I wouldn't say it's "better." It's what one expects of Russian patronage-based culture. (And please don't buy into the "Putin decides everything" trope -- it's just not true and in fact absurd to anyone who has spent time dealing with Russian systems. I'm trying to think of a Russian equivalent of Rove and coming up with none -- there was Pavlovsky but he hasn't been near any power centers for some time.)
(The English-language coverage of it was indeed quite wretched, from what little I made myself read.)
--- Alex Hogan <alexmhogan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Huh? You're arguing that Russia has a democratic
> system than is superior than the US? I'd still
> rather tangle with Karl Rove than Putin, I'm afraid.
>
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