Capitalism 5

Words do not have much meaning these days. Nations call themselves a "democracy" to gain popular support or money. Democracy means nothing often. It just means that there was a power vaccum and someone was elected into office who could very much be an autocrat or even become a dictator.

Vladimir Putin started as a KGB officer in Russia. He is a very sharp person who knows how to create a veneer of democracy in Russia. He gained popular support by containing the power of the Russia mafia or mob and giving former Communist officials power over state-run enterprises.

I realize that some of what I say may sound like speculation, but I am following a rather deconstructive method of finding out what Russia may really consist of today. For this reason, I refrain from calling any nation state a "democracy" or a completely "authoritarian" regime. I just try to figure out how the parts of the former Russia or Soviet Republic may have been reconstructed to form the current Russia.

Vladmir Putin himself wants to bring back the glory of Old Russia. According to a Frontline Special, he has built a $250,000,000 dollar mansion to entertain friends, family, and his close political and economic allies. Again, he desires a world of the Old Russia, perhaps the Russia that is portrayed in War and Peace which is to imagine an upperclass totally divorced and living a life completely separated from the concerns of the middle or workingclass.

With 40 billion dollars of wealth and the most powerful corporations of Russia behind him, he has the closest thing to "absolute power." He can decide if war is necessary. He can, in many ways, do what he wants to do. But power is a deceptive thing. Even if you subscribe to the idea that everything is a game and everything is political, you cannot let go of the idea that both sides will lose at certain times. Power makes you think that you can win even in a nuclear war, that it is only a matter of Will.