What is the State of the Former Soviet Union?

Examining Russia political conditions for fascist drifts in real policy an practice must begin with Mr. Putin's party United Russia. United Russia is Mr. Putin's party and is conservative and centrist keeping a meaningfully close grip on political power. It controls the broadcast media to a certain extent, yet in America the FCC allocates the broadcast media mainly to trans-national corporate high bidders and the people are shut out. Russia's other three main political parties are excluded from control, yet the Duma still has a diversity of opinions including the communist party.Russia has experienced about as many casualties from terrorism during Mr. Putin's term of office as America with Mr. Bush, and their political opinions and roles don't seem that much different without being gone from official power after elections in 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Russia

United Russia had 305 seats out of 450 in the Duma in 2005 and had a plain majority therefore. They do not seem to be like a regular fascist party at all, but more like a pragmatic and sober group of conservatives seeking to keep something of Russia together in the transition chaos of the post-cold war fall of communism. American perspectives on world politics are often unrealistic and therefor expensive and ineffective. A good example of that was the completely incompetent Bush administration unpreparedness for occupying and rebuilding post-war Iraq. Their cost estimates were wildly wrong.

The group of Muslim nations meeting in Annapolis tonight to discuss the problem of Iran and what to do about those troublesome Shi'a uphill may find some support from the Bush administration's interest in shoring up Sunni oil producing states and terrorist organizations that might attack Israel and somehow jeopardize America's reliance on imported oil at 100 dollars a barrel. Mr. Bush's policy hopefully will leave office when he does. It is possible that Mr. Putin does not desire a Wahhabist take over of Iran more than other middle-east instability or power increase for Sunni terrorism. The Shi'a of Iran for the time being at least present an alternative to Sunni hegemony over all the Muslims that Russia might politically engage with in Eurasia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Fascism:_Tra ditions,_Tendencies,_Movements

Certainly one would like a perfect Russian society that the British would be proud of, but is that realistic for the time being? Northern free enterprise in the harsh arctic environment and essential infrastructure survival services are not easy to transition into modernity and effectiveness even in America much less Russia. How many American state complained about the price increases of energy deregulation and backed away from it in state legislatures?.

Modern Russia seems to be losing population and geography but it doesn't seem to be fascist. Sure returns the same old in-groups of the Kremlin to power for years at a time and so does the Democrat and Republican parties in Ameria with relatives shoe'd-in, and oil power interests and control of oil revenues seem to be a predominant feature of the state but does that define a fascist state?

Russia may be in a time of identity crisis with geography loss, the transition from communism and various states of mob power, new organized crime power and integration into an unstable and transitioning global economy with the United States sort of balanced on a borrowed federal debt ridden avalanche snow bridge, China and its 1.2 billion progressive polluters burgeoning o the east with an increasing military budget, high tech growing one billion plus on the southwest, a billion restive Muslims eager to blow up Moscow to demonstrate sympathy for freeing up Muslim republic affiliate of Moscow, a traditional concern about Poland and Germany on the west and other substantial issue including the remnants of the cold war missile launch potential. A loss of state authority must be a real concern for Russians today and change may be feared more than authoritarian features.

http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent?file= SL17november

Putin has a five-year plan to cut 650,000 military personel and improve pay. Taking a cue from America's individual personnel quality increase efforts after the draft era army Mr. Putin is attempting the same. Its not a fascist trend but a realistic policy to try with 20% of the federal budget invested eventually. SImultaneously the Interior ministry loses 33,000 people and the Federal Border Service, Federal Security Service, Federal Railroad lose nearly 232,000. Mr. Putin's policies do not indicate fascism but instead a Russian history consistent modernization of society that can later permit liberalization as security isn't endangered. With corporations, communes and broadcast networks ruling the globe increasingly real individual liberalism may be more rare. So many people have a disregard for intellectualism such as political philosophy might provide to move toward a better political structure for individual liberty.

Authoritarianism is the logical conclusion of capitalism that has overcome democracy incidentally. Trans-national corporations that are inherently undemocratic tend to assert intimidating authority over democracy through influence peddling in congress and later through direct M.B.A. educated business proxies in the executive branch who appoint business loyalist justice department judges willing to acquiesce in trans-national corporate power over the democratic interests of the state. With communism being an authoritarian structure too as a sort of destination of consolidated and uncompetitive trans-national corporations through networking conglomerates and mergers why should President Putin fear any meaningful opposition from the west to his increase of Russian executive power?

President Putin may know that the west objects mainly to obstructions to leveraged trans-national takeover of Russian oil field and economic interests-maybe Exxon Mobil should offer to become Russian oil partners and Haliburton set up a second corporate headquarters in the Kremlin to match their new headquarters in Dubai. Democracy in the United States seemed to take an odd turn with the election of President Bush and the state of emergency in September 2001 that it may not recover from but will need to transition into another direction to escape instead. The 2008 election in Russia and in the United States don't seem promising-maybe Mrs. Putin will stand for the Russian Presidency.