Originally posted by karma police

you know what really creeps me out?
That more than 80% of Russians support what this psychopath is doing...

Originally posted by princedonte

Putin is almost like a parody of a corrupt leader. He does all the predictable things. He's so careless. And to think a lot on the right in America like his style of leadership. Just lets you know what they want for 2016.

Originally posted by karma police

you know what really creeps me out?
That more than 80% of Russians support what this psychopath is doing...

Originally posted by A Final Interview With Boris Nemtsov

...
Newsweek: The Russians are not Ukrainians; it seems that they are much further from this breaking point.

Nemtsov: Therefore, first we need to focus on those who are already convinced. Marches are intended to enable us to count ourselves, to let us see that we are not some fringe group, but a real force. Taking to the streets in today’s Russia requires great courage. A brave man, an active man counts more than the one who out of convenience or fear doesn’t do anything. This is just the beginning. And then maybe we will be able to put our people into Moscow municipal government. In the capital, we have more citizens who are open-minded, who are contesting the authorities. Even getting a couple of the City Council seats would be a success, a breach in the monolith of power.

Newsweek: These are quite minimalist goals, and you yourself said that time is short.

Nemtsov: Time is now running faster. The economic crisis will accelerate the political processes in Russia. Many Russians support Putin, because in the last few years he improved their living standards. But the Russians are not stupid, as it is often believed in the West. Large numbers of pensioners, workers and officials would never believe in the imperial propaganda, would not let Putin to deceive them, if it wasn’t for the better living they suddenly had. They are not thinking how all this prosperity came to be. And even if they knew that their standard of living increased due to high oil prices, they thought it was good. They weren’t thinking that their lives would be even better if oil reserves were well managed and invested, not stolen. Now, when it turns out that pension or salary is not enough to make ends meet, people will start to wake up.

Newsweek: And stop blaming the West for the deterioration of their living standards?

Nemtsov: Yes, for now they blame the West, they complain about the sanctions, but they are beginning to understand that the real reasons are different than those given by the government. The West acts reasonably and fairly gently. It must restrain Russian aggression in Ukraine. The crisis in Russia is not the result of sanctions, but the result of Putin’s insanity. He immediately began to introduce the so-called counter-sanctions. And who was punished by them? Us, the Russians. Not only that, he also proved that his great country can’t produce basic things. Putin himself shows that the emperor has no clothes. But I know that he will not depart from this path. He won’t leave the Ukraine alone. He will be risking further sanctions. He will spend more billions on the army, the police and his bodies. And on the containment of inflation, because he understands that rising prices will anger the people.

Newsweek: The economic crisis in Germany elevated Hitler to power, but Putin already has the power.

Nemtsov: So he can only lose it. For this to come true, you need an alternative vision, a different idea of Russia. Our idea is the one of a democratic and open Russia. A country which is not applying bandit methods to its own citizens and neighbors. But, as I mentioned, Russian fascism is a hybrid. And hybrids are extremely resistant.