--- Jim Devine <jdevine03 at gmail.com> wrote:
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.
>
My view is that, given the conditions in 1999 -- near-total state collapse, economic free-fall, a localized civil war, the economy controlled by glorified Mafia dons -- there is absolutely f'n no way a liberal government was going to established. The country was in free fall and about to break up. The idea that Russia had possibility of transforming itself into either a liberal democracy or some fanciful leftist dream is sheer idealistic erunda (nonsense). There were three options:
1) Soft authoritarianism of the Putin sort, which has stabilized the country, stopped the collapse and raised everybody's living standards quite considerably.
2) Hard authoritarianism, which would probably have led to destruction of the country.
3) Continuation of the suicidal Yeltsin-era course, which have definitely led to destruction of the country.
There was no choice between "democracy" and "non-democracy." Russia has never been a democracy. There was a choice between life and death.
Actually, if by "democratic government" one means "government that does what people want," Putin is the most democratic leader in Russian history.
Here is Gorbachev's take on Putin:
Gorbachev: In his first term Putin did a good job of work. If a contest were announced who would detect more miscalculations on his part I would probably have named more than anyone else. But that is not the way to assess things. When a person is implementing a concrete project and solving concrete large-scale tasks, delays and setbacks and even mistakes always occur.
I must say that there was chaos everywhere -- in the social sphere, in science and education, health care, in the army, in the relations between the federal administration and the regions. Wherever you looked, there was chaos everywhere. I think much has already been accomplished, at least enough for him to make a mark in history.
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20050516/010070.html
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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