lol

If Obama dies, Biden WILL become president unless he dies too.

@CrazyOne
You mean its the same problem with govs on the American continent as it is in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia? Strange

lol

progress towards democracy is always slow. Spain started in the late seventies and came from almost nothing on almost any level. Economy, infrastructure and administration where at a very low level. Not the best conditions to start from.

We expect to much. It can't change overnight and often goes back and forth. Despite the crisis, I think Spain managed fairly well considering where they came from.

In any case its a nice example of how a country can be ruined by decades of dictatorship.

"I dont really think you can force a country to become a "real" (where the hell do we have a real democracy besides switzerland maybe) democracy."
That is more a discussion about Symantics than about the actual point here don't you agree? In any case, in Russia you wouldn't have the possibility to choose your opinion like you do now without going to a labour camp.

"Thats something the russian people need to do, not the west."
They don't stand a chance in hell. Why let them go trough hardship and many dead people first before they ever become democratic?

"Seriously, the EU has a bunch of own problems it should solve before we start forcing our point of view on other countries."
No, we should solve both.

just in case you do want to debate about democracy:
Democracy imo is about power balances and control systems. Voting is in a way a system to control the gov. Imperfect and inefficient as it might be, it works. People can force the gov to respect certain laws and even force the gov to actively enforce them if need be. These systems will never be perfect, but are still better then anything we have tried so far.

If (part) of the gov succeeds in fooling the people, the democratic control system is less effective. Propaganda, intimidation and disinformation all lead to less democracy.

Russians can't "choose" for democracy. Most of those who openly did are in concentration camps. If your only option is a concentration camp or silence its an easy choice. Even those few mostly unaffected by daily propaganda of the gov system who want to raise their voice have to be very brave. Most of the brave are in jail. If the only crap we see everyday was party propaganda, you and me would probably believe it too.

I don't doubt there will be riots. But with enough pressure, transition will happen without bloodshed.

His regime is dying Schniepel, and they will concede to almost any demand to save themselves. If they don't give in they will go down. Problem is that the west is probably not really interested in a democracy in Russia.

If the west let him go off the hook they are stupid. Worldwide economy revives sooner or later and energy prices might go up again. Only a real democracy will lift Russia out of this economic downfall and assures for peace in the long run.

Ever gov had its own justification but govs simply shouldn't be allowed to borrow so much or to borrow at all. Unless there's a world war going on or a worldwide disaster there is no justification. It clouds the economic state of the government and is a hidden form of taxation.

I don't understand why so many leftwing parties are proud followers of JM Keynes -yet claim they are against the rich- and put such large amounts of sums from the taxpayer into the hands of a select group of banks, large companies and rich people cause that is what undeniably happens here.

Its going down still. Their bomb squad is to lazy.

the fun fact is, some of their cheap installations actually might.