Today Vladimir Putin has succeeded in his third run for the presidency with 110% share of the vote.
In the run up to the Russian presidential elections, the seven other candidates were hand picked by Putin for there political unremarkability and their concern for the personal safety welfare of their families. ....
I haven't read though the whole thread (interesting though it is ), but a recent programme about Magna Carta summed it up well. It takes years (centuries?) of hard work to build up civil society. We had a constitutional monarchy when Germany still had an autocratic Kaiser and Russia had serfs. Had Russia reformed itself around 1900 it may have avoided the extremism of revolution and its counter-turmoil into capitalism. That's why i think we need to be patient and supportive of Russian democracy rather than driving ever more Russians into the arms of the current ruling elite.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
horizon wrote:I haven't read though the whole thread (interesting though it is ), but a recent programme about Magna Carta summed it up well. It takes years (centuries?) of hard work to build up civil society. We had a constitutional monarchy when Germany still had an autocratic Kaiser and Russia had serfs. Had Russia reformed itself around 1900 it may have avoided the extremism of revolution and its counter-turmoil into capitalism. That's why i think we need to be patient and supportive of Russian democracy rather than driving ever more Russians into the arms of the current ruling elite.
Should be patient and supportive of US American democracy, too? Italian? Spanish?
At what point should someone give them a good kick in the not-so-democratic backside and tell them to straighten themselves out?
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
horizon wrote:I haven't read though the whole thread (interesting though it is ), but a recent programme about Magna Carta summed it up well. It takes years (centuries?) of hard work to build up civil society. We had a constitutional monarchy when Germany still had an autocratic Kaiser and Russia had serfs. Had Russia reformed itself around 1900 it may have avoided the extremism of revolution and its counter-turmoil into capitalism. That's why i think we need to be patient and supportive of Russian democracy rather than driving ever more Russians into the arms of the current ruling elite.
Should be patient and supportive of US American democracy, too? Italian? Spanish?
At what point should someone give them a good kick in the not-so-democratic backside and tell them to straighten themselves out?
Well not fair to compare Russia with the USA. The USA dont deserve any sympathy, they had all the advantages of a fresh start, massive natural resources to share around and inspired founding fathers, only for their advantages to be subverted and squandered by the greedy. A country that should be a beacon for democracy and humanity is any thing but? ( "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." )
horizon wrote: ... a recent programme about Magna Carta summed it up well. ...
I didn't see the programme so I can't comment, but a lot of tosh is spouted about Magna Carta to convince us that our system is inherently better than all the others. I think the best thing you can say about Magana Carta is that quite a long time after it was created, the learned friends latched onto a couple of clauses to give some authority to the system they preferred (not least because it paid well.) Perhaps you missed the bit of the thread where I mentioned that a lot of what goes on in this country wouldn't necessarily stand analysis, which is one of the reason we get some bad results in the ECHR, in spite of some recent changes to improve things. (None of this is to defend corruption or oppression anywhere.)
Today Vladimir Putin has succeeded in his third run for the presidency with 110% share of the vote.
How can you have 110% share of the vote? 100% means that everyone who voted, voted for Putin.
I heard on the news that he got 70odd% of a 67% turnout.
I suspect it's a comment on the trustworthiness of the election process.
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way.No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse. There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
), but a recent programme about Magna Carta summed it up well. It takes years (centuries?) of hard work to build up civil society. We had a constitutional monarchy when Germany still had an autocratic Kaiser and Russia had serfs. Had Russia reformed itself around 1900 it may have avoided the extremism of revolution and its counter-turmoil into capitalism. That's why i think we need to be patient and supportive of Russian democracy rather than driving ever more Russians into the arms of the current ruling elite.
