Greenpeace surprised that Russian prisons are inhospitable
Mostly, I’m surprised that the environmental activists didn’t know that it’s tough in a Russian prison. I mean, didn’t they read “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”? Apparently not. There were arrested for their protest over Arctic oil drilling a few months ago. In a link sent to us by Mark, from Fox News the protesters are “close to shock” over their treatment;
The foreign detainees are struggling to make themselves understood since virtually none of the prison staff speaks English, she said. One of the activists has consulted a psychologist.
Several of the foreign nationals have been placed in cells with Russians even though this breaches Russian law, Paikacheva added.
A Polish activist is sharing a cell with four Russians, while one of the British activists has two Russian cellmates, both accused of robbery.
Several non-smoking activists also complain of being placed in cells with chain-smokers.
Gee, imagine that – they were arrested for illegal behavior and sent to some Russian prisons north of the Arctic Circle. Poor little hippies. Who knew that in this day and age, people actually get punished for breaking laws?
Category: I hate hippies
Throw a few of those assclowns from “Whale Watchers” in there and I’d be a happy man.
At least nobody sank their damn boat at the pier, right?
Whoops–“Whale Wars”. Same thing. Hippies being dipshits and paying the price for it.
Boo-freakin-hoo.
“When in Rome, . . . “
These guys are pirates. They’re damned lucky that the Russians didn’t treat them like they do other pirates.
There’s still hope, though, that they get to spend a good long time in some far north Gulag so they can dwell on that whole “actions have consequences” concept.
Too funny. But, these are the folks who consider being arrested a resume enhancer.
personally I can’t wait till they tow their boat out to deep water and have the Russian Navy use it for target practice.
Yo, Tim–I’d love for those hippies to show up off the coast of Cushing, Rockland, etc., to come “protest” those poor innocent stupid lobsters being sent to their steamy deaths.
Christ, fisherman/lobstermen around here shoot EACH OTHER over less.
Watched a Science channel piece on the toughest Russian prisons. Those MFers don’t play.
One thing I learned very early on in my time in uniform–even in the good ‘ol US of A, don’t EVER fuck around with da po-po. And if you’re in a non-SOFA country, doubly so.
The “whale wars” guys are goofy, and Paul Watson is such a huge pain in the 4ss that he was kicked out of greenpeace even though he was one of the founders…however, I give them some credit for having the conviction of their beliefs to do something about an issue that no one wants to address.
The Japs don’t need to be killing the whales in violation of treaties that make doing so an illegal act. Slapping a couple of “research vessel” signs on the side of a factory processing ship doesn’t fool anybody….the sad part is the whaling industry in Japan would not even be profitable if not for the government propping the industry up and several Japanese scientists have said the so-called research is completely bogus and follows no known scientific protocol whatsoever.
F#ck the Japs and their continued disregard for the rules they have promised to follow. I am hoping that Australia continues to pound those slick little b4stards into legal submission…
The tears. They are delicious.
This should be re-named a “Feel Good Story”
TC
Exactly what I was thinking…..
@10–VOV–Paul Watson is one bad break away from being shark food. I won’t say one bad decision because pretty much EVERY decision I’ve seen him make when I’ve flipped through that show has been a bad one.
But hey–play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
I saw some show a while back about Russian prisons and what the tattoos mean. Those idiots will be luck if they leave with their teeth intact.
Those doofii were lucky they weren’t shot off the side of that oil platform. Or fed to the sharks after they were retrieved.
The Russians that control those platforms have no sense of humor where their paychecks are concerned.
For all the Greenpeace folks: Remember, we’re behind you 100% and support you fully. As a token of our esteeem, here is your first language lesson in Russian – this is a phrase to use to every guard at any time… it will guaranteed make him look at you in a new light. Pronounce it as “yobe tvaiyoo maht” (that’s a long O and silent E in yobe – rhymes with lobe.)Say it often, the Russians use it as an all-purpose phrase.
Further lessons will follow as needed.
David–okay, I got a good chuckle out of that one. Fortunately I had no food or beverage anywhere near the computer at the time.
@14 I’m waiting for him to sink one of his own larger boats, he’s managed to get some of the smaller high speed craft broken and sinking so far without killing anyone….but no doubt he’ll make the jump to getting people killed soon enough…
I don’t mind them harassing the Japanese ships though because those 4ssholes deserve it, the Southern Ocean Sanctuary is not supposed to be the place where whales go to be killed and eaten by the Japanese…they are NOT doing research they are whaling, everybody in the whole world knows they are lying their 4sses off and only the lunatic fringe cares….that’s what p1sses me off a bit. And it does make me consider those “sea shepherds” as having some guts if not much intellect….
While I agree that they need to have a life lesson taught, the conditions in the Russian prisons are truly deplorable and inhumane. Not just “rough” and Sheriff Arpaio camp is a summer camp compared to any Russian prison or prison camp where the convicted serve their sentences.
@17, you trying to get those poor b4stards killed? That’s funny sh1t, but….
@17 That’ll get ’em some up close and personal, special attention!
well, to be really honest, I was counting on their internet connection in the Lubyanka not being all that reliable.
Kinda reminds me of the famous Charles Bronson- James Coburn language lesson in “The Great Escape”, though….
AAAAAWWWW, da poooow widdwe hippies, BWAAAAAHAHAHA….
Now they get to SQUUUEAL for Boris and Ivan instead of Bubba and Thor if they were jailed Stateside!! OH, and there’s no ACLU over there either, whatever happens to them in jail there, the Ivans won’t give a shitski!
@20: They made a choice to break the law in a foreign country. Fifteen seconds on a computer using the search term “Conditions of Russian prisons” could have prevented this.
VOV: “yob t’voyu mat” – yeah, that might not be exactly the first phrase a new guy in a Russian jail would want to use around his cellmates. Not even if you add “tovarish” and a smile at the end.
You might not want to use it too much in most of Eastern Europe, either. I understand many spoken phrases are rather understandable among most of the spoken Slavic languages, and I understand that’s one of them. (smile)
@20: possibly true – and completely irrelevant.
“When in Rome, . . . . ” Or risk ending up in a Roman jail.
but, but, but in the United States I act like an idiot, pose for the cameras getting into the Paddy Wagon, pay a $50 fine, go home , and then complain about the brutality of the police. I don’t understand why this is happening to me? Don’t the Russians know the drill?
Seems to me the little darlings aren’t all that smart; narcistic and smug, but not smart. I imagine they were under the impression that they would be treated like they would be in a Western country. Unfortunately for them, the Russians aren’t impressed by a bunch of smelly hippies messing with their stuff. The Russians don’t give a flying f**k at a rolling donut that you think you have some sort of “rights” that protect you while you’re being a dumbass. They don’t care that you want a no smoking cell. They don’t care if you don’t understand Russian. Environmental protesters are lower on the food chain than political opponents in Russia. They will be lucky if they don’t get passed around the cell for the next 20 years.
*that should be narcissistic
Hondo – spent some time in eastern Europe and while they are trying to forget Russian and are mostly studying English like crazy, that’s probably not a phrase they are likely to forget any time soon.
David: if I recall what a former colleague who spoke a bit of Serbo-Croatian told me, the phrase is fairly similar in that dialect. Polish also has broad overlap with Russian (a late relative of mine who spoke Polish could acutally follow and get the main points of Khrushchev’s speeches when he visited the US in 1959, but couldn’t translate them word-for-word). I’m guessing it would be reasonably well understood there also – as well as in the Baltics, the Ukraine and Belorussia.
Dunno about Slovenian, Slovakian, or Bulgarian. I understand Romanian is based on Latin, so it’s probably said somewhat differently there. And I understand Albanian is really quite the aberration, so the same is probably true there also. (smile)
Oh – I thought that THIS was the Wednesday Feel Good Story.
@17…when I was a contractor at a Navy acquisition command, I greeted some unwelcome news with that expression.
It turned out that both of my co-workers were retired from the Naval Security Group…as Cryptology Technician Interpreters.
And they both spoke Russian.
Finally, the woman of the pair asked, “(Poohbah)…where did you learn to speak Russian?”
Me: “Same place everyone learns Russian. From reading Tom Clancy novels.”
well, the grammatical structures of most of the Slavic languages are similar to Greek or Latin – that is what saved me at DLI. The juicier profanity is somewhat localized but a lot, as you say, is generally similar (like the Russian gavno and the Czech hovno.) Besides, context is always key.
I’ve also heard that when people get arrested in Russia, they often spend months, in many cases years in jail before they even get a hearing. That, and the Russkies believe in giving their inmates “The Three C’s”, Cold food, Cold cells, and COLD SHOWERS whenever they’re lucky enough to get one, PERIOD!! I have visited the Ukraine a few times, and I’d recommend they tell their cellmates “Ya tvoy”! BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA….
Real Life is a bitch.
I’m beginning to think it’s a pity they didn’t mess with Singaporeans instead. Imagine the screaming and bawling they’d do as soon as they got sentenced to be caned!!! Oh well, LIFE AND LEFTIST HIPPIES ARE BITCHES in Russian jails & prisons!
One thing they can get in a Russian prison is some bad ass tattoos