Russia’s political system doesn’t fit into a simple definition. It’s an autocracy in which people loyal to the regime can exist comfortably.

Putin’s Regime Won’t End Without an Opposing Vision

Vladimir Putin’s return to the Russian presidency represents much more than a setback for the country’s protest movement. It is a major defeat. To understand why, consider the sudden celebrity of Irina Prokhorova, billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s older sister.

Thanks to the sheer lack of fresh faces on the political stage, any new figure immediately becomes a sensation by default. Just as a love-starved man might lavish his attentions on the first woman he meets, so those Russians who are sick and tired of Putin are ready to fall for the first hero who comes into sight.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-28/putin-s-regime-won-t-end-without-an-opposing-vision.html

Mélenchon, velociraptor marxiste

RETOUR DANS SOVIÉTOÏDE PARK 

Raoul Fougax


Jean-Luc Mélenchon est la nouvelle coqueluche des médias. Il est le petit nouveau qui fait vendre. A chaque élection, les médias ont besoin de chair fraîche… Mégret, Chevènement, Bayrou ont connu cet instant de gloire éphémère; c'est au tour de Mélenchon.

Il a cependant un atout supplémentaire. Il représente le marxisme et les journalistes sont souvent des marxistes honteux, reconvertis dans l’écologie, l’humanitaire ou les droits de l’homme. Mélenchon, c’est le marxiste assumé et au goût du jour: une aubaine. Il a un talent médiatique, il faut en convenir. Mais le succès lui monte à la tête et il se laisse aller. Il a longtemps fait sourire; il commence a faire peur. Mauvaise pioche.

http://metamag.fr/metamag-723-Retour-dans-Sovieto%C3%AFde-Park--Melenchon--velociraptor-marxiste-.html

Les miracles n’existent pas en économie. Il faut soit réduire les dépenses, soit augmenter le fardeau fiscal.

L’économie russe après les élections

Andrei Netchaiev, ancien ministre russe de l'Économie

L’absence des conditions nécessaires pour une concurrence politique réelle et les fraudes à grande échelle lors des élections législative et présidentielle ont généré auprès d’une grande partie de la société des doutes concernant la légitimité absolue du pouvoir. Ceci est extrêmement dangereux, parce que le pays sera prochainement confronté à un certain nombre de défis importants, et les autorités devront résoudre une multitude de problèmes socio-économiques en adoptant souvent des mesures impopulaires. La situation déjà compliquée a rendue encore plus difficile la distribution à tout va des promesses préélectorales.

http://larussiedaujourdhui.fr/articles/2012/03/22/leconomie_russe_apres_les_elections_14407.html

Rumors sourced from Chinese social media websites?

Bo Xilai and coming changes in China

Dan Blumenthal, Lara Crouch 

In the last couple of days, Western media has been abuzz with rumors sourced from Chinese social media websites, Falun Gong-sponsored news outlets, and analysts in Hong Kong of an attempted coup in Beijing. The only thing lending credence to these rumors is the seeming existence of a power struggle that resulted in the sacking of Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai. This is the most significant removal of a government official since 2006 when Shanghai Party Chief Chen Liangyu was fired during a corruption probe.

The recent string of events have made for exciting political drama, but let's remember that only nine men in China know what is really going on. 

http://www.aei.org/article/foreign-and-defense-policy/regional/asia/bo-xilai-and-coming-changes-in-china/

Montauban, Toulouse : la folie et le crime racistes ne sont pas les produits de cette société !

"L'explication sociale des meurtres de Merah est inadmissible"

... selon certains proches de François Hollande, c'est la société qui aurait fait du tueur de Toulouse ce qu'il est devenu. La société, c'est-à-dire vous, moi, nous tous. Ils ne vont pas jusqu'à ajouter "à l'exception des socialistes", mais ils le pensent. 

Pour Philippe Tesson, il est philosophiquement inacceptable de dire que c'est la société qui aurait fait du tueur de Toulouse ce qu'il est devenu.

http://www.lepoint.fr/chroniqueurs-du-point/philippe-tesson/tesson-l-explication-sociale-des-meurtres-de-merah-est-inadmissible-27-03-2012-1445366_543.php?xtor=EPR-6-[Newsletter-Quotidienne]-20120327

The communist government makes it easier for Cubans to participate in papal visit, but the Church still suffers

Pope Benedict's Trip to Cuba: Journey to Hostile Terrain

Benedict’s pilgrimage to Cuba, which begins this afternoon, is another journey into hostile terrain. Cuba’s government has been one of the most relentlessly anti-religious in the world.

Yet the communist government is giving paid leave to state workers who want to attend papal events. And Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the archbishop of Havana, was given 30 minutes on highly controlled state TV last week to talk about the value of Pope Benedict XVI’s pilgrimage.

What’s going on? 

Pope Benedict’s three-day stay in Cuba this week must be understood in a 50-year context.

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-benedicts-trip-to-cuba-journey-to-hostile-terrain?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NCRegisterDailyBlog+National+Catholic+Register&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail#When:2012-03-26

National security takes a back seat to president’s re-election

Obama’s secret plan

By Brett M. Decker

There is only one thing scarier for the future of America than all of the debt and bad policies President Obama has built up since his 2008 election: It’s what the prospect of an Obama second term would bring. And the president isn’t being honest about what his secret plans are.

That Mr. Obama has dangerous ideas up his sleeve and won’t be forthcoming about his true agenda during this year’s presidential campaign were exposed in candid comments he made to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on Monday. On the subject of sensitive arms-control negotiations, the U.S. president advised, “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.” This admission begs the question: Flexibility to do what?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/26/obamas-secret-plan/