[readhn]

Strong enough to grab Crimea from Ukraine? Its like stealing candy from a kid. Ukraine's military is in even worse shape. Syria is not exactly super power either.

The military machine over there can spit out "super weapon in development" stories all day - the truth is, nothing meaningful or threatening is happening, the funds for any meaningful development work are being stolen by the higher ups and channeled to the western banks through offshores (see "panama papers"). How do you think they buy mega yachts and houses in London, Spain, Greece?

Under Yeltsin there was no freedom (in fact there was never any freedom in Russia) - there was complete lawlessness. USSR fell and nothing was holding the thugs behind anymore. In the 90's thugs (+ ex-KGB) took over all business and then merged with and migrated into government.

Today thugs (KGB is a glorified mafia family) are running the entire country - its simple as that.

Russian people never had a word to say about any of this. Those who tried - got blown up or shot in the back.

[woodandsteel]

I agree Russia can never become a military superpower like it was, but its military is still strong enough to cause lots of problems in the world.

>Under Yeltsin there was no freedom (in fact there was never any freedom in Russia) - there was complete lawlessness. USSR fell and nothing was holding the thugs behind anymore. In the 90's thugs (+ ex-KGB) took over all business and then merged with and migrated into government.

Your comment is a good example of what I am talking about. Under Yeltsin there was little control by the government, so the population was free to organize and promote positive change. Instead they just let things stay bad, and then when a strong leader came along to eliminate the chaos, they give him their full support.

I have read a lot about Russia, and one reason Russians never organize from the bottom up is that Russians view themselves as an unruly people, and so they believe they need an authoritarian leader to tell them what to do and make them do it.

Another problem is that every Russian has very low trust in anyone outside their immediate circle, so they can't form good organizations, like civil society groups or an effective liberal political party.

All this is deeply embedded in Russian culture, as a consequence of many centuries of authoritarian leaders. What Russians need to do is study political philosophy, history and other cultures, and learn what they need to do differently.

Oh, and by the way, Putin has you exactly where he wants you. He would like you to be a supporter, but if people like you are instead cynical and don't try to understand what is needed for positive change, then he is free to stay in power for the rest of his life.

[readhn]

>> Under Yeltsin ... population was free to organize and promote positive change.

I see that you have some illusions about that period, perhaps due to the fact that you could only see it through the lens of the western media. No, population was not free. The gangs controlled the country. If they did not like what you had to say - you were killed on the spot, right out in the open in the daylight. Simple as that. People lived in fear through the 90's. Fear of making ANY move: business - would be taken away from you by the gangs, or politics - ruled by apparatchiki with criminal connections who took you out if they did not like the way you looked that day.

I disagree with your blanket statement that Russians need (or desire) an authoritarian leader. Not all Russians are the same, far from it. (Its similar to going in the middle of USA and concluding that all Americans are god worshiping red necks or something like that.) There are (and were) a lot of progressive thinkers that are capable of organizing an opposition. The issue is - they are forced out of the country by the state (best case scenario) once they gain any traction or are eliminated in one way or another.

The choice for many russians is simple - do i want to suffer physical/mental abuse by the state, fight the system and stay in the country or am i better of immigrating? the choice is simple, especially if you have/want a family.

Russian immigration has been going on for over 100 years now for that very reason.

>>Oh, and by the way, Putin has you exactly where he wants you. He would like you to be a supporter, but if people like you are instead cynical and don't try to understand what is needed for positive change, then he is free to stay in power for the rest of his life.

No Putin does not want me to be where i am now ;) yes im cynical but i do know what is needed for a positive change. there is one little thing - i do not want to waste my life on fighting that system "for the good cause". Life is too short to spend it on "nari".