[ExI] Time Magazine: Person of the Year: Putin(!), my vote instead: Anna Politkovskaja

[Stefano Vaj]

On Dec 25, 2007 9:17 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> Putin is wrestling Russia from a democracy back to a totalitarian
> dictatorship.  Time magazine appears to be cheering him on at every
> opportunity.  Damn those guys, what (if anything) are they thinking?

I am not on the payroll of the KGB, or whatever they call it this days, so I
do not have an especial axe to grind about that, but what exactly do you
mean with "democracy"?

Does it have anything to do with the sovereignty of the people, and with
rule by consent, as in rulers being kept in office by the trust and support
of a vast majority of their fellow citizens, as opposed to somebody
sponsored by vested interest who got elected by a *minority* of voters, and
empowered by nine wise men who were in turn not voted by anyone, but
appointed by his predecessors?

As far as I can say, the ideological differences represented in the Duma,
are still much broader than those represented in the US congress, and the
Russian Federation has a more proportional electoral system, in spite of the
7% barrage, offering a better parliamentary representation of minorities...

Then, of curse, one may well not like the politics of Mr. Putin. And he may
find pretty funny the songs currently being dedicated to him. :-)

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMpdRjoaCQk.

But I would not be too snob about that.

Stefano Vaj
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