--- joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
> >
> I don't remember Chris ever saying that Putin is
> perfect or that Russia
> is an utopia. I think he has been very honest about
> conditions there.
Like the corruption, the demographic situation and the weakness of the government, leading to widespread lawlessness? Yup. None of them have anything to do with Putin. In fact when he tries to do something about lawlessness, he is invariably criticized as being "authoritarian." ;) For instance, stripping the power of the oligarchs who were destroying the country becomes "crushing the political opposition."
I should have mentioned this long ago. Earlier today, I was down at the Kremlin waiting to get my paycheck with Gorbachev, Anatol Lieven, Solzhenitsyn, Roy Medvedev and the rest of the 77% of the population who are on the Kremlin's payroll. Anyway I have decided that such Internet spats are not worth valuable time I could otherwise spend in trying to come up with more effective pro-Putin propaganda. As some people on this list already know (e.g. Joanna), I am the comoderator of Peter's Russia discussion list, which is peopled by career diplomats, journalists, international lawyers, financial analysts and other such sundries specializing in Russia, all of whom know what they are talking about. If anybody is interested in subscribing, drop me (or Peter) a line offlist. Doug and Yoshie are already there! (Yoshie has some good stuff.) Caveat emptor: It's not a left-wing list -- we have hardcore Communists and staunch right-wingers. All that is required is an interest in the subject matter and civility.
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com