Why Is Putin Shutting Down A Bunch Of Internet Sites And Tv Channels

Are there any news channels or websites that provide an unbiased perspective and breakdown of the government shutdown?

The Washington Post, The New York Times, NBC, CBS, CNN, - pretty much the whole table. The idea that these sites are somehow driven by ideology and lies is false. They have been and remain accurate. There are others, as well.

What is the significance of Putin shutting down a news agency to strengthen his control over the news media? What does this say about ongoing trends in Russia?

You've already mentioned all the key points in your question. Overall trend in Russia is to opress and control all the media in the country which means consistent abolishment of freedom of speech here. It became clear with several major censorship laws that took effect last year. For instance, it is forbidden now for media to put profanity in text in any way. It there is neccessity to do that, whole word should be covered with special symbols so there would be even no clue to figure out which word was meant. It is also illegal to "propaganda uncommon sexual orientation" which means that mass media could not write or talk about homosexuality in positive or neutral way. More of such laws are upcoming. Many of them will affect not only media, but private individuals as well.Newly emerged news agency "Rossiya Sevodnya" («Россия сегодня») has been already nicknamed as "Ministery Of Truth" among some people here.

Why did it take the FBI so long to shut down the US poker websites?

President Bush signed the UIGEA into law in October 2006.  The Act essentially made it illegal for businesses to accept payments in connection with online poker.  However, many of the processors obscured the true nature of the transfers.  Individuals like Daniel Tzvetkoff helped make this possible - article: (http://calvinayre.com/2011/05/30...)The Act was also poorly worded making it difficult to enforce.  You may ask why the government didn't simply make it illegal to play online poker which Pokerstars/FullTilt were obviously offering.  The answer is that the largest poker companies are based offshore - which is why the Act had to target US-based businesses to prosecute.

Is there now a ban on doing TV comedy sketches on Putin in Russia like in the past?

No, however you must understand that most of people here likes Putin very much so they are mostly neutral or positive. People themself not going to watch TV that joking like this. Also, if you go too far he can crush you very easily (he is not going to kill you, no matter what thought) especially if you use his image as advertisement. He even can troll you, crushing your reputation with couple of phrases. So people only risking to do it through internet caricatures (mostly very stupid and similar ones but there is good things too)Some politicians anyway is clowns themself. Like Zhirinovsky, widely known populist and leader of Liberal Democratic Party of Russia who hides massive encyclopedic knowledge and sharp mind under “funny and little radical politician” and sometime becomes true people’s mouthpiece. He highly respect Putin thought so not talking against him.There is also various so called “western-centring liberals” with different party names like Alexey Navalny who actually even has been defended from some prosecutions because most of the time they are so idiotic and traitorous it’s only helping Putin’s image further. While foreigners sometimes citing him and Khodorkovsky (who, while not clown is still a traitor of greatest scope and also very successful financial machinator (until Putin)) in Russia they have support of very thin minority whose behaviour effectively repels wast majority of people from their factions.

It is reported that Russia is considering unplugging from the internet. Do you think they will and why would they do this?

Yes, that’s true: Russia will run a test, between now and April, disconnecting from US-based DNS servers and using their own.Why? Simply because Russia considers dependence on outside DNS servers as major vulnerability that can be used against it by unfriendly foreign power, which is US. China already has “Great Chinese Firewall” in place, cyber infrastructure project that includes local DNS capability, which allows independent from the West operation of internet.Needless to say that internet is vital for smooth operation of any country, including Russia. Banking, government institutions, all companies large and small, everybody uses internet on a daily basis. That’s why Russia wants to prevent involuntary disconnection from internet by foreign power under any circumstances.So, the goal of Russia in my view is not to disconnect from the world, but on the contrary, to keep connection to it no matter what any particular country does. This goal is logical, prudent and transparent.P.S. it appears that some people in this thread don’t understand what DNS is and how it is used. When someone types say “google.com” request goes to one of the root DNS (Domain Name, “google” is domain name) servers, 16 of which out of total 20 are located in US. Root server then delegates next server to resolve the request and so on until the name is resolved to an IP address, that is specific server. This means that requests can be randomly rerouted at any point or dropped altogether just like firewalls drop bad/suspicious traffic. So Russia builds backup DNS system that could be used as failover. The whole affair is shrouded in secrecy, for obvious reason, but the goal is to have all internet traffic routed locally by the end of this year. Most internet providers agreed on the importance of this undertaking and will be compensated by the government for the time spent working on it.SlashdotRussia plans to disconnect the entire country from the internet to simulate an all-out cyberwar

Why did Russia's TV-1 channel broadcast fake data about Ukrainian election, and did this twice?

Why did Russia's TV-1 channel broadcast fake data about Ukrainian election, and did this twice?A Russian business news site reports that Russian TV-1 channel broadcast fake data about Ukrainian elections, claiming that the leading candidate is the far-right politician who actually took <2% of the vote.because it was his party that got <2%, but he himself was comfortably elected to Ukrainian Parlament separately from his party - thats why. Russian TV was right on that, but its info was spinned in Ukraine

Should CNN be shut down?

Why should it be shut down? Because they are biased? All information sources can are are biased to some extent.The real issue with any news source is not bias, but accuracy, but even here can we truly have freedom of the press if we shut down things we disagree with simply because we disagree?What I assume are your own sources (based on how you asked this question) are not only just as biased or more, but according to many studies, not accurate with their information.I read a variety of sources: conservative, liberal, local, national, and foreign, and I find it’s the best way to understand your world. I suggest you start doing the same and stop letting con artists like Donald Trump and Glenn Beck, both of whom have admitted that they don’t believe the things they say/sell, do your thinking for you.