Have you ever been to Russia? No.
America limits freedom of their citizens to an extent you cannot fathom in, in Russia.
Ah yes,
freedom in Mother Russia...
One year after Vladimir Putin's third inauguration as Russia's President, the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly have come under increasing attack, despite the fact that these rights are explicitly guaranteed by the Russian Constitution and international human rights treaties to which Russia is party.
At least two new laws have been introduced and eleven (five Federal and six regional) laws have been amended including broad provisions that allow for arbitrary interference with the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly despite legally binding decisions of regional and universal human rights bodies in this regard. As a result, the space for political opposition and other forms of dissent is rapidly shrinking, as well as for operations of non-governmental organizations, in particular those reliant on overseas funding. These recent legal initiatives have the declared aim of ensuring public order and the protection of the rights of citizens. Their effect has been the opposite: prominent government critics, opposition voices, watchdogs and ordinary individual protesters (on a wide range of issues) have all seen their rights restricted over the course of the last year.
The right to freedom of assembly has been restricted through excessively onerous approval procedures, sharply increased sentences, the imposition of additional responsibilities on organizers, and increased liability for the actions of participants. The few large scale protests that have been authorized cannot obscure the great many, both large and, mostly, very small, that have been arbitrarily banned or dispersed. New restrictions on the freedom of association and expression have had serious implications for civil society in the Russian Federation. Organizations in receipt of foreign funding are required to describe themselves as "foreign agents", if considered to be involved in undefined "political activities". This requirement is inconsistent with international human rights standards. A wave of inspections of NGOs across the country by prosecutors and tax officials in March and April 2013 appears to have set the grinding wheels of this law's application in motion.
You are only free if you agree with Putin. If you disagree with Putin or criticise his leadership or his actions.. well.. You will most likely end up in prison or dead.
Journalists are especially ripe for the picking.. Sadly, that figure has gone up..
Are those the freedoms you say that Americans cannot even fathom in Russia?
Or did you mean the "freedoms" they have when
Putin ensures that any opposition websites are virtually banned?
The Russian government has blocked several Russian Web sites noted for their criticism of President Vladimir Putin and his government.
Russian Internet service providers were ordered Thursday to cut off access to a handful of sites, including those of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and famed chess champion Garry Kasparov, who runs opposition information site kasparov.ru.
Those freedoms?
And I am not even touching on how Putin has enacted laws that virtually remove the rights of anyone who happens to be LGBT and their family and friends and making blasphemy a criminal offense..
Yes, Mother Russia.. Where freedom means imprisonment or death if one does not agree with Putin.
So before dissing on Russia, go there and live there and than tell me who is more free. Gulags are a thing of the far past, plenty of people in jail in USA, in fact the most of any country. Also there is a thing called "economical prison" through debt, and the numbers in USA experiencing this "Economical Gulag" are plenty. This off the grid prohibision is just another example of the American Gulag scheme.
Or visit and live in North Korea, where you are guaranteed to have about the same level of "freedom" as if you live in Putin's Russia.