I think you mean UK's privateer roots as they're grabbing pirate ships paid for with money stolen from the Russian people. Important to remember who the pirates are. Who the invaders are. Who the outlaws are. Dunno what happened to this place, used to be about making cheap cameras into good cameras to give regular folks a seat at the table. Now it's a cheer club for oligarchs and despots. For a citizen of lawless dictatorship to protest asset seizure is Orwellian. Btw, been following this place for years and most of what Vitaly says will happen in politics and economics never happens. I mean you'd think a blind squirrel would occasionally find an acorn. According to him, the US should be a smoldering dystopia at this point. He knows camera software and gear, not the future, or even the present.

@gunlusting Not everyone agrees with Vitaly here and he doesn't agree with Putin. But where he does follow Putin is in the indiscriminate way he sprays words around like Nazi or idiot. I agree with you, a supreme messianic leader with a longstanding festering grievance who, first denies that he is going to, then invades his weaker neighbouring country with massive force and violence, claiming he is saving a few of his ethnic brothers - that all has a sense of deja vu about it. But I don't want to call Putin a Nazi. Hitler was uniquely evil. I will call this whole invasion evil though otherwise the word isn't of much use to me.

Kasparov was asked a day or so ago if he thought Putin was a chessplayer. He replied no, chessplayers play by the rules. He said that Putin was a poker player who keeps winning with weak hands by bluffing because the West is afraid to call him. So effectively, he keeps throwing Armaggedon into the pot and then walks away without anyone seeing his cards. But, unless he really is crazy, he is bluffing and the long term outlook for someone who gets by bluffing is usually not good.

Vitaly also knows that the oligarchs robbed Russian citizens of their wealth in the Russian gangster capitalism of the nineties and squirreled it away in foreign countries. I think he also knows that most of them are very friendly with Putin and have supported him thoughout his long hold on power. But, unfortunately, Vitaly seems to support the closing down of the non state and foreign media which might better inform his fellow citizens about this reality. Only time will tell whether the Russian people will be happy with such a North Korean style lockdown.

I've been here since 2010 and he's been pretty accurate to me. We just shut down Russian media everywhere, and used the ever useful "disinformation" as an excuse. They have to come up with that word because they know they can't come out and say "lying" and get away with it. So, a tit-for-tat on their part can't be honestly interpreted as "lawless dictatorship". As far as a smouldering dystopia - have you been to San Francisco? Portland? Los Angeles trainyards?

"We are seeing the collapse of post Cold War triumphalism, “end of history”, “unilateralism” and all the rest of it. Reality is biting, and biting hard. All you have to do is watch CNN’s parade of talking heads and “experts” speculating about how crazy Putin is: they don’t understand, therefore he must be nuts. For the West, as it has been, it’s over. The confusion, the bullshit, the boasting, the hysteria, the bans: the West has nothing left in the locker. Pour Russian vodka down the toilet, fire a singer and director, change the name of a drink or a salad, ban cats or trees, sanction a Russian plutocrat and steal his yacht, wear a blue and yellow t-shirt. Pathetic. And don’t, under any circumstances, allow a Russian outlet to tempt the sheeple with “disinformation”. Just like the USSR but stupider. And who thought stupider was even possible?"

-Patrick Armstrong, former analyst Canadian Department of National Defence

@Lincoln11

Well, they can't tolerate Trump even and you want them to tolerate different opinion of such type?

It is famous saying - Democracy is the dictatorship of democrats.