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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday March 19 2017, @02:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the maybe-they're-on-kindle dept.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-russia-library-idUSKBN16M0PW

First, armed police seized some of its books. Next, its director was put on trial accused of stirring up ethnic hatred. And now, quietly, its shelves have been emptied and its volumes packed up, ready to be merged into another library's collection. A year and a half after Russia's only state-run Ukrainian language library, Moscow's Library of Ukrainian Literature, was dragged into a political dispute between the two countries, Reuters has learnt that authorities are quietly winding it down.

Officially, what is happening to the library -- its 52,000 books are being transferred to Russia's main foreign language library -- is "a change of address" not a closure. But the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, some of the library's employees, and members of Russia's large Ukrainian diaspora say it is a closure in all but name.

Tatyana Muntyan, a library employee, said that even before the transfer its director had reduced opening hours, stopped home lending, halted acquisitions, and made readers show passports to gain entry. The library's director declined to comment. The saga, along with other measures, suggests political differences between Moscow and Kiev are driving a wedge between two peoples whose cultures have been interwoven for centuries. It is likely to stoke Ukrainian fears that their culture, as well as their territorial integrity, is under siege.


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  • (Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @03:17PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @03:17PM (#481156)

    Russia is... Russia. Here is what happens when you don't understand Russia:
    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-09/hillary%E2%80%99s-wars-pt-1-clinton-reset-button-russia-goes-nuclear [zerohedge.com]

    Russia likes to feel power. Russia is paranoid. Russia has a pitiful economy the size of Spain, mostly depending on oil and gas. Russia has a history of enslaving neighbors, and Russia feels that this is their right.

    This means they enjoy being able to nuke us. Any resistance pisses them off. They will never give up their capability -- they will lie if required, keeping nukes we don't know about. Russia expects to control the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and nearly every country sharing a border with them. (kind of tough with China and the USA though -- yes we share a border at the Bering Strait) This is a country that regularly assassinates people, both at home and abroad, such as the polonium incident in the UK. Polonium is what you use when you want to send a message; only a couple places in the world can produce it. Russia is even hostile to Japan, keeping an island out of spite.

    Russia is ever pissed off and jealous. This is not fixable. No policy will make Russia friendly, though hostility may cause greater problems.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @03:25PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @03:25PM (#481162)

    and the crack around europe is extending from Libya to Egypt to middle east (dare i say israel?) to Syria and now even further to the Belarus Ukraine.
    soon europe will be surrounded by a huge crack of peace ...

    • (Score: 2) by driverless on Monday March 20 2017, @12:49AM

      by driverless (4770) on Monday March 20 2017, @12:49AM (#481306)

      soon europe will be surrounded by a huge crack of peace ...

      So you're saying there's a giant crack that needs filling? Should we notify the folks at PornHub?

  • (Score: 2) by fishybell on Sunday March 19 2017, @03:25PM (4 children)

    by fishybell (3156) on Sunday March 19 2017, @03:25PM (#481163)

    Tatyana Muntyan, a library employee, said that even before the transfer its director had reduced opening hours, stopped home lending, halted acquisitions, and made readers show passports to gain entry.

    So, like voting in the US? Doesn't sound so bad.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @07:00PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @07:00PM (#481226)

      Mexico and Canada actually check ID for voting. In most of the USA we only bother for alcohol, tobacco, driving, getting on a plane, getting questioned by cops, paying by check, going to the dentist, getting a normal job, getting admission to theme parks and big events... but non-fraudulent democracy is less important to us.

      Mexico also cracks down hard on illegal aliens. Also, no joke, Mexico is building a wall on their southern border.

      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @08:02PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @08:02PM (#481244)

        They have had some really smart folks in North Dakota.
        They have a publicly-owned state bank, [google.com] established in 1913[1] which has weathered both Hoover's Great Depression and the Dubya/O'Bummer/Trump Depression much better than the other 47/49 states and their private banking systems.

        [1] Interestingly, the same year that the "Federal"[2] Reserve was established.
        [2] Actually a cartel of PRIVATE bankers.

        .
        North Dakota is also the only state with same-day voter registration; IOW, no voter registration. [google.com]
        You show up, show them something with your name and address on it (a utility bill will do IIUC), sign the roll, and they hand you a ballot.

        It seems to work just fine--unless your goal is voter suppression.
        Compare this to states where an ID issued by a state-run university is not "proper ID" for voting but a gun license is.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @10:08PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @10:08PM (#481270)

          That's quite the way to put it. Yes indeed, some people are not supposed to vote, and thus need to be suppressed.

          Keeping me from walking into the Capitol Building and self-identifying as a senator is also voting suppression.

          Locking your car is driver suppression. There might be people who want to drive your car! Another form of driver suppression is requiring a license.

          Making me supply a card before withdrawing money from an ATM is banking suppression. They should just trust that I have an account.

          Requiring a "yes" is sex suppression and even fatherhood suppression. This is a denial of my right to sex and my right to fatherhood!

      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @10:06PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @10:06PM (#481269)

        So you are saying that if we want to make america great again we need to become just like mexico?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @07:41PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @07:41PM (#481239)

    I have recently seen a couple of critiques of the USA-made movie "Bitter Harvest".
    Those note that the film was produced by Reactionary (Fascist) Ukrainian nationalists.

    The story claims (or implies) that the 1932 - 1933 Ukrainian famine
    1) affected only Ukraine.
    2) was purposely created by Moscow, rather than by weather conditions.
    3) saw large-scale draining (theft) of the food produced (already at subsistence levels) in order to feed other regions which were more subservient to the Soviet philosophy.
    4) was larger by at least a factor of 3, relative to the actual number of deaths in Ukraine.

    Full disclosure: So far, my sources are CounterPunch and The World Socialist Web Site, both strongly anti-Reactionary.
    N.B. To my disappointment, both attempt to identify what the Stalinist USSR had as "Socialism" (even though USSR had a centrally-planned economy and was a 1-party Totalitarian state with Moscow sending party bosses to dictate to the collectives).

    I note here that there is also a claim by the Ukrainian Fascists (often repeated by USA.gov and its allies/proxies) that collectivization was forced and unwanted by the farm workers i.e., the former serfs of the Czarist (Feudal) system.
    In contrast, the Lefty writers say that, on farms, the collective motion received wide popular support from the workers (as it did in China under Mao).
    The “Holodomor” and the Film “Bitter Harvest” are Fascist Lies [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [counterpunch.org]
    "Bitter Harvest": Ukrainian nationalist fantasy as film [wsws.org]

    One assumes that it is this sort of propaganda stuff that the draconian measures WRT the library are attempting to thwart.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 2) by turgid on Sunday March 19 2017, @09:46PM (2 children)

      by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Sunday March 19 2017, @09:46PM (#481266) Journal

      Have you read Stalin Ate My Homework and Thatcher Stole My Trousers by Alexei Sayle?

      When he was a small boy, they wouldn't take him to the cinema to see Bambi. Instead they took him to see a film made in 1938 by Sergei Eisenstein called Alexander Nevsky. A fine piece of Soviet propaganda, apparently.

      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @12:19AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @12:19AM (#481298)

        Stalin Ate My Homework and Thatcher Stole My Trousers

        I missed those.
        There are rumors about the title of his next book.
        Apparently, all self-censored. [google.com]

        Alexander Nevsky. A fine piece of Soviet propaganda, apparently

        Wikipedia says that by at least 1 count, that's a top 100 flick.

        Considering that it was made during the summer and they had to simulate ice, it sounds like the technical stuff is impressive.

        wouldn't take him [...] to see Bambi

        I'm reminded of a fun quote. [wikiquote.org]

        There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 2, Interesting) by tftp on Monday March 20 2017, @05:33AM

        by tftp (806) on Monday March 20 2017, @05:33AM (#481371) Homepage

        A fine piece of Soviet propaganda, apparently.

        I saw this movie many years ago on TV. You can also see it right now on YouTube [youtube.com]. By today's measure the movie is very, very simplistic - at least technically. But it achieved some sort of a cult status. Some quotes from the movie ("эх, коротка кольчужка!") / ("Ahh, the chain mail... too short...") are widely used.

        However I see nothing wrong with pride for bravery of ones' predecessors. Europe was rife with wars at that time. Fight or be killed, your choice. Geneva Conventions did not exist at that time, and neither was the UN. Lands and property were acquired "by the right of conquest."

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @01:54AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @01:54AM (#481321)

      I really don't think you can repair the popular definition of socialism, by posting on SN...

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @02:28AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @02:28AM (#481336)

        It appears that for you propaganda == popular.
        I'll bet that you also believe that USA is "a force for good" rather than an an imperialist aggressor.
        (USAians are now seeing first-hand what an empire in decline looks like.)

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @03:08AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @03:08AM (#481343)

      that collectivization was forced and unwanted by the farm workers

      I don't know about Ukraine, but I know at least one other country in East Europe where forced collectivization happened.

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