Russia's reform project - democratic and economic - have a long way to go. But, at the end of the day and given the circumstances, I still agree with the broad outlines of what Putin is doing (as do the vast majority of Russians).
And believe it or not, Putin's vision of democracy is more credible anything Russia's liberals, communists, or nationalists have to say.
The Washington Post (aka Peter Baker and Susan Glasser) is nothing more than propaganda (and a disgrace, but within "expected norms" when it comes to Western media coverage of Russia).
--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> Michael Pugliese quoted:
>
> >With the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia
> launched itself on
> >a fitful transition to Western-style democracy. But
> a decade later,
> >Boris Yeltsin's handpicked successor, Vladimir
> Putin, a childhood
> >hooligan turned KGB officer who rose from nowhere
> determined to
> >restore the order of the Soviet past, resolved to
> bring an end to the
> >revolution.
>
> Do you really believe this drivel? Yeltsin was a
> hack who presided
> over one of the great collapses in human history,
> and who allowed a
> gang of thugs to grab Russia's most valuable assets
> for next to
> nothing. Is that a democratic revolution?
>
> Doug
> ___________________________________
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
__________________________________ Discover Yahoo! Find restaurants, movies, travel and more fun for the weekend. Check it out! http://discover.yahoo.com/weekend.html