carefreewannabe

I gave you the link already you said you will check it out.

http://www.colorado.edu/ibs/PEC/johno/pub/Putin_911.pdf

will find the video when i have time


If you want to talk about the national politics of Russia (which i believe is exclusive from what we have been discussing). I doubt if many Russians themselves want Putin to leave office. If you look at is likely successors, the situation if frightening.

People like Mededev and Nalavny for example are part of the intelligentsia and their background is not well suited for the job. You need a mob boss like leader like Putin who has a military/Intelligence background that can reign in the mini tsars in different regions and control the oligarchs in other to keep the country together. When they tried too much decentralization during Yeltsin, there were separatist movements everywhere especially the Caucasus. That is why Russians generally have preferred a iron hand type of guy to rule and if you noticed the only time there was a revolution was when there were weak people in the Kremlin (Tsar Nicholas and Gorby)

Western type democracy will never happen there. I think the West should just get used to it. No one is asking the Chinese to be democratic after all. You to understand Russians think very differently from Europeans

Missy89:
carefreewannabe

I gave you the link already you said you will check it out.

http://www.colorado.edu/ibs/PEC/johno/pub/Putin_911.pdf

will find the video when i have time

I have read and it made me think what turn the US-Russia relations would have taken if Bush hadn't been the president when the 9/11 attacks took place. I dare say that the US-Russia relations would be better now if it wasn't for Bush's aggressive, unilateral foreign policies.

If you want to talk about the national politics of Russia (which i believe is exclusive from what we have been discussing). I doubt if many Russians themselves want Putin to leave office. If you look at is likely successors, the situation if frightening.

No, Putin enjoys great popularity and support at the moment for different reasons, both in the sphere of domestic as well as foreign policies. He has been successful in many ways and he must be given credit for his achievements inside of Russia albeit he has also failed to initiate some structural reforms, with which Russia would be more resistant to the sanctions now. We all know that part of his popularity is also owed to his propaganda tactics but that's a different topic and not only a Russian problem, as we also know.

People like Mededev and Nalavny for example are part of the intelligentsia and their background is not well suited for the job. You need a mob boss like leader like Putin who has a military/Intelligence background that can reign in the mini tsars in different regions and control the oligarchs in other to keep the country together. When they tried too much decentralization during Yeltsin, there were separatist movements everywhere especially the Caucasus. That is why Russians generally have preferred a iron hand type of guy to rule and if you noticed the only time there was a revolution was when there were weak people in the Kremlin (Tsar Nicholas and Gorby)

I am not sure how you came to your conclusions. Please explain how people who consider themselves or are considered part of the Russian Intelligentsia are not well suited to lead the country. Then explain how Medvedev's or Nalavny's background is not well suited for the job.

Yeltsin failed Russia in so many ways. I doubt whether decentralization was the core problem or rather his disability to lead the country altogether.
Apart from that, the time after the fall of the Soviet Union was a rocky one and the unrests in this part of the world a natural consequence.

Western type democracy will never happen there. I think the West should just get used to it. No one is asking the Chinese to be democratic after all.

What is the Western type of democracy?

I believe that the West should promote their values in a more moderate way. I believe so because their is no better alternative. Democracy is the only way and it is the only way to establish stability and peace in the long run. I believe in universal human rights, and one of these rights is political freedom and choice. Democracy must be a choice and develop from within. It is anti-democratic to promote democracy by force and it is dangerous.

It goes without saying that each and every country must shape their democracy in their own way but democratically.

Many Western countries forget too often how long it took them to build their democratic systems until they took on the form they have today.
The same mistakes are made when people assess and re-assess the Arab Spring movements in several countries. Whether they have been a failure or success cannot be said a few years later, history will show. What happens in many of these countries is what was happening in many European countries in the past.

You to understand Russians think very differently from Europeans

No, I don't think so. I believe that Russians are more similar than different when compared to some other European nations, which does not mean that they are identical but which countries are? I see it from my subjective pony of view, which is based on my encounters and experience with Russian people, who I have come to respect and appreciate.

The fact that Russia wants and needs strong leaders does not mean that they don not want to choose them in fair and free elections.

Russians may have a preference for strong "iron hand" leaders but this is not the result of their unique mindset but the realities the country finds herself in and most of all the experience they had after the fall of the Soviet Union, when Yeltsin created a situation that was anarchy-like, in which a minority of people succeeded in getting rich by looting the country and exploiting the chaotic system, the Russians were not used, and in which a vast majority of people became disappointed because the changes didn't bring them what they hoped for and saw in American movies.

I have found an interesting poll on Russians and their attitudes toward democracy and Western-style democracy (whatever that means), which shows that Russians want a democracy and at the same time supports your view that it is not necessarily the Western-style democracy they want.

All in all, I really hope Europe will FINALLY understand that they should treat Russia with more respect and understand how important Russia is for them. In Merkel's words: "We want to shape this European peace order together with Russia, not against Russia."