We have to monitor this dissent closely. What if the extremist side of Russia seizes control? What do they know of non-corruption? What are they educated about if the corrupt government is controlling their education? Probably best to install a puppet government.
Or they could be young, idealistic people who are tired of the antiquated past and yearn for a more open, democratic society? From the Arab Spring to OWS, people are waking up and announcing "NO MORE"
I see what you did there, but anyway. You bet that the situation in Russia is constantly being monitored closely. "Yuppie generation" != extremists. If there was an influential Muslim Brotherhood taking part in the protests (which produced several high-ranking Al Qaeda and Hezbollah terrorists) or if it looked like Russian nationalists/Nazis were a strong force in the protests, then things might be looked at differently, and rightly so. Anyway, some would argue that some kind of extremists have already taken control of Russia. Maybe not extremists, but corrupt, non-democratic Macchiavellis. Very little, apparently. Fortunately, access to the Internet in Russia is much more "free" than in most countries in the Arabic world. More "free" than in Dubai, easily, where the corrupt government you are a part of controls access to the Internet. Putin already did.
Russian Orthodox Extremist? Agnostic Democratic Capitalist? The anti-oligarch communist? I get it though, people need some, any, rallying point to organize opposition to the existing power structure. Trying to get action out a group of 'free thinkers' is like herding cats. But you shouldn't choose a group as anachronistic as the group you are rebelling against, that's only a lateral move for your efforts. (especially if that group discriminates against 50% of the population)
For some reason I get the feeling Putin would rather kill millions of his own people then give up his power.
It wouldn't be the first time a popular revolution in Russia was co-opted by extremists. I think they are in a better place now than they were in 1917 (but maybe worse than 1991), but we won't see a well-functioning western-style democracy in Russia without a lot of heartache first, and probably blood.
Working hard Mathloom to equat radical Islam with every other dissent in the world, but psssst...I won't tell anyone. DD
You still will not see a well-functioning democracy in Russia. The culture and history is vastly different than the West. Same reason a western democracy would not work in parts of the middle east.
TIME had a good article on Russian democracy. There are two dominant generations in politics, one generation that remembers the glory of the Soviet union and another that only remembers the chaos and bureaucracy in the early days of the Russian Federation. Not surprisingly, both groups are in faavour of a rigid, federalized, almost totalitarian state. The younger generation, a little similar to their peers in the Arab World, don't remember the '90s, and only see their neighbors in the West enjoying their democracies, as one might expect they want their slice of pie too.
WOW. I wonder what's going to happen now.... Election fraud in Russia caught on video: ballot-stuffing, erasable ink and more.. http://observers.france24.com/conte...o-ballot-stuffing-erasable-ink-putin-protests
LOL I just KNEW it was all Hilary's fault: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/w...-clinton-of-instigating-russian-protests.html "Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin accused Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday of inciting unrest in Russia, as he grappled with the prospect of large-scale political protest for the first time in his more than decade-long rule." ...... Good grief. Are we headed back to the Stalin "I'm the Russian leader so I better kill all Russians" tactics?
The real question is, do you have any doubt that he would pull the trigger himself? My guess is: he ain't going nowhere.
