Today, on the 2nd of
October, Russia surprised us all once again by charging Greenpeace
activists with piracy. The merely peaceful, as the name suggests,
organization is outraged by these charges which proceed the attempted boarding of
a Russian state-owned oil platform in the Arctic on September 18th,
2013.
It’s
not uncommon to see Russia follow its crazy and irrational stereotype but it’s
always nice to know that a country, which I am from, is keeping up with its
reputation. Russian investigators charged 7 people from all over the world with
piracy and if found guilty, they could face 15 years of imprisonment.
Greenpeace
is nothing but furious, calling this move an “outrage”, states the Voice
of America. International Executive of Greenpeace, Director Kumi Naidoo,
believes that it’s a way of silencing the protestors but the organization will
not stop because of these threats.
The
Greenpeace is brave to say the least. I honestly hoped that the memory of Pussy Riot will be a lesson
to those that ever try to cross paths with the Russian government. Not to say
that what the members of the Greenpeace group was bad, it was righteous and
everyone should be able to protest about whatever it is they wish but when
dealing with crazy; righteous very rarely wins. Clashes like this also just
make many Russians ashamed of their government, which isn’t the nicest.
Putin
is already trying to change his words, reports the
Independent. Russia’s President stated that the activists “are clearly not
pirates”. Does that sound a little bizarre considering that his actions show
otherwise? Also, does everyone remember the
time he stole a Super Bowl ring and said he didn’t do it? It seems like
there is a developing trend here of this ‘truthful’ story telling.
Having
a personal connection with Russia and being very passionate about its politics
probably makes me sound more snarky and biased on this topic, but nonetheless, I
feel the need to share my opinion. Most Russian news upset me to no end, and I would
like to apologize on behalf of the population for these insane stunts that
remind us all about former USSR. It seems like history has a way of repeating
itself.
People
can say whatever they want but I certainly believe that what’s happening is
uncalled for. Russia’s race for power is nothing more but pathetic in the eyes
of International politics. Being a superpower, a country like this should be
able to put itself in the news for greater things, like healthcare plans and
scientific discoveries, but instead it chooses to go down the ‘any publicity is
good publicity’ path and gets it wrong every time.
