A comment I wouldn’t expect to appear in #Russia in 2024, published on VChK-OGPU Telegram channel with 2 millions subscribers.[^1] A vicious criticism of the Russian security services, literally describing them as incompetent, corrupt rascals who mastered theft but can’t prevent a terrorist attack. Agalarov is the owner of “Crocus”, an oligarch on whom the authorities now try to blame various factors that contributed to such a large number of victims.
At exactly these minutes, Aras Agalarov is conducting probably the most important negotiations in his life, the outcome of which will determine where his son Emin will sing in the coming years - on the stage of his father’s new concert hall or in the “red corner” of a prison. After all the details of the terrorist attack[^2] in the Crocus City Hall came out and it became clear to the investigators of the Investigative Committee that the fire and ventilation systems in the building did not work, the doors of emergency exits and fire stairs were closed, and the alarm system turned out to be a decoration, Aras Agalarov is trying to “solve the issue” in a hurry. It is already known that so much money has been poured into the media and Telegram[^3] that a new Crocus could have been built. But this time the billionaire from Azerbaijan will not get away with PR resources alone. Political scientist Abbas Gallamov is absolutely right, who claims that right now “the top of the power corporation is undressing Agalarov”. The irony of the moment is not even in the fact that these same law enforcers used to protect Crocus and turned a blind eye to unaccounted migrants and the status of the complex, which has not yet been officially put into operation (!!!), but in the fact that these law enforcers slept through the terrorist attack and were unable to save the people in Crocus. But having returned to their usual work - taking away businesses and racketing merchants - they will cope quickly and effectively. It’s not like fighting with terrorists. However, the outcome of the confrontation between the billionaire, experienced in corruption, and the pack of serious men in civilian clothes surrounding him has not yet been decided. At stake is very big money and equally big terms, which in our “legal system” depend on the skills and talents of negotiators. Let’s hope that Aras at least has ears for now, and that Emin has not been connected to a telephone yet.
The part about “telephone” is of course a reference to the public display of torture where Russians connected genitals of one of the Tadjik suspects to a high-voltage field telephone. The part about “red corner” refers to Russian prison “culture room” or a library.
In general, I think we’re just watching a growing wave of social discontent about the whole security apparatus in Russia. The “Ukrainian trace” is barely mentioned by any serious analysts.
[^1]: https://t.me/vchkogpu/47022
[^2]: https://www.sovsekretno.ru/articles/bezopasnost/krokus-kak-zerkalo-sovremennoy-rossii/
@kravietz
> A comment I wouldn’t expect to appear in #Russia in 2024, published on VChK-OGPU Telegram channel with 2 millions subscribers. A vicious criticism of the Russian security services, literally describing them as incompetent, corrupt rascals who mastered theft
See? These guys aren't evil as most seem to think — and they shouldn't receive any credit for that. They are just incredibly, simply mind-bogglingly dumb — only now they are starting to realize what was going on for two decades!
I don’t think these are separate categories - evil doesn’t need to be highly intelligent to be well, extremely evil. I always keep in mind Hannah Arendt’s analysis of “banality of evil” - German men and women who were milkmen, drivers, carpenters etc but during the war did the most heinous things as soldiers, policemen, concentration camp guards… only to return to their boring civilian jobs after the war. Most of the DNR/LPR “leaders” were some miserable salesmen and scammers before the war, “Motorola” top career was at a car wash. Yet, they run countries and decide of fate of thousands of people.
@kravietz
That is so! But evil intent is still very different from genuine stupidity, some high ranking propagandists like Soloviev or Simonyan — they are evil, they lie and they know that they lie, they know their lie enables atrocities, some believe they spread disinformation to confuse the enemy, not them — they are well aware they spread it among those whose side they claim to be on. They know that and they still do it for their personal gain, they don't really have a side.
@kravietz
They might lie too, but they still believe that they do it for some good — and they get genuinely disappointed when they realize that it was a lie too, that it was always a lie — they might even have their moment of truth, like Murz.
Some of them are from Donbass — and they might be even more branwashed themselves than average Russian. They are just genuinely clueless — about what's happening in Russia and Russia's real, not official, history.
@kravietz
There are exceptions of course, like Sasha Kots — he's one evil fuck, I simply can't believe that one can be that dumb and still be able to speak 😂
Anyway, I think these should be handled separately — some obviously need help to get disappointed, when they do — they often become the most fierce enemies of those whom they used to work for. Those "evil" ones can be simply bought — like I said, they don't have a side. There is a third category…
@kravietz
There are people, who, like you yourself said — were nobodies, but then, all of a sudden, they become the centre of attention — and they are often capable of doing the most evil and most stupid shit to make it last a little longer. I don't think there's anything that could be done about these — they aren't bright, but they probably do realize that they still have zero value and would turn back to nobodies during peaceful time — if they are even allowed to remain alive.
@kravietz
This doesn't mean they are smart — when they savour torture and deaths, it doesn't even come to their mind that those whom they lie to today, would feel the same when it would be happening to them — that their lies brings out the darkness that will consume them too in time. They don't even realize that those whom they work for can't win and that it's just a matter of time.
But these "military correspondents" are nothing like that — most of them indeed buy their own BS.