And So, Now Things That Are Important

To Admit Guilt For Nonexistent Crimes Is Unacceptable To Me.

People Expect Some Kinds Of Decisions From Putin That Will Help Them See Their Own Future. A Significant Part Of The People That He Relies On Are Quite Content With Him Telling Them That Nothing Is Going To Change. But That Part Of The Elite That Does Want To See Some Changes And Improvements Are Going To Expect Him To, In His Next Term, Bring Russia Back Into The Club Of The Great Powers.

Putin Has An Obvious Problem. His Country's Economy Is In Stagnation. He Needs To Constantly Be Pointing A Figure At Who Is At Fault. America Is At Fault. He Needs To Show Those Fronts - Those Directions In Which He Is Defeating America. In Syria, For Example, In Syria, He Is Defeating America; Not Isis, He's Defeating America.

It's A Very Erroneous Strategy To Try To Push The Russian Opposition To Unite. First Of All, The Opposition Is Addressing Different Parts Of Russian Society That Have Differing Points Of View. And Besides, A United Opposition Is A Nice Big Target That The Authorities Have A Much Easier Time Fighting. And Besides, Resisting An Authoritarian Regime With An Authoritarian Opposition Merely Means That, In The Event Of Victory, You're Just Doing Yet Another Round Of The Same Old, Same Old.

I Knew President Yeltsin Well. He Would Never Have Tolerated Government Officials Demonstratively Showing Off The Millions They Acquired Through Corruption, The Way It's Done Today.