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March 05, 2012
Right on schedule, Mom-and-Pop Russia claw again at Putin.
CBS News at Pushkin Square today: Russian cops violently break up Putin protest.
RIA Novosti/Ramil Sitdikov
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
King Putin: "I promised you we would win. We have won. Glory to Russia".
But Mother Russia? She'll still take Gandhi-like to the streets today. She still doesn't like the dog food. Her Mom-and-Pop middle class and younger professionals finally got an outrageous mojo working last December and they are hungry and poised for more protests. See at Reuters "Russia's Putin Faces Protests After Poll Triumph". Vladimir Putin won yesterday, even if you accept as true allegations of violations and fishy votes, but he's:
on collision course with the mainly middle-class protesters who have staged rallies in the capital and other big cities since a disputed parliamentary poll on December 4.
The protest organizers, who see Putin as an autocratic leader whose return to power will stymie hope of economic and political reforms, said their demonstrations would now grow.
Despite the opposition, mainly among well-educated and relatively well-off young professionals, Putin's support remains high in the provinces and his victory had not been in doubt.
But the mood has shifted in the country of 143 million and the urban protest movement portrays him as an obstacle to change and the guardian of a corrupt system of power.
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Reuters: The triumphant but spooked Putin yesterday.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:42 AM | Comments (0)