--- Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> --- joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> > Interesting what he says about the ticking time
> bomb
> > (resulting from the
> > theft of state goods).
> >
> > Do you think it's true?
> >
> > Joanna
> >
>
> Really, not very. :)
>
>
I think Cohen is exaggerating greatly the extent of social dissatisfaction. There exists a broad societal consensus that the present situation is too be continued, while improvements are made within it (which is why Putin's approval ratings are twice that of his government -- Putin represents the general situation, the unsatisfactory progress being made in some areas being identified with the people around him). As a sign of this, on opinion polls about 40% of the population says that the best time in Russian history is in fact today (with the worst time being the 1990s). "Revolutionary" or "radical" sentiment is relatively slight, as one can see by the piss-poor performance of both the "liberals" and the ultra-nationalists (the "Russian March" quasifascist demonstration in Moscow had I think about 2000-5000 participants, which is microscopic in a megapolis of 10-13 million people. Demonstrators were outnumbered by police.))
____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a PS3 game guru. Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Yahoo! Games. http://videogames.yahoo.com/platform?platform=120121