>>>By michaelfromseattle ( - 216.122.20.202) on Friday, February 25, 2000 - 09:01 pm:

did not see the collapse of the USSR as the "Death of Comminism," but, rather, as "The Death of Stalinism." >>>

Doesn't matter what you saw. Communism is dead and buried. As X said, it was a dream, just like any other dream, it was used to lure masses to obtain absolute power. Isn't it amazing that the same party bosses are still in power, this time becoming an entirely different animal, as long as it keeps them in power.

>>>Babitsky has now become more than a cause célèbre. For those trying to predict the future of Russia under a Putin presidency, his case is an ominous sign of things to come. For months the Chechen war has been waged under a news blockade, but now Russian journalists fear that another campaign is emerging--a campaign against a free press. >>>

Russians don't deserve free press. Their civilisation is not mature enough to handle free press. State-owned media feeding them with their daily propaganda is all they need. That's the reason they love Putin.