[casualmuscovite]

Reporting from the trenches. Here in Moscow all 4 sites from the list [1] are being banned as of this morning.

* ej.ru (assortment of articles by opposition writers)

* kasparov.ru (chess grandmaster and one of the opposition leaders)

* navalny.livejournal.com (possibly most prominent opposition leader as of late; mayor of Moscow candidate in 2013 mayoral election)

* grani.ru (opposition newspaper)

I'd have to agree with said elsewhere in the comments that an average Russian will likely not notice those sites virtual demise. They're not much known or popular outside of a tight opposition camp.

Echo of Moscow is, however, a very popular radio station. Banning their site is likely to cause a little shit storm. It is not banned though and working just fine. What happened is they hosted their own Navalny's blog [2] and this particular URL was banned. However, the banning system is IP based, so along with it all the site would have been blocked. The site admins quickly took down the blog and the ban was lifted.

[1] http://rkn.gov.ru/news/rsoc/news24447.htm

[2] http://www.echo.msk.ru/blog/navalny/

[eps]

Isn't Navalni widely considered/painted as a paid US shill in Russia? I've seen him on TV and he didn't strike me as someone who'd put his life on a line for betterment of Russian governance, just in principle. His true motives are far from clear.

[trycatch]

> Isn't Navalni widely considered/painted as a paid US shill in Russia?

Considered -- no, painted -- yes, of course. You can't be an opposition leader, and don't be the target of smear campaign by Kremlin.

[casualmuscovite]

This sub-thread here is the reason "why we can't have nice things" :) There's a lack of balanced opinion or incentive for agreement. We have "radical libertarians" on one hand and "radical Putinists" on the other. You listen to both camps and the truth is somewhere in the middle.

As for myself, I do not see a viable (European-grade) democratic movement in Russia that I'd be willing to give my support (I think Yabloko was/is the closest). At the same time, I do not feel oppressed or living under tyranny here :)

Fun fact: Navalny, originally a member of Yabloko, was expelled from the party for nationalist rhetoric back in 00s.

[guard-of-terra]

If you have an opposition leader in a country where opposition is a dirty word, why would you care how he is painted by state-affiliated media?

They're like clock with no mechanism. Such clock can even occasionally be right, but it doesn't go.

[adobriyan]

> Isn't Navalni widely considered/painted as a paid US shill in Russia?

He is. Just as Echo and the rest of our liberal fifth column.

[go13]

Small part of Russia wants to live in a free liberal society but major part says we want to live in a gang-totalitarian terrarium headed by the KGB agent.

Those who have courage to protest on the Bolotnaya square say we want to have free media and have a right to protest but zombied people say we want to be slaves.

Zombied slaves don't want to have alternative media and don't want to think because Putin's propaganda does this for them.

These guys consider all countries around to be their enemies who want to destroy Russia. Why? Because all criticism which is really worth attention (poverty, HIV, abuse of basic human rights, the president who does his 3rd term, invasion to Georgia, Ukraine etc) they say to be an attempt to damage their declining country.

So guys, it is your choice.

Even if people read Hacker News, Silicon Valley will never come to Russia because innovations can't exist in a prison-styled country where semi-military illegal cossaks scourge young girls without mercy. This means your people will never be rich. Of course except your small elite made its weals selling resources and slavery workforce.

And FYI Wiki definition of Liberalism:

Liberalism is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality. Liberals [...] generally they support ideas such as free and fair elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free trade, and private property

[adobriyan]

blah blah blah liberty(TM) democracy(R) innovation ltd

Navalny thrives on anti-caucasus card to pump Russia into civil war when told to by his western masters.

and some of our liberals are quite severely braindamaged judging by what they tell in public

[avmich]

To resolve different opinions, we have to agree on some basic relevant facts and some criteria to judge. Apparently it's tough for subjects like this.

Even common sense becomes not so common for people with different views. Then there is the question of facts - which sources would you trust? Factual bias can effectively shape opinions.