[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: Reports of intimidation

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
Reports of intimidation
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1196794250.shtml


   Via the [1]Moscow Times:

     Voters complained of intimidation and attempted bribery in what
     election observers called a coordinated effort to boost United
     Russia's results in the State Duma vote on Sunday.

     Golos, the only independent Russian monitoring group, said it
     received more than 3,500 calls on its complaints hotline.

     "We know for certain that this is just a drop in the ocean," said
     Grigory Melkonyants, Golos' deputy head. "We are seeing serious
     violations that we are afraid will just be ignored."

     He said the fact that similar violations were being reported around
     the country suggested that orders had come from the authorities.

     Opposition parties said they had recorded dozens of violations, and
     a popular LiveJournal elections blog carried reports of violations
     as well.

   Speaking of LiveJournal, [2]Wired reports:

     Six Apart, has sold the LiveJournal blogging platform to Russian
     media company, SUP. Although SUP is based in Russia, LiveJournal
     development will remain in San Francisco with the majority of the
     LiveJournal team at Six Apart staying on board....

     Will LiveJournal users fare better under Russian control? As you
     would expect of LiveJournal users conspiracy theories and backlash
     are currently raging across the site, but at least in the short
     term, most of these concerns seem misplaced.

   Yeah, right. As [3]one commenter said, "Just ask Alexander Litvinenko
   how safe he was from Russia by living in a Western Democracy."

References

   1. http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2007/12/03/011.html
   2. http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/12/six-apart-casts.html
   3. http://news.livejournal.com/104520.html?thread=65934408#t65934408