Putin's legacy: a strong independent Russia

I had intended to blog an excellent article from Jonathan Steele immediately after I read it in Tuesday's Guardian, but I became rather sidelined somewhere by the shores of the Baltic Sea.

Nevertheless it is well worth reading and tallies almost precisely with my thoughts on Putin's premiership. Steele is ahead of the game in assessing Putin's legacy and in acknowledging the stability, economic growth and rediscovered esteem he has engendered.

Comments

Ciarán said…
But the key to establishing democracy is establishing the rule of law - not precisely an easy thing. And Putin, like Yeltsin before him has either failed or purposefully avoided establishing the rule of law.

Instead Russia labours under the rule of - very often kleptocratic - authority, not law, and Putin's popularity, economic stability or Russia's oil and gas price-based strength does not change that.

He's certainly not the planet's only democratic despot but he's a despot nonetheless.
21 September 2007 at 22:40
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