The great irony about Russia and NATO...

[Tommy Carcetti]

Had Russia actually transitioned to a democracy after the Cold War, it’s possible that NATO might not even be still in existence at this point.

NATO is a bogeyman of Putin’s own making.

[Ghost Dog]

1. The Russian Federation is a democracy,

albeit, like them all, imperfect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Russia

[Tommy Carcetti]

4. It's a "managed democracy."

It has the appearance of a democratic form of government with a legislative and judicial branch and regular elections.

However on a de facto basis, the cards have been so heavily stacked in favor of Putin and his United Russia so that no other parties stand any decent chance of having any practical governance.

[Ghost Dog]

6. What "cards"?

What details regarding the Russian constitutional system does Western MSM, generally, provide?

[mopinko]

7. jailing other candidates.

or just poisoning them.

[Tommy Carcetti]

8. He has cracked down on dissent to the point there is little opposition.

Boris Nemtsov was killed almost certainly on his orders. Navalny was poisoned and then imprisoned.

His only semi-serious opponent last election was the daughter of his old mentor.

He’s former KGB. This is what they do.

[Ghost Dog]

10. The Duma appears to include more diversity of parties

than does the US Congress, actually:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Duma

Which is Navalny’s party?

[Tommy Carcetti]

12. You're kidding me, right?

One party (Putin’s United Russia) has a 3-1 advantage over all other parties combined. And some of those parties are basically puppet opposition (Zhrinovsky’s Liberal Democrats—LDPR—for example, who are neither liberal nor democratic).

Russia has refused to recognize Navalny’s Russia of the Future party. You understand now?

[Ghost Dog]

13. I don't have that much inside intelligence

to opine. But compared to the.many imperfect so-called democracies around the world the Russian versión doesn't look far out of the ordinary to my perhaps overly cynical eye.

The point is, Putin, as leader of the executive power, strongly appears to enjoy much support in his country as he defends, as he claims, its security in the face of NATO expansion and aggressive language and gestures.

[Tommy Carcetti]

14. Putin has browbeaten dissent in his country.

The high water mark was 2011, when there were mass protests about parliamentary elections with documented fraud.

Putin then cracked down hard on dissent, passed “anti-extremism” laws which were actually anti-speech laws.

Then Nemtsov was killed in 2015, and Navalny was poisoned multiple times and imprisoned in 2021.

It’s not an “imperfect democracy,” it’s a Potemkin democracy geared towards one-party rule.

[Tommymac]

15. Um, the Russian Legislature has rewritten laws to allowed Putin to remain in power until forever.

Russia IS NOT a REAL Democracy.

Why are you continuing to say it is in face of all these posters giving you evidence it is NOT.

A Democracy in Name only - it is an Authoritarian State. PERIOD.

[Ghost Dog]

21. He can stand for re-election for two more six-year terms,

according to a new law proposed and approved in the Duma, and also approved by referendum, apparently - https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/vladimir-putin-russi-president-law-7261383/

Many so-called democracies, eg. the British, have no term limits at all for their leaders.

Sorry, Tommymac, but plain assertions don't count as evidence, and such demonisation, when there's supposed to be serious diplomacy going on, inspires further reflection.

[uponit7771]

18. Voter suppression much like here but 1.25 times worse

[edhopper]

9. As long as Putin has no chance of losing

because he controls the election, it's not a democracy.

[Ghost Dog]

11. How does he "control elections"?

The United Russia party, as well as Putin himself, are clearly very popular in the country as a whole.

[edhopper]

16. Sure

that 77% vote is purely legit comrade.

[uponit7771]

19. Voter suppression and killing and jailing opponents

[uponit7771]

17. Nope, authoritarian on democracy (link)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index

[11 Bravo]

24. The Russian Federation is to "democracy" as Fox is to "news".

Calling road kill steak tartare doesn't make it true.

[Buckeyeblue]

2. That's an interesting point

As I've been watching this latest escalation unfold I've been thinking about what keeps Putin in power. Russia is a disaster as a country. You would think there would be underground movements that could at minimum destabilize his power.

[cilla4progress]

3. Theyve tried to kill Navalny

multiple times? And he's in jail.

I suppose that has a chilling effect.

[Buckeyeblue]

5. But is Navalny a serious threat

He didn't seem to have much of an infrastructure around him for protection. He almost seemed like to easy of a target for Putin.

I think a real threat would play his/her cards much more carefully.

[lame54]

20. As long as there is a North Korea there should be a NATO

[AntiFascist]

22. The main problem is Russian aggression...

The "Union State" currently consists of Russia and Belarus, but Putin has not been shy about adding parts of Ukraine and ultimately other former Soviet bloc nations to this Union State.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_State

[pecosbob]

23. If they'd played their cards right, not only would NATO be gone, but they'd likely own Europe

Focusing on the economics and not the politics, if Russia had distributed the state's assets intelligently at the end of the cold war instead of going full-on kleptocrat those resources could have been used to fuel economic growth. Their energy reserves could have made them Europe's primary debt holder today...if they aren't already.