Who are we? We are the new, free generation. We grew up in a free country, we do not fear authority, and we are not burdened by the experience of the Soviet past. There can be different opinions about the political and economic reforms of the 1990s but we not we will expend energy on useless arguments about the past, only the future interests us. It is customary to assume Russian young people are cynical and passive. But there is another type of young people - thinking, daring, interested in the fate of its country, ready to take upon themselves responsibility for their own future. There are still too few of us, but we grow in number every day.

The authorities attempt to preserve the existing power structure, preventing entry by new thinkers. Only young people who are the most dependent on the existing strucure, the most dull and aggressive, the most like the older members, are permitted entry to its upper echelons. This is not our way! We defend our rights and we express our ideas, but we do not do it for profit and we do not want confrontations. We strive so that the authorities will become the people, we do not wish to pass into the hierarchy. Our love for our native land we prove by our deeds, we do not shout meaningless "patriotic" slogans. In our struggle we rely only on nonviolent methods.

We want to live in a free and flourishing country. We want a combat-effective and professional army to protect us, and freedom for students to study in peace. We want the democratic transfers of power via free elections in which the whole country actively participates. We want to be able to obtain information from a free and independent media. We want to work in companies without fearing that they will be shut down because of the visits of bandits or corrupt officials. We want the law to be equally applied to all citizens, not used as tool against those who disagree. We want an honest budget in which there are monies valid social purposes, not the pockets of corrupt officials.

For our support we rely on the power of truth and our committment to our goals, not our connections to those in power or our wealth. Our contemporaries in adjacent countries already changed the course of history. Now it's our turn.

If you are tired of having all your decisions made for you, if you are ready to build a Russia that will stand as a free, modernized nation, we welcome you! There are many ways you can help us. build a normal democratic system in Russia. First, you can join Oborona. Joining up is easy, just fill out a form on this site, and we will be connected with you. In Oborona we have no membership cards or dues payments (as in the political parties). You can participate in those actions and measures, which you support, and propose your own suggestions. If in your region or city still there is no Oborona local office, you can create one yourself. Contact us for further details. Second, we are also pleased to receive financial contributions to support our work, which is not financed by oligarchs or government agencies. Even a small contribution can bring big results. Third, even if the first two options are not for you, don't just be a couch potato! You can, for example, place our banner on your site or in blog using code available on this site.

Putin is the architect and personification of the regime which exists now in Russia. He abolishes merit selection and he assigns to all key posts to his St. Petersburg friends. He considers Ramzan Kadyrov to be a hero and personally shuts down oppositional television channels. He signs laws that favor his chosen oligarchs, transferring great quantities of wealth to them from the state budget. Without batting an eye, he tells gigantic lies about the fate of the Kursk submarine and the Dubrovka theater patrons. He may not haver personally participated in these tragedies, but he governs the system that caused them. One might say that our problem is not so much with Putin but with "Putinism."

Sarcastic smile

The Islamists are mentally ill.

My friend Roozbeh Farahanipour, chairman of the Marze Por Gohar Party (Iranians for a Secular Republic), testified about being tortured while he was in jail in Iran in 1999.

Good morning,
My name is Roozbeh Farahanipour,
I am the chairman of MarzePorGohar - Iranians for a Secular Republic.

In July of 99, I , along with other pro-freedom groups in Iran, organized a series of demonstrations, centered in Tehran University: to protest the Parliament's passing of a law, severely restricting the newspapers.

We were demanding greater freedom from the government. Many of you have probably herd of the "student uprising" at Tehran University July of 99.

You may have seen crowds of Iranian-Americans gathering at the federal building in Westwood to commemorate the date the Tehran regime brutally murdered several students by throwing them out of third-floor windows. Other Protesters were murdered during Clashes with plain-clothed and uniformed security forces. I was there. I was there when that happened.

They were throwing students out of dormitory windows chanting: "oh, Hossein, oh Ali, accept this gift from us"

I was there...

Thousands of students and other protesters were arrested during the brutal crack-down by the Regime.

I was among those arrested - I was one of the ones who got picked up.

They held me for more than months, beating and torturing me.

One of the many tortures they subjected me to was known as "Joojeh Kabab" -- the "chicken kebab".

They called it that because they would: tie my feet together, tie my hands together and skewer a pole between my hands and knees and proceed to whip me, as I hung from the pole. Thus, the Chicken Kebab analogy. "Joojeh Kabab" they called it...

You see: there were protests in 18 cities across Iran, at the same time that we were marching out the gates of Tehran University.

This proposed legislation Assembly Bill 221 is one form of support that we welcome with all our hearts.

Your legislation clearly shows that the people of California will not sit back and allow their retirement savings to buy technology for and bring fresh capital to a regime of Murderers and hostage-takers in Tehran.

This is an important message, and we thank you for it.

As a political refugee, who has been welcomed into this country, I want to express my gratitude for everything America has done for me and my home country, Iran.

Thank You, America, for All You Do and All You Have Done.

Islamic Republic intelligence officers are murdering American soldiers today in Iraq. The Tehran regime is taking hostages, again. Old habits are hard to die, I guess.

I applaud Assemblyman Anderson, and their co-sponsors for introducing this legislation.

I ask that all of you find it in your hearts to support it.

YES, you CAN make a difference.

Down With Islamic Republic... Long Live Iran.....

And,

THANK YOU, AMERICA!

But it's not only the women who are being arrested, fined and "rebuked", though they are the main victims. It's the guys, too.

Why? Because they dare to defy the regime by dressing like their Western counterparts, with long hair and fashion hair style, other than listening to music or wearing shorts.

At a NATO meeting in Oslo, Reuters reports:

NATO expressed grave concern. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer stated: "That message was met by concern, grave concern, disappointment and regret," de Hoop Scheffer told a news conference. "The allies are of the opinion that the CFE is one of the cornerstones of European security."

So Russia has violated a "cornerstone of European security." Putin says the reason is that "[NATO countries] are ... building up military bases on our borders and, more than that, they are also planning to station elements of anti-missile defence systems in Poland and the Czech Republic." Does Russia plan to fire missiles at Poland and Czech Republic? Is that why it's annoyed? Does Russia believe these defensive systems violate the CFE? Putin certainly does not say so. Putin said it was "an anachronism that Russia should be restricted in how it can deploy its armed forces within its own borders, while NATO countries used pretexts to bend the terms of the treaty." Yet he's not bending, but breaking the document, unilaterally, after Russia ratified it, with no formalities.

In a classic bit of Soviet-style propaganda, Putin stated: "It is hard to imagine that anyone would restrict the United States, for example, in moving its troops around its own territory." But this treaty doesn't apply to the U.S., it applies to Europe, and it restricts movement of troops in Western Europe exactly the same way it does in Russia.

During the Cold War, Russia behaved as if it was the West's equal when it wasn't. It behaved as if Western nations were populated by hopeless idiots Russians could easily flim-flam, bamboozle and outwit. This behavior destroyed the Soviet Union, yet apparently Russia has learned nothing from that experience. Apparently, it will allow its obtuse pride to drive it once again into a direct confrontation with a whole host of countries whose economies and military forces dwarf those of Russia. The USSR only lasted 75 years. Will Russia, its successor, last even that long, if it continues these wild-eyed, unrealistic policies?

Russian hypocrisy and willingness to provoke cold war is truly breathtaking. As if all this provocation was not enough, just moments after complaining in his state-of-the-nation speech that foreigners were supporting the "Other Russia" protest movement, Putin sent the Nashi youth cult into Estonia in an effort to block that country's removal of a memorial to Soviet soliders from a main public square in the capital city of Tallinn. Estonians, of course, view the Red Army which occupied and enslaved them in much the same way as Russians view the Nazis. Nashi provoked a riot, the Estonian government ended it, and now Russian politicians, referring to Estonians as "inhuman," are calling for Russia to break diplomatic relations with Estonia, a NATO and EU member. An Estonian blogger wrote (posting a photo of a wild-eyed looter/rioter): "Just a friendly reminder here, the Estonian government moved a monument from a central square to a cemetery. And the Russians consider that grounds for severing diplomatic ties. Will they take off their shoes and bang them on their desks when the vote is taken?" He reminds us that Estonia is enaged in an even-handed effort to deal with issues of this kind. Thus: "Three years ago, in a small Estonian town called Lihula, the Estonian government removed another monument, this time one to Estonians who had fought in the 20th Waffen SS to -- as they say -- keep the Red Army out of Estonia long enough to restore Estonian independence."

When Chechnya is at issue, Russia says it's a "domestic" Russian affair and foreigners have no business "interfering." When Iraq is at issue, Russia demands talk rather than confrontation. But when Estonia is at issue, Russians have the "right" to intervene by any means they choose. Russia doesn't ask: "What if Estonia (or America) tried to tell Russia what to do with its war dead?" If "Other Russia" protests peacefully in Russia's streets, the Kremlin has the right to crush them; but if Nashi riots in Estonia, the Estonians are supposed to ignore it. Exactly this sort of mindboggling hypocrisy brought down the USSR, and now Russia is doing the same thing all over again!

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He even gives a little demonstration of the $100 laptop. It looks pretty cool, and judging by his answers to some pretty some questions, pretty secure and smuggle proof as well! Enjoy.

And below are more photos of the ongoing crackdown on the 'un-Islamically dressed' women. The Bassiji militias (including black cows) stop the women and young girls and force them to adjust their mandatory veils in order not to show their hair.

A woman tries to defend herself from the black cow.

The Iranian women are generally very beautiful and attractive.

C

Some are imposed fines while others, like the below ones, are taken to Islamic courts...

Female tourists from foreign countries may be fined, too.

Gvosdev asks: Why do millions of Russians support an odious regime like that of proud KGB spy Vladimir Putin? He suggests: "The short answer, popular in the West, is that the masses have been drugged into complacency by a mix of Kremlin dominance of the airwaves and walking-around money provided by high energy profits." In other words, its the same answer we gave during the Cold War: Russians don't really want dicatorship, it's being forced upon them by a few bad eggs. Given the chance, they'll be friendly and democratic. Comforting thought, to be sure.

But what if we were wrong then and, as Gvosdev suggests, are wrong now too? What if Russia really was an "Evil Empire," as Ronald Reagan proclaimed it, with a majority of people who will actively or passively support a rogue neo-Soviet regime if they think they can get something out of it? Gvozdev states that 30% of Russia now owes its livelihood to "Kremlin Inc." -- the network of companies owned by the government. 75% agree that you cannot get accurate information from mainstream Russian media, yet will do nothing to change the situation as long as they personally continue to get their paychecks.

Gvosdev notes that, although they have the opportunity (at least for now), very few Russians are willing to publicly challenge the regime (those not bribed off are simply terrified by the string of murders within the opposition community). Thus:

The question about alternatives is also something we must address here in the West. There is a prevailing attitude, particularly on Capitol Hill, that "anyone but Putin" must be a better choice. And in the "Alternative Russia" (Drugaya Rossiya) coalition, there are some compelling figures whose commitment to Western-style liberal market democracy is beyond question -- among them, Putin’s former advisor Andrei Illarionov and former presidential candidate Irina Khakhamada. But there are also some troubling elements, too. Why U.S. conservatives would want to make common cause with groups like the "National Bolshevik party" -- whose emblem combines Nazi and Soviet designs, and which sends its skinheads into battle with the police -- or hold up the "Vanguard of Red Youth" as the best representatives of Russian democracy, is difficult to explain. Grigory Yavlinsky and the Yabloko party, the largest remaining liberal political force in the country, declined to take part in the marches this past weekend "due to fundamental political and ideological differences with the event organizers and our mistrust of them," according to their press statement. Yavlinsky went on to criticize the overbearing response of the authorities to the marches, but his concerns should raise some red flags here.

There are a few points Gvosdev unfortunately overlooks here. First, FDR had no problem being Stalin's pal to beat Hitler; such a practice is hardly unheard of, and the more crazed the Russian public's behavior, the more necessary it might be. Second, Gvosdev also might have mentioned that Yavlinsky's own party has been an utter disaster as an opposition force, so he hardly is in any position to give any advice to others as to how to best proceed. Third, he also neglects the fact that those he favors, like Illarionov and Khakamada, have not been the recipients of widespread support from the West (including Gvosdev's own organizations). The West is clearly making its own bed here, and soon will have to lie in it, just as it did when it underestimated the rise of Bolshevism in the first place.

The idea of facing a neo-Soviet Union in which it is clear a majority of Russian people themselves support a regime that provides weapons to rogue nations like Venezuela and Iran, financial support to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas, obliterates democratic values and provokes a new Cold War is to be sure a terrifying one. But if it is correct, it's one we'd better get used to if we want to win that war.

Smirov writes: "Late last mouth, before an Other Russia rally in Nizhny Novgorod, the authorities conducted a special operation code-named 'Fortress' (Gazeta, March 25). This tactical plan had been devised in 2005 for police and army units to use to prevent a large-scale attack in a city in the North Caucasus. The plan is used every time the special services obtain intelligence about possible armed attack on military and police facilities. Early in the morning on the day of the rally, two local activists, Vyacheslav Lukin and Svetlana Somina, were kidnapped by FSB officers and taken to an open field outside the city. They were not released until the rally had ended (Gazeta, March 25)."

In the recent Moscow protest, the pattern was continued. Smirov explains:

For the April 14 rally, some 9,000 troops and police occupied the center of Moscow. According to Viktor Biryukov, head of the press service of the main directorate of the Moscow police, the center of Moscow had been divided into four quadrants to maintain "order." A special command center staffed by FSB and police officers was set up to control the situation (Kommersant, April 13). There were rumors that a special army unit from Tambov, which had taken part in the Chechen war, had been deployed to the Russian capital for that event. The authorities did not conceal the fact that there were armed troops hidden in trucks ready for action. Following procedures regularly used in Chechnya, the Moscow police swept the area ahead of the rally. Police and FSB officers arrested all young men whom they regarded as 'suspicious' in the vicinity of the designated rally site.

And in St. Petersburg the next day:

During a March 3 rally in St. Petersburg, security measures against the opposition looked even more similar to special operations in the North Caucasus. The siloviki ignored standard procedures in an effort to neutralize the enemy. Several days before the rally, Federal Security Service officers in the town of Petrozavodsk abducted two local National Bolshevik activists who also belong to the Other Russia and took them into the woods (kasparov.ru, March 4). The officers handcuffed the activists, put guns to their heads, and threatened to kill them if they went to St. Petersburg to take part in the March. Eduard Limonov, head of the National Bolshevik party and one of the leaders of Other Russia, was arrested on the day of the St. Petersburg rally. Limonov was "neutralized" as if he were leader of an illegal armed formation in the Caucasus (grani.ru, March 3).

In some sense, these actions may be good news for the protesters, since they indicate very considerable weakness and fear on the part of the Kremlin, which apparently views the peaceful protesters to be as dangerous as armed Chechen terrorists. However, the protesters are so few in number and the retaliatory measures so extreme that there is real danger they will be effective, just as they were in Soviet times. Countervailing pressure from the West is obviously essential.

While the Darfur conflict has been well-documented (Wiki on Darfur Conflict) and officially labeled a genocide by the American government, the nations that allowed the situation to continue have until recently seen relatively little outside pressure else than the editorial page. China, as the leader in Sudanese oil imports, is at the center of enabling the Sudanese government. As the BBC states of the rise of China as an energy importer:

“From zero 15 years ago, China last year became the world’s number two oil importer… China has, we are told, been running around the world signing oil deals with everyone from Iran, to Sudan to Angola. In the race to secure future oil resources China is prepared to deal with even the dodgiest regimes, and pay the highest prices.”

China's economic relations with the Sudanese government provided it with significant leverage that it has chosen not to use until of late. With concerns about manners, proper English, and all things image savvy that will hopefully provide an ideal experience for the foreign traveler visiting China for the first time at the 2008 Olympics, China is similarly trying to improve its image abroad as well. Helen Cooper writes in the New York Times about the collision between the internal worries of public image in China and the relation with diplomacy:

China's decision to pressure Sudan about violence in Darfur, after years of protecting that government, can be traced to campaign to boycott 2009 Olympic Games in Beijing; Mia Farrow, good-will ambassador for United Nations Children's Fund, started campaign to label Games in Beijing 'Genocide Olympics' and called on corporate sponsors to publicly exhort China to do something about Darfur; she challenged Steven Spielberg, artistic advisor to China for Games, to add his voice, prompting Spielberg to send letter to Pres Hu Jintao of China asking him to use his influence to stop killings in Darfur; senior Chinese official, Zhai Jun, recently traveled to Sudan to push government there to accept UN peacekeeping force, and then visited Darfur refugee camps; turnaround in China's policy serves as classic study of how pressure campaign, aimed to strike Beijing in vulnerable spot at vulnerable time, could accomplish what years of diplomacy could not...

If the United Nations and the West are serious about ending one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of the decade, it must utilize the chance given in this pre-Olympic window by China. With the first noticeable signs that China is willing to act, a formidable and unified multilateral consensus should take advantage of a diplomatically-sensitive China to leverage a more proactive role in solving the Darfur crisis.

Sources

Darfur Collides With Olympics, and China Yields, by Helen Cooper, New York Times

Responsible China, Washington Post

Sudan vows to cut red tape on UN to support African peace mission in Darfur

Manners, Manners

Other Opinions

Black Gold: The Financer of Tyranny

China and Sudan, Blood and Oil

Beware hypocrisy on Darfur, China

The Wrong Decision on Sudan

">Darfur Crisis: Towards An Ever Greater Tragedy by Amit Pyakurel

Also on PBH and Ablogistan.

See more photos here, here and here.

UPDATE: Two thousand young men protested at the new dress code. My prediction is that there will be more protests, all across Iran.

There are really only three prominent beacons of opposition left in Russia: the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, the Echo of Moscow Radio station and Garry Kasparov's "Other Russia" troop (one might also include the Kommersant paper, recently purchased by a Kremlin-friendly oligarch) . Even though none of them have a true national audience, they are all obiously in the Kremlin's sights. Echo has already been purchased by state-owned Gazprom and seen a flight of journalists defect (the same is true of Kommersant). As we previously reported, Kasparov has been called before the KGB and his lawyer is facing disbarrment. He could end up in a cell next to Mikhail Khodorkovsky any day now. Is this new announcment a sign that Echo of Moscow is being targeted? Is Novaya Gazeta next? Echo has a serious following among the intelligentsia, so the Kremlin would need to attack carefully, setting the stage. If/when these dominos start falling, we will know that the neo-Soviet vision for Russia has been fully realized. Whether we know it or not, the new Cold War has already begun (as we at Publius Pundit began warning many months ago).

Now is the time for all of democracy's allies to rally to her cause, before it is too late. Fool us once on Russia, shame on you -- fool us twice, shame on U.S.!