01-21-2009, 07:53 PM
sector_Gaza Wrote:Have you any example of so-called repression as you stated there is "repressive political system" in Russia?
Who was repressed?
That is really amazing! Thousands of independent journalists lost jobs, many of them were killed, business people of Eltsin age were robbed and thrown off the country, political opposition is not allowed on TV, their participation in elections is in fact prohibited. No independent media, total censorship, no political opposition activities allowed. Bahmina is in prison while killer of Chechen girl Budanov is acquitted.
The changes to Constitution made Russian president a real dictator since there are not checks and balances at all. New law treats “unsanctioned meetings” as state crime and parricide. Courts are turned to old KGB 3-member commissions. Everyone who criticizes authorities may be declared an “extremist” and imprisoned.
Moskal Wrote:In other words, Russia depends on the European and other countries in terms of gas supplies as much as such countries depend on Russia. Moreover, experts unanimously say this dependence will only grow in a middle and longer term as the demand for oil and gas will grow significantley despite the current crisis. They predict the oil prices to rise to at least $70 as early as this coming fall.
It’s strange to read it. Obviously you have not access to Western TV and newspapers or you think I have not. Everyone is talking about complete diversification from Russian gas. EU already initiates building of Nabucco and it will be built during few years.
As about Ukraine we force own producing on shelf where we have lots of gas and oil. I repeated many times transit of Russian gas is not so profitable for us so I predict few years later we can find better suppliers somewhere in Caspian pool. It’s good opportunity to stop this doubtful gas export of Russia at all.
BK Wrote:Max, as you know Brzezinski, is a child of the cold war era (so is Putin and many of Russia and Ukraines current elite, and me too, for that matter.) Brzezinski has extreme views and although he has been accurate on many ocassions, I would prefer to believe that despite the postings from Moscal, sektor_Gaza et al, there is an emerging consciousness among the emerging Russian middleclass that Russia must change both its perceptions about the world, and about itself in order to be successful in the post soviet world.
Yes, Brzezinski is controversial thinker and sometimes he is on extreme positions. However, I share his vision on Putin when he is compared not with old hackneyed communism idealist but with pompous ultra-right dictators of past.
“Mr. Putin's regime in many ways is similar to Mussolini's Fascism. Il Duce made "the trains run on time." He centralized political power in the name of chauvinism. He imposed political controls over the economy without nationalizing it or destroying the economic oligarchs and their mafias. The Fascist regime evoked national greatness, discipline, and exalted myths of an allegedly glorious past. Similarly, Mr. Putin is trying to blend the traditions of the Cheka (Lenin's Gestapo, where his own grandfather started his career), with Stalin's wartime leadership, with Russian Orthodoxy's claims to the status of the Third Rome, with Slavophile dreams of a single large Slavic state ruled from the Kremlin.”