Really disgusting. If you're a nervous person or a pregnant woman please don't watch it:
Some notes: it seems like those guys in video are students of one of Moscow Universities. Video shows a student drinking up a bootle of vodka at one draught. Then it shows his state in 50 minutes.
Analysts summing up the last 12 months make mention of shake-ups in the Prosecutor General's Office and the Justice Ministry, as well as the Sakhalin-2 scandal, in which the state unexpectedly played the "concern about the ecology" card in order to increase Gazprom's share of the project's profits. But did these events make much of a wave with Russians?
The option of voting "against all" was removed from ballots, as it was labeled as somewhat offensive. But is that really important? Does anyone really believe that Russians, having lost faith in politicians, will vote for some mysterious and nameless candidate? No such threat ever really existed. Bureaucrats are just making their jobs easier. It's the same story with removing the minimum turnout requirement. Now there is no need to waste time mobilizing "dead souls" and falsifying reports.
The murders of journalist Anna Politkovskaya and former Federal Security Service agent Alexander Litvenenko, both known for their anti-Kremlin stances - came as serious blows to Vladimir Putin's presidency. The Western press is firm in its conviction that Russia is run by horrible people who are guilty of all manner of crimes. But has this changed anything in Russia?
Even government social policies that have generated a fair amount of trepidation among the population haven't brought serious changes. The mass demonstrations of 2005 didn't lead the government to abandon its program, but instead merely to implement it incrementally. Instead of protests, this has lead mostly to bewilderment and confusion.
It's much more likely that a breakup will occur among the ruling elites than that a wave of popular protests will erupt. If the people are confused by the leadership's reforms, then the authorities themselves are even more mixed-up by their own intrigues.
In this situation, it is safest to remain on the sidelines as an observer. By maintaining a distance from politics, the average Russian demonstrates a healthy instinct for self-preservation. In reality, people can't entirely detach themselves from current events. There is no firewall separating us from the authorities. Or at least there is nothing of this sort keeping the authorities from getting at us.
And that is the problem, because the more tempestuous and acute the imbroglio gets at the top, the greater the chances that it will spill over in a way that negatively affects ordinary Russians. As the politicians lock horns, the bureaucracy runs less and less like a well-oiled machine and more and more like a poorly organized terrarium, with each inhabitant ready to swallow up its neighbor at the first opportunity. The 2007 presidential election, which at first seemed as if it would be routine, now threatens to become a contest without rules and with unpredictable results. The people will be nothing more than spectators to the struggle.
It seems as if most Russians are satisfied with this role, in the same way that visitors to a terrarium rarely feel any real sympathy for the slippery and poisonous creatures weaving about in unimaginable combinations behind the glass. The more you observe them, and the closer you look, the harder it is to imagine yourself in their place. Who really wants to jump over the wall and join the fight between the snakes and crocodiles?
THE RUSSIAN FEDERAL SERVICE OF JUDICIAL POLICE OFFICERS (FSJPO) has teamed up with GAI (Russian State Road Police) to remind Russians of their duty to Mother Russia. According to Gazeta.ru, the GAI has now been given power to perform ON-THE-SPOT DEBT COLLECTION FOR UNPAID TRAFFIC FINES. This one's going to affect everyone because, as everyone knows, Russians makes it a point to never pay their traffic fines. GAI officers can now run a check through their computers on anyone they stop and, if they have outstanding fines, demand payment on the spot. And if they can't pay? Well, that's no problem at all. The new FSJPO-GAI partnership gives GAI THE RIGHT TO CONFISCATE PROPERTY (spare tires, car stereos and anything else of value that can be detached) as deposit on payment. The first test run spot-check happened on the main road connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg on December 22nd and brought in 11,000 rubles in unpaid fines in just 1 hour. Wow, that's just over $423 in 60 minutes! Gazeta.ru broke the story on December 21st and according to it's source in the GAI, this is just the beginning. These checks aren't just an end-of-the-year government mad rush to collect funds. Soon, this practice is going to spread all over the country and will continue indefinitely. 2007 looks to be the year of civic responsibility...
