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A brief dictionary of Putin newspeak

Putin The Puppet Master (Image: Zina Saunders)
Putin The Puppet Master (Image: Zina Saunders)
A brief dictionary of Putin newspeak
Edited by: A. N.

As George Orwell warned more than half a century ago, a dictatorship that can enforce its definition of key terms on the population provides itself with an incredibly powerful defense because all too often people use the terms it has redefined for its own purposes in discussions about it and are unable to adequately understand the situation.

That makes it very difficult for them to fight against the dictatorship, Ivan Nepomnyashchiy says, something that is clearly in evidence with the Orwellian newspeak that Vladimir Putin and his regime have promoted and to a large extent imposed on many Russians and some outsiders.

To help such people better understand what they are up against and what they must do to fight it, the Moscow commentator provides brief definitions of 14 terms that have been gutted of their original meaning by the Putin regime in its defense of itself and no longer mean what many are encouraged to believe.

Below are partial translations into English of the translations Nepomnashchiy offers into ordinary Russian:

  • Extremism. “Extremism is any speech or action of citizens (most often peaceful) against the mafia regime which has seized power in Russia and which rules in its own interests.”
  • Foreign Agents. These are “any citizens and organizations which speak out in Russia again the mafia regime which has seized power and which are financed by democratic organizations of other countries which are also struggling against such mafia regimes.”
  • Contemporary Legislation of Russia. This is “the kleptocratic law of the class of the kleptocracy which has seized power and created its laws as a reflection and expression of its interests.”
  • Anti-Extremism Legislation. This is any measure promoted by the authorities which “prohibits the struggle of citizens against the mafia regime.”
  • Legal and Illegal Laws. “Legal laws are laws which reflect the interests of the people. Illegal laws are those which reflect not the interests of the people but the interests of one or another class or individual in power.”
  • Center E, Courts, National Guard, Jails and Police. These are “the oprichniki of the mafia regime which has seized power. Their goal is the defense of this regime and its class but not of the citizens of Russia, their rights and freedoms.”
  • Sovereignty. In Russia now, this is “the supremacy of the rule of the mafia regime and the laws created by it to defend its interests and supported by the oprichniki.”
  • Color Revolutions.” These are “peaceful and less peaceful risings of peoples and citizens against the kleptocratic regimes which have seized power. Because that is the case, the mafia and the kleptocratic regimes so fear these revolutions.”
  • The State. “The present-day government of Russia is a kleptocratic state which has seized power in the country and realizes in it the interests of the kleptocracy now in power.”
  • The Interests of Russia. “The interests of Russia as long as the kleptocratic mafia state exists in Russia, are not those of the people but the interests of the thieves and embezzlers in Russia. These interests harm Russia and its peoples because they completely contradict the real interests of Russia and its people.”
  • Ties that Bind. These are false ideas that serve the interests of the kleptocracy and undermine the interests of the Russian people.
  • Ruling Parties.” “’Ruling parties’ are the grouping of decorative political parties which defend the kleptocracy, feed off it and support its regime.”
  • Free Elections.” These in Russia are “elections in favor of the kleptocracy,” a complete fiction compared to the real thing.
  • Sovereign Democracy. This is “the rule in Russia of the regime of the mafia, which operates on the supremacy of power of the kleptocratic regime and its illegal laws which is supported by the oprichniki.”

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Edited by: A. N.
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