I've read this critical post about the election on the last remaining decent subreddit.
First of all, I’d like to draw attention to the OP’s statement about “I’m free to jerk off and watch anime, and that’s about it.”
Let’s assume what he’s saying is 100% accurate, how exactly is that different from here in the west?
This kind of idea of all these (non existent) freedoms is very typical for a certain class of young people in Russia who’ve never actually lived abroad, but still listen to enough maidan-tier propaganda to believe that they’re totally, totally missing out on all these things.
How valid is his concerns about how Strelkov was treated and the policy of squashing potential rivals to Putin.
Sure, he has a point about Strelkov. The guy got a raw deal. At the same time, he likely got numerous warnings along the way. And most importantly, it’s Russia. There are a lot of guns, a lot of people who know how to use them. Remember Prigozin? And how a protest march ended up with a shot down plane and 20 military personnel dead?
So yeah, you can’t really blame Russian authorities for shutting down a guy, who wants to go full on blazing all the way to Riga and Kiev.
In an ideal world, Strelkov and others would be free to say and do exactly what they please.
But Putin (and the leadership) are cautious and know how sky high the stakes are. Nuclear war possibly. And while western “analysts” think that democratic opposition to Putin is all gay rights and US megacorps being welcomed back, IN REALITY there are just as many, Russians who want to go full on ball to the wall against NATO, take the Baltics back and the whole shabang.
Should they also be allowed to organize? Run for elections?
My guess is that the answer to that would be a nervous “no”.
Which shows what kind of hypocrisy we’re dealing with.
What people always forget about Russia is that:
1: Russia is Russia.
2: Democrazy may develop differently in Russia, just like the US is different from Denmark.
3: Nobody in Russia claims it’s a perfect democracy. Even people like Medvedev point out that democracy is still young in Russia, and it’ll develop along whatever way RUSSIANS CHOOSE.
Now as for “squashing rivals” to Putin, there is certainly a system in place that Putin is simultaneously the head and symbol of, as well as part of. (Forget cartoonish dictator Putin, it’s impossible to lead a country like Russia without buyin and a big element of collective leadership.)
Now Putin knows he won’t live forever, and is growing a new group of worthy leaders. (Some of whom may come from the SMO!)
Eventually it’ll become more democratic not less. But remember Russia before Putin? The country was robbed blind. The leader was a drunken clown. Mobsters openly ruled.
If you look at that, is it any wonder that there in the Russian system is some caution for letting the reins go 100%?
Having said all that, and it was a lot longer than I intended, and I still didn’t even go to the political role of the Organs. There is no doubt that Russia is what an NGO might call “a hybrid system” or a “flawed NGO”.
But there’s also no doubt that Russians are overall pretty happy with their system, and Putin does represent a democratic choice.
As for why, well:
I seriously recommend reading up on the 90ies in Russia. Old war veterans selling their medals because they wanted to eat. You know how Russia avoided starvation, yes STARVATION when the USSR collapsed? Everyone started growing their own potatoes and food because there wasn’t any other way to get it.
You worked your entire life at a nail factory, and since there’s no cash, the factory starts PAYING YOU IN NAILS so you can go out and barter for what you need.
So yeah, there are a lot of good reasons why Russians prefer the current system, even without going into (mildly russophobic) hogwash like “they like their zars!”
