"9. Vladimir Putin will resign and Russia will become democratic. Tomorrow."

How can that be one of "the Top Ten Russophile Rules of Neo-Soviet Propaganda"? Clearly Russia is already democratic under the leadership of President Putin. Putin will be leaving soon, but only because the Russian constitution mandates that a Russian president cannot serve more than two consecutive terms at a time. So Putin's departure is a clear fulfillment of the legal requirements which apply to Russia's president.

You keep saying Russia is not democratic, and Russia can never be democratic until Putin is gone. But how then do you explain the fact that Putin enjoys 75-80 percent public approval ratings with the Russian people, according to Russian and Western polls conducted in Russia?

Somehow, in your mind you've created a mythical "democratic outcome" for Russia that has little or nothing do do with the expressed wishes of the vast majority of the Russian people, and everything to do with the subjective desires of a trivial (and fast declining) political minority in Russia. Do you know the meaning of the word "democracy"? It means "rule of the demos," which in greek means "the people."

You've mananged to concoct a fantasy democracy where "democracy" now means doing what a tiny minority wants, in opposition to what the vast majority (the demos) wants. You may sincerely disagree with the choices of the demos, but that does not instantly elevate you to the status of "democrat" and reduce them to "tyrants."

Putin's presence as Russia's leader is manifestly a democratic outcome expressing the desires of the vast majority of Russian people. However Putin's departure from office is an "undemocratic" outcome, inasmuch as it is an outcome that the majority of Russians are not happy about.

Often constitutions do have provisions which are designed to undermine a "pure democracy," at least to some extent. The American electoral college and Russian and American term limits are only two such examples. The US Bill of Rights is another such example (protecting freedom of speech, etc., EVEN IF the majority--the demos--disapproves of that speech and would like to shut someone up).

For his part, President Putin has never said anything other than that he will abide with all the provisions of the Russian constitution, despite massive speculation that the President would somehow try to engineer his continuation in power after his 2nd elected term expired.

So Putin will leave office when he is scheduled to do so, and he will be the 2nd Russian president in a row to comply with the term limits in Russia's constitution.

However, that said, no one should feign surprise when Russia's next President continues President Putin's highly successful and popular course, simply because it has been so succussful and popular.

Bush quote of the Day:“Vladimir, You mean to tell me that America don’t have the most land of any other country?”