[Reader-list] posters from the "End of Putin's Era" exhibition

[Aman Sethi]

I know very little about the current politics in russia, but have been
following the story via coverage in indian newspapers.  I was
interesting in knowing what the actual strength of the  opposition
was.

Given the aggressive pro-missile shield position adopted by the US, I
often find myself agreeing with a lot of what Putin says.  He also
seems rather charismatic - and like Sarkozy, gives out the impressions
of a man "Who gets things done."

The impression that i have gleaned from newspapers here in india
suggests that in spite of the Russian economy being run by a tight
group of oligarchs and former KGB men; support for Putin remains high.
 That his muscular foreign policy is seen (in russia)  as re-inventing
of  Russia's role in the world as a counter to US hegemony (Russia
recently re-started reconnaissance flights by Tu-class bombers, and
detonated what the russian military called 'The Father of All Bombs'
in response to the american 'Massive Ordinance Air Blast or 'Mother Of
all Bombs') , and that he has systematically squeezed out any space
for dissent.  However, I am aware that news that emanates out of
Russia is seldom "balanced" or "objective" - so i was wondering if
there was any truth to this reportage.

Further, what are the chances of the opposition group led by Gary
Kasparov?  How significant a challenger is he?

What is worrying is that US foreign policy under W.Bush seems to have
made heroes of rather problematic figures like Putin and Ahmadinejad.

Would be interested in your opinions on this.
Best
A,



On 9/14/07, Irina Aristarkhova <ixa10 at psu.edu> wrote:
> Next year Russians will elect a new president.
>
> Sakharov Center in Moscow is having an exhibition from a poster
> competition on a topic of:
>
> "End of Putin's Era".
>
> To see the best posters go to:
>
> http://grani.ru/Projects/contest/m.126760.html
>
> The winners are:
>
> 1. http://grani.ru/files/34116.jpg
>
> It does not need a word translation. It is made by Dmitri,
> web-designer from Moscow.
> For those who do not know this "finger position", it means "you are
> getting nothing", usually used by children.
>
> 2. http://grani.ru/files/35692.gif
>
> This one is called the "System Error" and says: "Fatal error:
> 2000-2008. You need to re-install your system."
>   It is made by Maxim Zakharov from Kaliningrad, a video engineer.
>
> Enjoy!
>
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