How in Russia killed LiveJournal

During the past year, the most popular blog platform Livejournal.com (LiveJournal) was virtually destroyed as an independent resource in Russia. Against the background of the beginning of the annexation of the Crimea, it radically changed its meaning, and became another tool of the Kremlin propaganda.

Russian disinformation machine works absolutely on all channels of mass communication. Kiselev and Ko total control of the Russian federal channels, which allows them to instill in their audience ideas of any degree of delusionalness.

A different situation on the Internet, where the opinion can be expressed by anyone. In the densely corked Russian atmosphere, online diaries (blogs) began to occupy a very special place. In the zero years, they served as a kind of outlet for those who wished to have an opinion different from what is broadcast on television.

Even the American creators of the Livejournal.com blog platform were surprised by the unprecedented popularity of their brainchild in Russia. In the US, a significant proportion of users did keep closed diaries for their own satisfaction.

In Russia, Livejournal, also known as LiveJournal (or even easier, LiveJournal) has become almost the key open platform. Such carriers of anti-Putin rhetoric as Boris Akunin, Bozhena Rynska, Anton Nosik and many others have manifested themselves in its open spaces.

The end of “dashing zero”

However, at the beginning of the tenth century, Kremlin propagandists finally realized that a very large and important segment of the audience was getting out of influence. Opinion leaders, the thinking audience of the blogosphere began to live in a separate information world, which was very different from the “television”. What fundamentally did not suit the omnipresent heir of the KGB – the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB).

Russian regulatory authorities entered into a hard clinch with the owner of LJ – the company SUP Media (now Rambler-Afisha-SUP). The outcome of the confrontation was predictable. Livejournal began becoming increasingly controlled by a unified information policy adopted in the Russian Federation.

The FSB and the CJS have been fighting for several years in local areas, opening and closing individual posts, or even bloggers. In addition, by 2014, the significance of LJ decreased slightly. More and more users transferred their activity from the blogosphere to social networks.

And then thunder struck – in February 2014, the Russian Federation began the annexation of the Crimea. Back in 2013, Livejournal had enough negative articles about the supposed European integration of Ukraine, and later about the events on the Maidan. But the beginning of the Crimean events showed LJ, as an independent platform has ceased to exist at the same time.

Ratio

If in 2013, anti-Putin rhetoric occupied almost 2/3 of the information field in LiveJournal, in February-March 2014 it disappeared completely. Early last year, Kremlin propagandists succeeded in a unique trick. Television reality and the one that existed in Runet, almost ceased to be different. The last islands of independence were cleaned (Lenta.ru and Ekho Moskvy), after which no one and nothing could prevent the Russians from merging into a single Krymnash!

On the path of insane enthusiasm, the inhabitants of the Russian Federation did not have a single segment where an alternative point of view could be represented.

Of course, this operation would have been impossible, had it not affected the deep Russian longing for past greatness and territorial acquisitions. Of course, no one even thought about the coming collapse of the Russian ruble and the economic catastrophe looming now. Moreover, absolutely all channels of communication – television, social networks and the blogosphere were heard loud “Putin! Crimea! Russia!”. It was this wave that became the first stage of a series of insane actions, which, unfortunately, continue to this day.

But there was one that didn’t shoot.

We must pay tribute, even in this situation, some bloggers have managed to maintain objectivity. For example, Ilya Varlamov (nickname in LiveJournal – zyalt) dared to go to the Crimea (and even earlier – to the Maidan) and brought from there truthful photo stories about the events leading to the occupation of the peninsula. In particular, in his photographs were depicted in all details the famous “green men”. That is, the Russian military, who treacherously turned their weapons against Ukraine.

Other opinion leaders were less courageous. For example, Artemy Lebedev (tema) combined the useful with the pleasant. He wrote a post that the annexation, of course, was held with the participation of the Russian army, and not just one “self-defense of the Crimea.” But Artemy also went into a lengthy argument that the Russian warriors looked surprisingly cohesive and toned up. In short, they turned the criminal case, but very clearly. Artemy, as a designer, could not help but admire.

TOP LJ

The point is that in Livejournal, it is important who is in the TOP, that is, on the start page. According to the policy that the SUP declares, bloggers get into them in order of importance. That is, depending on the number of subscribers and views of this blog. However, in the fact that LiveJournal really clings to this principle, doubts have arisen repeatedly. Many analysts said that in TOP LiveJournal, bloggers’ entries are moved manually, depending on the current political situation. Critical entries can move out of sight, away from the first positions, which is why the blogosphere took on a more pleasing form to the Kremlin puppeteers.

But time passed

After the annexation of Crimea passed, and the bloody massacre began in the Donbas, opinions inside Russia began to change. Even individual authorities radically changed their attitude to the situation. For example, the writer Dmitry Bykov, one of the co-authors of the “Citizen Poet” project, more than enthusiastically met the “Crimean Spring”. But as the degree of insanity of Putin and his “war party” increased, Bykov radically greatly corrected his point of view, and attacked the regime with a considerable number of critical articles and pamphlets.

The “peace marches” that took place in summer in Moscow and other cities showed that the thinking part of Russians far from unequivocally perceives the Kremlin’s aggressive actions.

After the same, as in December there was a sharp collapse of the ruble, completely different conversations took place in the blogosphere. Which even the administrators of the SUP could not hold back.

Current affairs

At the moment, the ratio of sympathizers and critics of the Kremlin’s policy in the TOP LiveJournal is about 60/40. For comparison, in 2012 the ratio was 20/80 in favor of Putin’s critics. Moreover, “for” Putin were mostly bloggers whose political engagement was completely certain. For example, the leaders of the pro-Kremlin youth movements, such as Vasily Yakimenko, Kristina Potupchik or Vladimir Burmatov, did not hide it.

If we analyze the messalzhi that fell into the TOP LiveJournal in the middle of this week, January 20-21, 2015, then among them you can see a strong “roll forward” on Petro Poroshenko. Russians, for lack of a domestic agenda, constantly monitor the political leaders of Ukraine.

The blogger yurasumy, who bombed LJ records several times a day, accuses the president of Ukraine of “a meaningless slaughter in the Donbas.”

President Poroshenko-can not give the order to stop the meat grinder in which the APU lose hundreds of soldiers a day. DAP is a “fetish” that was created by propaganda and which “cannot” be handed over (although I understand the reasons for its creation. Nothing personal or humane).

(Further – the spelling and style of the authors is preserved).

Thoughts that without supplies from Russia of arms and “militias” in the Donbas peace would have come a long time ago, Yura does not visit Yury from the city of Sumy.

In another of his notes, this same yurasumy sucks up a provocation against Poroshenko in Zurich. At the university, where Pyotr Alekseevich held a public lecture, the “student” cried out from the audience, “I don’t want to listen to the person who is killing children.” The site StopFake disassembled this episode in detail and provides a video where the “student”, who was expelled from the audience, clearly swears in Russian.

The blogger a-s-k-e-t also wrote a post about this episode in Zurich, which he titled as “They yelled at Poroshenko in Zurich”. This was probably done in the key of another propaganda message of Russia – about the lack of independence and complete dependence of the Ukrainian leaders who go to Europe to be shouted at.

The topic of the Ukrainian president was also touched by the blogger andreyvadjra. He directed his thought towards the appearance of Peter Porshenko.

It should be noted that the view from Peter Alekseevich is not good. First thought – thumps. Informed sources confirm – yes. Yesterday he pushed another speech on the zomboyaschiku. He looked like a shriveled, sour tomato. Usually, the confectioner carries every kind of “blizzard” with a fiery look, and here it feels like a little bit to burst right into the camera. Was it blown away?

But to google and understand that Porozhenko is sick with diabetes mellitus – and for this reason, it may not matter to bloggers.

In another post, got from yurasumy and the Ukrainian Prime Minister.

Today, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Fashinyuk lifted the veil over some points of this document.

The amfora blogger is trying to convince his readers that Ukraine is gradually losing the support of the West.

She took this Ukraine, he entitled his post.

It seems that the attitude of the majority towards Ukraine can be expressed in one single word – got it out! Moreover, this will be the attitude not only of Russians. And not only Donetsk.
Because she got everyone. She took out her former citizens, took out her own citizens, got out neighbors in the east, got out neighbors in the west, got Russia, got Europe. Has already gotten herself.

Russia would leave Ukraine alone, once so “got”. The blogger is trying to promote the Kremlin message that “in Ukraine there is a civil war”, which is “very concerned” in Moscow. Of course, Putin is not a war breaker, but a peacemaker.

It is surprising that bmpd, a blogger’s post, appeared in the TOP LJ, which is the announcement of an article from another online resource http://periscope2.ru/. This is extremely uncharacteristic for LJ – being at the top of the ranking table with a link to an article from another site.

If, however, follow the link, then you can immediately get to the luxurious introduction:

For almost a quarter of a century, Russia unconditionally and meekly followed in the wake of the West, marching along the western path of development, trying to become part of the Western world. And in 2014, she entered the clinch with this civilization, a significant fragment of which she wanted to become and seems to have become.

The tendency to digress into history is shown by the user of chipstone. He titled his post “Causes and Prospects for the Renewed Massacre in South-Eastern Ukraine”.

I perceived and perceive what is happening as a civil war within the Russian people. And it hurts. It hurts not only to write, but even to think about it. What does it matter how many borders the single people were divided by traitors from politicking. Morkok over all of us for thirty years. And his roots and almost a hundred.

The pain of the soul does not lessen. Especially if the “part of a single nation”, that is, the Ukrainians, is tired of the love of the elder brother, and decided to move towards the civilized world. But her “Gradami” are trying to bring back.

The colonelcassad blogger talks about the “failures of the junta” and “the armed forces of Novorossiya”, which he here in his own way calls the BCH:

It is highly predictable, having failed in the unwinding of the provocation under Volnovakha, as well as failing in trying to blame the BCH on the shelling of the trolleybus stop in Donetsk, the junta continued its attempts to accuse the DPR and the LPR of terrorism. The old provocations with “Boeing” or the bus are no longer suitable, they were immediately replaced by the firing at “Grads” of Mariupol. This situation is not hard to see, tightly taken by the West to control. If at the beginning of the junta something else said about the shelling of “Gradami” from Novoazovsk, which were also later destroyed, then the OSCE leaders who came quickly (even faster than under Volnovakha) determined that the shelling was carried out from the village of Oktyabrsky northeast of Mariupol. All other evidence is simply not considered, the official position of the DPR, that the Grads have worked from the west of Mariupol Berdyansk, was not taken into account naturally, just as all attempts to indicate to the West that the bloody crimes of the junta with Malaysian “Boeing” or a bus under Volnovakhoy, the handiwork is not VSN. But this is understandable – for them, Russia and the people’s republics are enemies in the ongoing war, so there certainly should not be counted on objectivity. Therefore, when the head of the State Department directly accuses the DPR and Russia of what happened, this is quite an expected move.

Entries from the community peremogi.livejournal.com also constantly fall into the TOP LJ. It leaves entries in the context of the Kremlin theses about “Ukraine is no more.”

Here they like to attract “Western experts”, who finally shed light on the “insidious plan of the State Department.”

Helene Carrère d’Encausse – a historian in France, an expert on Russia – “known for her independent thinking and freedom of speech” – was invited to Geneva last Tuesday by the European Cultural Center, the Legion of Honor Society and the French Circle in Geneva.

To the question “Where can the battles for the Donetsk airport lead?” Said: “The goal is not the Donetsk airport. Behind this attack, launched by the Ukrainian government and President Poroshenko, stands above all their desire for more active intervention by the West and NATO, under the far-fetched pretext of a Russian invasion. “…“ Since the Orange Revolution of 2004, Europe was completely mistaken, the European Commission did not work well. They were unable to understand the situation. They never took into account the real elements. They interacted with Ukraine, but not with Russia. Over the years it has become worse. ”
She also believes that Russia now has problems – they are no longer from sanctions, but from falling oil prices (she said that Putin and Medvedev missed time and did not develop the domestic economy as much as possible). He says that Putin now has a hard time – on the one hand – sanctions, and on the other – he cannot leave the Russians from Eastern Ukraine – the people will not forgive him for this. He says it is necessary to find a special status for Eastern Ukraine.

As a rule, a careful study of the biographies of such experts leads to unexpected conclusions. Often, such “western Kremlin lovers” do not even dream about their “love”.

Also, the blogger putnik1 is constantly advancing in the TOP LiveJournal, which distributes the most disgusting videos about events in the Donbas.

It is also worth getting acquainted with the headlines of his posts:

GLORY OF RUINS

BEST FLUGER RUINS

Residents of Mariupol sure that they fired APU

Our first small victory over anti-Russian lectures in universities. YES!

Blood of Ukrainian donors in European markets

From the past, as they said “cozy zheshechechki” not a trace remains. Too many followers of Kisilev and Surkov have popular blogs.

Alex-anpilogov argues about the prospects of default in Ukraine

“This sweet word – default” – is called his post.

First of all, of course, Ukraine’s default will occur.
Finance and state tax revenues are pure mathematics, and no mass passes or spells in the media will postpone the date when a country cannot pay off its external or even internal debt.
The default can be approximated, but it is very difficult to postpone for any significant period in the future.

Will the author argue about default in Russia with the same fervor? Time will tell.

The blogger under the modest nickname 2015 intimidates the runet with the horrors of the Ukrainian mobilization, and even posts a demotivator on this topic.

Hopefully, one day the blogger will write about the secret funerals of the soldiers of the Russian army.

Probably another “fresh” blogger historik2015 writes a short inspirational post called “It’s time for Russia to show teeth”.

On the military, on the diplomatic, on the economic, on all fronts.
Otherwise, strangle. Games in love for the West it’s time to finish.

Russia, which already a year as saber-rattling “it’s time to end the game of love,” apparently, so says the blogger.

The same tonality is present in many other parts of the blogosphere.

Two words for Odessa

The Odessa blogosphere has also lost many of its users, a significant portion of which, without updating their blogs for a long time, went on to debating on Facebook.

Nevertheless, some bright inhabitants of Odessa continue to maintain popularity. Although, often, most of their audience is outside the city. For example, this is the Odessa poet Boris Kherson, or “Evil Odessa”, who have a lot of subscribers from Russia.

However, if the word “Odessa” is entered in the LJ search, then, unfortunately, the search results will be littered with Kremlin bots almost more than the TOP LJ. The most intensive throws were made after the tragic events of May 2 at the Hellenic and Kulikovo fields.

It should be noted that at least two Odessans played a great role in conveying the truth to the blogosphere. The user under the nickname napaki published on May 3 a more than detailed photo essay, which showed in detail who it was who attacked and from which side the first victims were.

Another blogger, an Odessa pathologist, writing under the nickname etherealstation, very convincingly dispelled the rumors that “there are two thousand more burnt people in the basements of the House of Trade Unions”. It is a pity that far from everyone in Russia, and even in Odessa, read his balanced and supported by the facts professional judgments.

Most likely, the Russian segment of Livejournal in the coming years will strengthen its loss of popularity. And the thinking part of the Runet will have to look for other platforms for discussion. A “cozy zheshezhechku” will be remembered as another example of “technology in the hands of the savage.” Which turned into a pile of pro-Kremlin spam.