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Vladimir Putin’s Tough-Guy Act Is Getting Old

Rogue Valley

Lead or get out of the way
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Vladimir Putin’s Tough-Guy Act Is Getting Old

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Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, he seemingly could do no wrong as far as most Russians were concerned. Now, however, his Teflon coating appears to be wearing thinner. This raises two important questions: What do Russians want and will they act to get it? Political scientist Mikhail Dmitriev and sociologist Sergey Belanovsky are two of the best people to ask these questions. Dmitriev and collaborators see an overwhelming desire for change, even if it’s risky and untested, which has superseded the long-dominant preference for stability. At the same time, Russians, who welcomed strongman Putin after a short fling with pluralism and democracy in the 1990s, no longer hunger for a strong hand. Despite years of intensive propaganda, the idea of Russia as a great power has only taken hold to a limited extent. In the focus groups, only 20 percent of the respondents agreed that Russia is a great power; 49 percent believe it’s somewhere between a great nation and a backward one. To these people, military might and a proud history don’t mean much without a prosperous, modern, socially oriented economy.

Putin’s post-Crimea propaganda offensive initially stunned Russians into agreement. But then, Dmitriev, Belanovsky and Nikolskaya found, discontent with Putin's domestic policies, which had been on the rise in 2013, gradually came back. This is a dismal situation for Putin, but only potentially. Dmitriev and Belanovsky are moderates, so-called “system liberals” who believe in reforming Russia from above. To them, the political status quo is not an obstacle to positive economic change. The resumption of popular discontent after several years of post-Crimea euphoria troubles them because it reminds them of Trumpism or the quest for simple solutions offered by European anti-immigrant parties. So the absence of charismatic populist leaders who could direct the muttering masses is something of a relief to them. On the other hand, that lack of leaders is a direct result of Putin’s successful campaign of political suppression, which, as recent history shows, cannot be effective forever in Russia. If Dmitriev and Belanovsky are right and Russians have given up on their leaders and those leaders’ ideological constructs, that’s a lot like the situation that preceded the implosion of the Soviet repressive state in the late 1980s. Leaders with the courage and the clout to challenge the totalitarian machine emerged eventually — and the enforcers found themselves either powerless or reluctant to move against them.

The recent and hated national pension reforms may be the beginning of the end of "Uncle Vova".
 
Yeah. I hope he doesn't just fall asleep in his chair and hit the "Big RED Button"...
 
I found this interesting:
The justice Russians appear to want has less to do with the Western concept of equality before the law than with economic inequality. Dmitriev’s respondents demand free health care and education, curbs on immigration and a low retirement age, contrary to Putin’s recent decision to raise it. They are angry at the elite, which they feel has hoarded the nation’s wealth.

The demand for that kind of redistributive justice would be easy to interpret as a swing to the left, but at the same time, an overwhelming majority of respondents told Dmitriev and his collaborators that they’ve stopped relying on the state to improve their lives. This libertarian self-reliance is a consequence of alienation from the elite. Russians would like the state to fight inequality, but since it doesn’t, they’re resigned to taking care of themselves.

The growing self-reliance undermines trust in government propaganda. “The established model of communicating with the population through centralized mass media is beginning to sputter,” the report’s authors wrote.

That virus is really getting around. Who the "ELITE" are tends to vary depending on who you are, however.
 
I found this interesting:


That virus is really getting around. Who the "ELITE" are tends to vary depending on who you are, however.

“Elite” depends on which rung of the ladder you occupy.....
 
I found this interesting:


That virus is really getting around. Who the "ELITE" are tends to vary depending on who you are, however.

LOL Not really. Elite has always equaled wealthy and that has not changed except in the addled minds of Trumpists.
 
mmm... I dunno....it works for me, Julie Bishop reckon he has piercing blue eyes
 
His lips have gotten smaller with age. ...............~
rumours have it that he was going to have an Angelina job done on himself, but his advisers locked him in the Kremlin cellar on the arranged date.
 
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