Five year plans
And this surprises — WHO?!
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Thats Putins real danger. That he has the support of most of the nation (obviously barring people like Garry Kasparov and Mikhail Khodorkovsky). Compared to Yeltsin (and compared to the Soviet days), many Russians see Putin as a veritable messiah, whether it is through better living standards and a greater economy, or whether it is by smashing Georgia (again, perceptions in Russia will be different from ours). In many ways, pride. Pride to such an extent that it borders on fervent nationalism (approaching the level of China, which is another country that is more and more fascist actually none of these countries are communist the closest they are to any ideology is fascism, another point that many people, including on FR, forget to consider. The enemy is not communist it is fascist with a capitalist core, and that is a far more formidable opponent than one blindly following Mao, in Chinas case, or Lenin/Stalin, in Russias. In both countries those ideologies are in the waste heap).
Why is that a threat? Well, because the strong nationalist growth (and its frenetic spread) in Russia and China come at a point where both countries are getting stronger (both from an economic stand point as well as military and in Chinas case include a strong geo-political strength surge), while the US is getting weaker. That is a concern. Does that mean that Russia will be attacking the US? Personally I doubt it, and not only that but I think sometime in the future the US and Russia will have to stand together again, but against the Chinese these time as opposed to the Germans. However that is a story for another day.
The point is that there is a tendency in the West (not in FR for the most part, but definitely in the MSM that is strongly pro-Kasparov/Khodorkovsky) to try and paint Putin as someone who is forcing himself on the Russians. While I strongly believe Kasparov and Khodorkovsky are correct about Putin being a problem, I at the same time find the assertions that Putin is hated ludicrous. That man is very (actually, very) popular in Russia, and furthermore he has delivered for the Russian people. That is a far greater threat than the unpopular monster some parts of the media try to paint him as.
The only thing more dangerous than a vampire count terrorizing an entire countryside of people is a vampire count that is adored by an entire countryside of people. Putin so far has been very intelligent/strategic, has delivered when it comes to results, and is very popular. Thats a far more potent punch than that of an incompetent, non-delivering and unpopular buffoon like Yeltsin was. A far more dangerous combination (and something people like Mikhael Shaakasvili of Georgia found out the hard way during the 2008 war with Russia when the Russians came in, smashed them, and occupied two pieces of Georgian territory South Ossetia and Abkhazia without anyone doing anything about it but talk, with a joint conference between Shaakasvili and Condoleeza Rice being the highlight while the Russians went all the way to Tbilisi without much trouble). Pride can be a potent nationalistic fuel, and Putin is a strong source of it for the Russian people. Therein lies the hidden danger. He can do almost anything since, to them, he can do almost no wrong.
In other news, obama aide cites Jimmy Carter as ‘plus’ for the U.S.!!!!