EDITORIAL: Russia, Putin’s Bitch

EDITORIAL

Russia, Putin’s Bitch

We were very pleased, of course, to see a cartoon (shown above) from our favorite Russian political artist, the inimitable and indispensable Sergei Yelkin, appear atop a column in last week’s Moscow Times by former Duma member Vladimir Ryzhkov, one of our favorite Russian politicians.

Ryzhkov neatly sums up the attitude of Russia’s rulers towards her people, an attitude of pure contempt and hatred that spells certain national disaster if these rulers are allowed to continue in power. He states:  “Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Kremlin first deputy chief of staff Vladislav Surkov and their ideological supporters don’t believe Russians can be trusted to vote. They are not smart or civilized enough to vote responsibly.”

He continues:

This condescending attitude is by no means limited to voting; they believe the masses are not able to do anything. That is why Russia needs a “benevolent tsar” with an iron-strong vertical power structure to explain to the ignorant masses what is best for the country and how to modernize it and to appoint competent governors and mayors to implement Putin’s wise decisions across the country.

Putin will not let Russians vote for mayor or governor as Americans are allowed to do, and he rigs national elections without shame. That’s because he believes Russians are not as clever or trustworthy as Americans.  He certainly can’t argue that America is a less successful country than Russia because of its empowered population. After all, Americans earn thousands of dollars more each year and live many years longer than Russians.  America’s population is booming, twice the size of Russia’s, while Russia is shrinking.

Putin will not let Russians watch what they want on TV, instead he controls all the major programming.  Apparently, Putin feels that Russians would produce and consume only television that would destroy their souls and undermine his ability to govern them.  He will not let them study real history, but only a pablum produced for their “own good.”  It seems he thinks that if Russians read the truth, they’d all immediately give up hope and commit suicide.  Russians are not like Germans who can freely confront their horrific past and yet build a prosperous future, Putin believes.

The result is that Russia, just like the USSR before it, is a nation of enslaved people, unable to reach their full potential and doomed to failure and collapse.  The reason is simple:  Putin cannot seem to realize that if he is right and Russia is a nation of hopeless morons, he himself is one of them. No magic charm elevated Putin to special non-moron status. That means Putin himself needs to be led around by the nose by a superior being.  Yet, instead Putin is ruling with unchecked authority and likely for the rest of his life.

As such, Putin’s Russia has no more future than had the USSR.