11/4 Why aren't we more worried about Vladimir Putin? He's essentially
made himself a dictator, Russia has the economy and the stability
of a 3rd world country, and he controls 10,000 ICBMs, most of which
are armed with MIRVs. This scares me. Someone convince me that
I shouldn't be scared.
\_ Why would he attack us? No motive, no crime.
\_ The instability and economic wretchedness, combined with
authoritarianism and tons of nuclear weapons, doesn't seem
dangerous to you? Do you find Pakistan warm and cuddly too?
\_ I never said I found Russia "warm and cuddly," but if you
can't see a difference between Russia and Pakistan, you
need to get out of CA for a bit.
\_ I think many people are worried about him... its just that the
powers that be have their hands tied in terms of criticism
since he is using the same theatrics to justify his power grab
that they are.
\_ About Russian economy. I have lived there as well as in a real
third-world country and I can tell you that people in Russia are far
far better off than in a third world conutry, even the pension age
people who depend on govt pensions. Their current per-capita GDP is
about $9000/year in real terms. While this might not sound much,
remember that most Russians own their housing. But you're right
to be worried about Putin. I am worried about his authoritarian
tendencies too, though I can sort of understand why he is so popular
even right now. Russia has tried to liberalized its economy
and politics too fast and chaos ensued in the early 90s, probably
thanks to the incompetent policy of this drunkard Yeltsin and
his cronies who were running the country behind his back. So when
the Russians were choosing between Putin and the liberal democrats
the last time, for them, it was like choosing between an
authoritarian Putin who credibly promisses to return stability
and the greatness to Russia or Yeltsin era chaos. They picked
the former and he's obviously taking advantage of their goowill..
\_ http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/11/01/011.html
It's only an excerpt, but if this doesn't get your bloodpressure
up, I don't know what will. |
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