Putin opens a military Disneyland. Is it for distraction?

[davidn3600]

MOSCOW — Smiling children run from tanks to rocket launchers, pausing only to check out the range of Kalashnikov assault rifles on display. Others crane their necks to admire military helicopters and fighter jets in the sky above. For dinner, the menu offers up real army rations.

Welcome to Patriot Park, a sprawling site an hour’s drive from Moscow that has come to be known as Russia’s “military Disneyland.”

Opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, the $368 million theme park — so the Kremlin hopes — will become an important element in what authorities call vital “military-patriotic work with young people” by the time it is fully operational in 2017. Mr. Putin used the opportunity at the opening of the theme park to announce that Russia would add 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles to its massive nuclear arsenal this year.

The construction of Patriot Park is just the latest sign of a growing zest for all things military that has swept Russia since last year’s annexation of Crimea by heavily armed Russian troops, operating without insignia. In recent months, children’s mock military parades have taken place across the country, tanks and other military hardware have been displayed at a once-pacifist rock festival in Moscow, and the fashionable mode of transportation at wedding parties has become armored personnel carriers.

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Critics worry that the glorification of the military is distracting the populace from the weak economy and other shortcomings closer to home.

“A terrible militarization of the consciousness is underway,” said Yevgenia Albats, editor of Moscow’s opposition-friendly New Times magazine. “It distracts from genuine problems.”

Russia has no shortage of problems. This month, Olga Golodets, the deputy prime minister responsible for social affairs, announced that 23 million Russians — 16 percent of the total population — were living below the official poverty level of less than $170 a month. This is a rise of 3 million people in 12 months.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/22/patriot-park-vladimir-putins-military-disneyland-c/

[Politicalboi]

1. Golly, I bet Palin is pissed

She didn't think of that while she was still a half Governor to up the tourism and narrate the festivities. Maybe Putin can use her and GW to bring in the clowns, I mean crowds.