Is Russia turning back to USSR?

[Malderon]

I was pretty "ok" with my(Russia) government until recently they started making several absolutely absurd laws... Let's list them:
1. Every movie must have age ratings before it. There is short example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d_iX0hh1IY. Before law this show never had "18+" attachment to it. Does it effect me much? No. Does it ruin atmosphere of uncertainty? In my opinion very much, when I watch a trailer of some movie I wanna be surprised and when I see rating I already know what to expect...
2. Gay law, not even gonna talk about much, pretty sure most know it.
3. You can't buy alcohol from 23:00 to 8:00 and from 21:00 if you are not in the city. Makes very good sence, huh? Especially when most people have jobs which might end in exact that period. Or for example me, I finish my studying at 23:00 exactly, so what I need to skip the end of studies just to get a bottle of beer?
4.Pirate law... Russian SOPA. it's actually semi-working, you can't download several series from many trackers any more, they semi-closed one tracker(it works not for all).
5. The law on education... Student can't go to museums free of change anymore.
6. Law when you can't smoke in public places.
7. Small laws, liek you can't tell anything bad about person unless you have prove. Say that ... no I can't.

What next? Your thoughts? In my opinion that's too much. 3/7 of laws already made my life much worse. Well, maybe not worse, but more complicated for sure.
P.S. please make posts constructive and without hate.
P.S.2 if you could provide any info about ~same laws in your country would be very awesome!

[Jeleh]

http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/201...lees-to-france

I was genuinely shocked when I heard about this story in particular. Russia is constantly giving the image these days that it is not a pleasant place to live for certain types of people.

[Cybran]

The things that you listed are nothing. They barely have any effect anything significant.



http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226706127561

You should be far more worried about the blatant police repressions against people that try to bring the oligarchy in Russia to light.

[Deleted]

I was pretty "ok" with my(Russia) government until recently they started making several absolutely absurd laws... Let's list them:
1. Every movie must have age ratings before it
2. Gay law, not even gonna talk about much, pretty sure most know it.
3. You can't buy alcohol from 23:00 to 8:00 and from 21:00 if you are not in the city.
4. Russian SOPA.
5. The law on education... Student can't go to museums free of change anymore.
6. Law when you can't smoke in public places.
7. Small laws, liek you can't tell anything bad about person unless you have prove.

What next?

I see only one problem on the list that is different from the western world.

[zorkuus]

USSR? Probably not. Looks more like business as usual with Russia having a hard on for authoritarianism in general.

[Doktor Faustus]

The West is as bad, but you have the illusion of choice.

[Bakis]

The West is as bad, but you have the illusion of choice.

We are not without fault but we dont have show trials putting political opponents in jail for one thing.
I'm rather glad we have our way of democracy and not the puppet one in Russia.

[greeeed]

1. Every movie must have age ratings before it. There is short example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d_iX0hh1IY. Before law this show never had "18+" attachment to it. Does it effect me much? No. Does it ruin atmosphere of uncertainty? In my opinion very much, when I watch a trailer of some movie I wanna be surprised and when I see rating I already know what to expect...

Isn't that same think with games world wide?
(I don't watch movie a lot but I do play a lot of games ^^-)

[kvakvs]

1. Every movie must have age ratings before it
2. Gay law, not even gonna talk about much, pretty sure most know it.
3. You can't buy alcohol from 23:00 to 8:00 and from 21:00 if you are not in the city.
4. Russian SOPA.
5. The law on education... Student can't go to museums free of change anymore.
6. Law when you can't smoke in public places.
7. Small laws, liek you can't tell anything bad about person unless you have prove.

1. Good, kids should not watch adult stuff. On the other hand, SO MANY films and cartoons are wrongfully labelled as high age restricted. And that sucks big time.
2. Bad, totally bad. And its very much related to orthodox taking over minds and the state. Many Americans know the feeling of church taking over common sense.
3. Good. Nation possibly will be drinking less. But it doesn't. Should do it Swedish way - stricter time limits, age limits, no consumption limits -> healthier nation.
4. Bad, there are ways around, but in general its bad - way to control internet and then build Great Russian Firewall
5. Not good for some students, most of them don't care
6. Good, smoke where you won't damage anyone else
7. Good, i guess
I'd not live in Russia at any year regardless of laws, I know it too well

[Crispin]

you'll find several laws like thoose in western countries aswell, except for the gay one, but you'll find similar ones to that in alot of the middle east countries.

Nothing wrong with russia than the gay law atm tbh, us in the west just have some kind of "wtf you dont agree with us? up yours!" attitude, which imo is just as bad if not worse.

[Reeve]

No. Putin is absolutely capitalistic, and Russia itself is way too capitalistic to be anything like the USSR.

Is it very authoritarian at the moment? Yes. But USSR? No.

Also, movie ratings? I thought every country had movie ratings.

[Themius]

The things that you listed are nothing. They barely have any effect anything significant.



http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226706127561

You should be far more worried about the blatant police repressions against people that try to bring the oligarchy in Russia to light.

This is absolutely ridiculous. "You dare paint the President in such a manner?!" Like what the fuck?

[Maxilian]

1. Good, kids should not watch adult stuff. On the other hand, SO MANY films and cartoons are wrongfully labelled as high age restricted. And that sucks big time.
2. Bad, totally bad. And its very much related to orthodox taking over minds and the state. Many Americans know the feeling of church taking over common sense.
3. Good. Nation possibly will be drinking less. But it doesn't. Should do it Swedish way - stricter time limits, age limits, no consumption limits -> healthier nation.
4. Bad, there are ways around, but in general its bad - way to control internet and then build Great Russian Firewall
5. Not good for some students, most of them don't care
6. Good, smoke where you won't damage anyone else
7. Good, i guess
I'd not live in Russia at any year regardless of laws, I know it too well

I don't agree with the number 3, cause as OP explained, most people can't buy it earlier cause they are... you know, at work or studying. i do agree that they can just make more laws to control the quantity of alcohol that's consumed

[Unalorian]

7.Small laws, liek you can't tell anything bad about person unless you have prove. Say that ... no I can't.

That law is exactly the opposite of your Topic, i.e. it makes Russia distance away from USSR.

Wonder how many people ended up in Gulags back in the day because some neighbor called you a enemy of the state without any evidence

So item 7 is actually a good thing

[Airlick]

1. Every movie must have age ratings before it. There is short example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d_iX0hh1IY. Before law this show never had "18+" attachment to it. Does it effect me much? No. Does it ruin atmosphere of uncertainty? In my opinion very much, when I watch a trailer of some movie I wanna be surprised and when I see rating I already know what to expect...

It's already like this with games and many movies in other countries, so I don't see what the problem is.

2. Gay law, not even gonna talk about much, pretty sure most know it.

Good riddance, faggits.

3. You can't buy alcohol from 23:00 to 8:00 and from 21:00 if you are not in the city. Makes very good sence, huh? Especially when most people have jobs which might end in exact that period. Or for example me, I finish my studying at 23:00 exactly, so what I need to skip the end of studies just to get a bottle of beer?

That one is pretty dumb.

4.Pirate law... Russian SOPA. it's actually semi-working, you can't download several series from many trackers any more, they semi-closed one tracker(it works not for all).

Heaven forbid a government fights piracy!

5. The law on education... Student can't go to museums free of change anymore.

Well, too bad, only history or art students would need it, though.

6. Law when you can't smoke in public places.

Just like in every civilized country in the world?

7. Small laws, liek you can't tell anything bad about person unless you have prove. Say that ... no I can't.

Just like in every civilized country in the world?

Yeah, totally USSR.

[Reeve]

I don't agree with the number 3, cause as OP explained, most people can't buy it earlier cause they are... you know, at work or studying. i do agree that they can just make more laws to control the quantity of alcohol that's consumed

I don't agree with the law, but are you saying that most people are at work from 8 AM to 11 PM every day?

[Puri]

Most points on your list are pretty much the opposite of what laws would have been passed in the USSR.

[Pr0ev0lution]

to be honest most of those that you listed aren't bad at all

1) i don't see what your complaint here is at all. in cinemas in the uk you have an age rating thing before a film starts and before trailers they have a thing saying he following trailers are suitable for the audience of the film your viewing (i.e. you'd never get an 18 rated film trailer when your seeing a 15 rated film)

2) ok yeah that law about gays is crazy stupid

3) whats the context there? in bars? in off licences? in supermarkets? again in uk super markets can't serve alcohol between certain hours.

4) piracy is illegal basically everywhere yes we may kick up a fuss on the internet about freedoms and whatever but at the end of the day all copyright holders should be entitled to defend there intellectual property. not saying i agree with stuff like sopa but on the other hand you can't have a go at the government for putting into effect laws that will punish and/or stop illegal activity

5) ok yes museums been "free" is great but they aren't truly free its not going to be cheap running a museum and the money has to come from somewhere for the upkeep be it tax payer money or charged for admission. and charged for admission means tax money can go to other places while at the same time money is getting pumped into the economy by more people paying to get into the museums which helps stimulate economic growth so again not that big a deal.

6) first off good why should a non smoker be subjected to the health risks of smoking by a smoker purely from been in a public place? that law has been in effect in the uk for a good number of years now and in a lot of other places in the world. cdc in america estimates approximately 1 in 5 deaths are a direct result of smoking and of those approximately 440k deaths 49k are non smokers as a result of second hand smoke. so banning of smoking in public places is a good thing full stop imo.

7) thats a law in most countries its commonly known as defamation of character or slander

[Faroth]

I don't agree with the law, but are you saying that most people are at work from 8 AM to 11 PM every day?

It's 11PM to 8AM they can't buy booze.

Flew in from Miami Beach, BOAC
Didn't get to bed last night
On the way the paper bag was on my knee
Man, I had a dreadful flight

I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR

Been away so long I hardly knew the place
Gee, it's good to be back home
Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey, disconnect the phone

I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the US, back in the US
Back in the USSR

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on m-m-my mind
Oh, come on

I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boys
Back in the USSR

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on m-m-my mind

Oh, show me round the snow-peaked mountains way down south
Take me to you daddy's farm
Let me hear you balalaikas ringing out
Come and keep your comrade warm

I'm back in the USSR
Hey, you don't know how lucky you are, boys
Back in the USSR
Oh, let me tell you honey

[Reeve]

It's 11PM to 8AM they can't buy booze.

Flew in from Miami Beach, BOAC
Didn't get to bed last night
On the way the paper bag was on my knee
Man, I had a dreadful flight

I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR

Been away so long I hardly knew the place
Gee, it's good to be back home
Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey, disconnect the phone

I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the US, back in the US
Back in the USSR

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on m-m-my mind
Oh, come on

I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boys
Back in the USSR

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on m-m-my mind

Oh, show me round the snow-peaked mountains way down south
Take me to you daddy's farm
Let me hear you balalaikas ringing out
Come and keep your comrade warm

I'm back in the USSR
Hey, you don't know how lucky you are, boys
Back in the USSR
Oh, let me tell you honey

Yeah, so unless they work from 8AM to 11PM, there's some time in there that they can buy booze. It's still a stupid law, but yeah.

I was pissed the other day when I went to the grocery store on a Sunday on my way to a housewarming party that started at noon. I was gonna pick up a bottle of wine and some cider for the party, but you can't buy alcohol before noon on a Sunday in Texas. That kind of thing really pisses me off. It serves no useful function and just annoys the crap out of people.