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No, it isn't a democracy. You need a free press and free vote, you need independent institutions, you need checks and balances. Russia has none of this.
Russia is a classic dictatorship, with a presumed leader for life based on a cult of personality.
Good points, but I'd say Russia is a de facto dictatorship, not a classic one.
It seems to me that the major opposition made up by Zhirinovski is further right
Zhirinovsky is not an "opposition" either. He is a court jester in Russian parliament and he is way too marginal to be taken seriously as a politician.
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Shouldn't Udaltsov come out of prison soon, i have seen in the wikipedia article that he's been sentenced to 4 and a half years and that his condemn started in 2012? Anyway, i still can't see anyone dethroning Putin soon.
I think that people like Udaltsov are going to be accused of "extremism" and locked away as soon as they go back to political activities after being set free from jail. Overall I think that Putin is more weary of the competition from the "left" than from the "right" - that is people like Navalny or the late Nemtsov.
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I have got a question for you: who is the most likely party or men to take Putin's place and will he ever retire out of politics or will it death for it to happen?
I don't see any party on the horizon in Russia capable to challenge Putin.
The only viable scenario I see, is someone from the "moderate nationalists" or someone from his own circle - (the "hardliner" at that,) replacing him.
No, it isn't a democracy. You need a free press and free vote, you need independent institutions, you need checks and balances. Russia has none of this.
Russia is a classic dictatorship, with a presumed leader for life based on a cult of personality.
Courtesy of the United States of America.
Because the only reason Putin has all this power is Yeltsin, who destroyed the nascent democracy and literally bombed his parliament, with the backing of the US government.
And after he concentrated all power in his hands, he passed it to Putin.
However interestingly enough, the US touted Yeltsin as the "greatest democrat in Russia ever," since he was a convenient for the US dictator. Putin - not so much, and so "independent institutions" all of a sudden became a necessity.
The NazBols ( National Bolsheviks) party is banned, not to mention that Eduard Limonov, its former leader is gay and I don't see gay people as being successful in Russian politics - I mean I don't see such possibility, taking in consideration the peculiarities of Russian culture.
Courtesy of the United States of America.
Because the only reason Putin has all this power is Yeltsin, who destroyed the nascent democracy and literally bombed his parliament, with the backing of the US government.
And after he concentrated all power in his hands, he passed it to Putin.
However interestingly enough, the US touted Yeltsin as the "greatest democrat in Russia ever," since he was a convenient for the US dictator. Putin - not so much, and so "independent institutions" all of a sudden became a necessity.
Amazing how this works.
Indeed! The West likes to portray the 1990s like a golden age while most Russians (the majority who didn't have links to the oligarchs) portrayed it as a dark, difficult time (I should know as I myself personally have Russian friends), while the West portrays Putin's era as a dark time reminiscent of the Soviet era (which most Russians themselves disagree with)! If the 1990s was such a "great time", why was their life expectancy and birth rates declining, their crime rates sky high, and why weren't there many Russian tourists holidaying abroad - all of which was true during quite a large chunk of Putin's era?
The way the Western media (and Western governments) portrays Russia despite the actual situation on the ground (something I learnt was often radically different when I was in Russia a few years ago) puts into doubt the credibility of Western governments and media in general! It's hard to conclude otherwise for your average Russian person. Likewise, this discrepancy makes it difficult (or rather, almost impossible) for the average Russian to conclude that the West has Russia's best interest in mind! I can't blame them for feeling that way considering all the reading (and adding up of all the pieces) I have done in the last few years when it came to Russia!
If ANY real opposition wants to make serious inroads into Russian politics, they should AVOID being linked to the US government AT ALL COSTS! Any sign of a linkage with the American government is (rightfully) POLITICAL SUICIDE! And for totally understandable reasons as far as the average Russian is concerned!
Indeed! The West likes to portray the 1990s like a golden age while most Russians (the majority who didn't have links to the oligarchs) portrayed it as a dark, difficult time
The Russians got the abilities in the late 1980s and the early 1990s :
- to buy cars and computers (washers, TV-sets etc). They can't do it earlier because of deficit or very high prices;
- to travel around the world and to study other countries;
- to buy food they like without queues.
The Russians got the abilities in the late 1980s and the early 1990s :
- to buy cars and computers (washers, TV-sets etc). They can't do it earlier because of deficit or very high prices;
- to travel around the world and to study other countries;
- to buy food they like without queues.
You have forgotten to mention *abilities* to buy yachts and foreign clubs. Yes, SOME got these *abilities* in the nineties.
As for the rest, for the overwhelming majority, the economic reforms orchestrated by American "advisers" brought nothing but misery. The minimum daily salary became equal to the price of the loaf of bread; ( prices overall jumped 2,500 % overnight,) millions of people found themselves without jobs and any means to support themselves, death from starvation was nothing unheard of, plus 2,5 million children ended up on the streets - approximately the same result as after the WWII. Not to mention people with scientific degrees that were forced to sell newspapers on the streets, the rates of suicides, deaths and all.
That's the nineties for you - right there. No, there were no "queues" any longer to the grocery stores, (that were stuffed with western foods of low quality for astronomic price,) since no one had money to buy it.
Indeed! The West likes to portray the 1990s like a golden age while most Russians (the majority who didn't have links to the oligarchs) portrayed it as a dark, difficult time (I should know as I myself personally have Russian friends), while the West portrays Putin's era as a dark time reminiscent of the Soviet era (which most Russians themselves disagree with)! If the 1990s was such a "great time", why was their life expectancy and birth rates declining, their crime rates sky high, and why weren't there many Russian tourists holidaying abroad - all of which was true during quite a large chunk of Putin's era?
The way the Western media (and Western governments) portrays Russia despite the actual situation on the ground (something I learnt was often radically different when I was in Russia a few years ago) puts into doubt the credibility of Western governments and media in general! It's hard to conclude otherwise for your average Russian person. Likewise, this discrepancy makes it difficult (or rather, almost impossible) for the average Russian to conclude that the West has Russia's best interest in mind! I can't blame them for feeling that way considering all the reading (and adding up of all the pieces) I have done in the last few years when it came to Russia!
If ANY real opposition wants to make serious inroads into Russian politics, they should AVOID being linked to the US government AT ALL COSTS! Any sign of a linkage with the American government is (rightfully) POLITICAL SUICIDE! And for totally understandable reasons as far as the average Russian is concerned!
Following the example of Western democracies, all opposition ( all legal parties that is) are funded.
But in Russia all funds are concentrated in the hands of those close to power. That's the design of the nineties, as I've already said, that didn't change from those times on. So of course Americans were trying to fund the opposition to Putin that they'd found favorable, yet indeed as you've said, anyone remotely attached to the US was/is as good as dead in Russian politics. Not to mention that Putin and Co have put an end to such funding, forcing practically all NGOs to register as the "enemies of the state."
So basically Putin is a Frankenstein that America created herself.
I'm starting to notice a decline in Quality of Life things such as bus service being reduced and cultural offerings being scaled back.
The recent demolishing of hundreds of small businesses operating in kiosks located near Metro stations in Moscow was said to have been done because they were built(many years ago) illegally and were evading taxes but the timing is very suspicious. Thousands of people are now out of jobs because of it.
So basically Putin is a Frankenstein that America created herself.
American governments have a talent for creating monsters. But I wouldn't compare Putin to Frankenstein's monster--Frankenstein's monster is a far more sympathetic figure.
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The 1990s in Russia
