[Red Badger]

Killing the Dragon...............

[WayneS]

I’m glad they fixed it. I hope the charges of “cheapness” and poor build quality are just sour grapes from some leftover commies.

[Graewoulf]

” - - - the communist holiday of November 7 celebrating the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. - - - “

My my, how time flies!
What will Obama’s speech
Be on that “Day to teach?”

Will Obama compare the Romanov Dynasty
To his ongoing destruction of Capitalism?
The Romanov’s had their artsy Obelisk,
And all we get is the Plain Commie Shaft!

[Rockingham]

Russia is fitfully and slowly coming to terms with her past, reconstructing her national identity and trying to find a credible basis for state legitimacy. While ex-KGB agent Putin regards the collapse of the Soviet Union as a great tragedy, in the realm of rhetoric and practical policies, he and his government support the revival of the Russian Orthodox Church and a nostalgic view of the Tsarist era.

The real basis for Putin's regime though is corruption, rigged elections, contrived political parties, and brutal intimidation and murder of opponents and critics. Russia's economy and state finances depend on the extraction and export of oil and gas and other natural resources. A primary goal of Russian foreign policy is to support high oil and gas prices and gain foreign currency and influence by the export of military hardware.

Instead of using national resources to develop Russia and ameliorate its many ills, Putin and his cronies have looted the country, moving vast wealth into secure foreign bank accounts and real estate at home and abroad. Putin's closest allies are men who began their careers in the security services and, in one instance, a judo club sparring partner. Students of Russian history may see them as contemporary equivalents to the aristocratic boyars who helped the Tsars rule Russia.

For lack of anything better, the Russian public -- for now -- accepts the Putin regime's propaganda line. This emphasizes an aggrieved sense of nationalism, discredit of the democracy of the tumultuous Yeltsin era, and warnings of the menace presented by foreign powers and domestic terrorism. Putin though must eventually pass from the scene, and Russia may then have the opportunity to attempt a transition to a modern democratic order.

Yet, as popular nostalgia for the Tsars and Russia's history of rule by thuggish strong men suggests, no matter what appearances may be adopted, Russia is likely to continue to be ruled by men determined to exploit her wealth for themselves -- with a thug at the top who, like Putin, is a Tsar in all but name.

[PLMerite]

Any pictures of what it looked like after the commies mutilated it?