Reply #64: Well, Indian governors are ceremonial [View All]

[liberalpragmatist]

In India, governor's are largely ceremonial - the main power rests with the Chief Minister, who's essentially the prime minister of the state.

Even if Putin ISN't a dictator, he's clearly set up a climate of repression and media-emasculation and could well have set up a system that will result in a future dictatorship.

And while Chechnya probably isn't a viable independent state and keeping it from seceding is an understandable point of view, there's a difference between holding on to a piece of land and committing the kinds of atrocities the Russian army has done in Chechnya.

Who knows. I know there was an influential FOreign Affairs article published last year that said Russia's problems are overhyped and that the country is pretty normal for its size.