Only fools tthink Russia will fail

[AGIBECKY]

Yes. Only fools think that Russia will fail.
The wise know the truth. That Russia will triumph against all odds.

Even God loves Russia.
And anybody who wants Russia to fail is a fool.
Even God loves Putin.
And anybody who thinks Putin will fail is a fool.

The article written by Anatol on Putin confirms my hopes for Putin and for Russia.

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The Essential Vladimir Putin

By Anatol Lieven

January/February 2005

A semiauthoritarian present is Russia’s best hope for a liberal future.


In the West, hostility toward Russian President Vladimir Putin stems from two beliefs: that Russia should move quickly toward Western-style democracy and that there is a strong, popular, liberal opposition ready to lead such a transformation. The first is mistaken, the second, pure fantasy. It will take at least a generation for Russia to build the foundation for a modern market economy and democracy. It’s an uncomfortable reality, but, for the foreseeable future, only a semiauthoritarian government such as Putin’s can keep Russia moving in the right direction. If Putin weren’t there, we’d soon miss him.

Consider, for a moment, if Putin were to fail. There is no Thomas Jefferson waiting in the wings. Instead, he would almost certainly be replaced by a figure and a movement that are just as authoritarian but more nationalist, more anti-Western, more populist, and less committed to market reform. A Putin meltdown is not out of the question. He began his term with the disastrous decision to reoccupy Chechnya. He may now be moving toward a second blunder, if there is any truth to rumors in Moscow about a future abolition of Russia’s autonomous ethnic republics. Still, the West should wish him well.


Why do so many in the West have such a naive faith in Russia’s prospects for rapid reform? The persistent belief that Russia will wake up to free-market democracy is rooted in the success of the former Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe. But the analogy is a faulty one. Compared to Russia, those countries are small and ethnically homogeneous. Russia is a vast fragment of a former empire, and it continues to embrace large, traditional, and impoverished Muslim populations in the North Caucasus. The European successor governments could fall back on pre-Communist statehood and economics. In Russia, Stalinism lasted far longer and was imposed on a far less developed population.

The burgeoning nationalism and desire to escape Russian domination in Central and Eastern Europe impelled these states in the direction of NATO and the European Union, enabling their governments to push through deeply unpopular economic and political reforms. In the Soviet Union—with the exception of the formerly independent Baltic states—the historical, economic, and cultural background was very different. Placed in the context of most former Soviet republics, Russia looks better than average in terms of both development and democracy.

It is not just the burden of history that makes hope for a rapid transformation in Russia illusory. The country’s dreadful economic decline, social and moral chaos, and rampant corruption in the 1990s shattered the image of economic reform and democracy for the bulk of the population. By 1996, long before the accession of Putin, the combined vote of the liberal parties was already below 12 percent. Russia’s first taste of democracy was bitter, and fairly or unfairly, those who championed it have been held responsible for policies that created misery for tens of millions while grotesquely enriching a favored few.

[jtm123]

Yes. Only fools think that Russia will fail.
The wise know the truth. That Russia will triumph against all odds.

Pretty sure that was the moto of USSR. oh well, good luck!

[lewski]

Originally posted by jtm123

Pretty sure that was the moto of USSR. oh well, good luck!

but this time is pretty much sure, if the west tries to put their hand on the wrong knee than they will loose both of their hands... oh well, good luck to you as well!

[Michal_PL]

Russia won't fall down now.but within 100 next years its territory will be several times reduced.Chinese people and Indians need more living space and east Russia is very weakly inhabitated.besides population of Russia keeps on decreasing very quickly.

[Afina]

Well, you never know what to expect from Russia. During the peace time it seems to many of us that this country is the easy one that could go down. But... We might need another war as Napoleon one or WWII so that to realize again..that Russia and Russian people won't let turn them down...until there are some russian people still alive.

[Marita]

Originally posted by Afina
But... We might need another war as Napoleon one or WWII so that to realize again..that Russia and Russian people won't let turn them down...until there are some russian people still alive.

Do you think it may happen in the nearest future? I think it may.

[Stickynobell]

I know the launguage Russia and every one hates me,espicially my teacher.I can see that she want Russia to go down.