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http://www.inatoday.com/putins%20lament%2042705.htm

"PUTIN'S LAMENT
Don't Cry for Me Lubyanka"

APRIL 27, 2005
By Toby Westerman
Copyright 2005 International News Analysis Today
www.inatoday.com

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Soviet-era methods are still employed. The FSB is at least as active watching Russian citizens as was the Soviet-era KGB, and Russian schools again praise the Soviet past. The Russian military, which still uses numerous Soviet insignias, seeks to mold the character of the Russian population, and has recently began to broadcast its own "patriotic" television network to develop what it describes as "pride" among Russians.

Putin supports the surviving Communist dictatorships, from Cuba to China, as did his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. The "new" Russia under Putin also has the opportunity to assert its influence in the world's newest Marxist nation, Venezuela, with economic cooperation and the sale of a wide range of military hardware.

The USSR is gone, but it is reasonable to wonder - despite Moscow's call for an increase in foreign investment and promises of greater democracy -- if today's Soviet reverie is giving way tomorrow's Red revival."