NPR goes bizarro world -Putin's Power Grab (must listen to audio)

[underpants]

I heard this commentary by Celeste Wallander on NPR this week and it was the most ironic thing I have ever heard (almost Daily Show-esque). I have looked everywhere but can't find a text version.

It must have struck anyone listening that Celeste Wallander's analysis was stating the obvious of what happened here after 9/11. It is mindboggling how everyone is upset and outraged by what Putin is doing in Russia after the tragic school shooting but no one seems to what to connect the dots (only two dots-one connection necessary).

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3932257

PDF file from the Center For Strategic & International Studies (a very brief synopsis)


http://www.csis.org/press/pr04_54.pdf

Celeste Wallander, director, CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program : “President Putin has proposed changes to the Russian political system that will eliminate legitimate dissent and the accountability governments must endure to be effective. He justifies these anti-democratic proposals as necessary to respond to the very real and all too tragic threats of terrorist attacks that average Russians face in their daily lives. But in fact, it was the political system centralized in Putin's hands that failed Russia in the recent terrorist attacks. Putin's proposals will make the Russian political system less accountable, more closed, more corrupt, and ultimately less effective, and will most likely exacerbate Russian insecurity rather than meet the very real needs of Russia's citizens for security and well-being.”