I never thought I'd say this but...


Go Bush!

In this instance I put aside my prejudices against Bush and agree.

Of course words without any potential action to backup them up are simply nothing more than mere words with no power to last. Putin's embarressment will pass and embarressment alone is hardly an incintive to change.

<font size=20>HOOAH</font>

So Russia is a democracy for 14 years now ? Does the common Russian in the street know this ?

I think the problem is yes - the people themselves are both aware but happy with the situation. The rise of the middle-classes has happened under Putin and they're quite content to vote for Mr. Putin for the rest of their lives in return for the new lifestyle.
As for the peasants, I understand they think he's a strong leader and therefore he has their support. It'll be interesting to see whether recent policy changes like the decreasing of veterans pensions will have an adverse effect on support in the lower classes though.

I'm not sure the Russian leadership knows about it...

George Bush knew Vladimir Putin would be defensive when Bush brought up the pace of democratic reform in Russia in their private meeting at the end of Bush's four-day, three-city tour of Europe. But when Bush talked about the Kremlin's crackdown on the media and explained that democracies require a free press, the Russian leader gave a rebuttal that left the President nonplussed. If the press was so free in the U.S., Putin asked, then why had those reporters at CBS lost their jobs? Bush was openmouthed. "Putin thought we'd fired Dan Rather," says a senior Administration official. "It was like something out of 1984."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...032354,00.html

Great story VulcanRider - thanks for posting! Crazy stuff indeed!