - just as there are people with those views in Russia against the west.

But as I've said before - the vast majority of westerners doesn't have anything against ordinary Russians - we've never had.

We haven't liked and we still don't like your leaders for the policies they pursue, but it's not like we wish the Russian people ill.

As someone from a neutral country in Europe, caught in the middle between two super powers for most of my life, I can tell you most people here if anything judge Americans more harshly then Russians.

Americans after all elect their own bad leaders in (kind of) democratic elections - while you Russians have little real choice in who leads you.

So no - the vast majority of people in the west simply doesn't view Russia the way you think.
We get that you're ruled - and has for centuries - been ruled by despots who manipulate you to strengthen their own grip on power.

They want you to view us as the enemy - but most of us have never thought of you that way.

Your leaders now, the communist party who oppressed you and the Tsars and the nobility before then - that's another matter.

But we've never had any beef with the majority of the Russian people and we want nothing else for you then to become a stable democracy and have peaceful and prosperous relations with us.

In part because that's obviously what would be in your best interest - but also, obviously, that it would be in ours.

Because democracies don't start wars against each other. However much they disagree they solve their differences at the conference table.
And no rational person in the west wants conflicts or heavens forbid war with Russia - that just brings misery for everyone of course.