Oh noes, not 'Santa's reindeer' too!

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 Lazy8 wrote:
This? Just to help out the mentally-challenged, torture is never a good thing. YMMV.

 R_P wrote:
So this is a good thing? Or what?

Because invading several European countries (and threatening war with others) isn't enough of a "decoupling".

 miamizsun wrote:
If only AI could help people with reading comprehension/reasoning.

I guess I missed all your posts on US rights violations. Must be a really tranquil time/era.

 R_P wrote:
you're supporting or saying that this type of behavior is ok?
because whataboutism...

i think all human rights violations are bad
your refusal when asked about principled positions seems obvious

 miamizsun wrote:
Seems pretty obvious: to decouple from Europe.

Amazingly even the US ratified the UN Convention Against Torture which didn't prevent Abu Graib

... or Bagram or domestic abuse.

You can't see the forest for the trees
And you can't smell your own sh!t on your knees

this isn't good...
why would they do this?

Russia to Quit Europe’s Anti-Torture Convention

Russia will formally withdraw from Europe’s convention for the prevention of torture, a move some rights advocates say is largely symbolic given the country’s already worsening human rights record.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree on Saturday proposing that President Vladimir Putin submit the withdrawal to the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament. The decree was first made public on Monday evening.

The European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted in 1987, allows inspections of detention facilities across member states. Russia ratified the treaty in 1998, two years after joining the Council of Europe, which promotes democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Russia quit the Council of Europe in March 2022 after being suspended over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Later that year, it also withdrew from the European Convention on Human Rights, ending its obligation to recognize rulings from the European Court of Human Rights.

Russia remains a party to the UN Convention Against Torture, which it ratified in 1985.

The rights group Crew Against Torture warned the withdrawal could worsen conditions in Russian prisons. It noted that during Russia’s 27 years in the convention, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture made 30 visits and drafted 27 reports — only four of which Moscow agreed to publish.

The NGO said the convention helped ease overcrowding, improve conditions in penal colonies and secure better protections for some inmates.

“Russia’s withdrawal... marks the final dismantling of the European human rights monitoring system in the country. The decision deprives prisoners of the last formal international protections and paves the way for further declines in human rights conditions,” the group said on Telegram.

No date has been set for Russia’s formal exit from the treaty.

Passes the buck to Little Marco (according to other reports)
Trump sets two-week deadline to gauge Russia-Ukraine peace prospects

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 Red_Dragon wrote:

The sad thing is that so many Trump supporters have bought into the fiction that Russia is somehow something to look up to. 
It's not.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:

Evidently Lavrov lives in the same fantasyland as Trump. When you're part of the ruling class, you just make shit up.

Russia is a shitshow.   

Lavrov believes that Finland prospered thanks to Russia.

Some numbers:

◾️Finland:
GDP per capita: $54,160
Average salary: $4,701
Average pension: $2,449

◾️Russia:
GDP per capita: $14,260
Average salary: $616
Average pension: $214

Interview: Richard Sakwa on Russia Since Perestroika
Natalyie Baldwin asks the British author about the Soviet collapse, the 1990s, Vladimir Putin’s governance, the rise of a new cold war and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The Russian Federation’s actions in Ukraine pose an ongoing threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy,
necessitating stronger measures to address the national emergency.

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The Daily Doofus/Dissembler

Trump vs. Medvedev: When talking tough is plain turkey
Exchanging nuclear threats like this is pure theater and we should not be applauding

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Casus Belli *

Interesting; no window this time.

 Red_Dragon wrote:

So do these people really go out a window, or are they just killed and that's how the media is told to report it as an understood message?