Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Brian
I'm glad you do. I had to do it for a Modern Studies Exam in the 80s that's how I know..
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Russia ... or rather the USSR ... was a one-party communist state when you studied it in the 80s. Progression within the party was by patronage and disagreement with the party could be injurious to one's health.
There was a brief experiment with the democratic election of communist officials at the very end, but the USSR fell apart pretty soon after that.
Russia today is (in theory) a pluralist democracy, but intimidation of opposition parties and their supporters is rife and in practice there is no democracy worthy of the name.
I won't be surprised if you also think RT is a great news channel that cuts through the western propaganda to tell us what the world (according to uncle Vlad) is really like.