DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Putin Opponents Are Made to Vanish From TV

**AriaDesser** · 06-04-2008, 08:14 PM

Of course I can't defend this, nor would I want to. But I do want to point out two things:

1) NY Times publishes articles like the above periodically, and they're always accompanied by comments from Russian citizens. My general impression has been that the majority of Russian citizens don't find a problem with Putin's policies towards the media. In many cases, they seem to embrace it.

In many cases, they are not aware of it.

How can you complain about something you have no knowledge of?

2) I've also read some articles/essays on the Russian economy post-1990, and the predominant theory is that Putin's style of rule is much more conducive to modernizing, and generally improving, Russia's economy. Back in Yeltsin's rule, there seemed to be very little rule of law. Black markets thrived, and the economy was sort of in a free for all - hence the extreme concentration of wealth in the hands of Russia's nouveau riche. The two can be handled independently. He has helped things, but kicking a baby to get it to stop crying is not always the best plan.

If you read any political development theory, there is one very important constant that holds in democratic societies. And that is: before you can embrace the political freedoms that make a democracy transparent, egalitarian, and successful, there needs to be a period during which rule of law is the major goal. Democracies can't function without efficient legal codes and systems, nor without widespread respect for law. Russia's not a democracy, and I don't know if it's headed there anytime soon. But my hope is that, once things settle down, they'll get back on the right track.
Hard to say. This does not look like Putin is just trying to get things to settle down, the longer he is there, the more he seems to be tightening the noose.

This is just the forced closing o fthe eyes of the people he is tightening it around.

06-04-2008, 08:14 PM	#7
AriaDesser Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 433 Senior Member	Of course I can't defend this, nor would I want to. But I do want to point out two things: 1) NY Times publishes articles like the above periodically, and they're always accompanied by comments from Russian citizens. My general impression has been that the majority of Russian citizens don't find a problem with Putin's policies towards the media. In many cases, they seem to embrace it. In many cases, they are not aware of it. How can you complain about something you have no knowledge of? 2) I've also read some articles/essays on the Russian economy post-1990, and the predominant theory is that Putin's style of rule is much more conducive to modernizing, and generally improving, Russia's economy. Back in Yeltsin's rule, there seemed to be very little rule of law. Black markets thrived, and the economy was sort of in a free for all - hence the extreme concentration of wealth in the hands of Russia's nouveau riche. The two can be handled independently. He has helped things, but kicking a baby to get it to stop crying is not always the best plan. If you read any political development theory, there is one very important constant that holds in democratic societies. And that is: before you can embrace the political freedoms that make a democracy transparent, egalitarian, and successful, there needs to be a period during which rule of law is the major goal. Democracies can't function without efficient legal codes and systems, nor without widespread respect for law. Russia's not a democracy, and I don't know if it's headed there anytime soon. But my hope is that, once things settle down, they'll get back on the right track. Hard to say. This does not look like Putin is just trying to get things to settle down, the longer he is there, the more he seems to be tightening the noose. This is just the forced closing o fthe eyes of the people he is tightening it around.
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