Well, Balqis, why don’t you just come out and openly state your admiration for the countries which practiced murderous campaigns of ethnic cleansing in the 1990’s? I refer specifically to Croatia under Franjo Tuđman, Serbia under Slobodan Milošević, and Slovakia under Vladimír Mečiar.

Be specific, Balqis.
Are you trying to say that the Western concepts of human rights, civil liberties and democracy shouldn't be introduced to countries currently ruled by mafia-style thugs or megalomaniacs?

My point is that importing democracy is wrong, first of all because democracy is not a unique model but a word that can describe different ways of government and secondly because each reality needs its own path
Which is why I embrace Vladimir Surkov ideas and president Medvedev statement
Democracy must come naturally, cannot be imposed
And a sudden passage from the soviet era to anarchy, that would have just messed up things
That is what happened in countries we europeans, together with americans, literally invaded
We just damaged them
About the mafia state, this is a huge accusation done to the kremlin for which there is no evidence whatsoever
The west wants just to overthrow the regime to be in control, and that is why they happily support the likes of Nemtsov and Khodorkovsky

Toomas, your condemnation of Tudjman surprises me. Was he not a patriot who fought against both communism and Serbian agression and became the father of a free and independent Croatia? Don't forget that those were difficult times and we were very lucky that similar violence did not occur in Estonia.

Balqis’ assertion that “democracy is not a unique model” is correct. That said, note that Liberal Democracy revolves around the concept of human rights. Individual liberty is primary. The democracy aspect involves fair elections, universal suffrage, the existence of an effective opposition, an independent judiciary, etc. Less important is the form of how this is implemented. Russia does not shine in any of these areas.

Putin’s enunciated “sovereign democracy” is utter nonsense. It is a smokescreen for authoritarianism. She mentions Vladimir Surkov, but probably means Putin’s top aide Vladislav Surkov. Go figure. If one is going to be someone’s mouthpiece, at least get the name right.

She claims there is no evidence that Russia is “a mafia state.” What there is no evidence for is her assertion that “the west just wants to overthrow” Putin’s regime “to be in control [of Russia].

As for Max, he seems confused (just like Maxim always was). He can’t even articulate the Harvard PhD Fukuyama’s main thesis in Fukuyama’s 1992 book, “The End of History and the Last Man.”

I don't think Leivat was intellectualizing at all. He made good points.

if by arrest of opposition leaders you mean Nemtsov and comrades behind bars, well he deliberately passed from a sanctioned rally to an unsanctioned one, ignoring the orders of the police
That is a crime and has nothing to do with politics
Evidence is that ludmila alexyeva, human rights activist, refused the call of opposition to join unsanctioned rallies in the future because as she put it, she wants to negotiate on legal bases
About Khodorkovsky, well is better you open a newspaper and UN reports on recycling and read what he did exactly
He looted russian people leaving them in poverty plus ordered killings in mafia style
We can argue that he was not the only one, but which investigative and legal system is perfect on this earth

It's proof on a platter that you see things via a fun-house mirror.
You are to be pitied and, indeed, you would be if you didn't work so hard at being provocative and obnoxious.