“Can you expand on that—I am interested in your take on the differences.I am not as up on Russia as I used to be”
The average Russian under 35 or 40 has no real recollection of what life was like under the Soviets, other than some classroom propaganda in elementary school for the oldest of that group.
They are free to travel, in Russia and abroad. They have free access to the same info that we do. 200 channels of TV, foods and goods from other countries, cars, etc...
What they do know is that life in Russia under Putin has improved dramatically from their parents had to endure.
Huge infrastructure projects are going on all over Russia, bringing jobs and wealth with them, and the future is brighter for them, than for their parents.
Yes, crime and corruption still are rampant, but not nearly on the same scale as after the fall. In the Soviet Union, the Black Market economy was larger than the real economy. Today, it is only for illegal drugs, etc...
They have open elections, with opposition, on all levels from local to national. And frankly, they aren’t any more corrupt than ours are.
We have to take these changes into account in any calculation involving Russia.
How many Putin propaganda posts have made here today?...
Who do you work for?..
Why are you posting nothing but Putin lies and misinformation....?.
How many Putin Propaganda lies in one day ?
Lets count the amount of KGB spin you have shot off today!!
Thanks for coming out of the closet, comrade. Before you posted that I wasn’t absolutely sure. Now I know you’ve been into the Kool Aid. As for access, they little or no access to anything other than the party line.
Thanks for sharing your insights on Russia.
They are helpful.
As I said on another reply on this thread, I tend to view Russia with my post WW2 Cold War lenses on, and things have changed since 1991.
Russian TV is now completely controlled by the Kremlin, with the removal of the last independent TV channel Dozhd a few months ago. The Internet is free to browse, although Nashi and the Kremlin are known to conduct cyber attacks on opposition websites.
They do not have elections anymore at the provincial level, as Putin has decreed that all governors will be chosen by Moscow. And electoral fraud is on a whole different magnitude to anything in America.
Putin got an Saddam-like 99.5% in Chechnya, with voter turnout of 99.4%, in an region of over one million people. This was just two years ago. Wake me up when Obama declares war on Utah, turns Salt Lake City into the most bombed city on Earth, largely destroys the Mormon resistance while indiscriminately killing civilians, and then in 2014 he gets 99% of the vote from 99% of voters in Utah.
Well said. I have some very good friends in Russia & believe they would agree with your assessment. And, in essence, WE are at least responsible, ti some degree, for the “new corruption” of who they call “New Russians” Thenew crop of very young millionaires who got wealthy during the rampant corruption period after The Wall fell. Russians believe Putin has been doing his best to try & reign in corruption & claim it is getting much better.