I don't have the slightest idea why you thought why I was defending the USSR in some way. It's been a shift from one class society (whateveryacallit) to another (capitalism), both with superficial democratic froths. MONTHLY REVIEW had an article whose title summed the transition up very well: "The East Goes South," i.e., the USSR went from being a major player on the world scale to be a dependent, third-world, country whose leadership hopes to defend "national pride." It's not a movement toward, or away from, democracy (however one defines it).
I don't think Chris D "shills" at all. He's mostly criticizing the silly opinions of Putin (and Yeltsin) that people have because they don't know much (perhaps because they're stuck in sectarian frames of mind, worrying about what left group has/had what opinion). In a recent dialogue on lbo-talk, he acknowledged that Putin is a Man on a White Horse, authoritarian but popular. A veritable second coming of Bonaparte (the nephew). Or maybe I read too much into what he said.
-- Jim Devine "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.