Cartoon of the Week

Peter Brookes cartoon

















My cartoon of the week has to be this offering from The Times - which captures the dilemma facing the new Russian President Validimir Putin.

No one is really disputing the fact that Putin won most votes - even allowing for a fair old degree of election fraud. 

The problem lies in the authoritarian nature of the Russian government - and its  attitude towards greater openness and freedom of speech - which stem from the political practices of communist era.

The old ways of working which propelled Putin to power - the party machine and its ruthless attitude towards any opposition - still seem to hold sway in the more rural and underdeveloped parts of  Russia.

 In Chechnya for example - where Valdimir Putin and his United Russia party won an unebelievable 99.8% of the popular vote.

If you believe the official figures - of course.  

But the party machine will become less and less effective with the younger, more educated and urban generation - whose support is needed to drive the Russian economy forward and take their country to the next phase of its development.   

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