Apologies for the length of this.
I won’t insult anyone’s intelligence by suggesting that we ignore the two rather obvious elephants in the room as regards the Russian extremist laws. The first and biggest elephant is of course the backdrop of the former Soviet Union’s oppressive rule. Knowing that Vlad and his Impalers have their roots in the KGB additionally makes the elephant impossible to ignore.
The second elephant is the Russian Orthodox Church and everything else that Vlad and his Impalers believe should be protected.
Having said that, let’s take a close look at the actual 2002 legislation, which I believe is genius. After the events of 9/11/2001, the US and other nations quickly developed and enacted laws to mitigate terrorist activity. All of these laws were designed to give governments more TACTICAL powers and abilities to track, listen to, record, wiretap, intercept, etc. communications from anyone suspected of terrorist activities.
Most of these laws toe stepped on existing constitutions. The US Patriot Act was designed so that it was inevitable that the CIA, NSA, et al would trample all over everyone’s rights. They did. But these laws enabled tactical and more proactive measures by governments to mitigate terrorism.
All of the laws were tactical that is with one exception: Russia. Russia developed and enacted an anti-terrorist law in response to 9/11 that was designed to address terrorism from a root cause perspective. It is the only law that utilizes a STRATEGIC approach to mitigating the problem.
Note Article 3 of the Federal Law of July 25 2002, as amended in 2006, 2007 and 2008:
Article 3. Main thrusts for combating extremist activity- The combating of extremist activity shall follow the main thrusts listed below:
"Taking of preventive measures aimed at preventing extremist activity, including the detection and subsequent elimination of the causes and conditions facilitating the carrying out of extremist activity; detection, prevention and suppression of extremist activity of public and religious associations, other organisations and physical individuals."
If you can separate from the KGB, the old Soviet Union and the ROC for a second and simply view these laws as they are written, they are the ONLY laws that will prove effective against extremist activities over the long term. I’m a root cause analysis person. I would rather do something one time to fix the problem forever than continuing to put worthless bandages on a bleeding wound.
The genius of this seems lost on many of you. Islamic terrorism exists because one nasty religion thinks that its god is better than other nasty religions. Much of the divisiveness, hatred, oppression and discrimination on this planet exists for the same reason: One vile religion thinks that its god is better than my god or your god.
Russian laws are designed to address the problem by a strategic, long term approach. If the ROC would stay out of this fray and Mother Russia would stop using KGB tactics to ‘find’ Dub literature, the rest of the world would likely sit back in awe of these laws.
Imagine. No religion. Nothing to kill or die for. Lennon was right, but humans are a pathetic species and most seem to need religion to make them behave. The next best option is for religions to police themselves. How is that working out for us???????
The next best option is for governments to place rational limits on what a religion can teach and their activities. That is what Vlad and the Impalers are doing.
Let it come.
