Same media corporate meedia which pretend to care so much for democracy in Russia were encouraging Yeltin military assault on Parlament after the latter tried to prevent the distribution of national wealth to the great thiefs ie "reform minded oligarchs".
The fact that Putin has 70%+ percent support while Yeltsin had ~7% is intepreted as Putin being anti-democratic while Yeltsin being the champion of people's power.
Luis, did you like regimes of Batista and Somoza?
No, but you must love them because all you're doing is being Putin's useful idiot.
You are in here claiming that the man who is ending democratic elections in Russia is democratic, and supporting the man who is reverting the system of government back to the old Soviet-style central dictatorship.
If Hillary Clinton gets 70% of the support of the people, you would conceede to her that it was perfectly fine to suspend elections, that she could appoint governors and Senators?
You are right, I am familiar with appointed governors from latin america. It has been fairly common. It guarantees that local government answers to the ruling party rather than the locals. The dispensation of tax revenues from the center rather than local governments having their own tax base is also common, and has the same effect, the locals have almost no voice in their local government, even where they do elect them directly. The result is that local problems have to become national problems before anyone pays attention; it is a guarantee for instability.
But in explaining that to latin americans they always tell me that what works in rich countries (federalism) won't work in corrupt, poor ones... And maybe they are right, what do I know?
I tend, as I have said, to give Putin the benefit of the doubt. And I know that the road to good government does not always follow a straight line, it zigs and zags sometimes. Chile had to go through a Pinochet to get to stable democracy. Maybe Putin is Russia's Pinochet. Maybe his zigs will be followed by a zag. Or maybe we are seeing the beginning of one long zig. If Putin wants to declare war on the mafia and the muslim killers, more power to him. If he is merely consolidating power in order to build a free Russia, then history will absolve him.
But the spotlight is on him, and even his friends are watching, to see if Putin is friend or foe. I hope you are right and Luis is wrong.
Is not democractic mob rule (and in Russia mob rule is just that sometimes too) to be shuned in favor of republicanisim?