Well few times a week I watch russian news and some russian talk shows that I clearly see some dictatorship impacted public reaction to its leader. Many foreign students in russia claim that russian media has very bubbling effects that isolate outside social news and effects.

The authoritative power is not dictatorship. It is the system of the power keeping decorative elements of democracy. BTW, the Internet community in Russia is free, and mainly it has very sharp orientation against Putin.

If authoritative power kills journalists and close free public medias then it is newer version of dictatorship than something civilized ways.

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Mandtugai!

If authoritative power kills journalists and close free public medias then it is newer version of dictatorship than something civilized ways.

Some of journalists was killed, but hundreds journalists, who wrote articles against Putin, are alive and have not the big problems. Nobody of the protesters was killed on the gigantic meetings of opposition in December and March. Presidential elections is too the obvious indicator that it's not dictatorship in Russia, but an authoritarian plutocratic power. This is very bad, but not dictatorship.
P.S. Sorry, maybe it was my misspelling in previous posts. My English is very poor. I meant authoritarian power, not the authoritative power.

I wonder where Russia will be once oil prices either drop or Russia's oil resources prove to be difficult to extract? That flow of foreign capital masks a lack of progress in other areas. Between that and the limited options available to the Russia via Putin's opposition (they seem to run on the 'we're not Putin platform). It makes sense that Putin stays in power.

If Putin used that power differently, it is possible that Russia would be in a far better place, economically, demographically, and strategically. I guess that is the lament many of us westerners have. Of course that lament cuts both ways, as has been noted in this thread. That is, if Bush had effectively capitalized on the temporary unity that the US had post 9/11 to move a country to collective sacrifice to achieve important goals, the US might be in a better place than it is today. If European leaders had taken a sense of the collective and looked at THEIR pending demographic problems in 2001 with a view toward long term solutions , perhaps Europe as well would be in a better place today.

So any argument that goes 'bad Putin' -- needs to also recognize the sub-optimal governance in the west as well.

Like americans have tons of black and white plus hispanics issues social changes positive and negative talks, russians have tons of ethnic issues which really impacts its social changes which is really complex one.

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Mandtugai!