NO FRANCO, NO JUAN CARLOS:

The future that young Russians want: The Putin generation is often worldly, optimistic, and enthusiastic about democracy – as they define it. (Christa Case Bryant, 2/26/08, The Christian Science Monitor)

Born amid the fervor of Mikhail Gorbachev's economic and social reforms, Shchitov's generation was expected by liberals to build on Mr. Gorbachev's effort. Instead, they have thrown their weight behind a man seen as rolling back democratic reforms in the name of a more stable, prosperous, and powerful Russia. In Sunday's polls, young Russians – 92 percent of whom approve of Mr. Putin – are likely to join Shchitov in endorsing their leader's eight-year tenure by electing his handpicked successor.

They are the Putin generation: young, often worldly, optimistic about their country's future, and enthusiastic about a democracy they see as having more to do with higher living standards than checks and balances or freedom of speech. Acquainted only through history with the Soviet Union's oppressive grip, but distinctly aware of their parents' challenges during the tumultuous 1990s, they live in a Russia of unprecedented opportunities – ones shaped profoundly by Putin's strong hand over the past eight years.

From the comfort of a stable liberal democracy it's always easy to decry another's necessary fascist interlude.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 25, 2008 7:07 PM