Re: Re: Re: How the US blew their chance to get Russia as an ally.
I think what's even sadder - and scarier - is that the majority support Putin. I can't really attribute this to the media - Kremlin directly controls only TV (of course THE most important media in Russia, but let's get our facts straight unlike some), while papers, radio and of course the internet is pretty much open/free - albeit operating under constant anxiety of having to talk to Fire Safety, be accused of extremism (and banned, as per law), tax department etc, or the "Maski Show", as they say in Russia.
Case in point - onodera. Guy lives in Moscow, a bustling international metropolis, read the Exile , works at Unicredit - an Italian bank, and reads international news websites. He thinks Putin is second best to Stalin as far as Russian leaders go. I mean, if a guy like him sincerely believes this, what to expect of a sysadmin (or whatever Serioga does) in Omsk who votes Communist, or anybody else?
I find it hard to explain, and it puzzles me to no end. We are really close to them geographically, and for all the huffing and puffing of the West, I give the probability of direct, immediate and sustained NATO military action and assistance in case of a Russian (direct or by proxy, as in Georgia) takeover at about 70%. I thus believe that we should change the way Russians think without compromising anything we value. Yes, tall order, but much better and safer than marching on Moscow.
Is it some sort of pan-Russian sense of being cheated out of something that is "theirs"? Did we really rub it in too much after they "lost" the cold war (I don't believe we did)? Are they teh eeevil?
I am convinced the Russian people are in fact one of the principal victors of the Cold War, and Russian people are that wars unsung heroes - but they don't think so themselves, and elected a guy who calls the collapse of USSR "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the XX century" (did he forget WWII?). And now the govenrment/powers that be really don't t need propaganda anymore because they all will volunteer for whatever Putin/Medvedev says.
Wtf?
Originally posted by Oerdin
Given the amount of election fraud, how the political system has been rigged, and how the media has been brought under defacto Kremlin control it is hard to call Russia a democracy these days. It's pretty much a pseudo dictatorship which goes through periodic farse elections much like Egypt.
Given the amount of election fraud, how the political system has been rigged, and how the media has been brought under defacto Kremlin control it is hard to call Russia a democracy these days. It's pretty much a pseudo dictatorship which goes through periodic farse elections much like Egypt.
Case in point - onodera. Guy lives in Moscow, a bustling international metropolis, read the Exile , works at Unicredit - an Italian bank, and reads international news websites. He thinks Putin is second best to Stalin as far as Russian leaders go. I mean, if a guy like him sincerely believes this, what to expect of a sysadmin (or whatever Serioga does) in Omsk who votes Communist, or anybody else?
I find it hard to explain, and it puzzles me to no end. We are really close to them geographically, and for all the huffing and puffing of the West, I give the probability of direct, immediate and sustained NATO military action and assistance in case of a Russian (direct or by proxy, as in Georgia) takeover at about 70%. I thus believe that we should change the way Russians think without compromising anything we value. Yes, tall order, but much better and safer than marching on Moscow.
Is it some sort of pan-Russian sense of being cheated out of something that is "theirs"? Did we really rub it in too much after they "lost" the cold war (I don't believe we did)? Are they teh eeevil?
I am convinced the Russian people are in fact one of the principal victors of the Cold War, and Russian people are that wars unsung heroes - but they don't think so themselves, and elected a guy who calls the collapse of USSR "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the XX century" (did he forget WWII?). And now the govenrment/powers that be really don't t need propaganda anymore because they all will volunteer for whatever Putin/Medvedev says.
Wtf?
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