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| 1 |
ID:
134097
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| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Let us drink to Putin! He is doing so many good things for us." This toast from a friend's mother, at a recent friendly gathering of neighbors at my dacha near Moscow, made a few of us around the table feel a little uneasy. I think it was the first time that I'd heard someone proposing to drink the health of one of our heads of state when it wasn't required by protocol. However, this lady's emotions were sincere and, given the circumstances in Russia today, quite logical. Vladimir Putin's Crimean blitz was a very domestic Russian affair, designed to give the people a new sense of imperial pride and, by extension, provide the Kremlin with a badly needed popularity boost. In this regard, it succeeded beyond expectation. Even the tragedy of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 did not shake the foundations of the conviction that most Russians hold: their country is a beacon of moral fortitude and spiritual greatness besieged by the Western forces of atheism, permissiveness, and greed.
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| 2 |
ID:
128394
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| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The Kremlin's decision to call a snap election for Moscow mayor in September 2013 may be remembered as a turning point both for Vladimir Putin's regime and for the Russian opposition. For years, the strength of the Putin government has depended not only on its heavy hand but on the lack of an alternative. This vacuum was created and maintained, of course, by the heavy hand itself-shutting down unwanted television channels, disenfranchising (and sometimes jailing) political opponents, and fixing elections. And, for a time, it worked. The shrewdest of Kremlin apologists, both in Russia and abroad, have long ceased to praise the regime, occasionally even admitting its corrupt and repressive nature, but invariably asking, "If not Putin, then who?"
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