Reply #21: There's no debate in Russia about communism.

[social_critic]

Remember, this stalinesque move was made in the Ukraine by Russian speakers, to make a point. The Ukraine isn't Russia - but it has to remain within Russia's political sphere for Russia to remain viable in the long term. This is understood by Russian speakers, and Washington understood this very well, which is the reason why the US made the first move and tried to pry Ukraine away from Russia. However, the US has been playing the great game with a lot of empty cartridges, and the Russians maneuvered to save their country, which they seem to have done quite well - they are after all great chess players.

In Russia, there's no debate about communism - not in the real spheres of power, or within the professional elites, or even within the working class. They see how it failed, and they don't need theorists to explain to them what Marx had in mind, or would ever believe they should allow anybody to seriously consider communism again. These guys know Marxist theory, they also understand how it failed, and they are smart enough to realize there are much better alternatives. Russian elites decided they couldn't afford to play around with a real democracy because they had to get Russia under tight control to fight back against the USA. In other words, what we see today is in part a result of Russians' psyche and culture, and in part a result of botched US foreign policy.