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Russia: Medvedev doubles down on "modernization"
AFPC Russia Reform Monitor ^ | 8/5/2011 | Ilan Berman and Amanda Pitrof, eds.

Posted on 08/06/2011 10:29:17 PM PDT by bruinbirdman

The majority of Russians remain dissatisfied with the progress of democratization in Russia, a new poll has found. The Moscow Times reports that 62 percent of people recently polled in an All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre survey answered that they are “dissatisfied with the development of democracy in Russia.” This number, however, is down marginally from the 73 percent who were dissatisfied with domestic conditions twenty years ago. Meanwhile, those who believe the country is showing progress are largely supporters of the ruling "United Russia" party, are under 45 years of age, and generally active Internet users.

[Editors’ Note: Given the effect of Russia’s increasingly authoritarian political climate on pollsters and respondents alike, the results of public opinion surveys in Russia should be viewed with some caution.]

In what appeared to be thinly-veiled criticism of his mentor and current Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, President Dmitry Medvedev has publicly cautioned against “one-man rule” in order to avoid a period of stagnation in Russia. Modernization and privatization were central topics in the president's speech before the St. Petersburg International Investment Forum, with Reuters reporting that the president ordering all state officials to vacate their positions on the boards of state companies by autumn. “We must not count all the time on high oil prices or on their constant growth,” he cautioned, before stressing the need to pursue modernization, regardless of who is in power. “Yes, modernization is difficult,” he concluded, “But we don’t have the right to wait.”


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: authoritarian; climate; companies; conditions; democracy; internet; medvedev; modernization; officials; oil; political; poll; power; primeminister; privatization; progress; putin; russia; state

1 posted on 08/06/2011 10:29:19 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
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To: bruinbirdman
"We don't do democratization here. Got it?"


2 posted on 08/06/2011 10:32:48 PM PDT by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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To: Lazlo in PA
Medvedev, Putin, it does seem a little choreographed?

yitbos

3 posted on 08/06/2011 10:54:13 PM PDT by bruinbirdman ("Those who control language control minds." -- Ayn Rand)
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To: Lazlo in PA

Politics aside, I wonder what he would be like in bed. He looks pretty buff in many photos on here taht are posted on Putin news threads.


4 posted on 08/06/2011 10:56:02 PM PDT by Niuhuru (The Internet is the digital AIDS; adapting and successfully destroying the MSM host.)
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To: Niuhuru
Now now. We don't get involved with that sort of thing here at FR. Clean your mind immediately. He is a dictator and nothing more.

It would be exciting to have a President of the United States that could shoot a gun again. Just daydreaming.

5 posted on 08/06/2011 11:04:31 PM PDT by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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To: Lazlo in PA

“Now now. We don’t get involved with that sort of thing here at FR”

Uh, yeah, I see all the clean comments about Catherine Zeta-Jones on threads that feature her. Aside from the saggy nipples, he is quite The Bod.


6 posted on 08/06/2011 11:09:11 PM PDT by Niuhuru (The Internet is the digital AIDS; adapting and successfully destroying the MSM host.)
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To: Lazlo in PA
Got this from a cousin of mine in the USMC:

They got the Terminator - we got Erkel!

7 posted on 08/06/2011 11:12:27 PM PDT by FromTheSidelines ("everything that deceives, also enchants" - Plato)
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To: Niuhuru
Uh, yeah, I see all the clean comments about Catherine Zeta-Jones on threads that feature her.

Now the rules need to be instituted.


8 posted on 08/06/2011 11:15:42 PM PDT by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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To: Lazlo in PA

Nah, we can’t allow that sort of censorship!


9 posted on 08/06/2011 11:23:48 PM PDT by Niuhuru (The Internet is the digital AIDS; adapting and successfully destroying the MSM host.)
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To: FromTheSidelines

They got the Terminator - we got Erkel!

**********************

We got Elagabulus.


10 posted on 08/07/2011 2:29:35 AM PDT by Psalm 144 (Voodoo Republicans: Don't read their lips - watch their hands.)
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