Get used to the congregation preaching back

ARTICLE: "Russia-Backed Think Tank to Study Western Democracy," by Andrew Osborn, Wall Street Journal, 18 Janary 2008, p. A7.

Actually, it'll be set up to offer countering critiques to even the rhetorical playing field a bit.

Says the slated head, "You can only be a pupil for so long."

We can argue about how "good" a pupil, but you get the Putinesque gist.

Such is the state of America's standing right now ...

Comments

[Brent Grace]

To me this seems like a Back-to-the-Future moment. Once upon a time the Sovs argued that they had developed an economic system that was superior to capitalism and now what's left of the Soviet Empire wants to argue that they have a better system than liberal democracy. I'd say it's not so much an indictment of America's global standing as an indictment of Putin's generation (the mirror image of our boomers) which falls back to the old school Soviet position that if the world questions your legitamcy, argue that you've discovered a superior system. Only when the first post-Soviet generation starts to come into authority will this change.