Guyanese Online

The system that Russia’s autocrat built wasn’t designed to survive the pressures it is now facing.

  By Vladimir Milov | Journal of Democracy 

The world’s attention is focused on the immense suffering of the brave Ukrainian people, and rightly so — no words can describe the misery and damage that Vladimir Putin has inflicted upon Ukraine with his unprovoked aggression.

Russians are also suffering from the consequences of the invasion. In recent years, Russia has hardly resembled a democracy, but Putin’s war has untied the government’s hands — de-facto scrapping the people’s few remaining rights and freedoms. New, hastily adopted legislation criminalizing spreading “fake news” with up to 15 years in prison allows the Kremlin not only to eliminate any dissent, but also to instigate a mass persecution of its own population. The campaign is already in full swing, with one person being arrested for holding a poster that read “Fascism Will Not Pass”, which authorities claimed was “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces.” Russian TV officially claims that “No to War” (Het Bonhe) is somehow a Nazi slogan.            Continue reading →