[canuck_conservative]

it is stuck in a vicious historical cycle that it cannot ever escape

Russia could escape that and become a normal country again, there are sensible people there, but it has to first get rid of the murderous gangsters now running things ... and that won't be so easy

one thing for sure, as long as Putin is in charge, Russia will be in a death-spiral

[buwaya]

The trap is that it is not this one gang that is the problem.
The trouble is that such a gang is the inevitable consequence of the social form of Russia. Russia CANNOT ever have a normal government. It is set up such that it has no cultural or psychological defense from predatory gangs. One of these will always come up on top.

[buwaya]

The trap is that it is not this one gang that is the problem.
The trouble is that such a gang is the inevitable consequence of the social form of Russia. Russia CANNOT ever have a normal government. It is set up such that it has no cultural or psychological defense from predatory gangs. One of these will always come up on top.