'..the opposition must try to rebuild the country from the bottom up. (…) Only widening the civic spirit and engagement shown in recent months can lead Russia out of a dead end. But the opposition should also use the time to install more youthful leadership.'<blockquote>"With (Putin's victory) the protest movement has reached a new phase. The demonstrators now know that those who want to change Russia need patience. To avoid allowing Putin's extended czardom from becoming lost time for Russia, the opposition must try to rebuild the country from the bottom up. (…) Only widening the civic spirit and engagement shown in recent months can lead Russia out of a dead end. But the opposition should also use the time to install more youthful leadership."
"At the beginning of his leadership, Putin stabilized the country and helped bring back a bit of pride. But this has since been exhausted. Stability has turned into despotism. … The Putin model has also reached its limits. Thus the czar in the Kremlin will have to take care, lest his managed democracy collapse as quickly as the Soviet Union. It failed because of torpor -- and because it was broke."
- Conservative daily Die Welt (
'Putin's Model Has Reached Its Limits', March 6, 2012)</blockquote>
Irina Prokhorov<blockquote>'Last month, she flummoxed Nikita Mikhalkov, the Oscar-winning film director, scion of czarist and Soviet aristocracy, and active supporter of Vladimir V. Putin, in a nationally televised debate. Since Mr. Putin had refused to participate in debates, sending proxies instead, Mr. Prokhorov responded in kind, dispatching his sister.
Mr. Mikhalkov, who is never at a loss for words and has alienated many with his palpable sense of entitlement, sat in stunned silence for parts of the broadcast. At the end, he paid perhaps the ultimate compliment in a society that has little regard for women and features few women at the top of any structure.
“If you were running for president together with your brother,” he said, “I would vote for you.”
..
“When you start to travel the country and see and see the state of the country, how talented people can’t pull themselves out of poverty, then a certain spirit of civic duty appears,” she told Mr. Mikhalkov, mocking what she said was a popular view that “a talented director can be a citizen, but a talented businessman can’t be a citizen.”
Twitterers dubbed her “the Russian Angela Merkel” and suggested that she be minister of culture. Others praised her excellent spoken Russian, which is rarely heard in public these days.
Ms. Prokhorova seemed shy about the attention at first, but when asked in an interview about the comparison to Mrs. Merkel, she responded instantly, saying with a broad smile, “Why not Margaret Thatcher?”
..
In an hourlong conversation, she easily handled any question with references to Russian and Soviet history and the development of civil society — a pet theme of articles, books and conferences produced by NLO — and a central tenet, along with culture, of Mr. Prokhorov’s campaign.
..
At NLO, Ms. Prokhorova held a copy of “Angry Observers,” a book she published after the disputed Dec. 4 parliamentary election. The book includes testimony from witnesses to election fraud, and she said it is a historical record and one of her most successful projects. Voters were snapping it up, she said, to learn how to observe future ballots.
As for her own political future, she said she rules nothing out. “My life and that of my friends,” she said, “has changed unexpectedly so many times.”
- Sophia Kishkovsky,
Russian Billionaire's Presidential Bid Makes His Sister a Star, March 6, 2012</blockquote>
Context<blockquote>
'..the beginning .. a true Russian republic..'..free from violence & equal under law.'(Russia) 'Death to Prison, Freedom to Protest' - Pussy Riot(In the Electric Universe) - '..sharp new cuts to the U.S. nuclear force..' - '..the abolishment of "all nuclear weapons," ' Ronald Reagan(In the Electric Universe) DESERTEC - Asian Super Grid for Renewable Energies(In The Electric Universe) Open Source Infrastructure, beginning of the Enterprise Nervous System (ENS)'..scientific research and advancement in a free society would soar well beyond the present levels of today..'(Peace) Essential Guide to the Electric Universe by Bob Johnson & Jim JohnsonThe Beginning of The Creator Unit - The Replicator (3D printing)Consensus Haptonomicus & Creation</blockquote>