r/worldnews • u/DownWithAssad • 5d ago

Russia sentences 15-year-old schoolboy to 5 years for criticizing Putin regime and war against Ukraine Russia/Ukraine

https://khpg.org/en/1608813775
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u/DankNerd97 5d ago

Can we start referring to russia as a dictatorship and stop referring to putin (I won't capitalizing these) as a president, but rather a dictator?

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u/El_Lanf 5d ago

President is just the default title for most republics, it doesn't have to infer any level of suffrage. He might decry it, but I think putin might quite enjoy the recognition of his paramount power and domination over Russia by being labeled dictator whilst also crying that he's a victim of the west's latest malign ambitions and smears.

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u/DankNerd97 5d ago

Russia isn’t a republic.

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u/El_Lanf 5d ago

It's not 1917, so yes it is. If it's not a monarchy, it's a republic. The same applies to DPRK, PRC, basically every authoritarian regime that isn't a monarchy you can think of. Note many will have republic in the title too.

Russia is listed as a semi presidential (i.e. it has a prime minister who is head of government) republic and as Wikipedia notes, under an authoritarian dictatorship.

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u/DankNerd97 5d ago

How naïve are you? There are more than two forms of government.

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u/El_Lanf 5d ago

A nation state either has a monarch, or it doesn't. The rest is just shades of flavour. I live in the UK which is not a republic as we have a monarch who is head of state but it is a fairly well functioning democracy.

What is Russia if not a republic and tell me what a republic is and don't tell me dictatorship because that's not mutually exclusive with being a republic. A republic is not a democracy. A republic doesn't need a voting system. Go Google these terms first before arguing any more about definitions.

The term republic is a very empty phrase. The USSR was also a republic.

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u/Calazon2 5d ago

The most common modern definition of "republic" is (quoting from Merriam-Webster Dictionary) "a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law" and "a political unit (such as a nation) having such a form of government".

Yes, other definitions exist, but this is the most common and most helpful one.

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u/El_Lanf 5d ago

I think it's interesting depending on the source whether republicanism is defined by being opposite of monarchism. In that definition monarchy isn't even mentioned as in American society the idea of having a monarchy is nonexistent now. In many places though, having a monarch is an important part of their history and any change from that, even to a non democratic form of government is monumental in itself.

And being part of a nation that meets that definition of republic yet objectively is not classified as one makes me quite cognisant that the mere word republic is quite a hollow one. Should the word republic necessarily carry should benevolent baggage? In my opinion, not although the diminished state of monarchies today make them appear irrelevant and antiquated.

I personally think countries should be defined whether they are democracies (which is a term more often independently judged and graded) than republics as the very case of Russia in of itself shows dejure constitution does not reflect well the defacto state. Funny semantics given republic and democracy are essentially the same word from Latin and greek roots respectively.

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u/Low-Union6249 5d ago

Still, in a free democracy we call things as they are, it’s good practice, otherwise you become more vulnerable to propaganda.

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u/CurrencyFit7659 5d ago

He's not president, according to Russian constitution you cannot be a president more than 2 times.

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u/AlabamaPostTurtle 4d ago

I’m surprised he doesn’t refer to himself as King

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u/TheRedHand7 5d ago

I mean I don't think there's any sane person that would argue that Russia is really a democratic country but frankly the people who like Putin like that about him.

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u/DarkPinkNight 5d ago

Most people are already doing that. And not just putin, but all the russian whores supporting him, he does not stand alone, a huge part of russia is with him. A country of spineless terrorist whores is what we call them here in Latvia.

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u/m703324 5d ago

Most of the civilized world does that already. Neighboring countries have known this for a long time, the rest are catching up. It's been a crime syndicate from day one but last bits of legitimacy were wiped after the Medvedev puppet circus and rewriting the constition to have total indefinite control.

Most people dying in Ukraine were born when putin was already in power. All they know is putinstan

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u/Dismal-Square-613 5d ago

start referring to russia as a dictatorship and stop referring to putin (I won't capitalizing these) as a president

I've never understood why is this a thing.

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u/EnjoyerOfBeans 4d ago

Is there really any debate? He's a president, that's a formal title, but Russia is obviously a dictatorship by all relevant metrics.

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u/cest_va_bien 5d ago

Not really, the country has the authority to call its leader whatever it wants. It’s also a fake republic but one nonetheless.