[yolo69420]

it's less about democracy and more about the economical systems and hierarchy in use. i suspect an encounter with china for example would go quite differently

[consumer451]

Maybe, but one of the issues Putin faces is that his subordinates are apparently afraid to tell him the truth if it strays from the party line.

Would this not be same situation in the CCP?

[peoplefromibiza]

> Would this not be same situation in the CCP?

Wasn't it the same situation with Trump, democratically elected POTUS?

Or, in my country, with Berlusconi?

Isn't it the same with many CEOs that have far more power and impact on people's lives than a politician?

The only real difference is that Putin has been there for 20 years and will be there for another 20, if nothing changes.

[consumer451]

> Wasn't it the same situation with Trump, democratically elected POTUS?

> Or, in my country, with Berlusconi?

Yes it absolutely was. Neither of those leaders were very pro-actual democracy, were they?

Perfect is the enemy of good. Just because we can cite examples of specific failures doesn’t mean we should throw out the entire concept. What is a better alternative?

[peoplefromibiza]

> Yes it absolutely was. Neither of those leaders were very pro-actual democracy, were they?

I'm not sure they were/are anti-democracy, I think they have a very different opinion on how to exercise power in a democracy than mine.

There's no "one true way" in a democracy.

Of course they were pathologically bad and it's easy to agree, but bad is a spectrum.

> What is a better alternative?

There are a lot of them, democracy is not the better alternative, democracy only real advantage is that every position of power has an expiration date attached to it and sooner or later the people behind them must be replaced (theoretically of course, there are many examples of powerful people influencing democracies for decades without ever being subject to the voters' judgement) .

EDIT: many smaller to medium communities could benefit a lot from running them under some form of socialism/communism. For example circular economy is a marketing term to express the same concept, that cannot be used in many "free market" countries due to years of propaganda against them.

[pydry]

>Maybe, but one of the issues Putin faces is that his subordinates are apparently afraid to tell him the truth

I've heard this repeated many times but:

A) most of the evidence comes mostly from western propaganda organs saying that it's happening.

B) other evidence is circumstantial at best and really reaching at times (e.g. pictures of putin sitting at the end of a long table)

C) it's a pretty standard kind of disinfo tactic to try and say this kind of thing to undermine troop morale.

D) it will ultimately not be disprovable.

Which is not to say it's definitely not true, but every time I hear it repeated I wince a little.