Putin Warns U.S. to Back Off from Socialism

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned the U.S. to stay away from the path of socialism and 'state control' today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

...the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence”.

“In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute,” Putin said... “In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”

... Putin said, “Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors, and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.”

...Putin also echoed the words of conservative maverick Ron Paul when he said, “we must assess the real situation and write off all hopeless debts and ‘bad’ assets. True, this will be an extremely painful and unpleasant process. Far from everyone can accept such measures, fearing for their capitalization, bonuses, or reputation. However, we would ‘conserve’ and prolong the crisis, unless we clean up our balance sheets.”

Hell has frozen over...

...and those in Washington are much more foolish than you or I (that much is obvious when the Russian Prime Minister has to warn us of this).

Russia Unchanged, Peaceful Demonstration Stopped

More than 20 years after the "fall" of the Soviet empire it seems that Russia hasn't changed much. A small protest was forcefully disbanded by Russian police outside of the Kremlin and demonstrators were detained chanting "Russia without Putin!" as they were dragged off.

The demonstration, organized by the group The Other Russia and the former chess champion Garry Kasparov, is said to have more than 1,000 attendants.

Spokeswoman Marina Litvinovich said that approximately 130 protesters were detained by Russian police including 18 that tried to enter the Kremlin commenting, "Today we saw a police state and its methods...."

Lyudmila Morozova, 61, a nurse from the southern city of Voronezh, had planned to protest in Triumph Square but was put off by the massive police presence... said the ...the government was afraid "some kind of power will rise against them."

"I want my country to develop along a democratic path," said Morozova, standing against a wall at the edge of the square. "It's not only not democratic, it's becoming totalitarian." . . .

Popular support for Other Russia and other vocal opposition groups is minimal, but the Kremlin is wary about any evidence of public anger as its struggles with a potentially politically damaging economic downturn.

There has been little evidence of change in the government's heavy-handed treatment of critics since Dmitry Medvedev succeeded Putin as president in May and stressed the importance of civil rights in his inaugural address.

Protesters were demonstrating to voice their opposition regarding the Kremlin's move to amend Russia's constitution extending the presidential term from 4 years to 6 years.

One thing's for sure. Russia needs a more democratic government representation, but hopefully comrades aren't so eager for regime change in their own country that they're willing to trade true freedom for the gospel of Lenin and Marx.