[Skybird]

I have no and there can be no doubt that the court trial was staged. But that cannot be the West's concern - it is not in a position to tell the Russians what they should run their country like. What is more important for us is that Russia remains stable, and that seems to be not possible without a strong centralised government. Dem ocracy as tried unde Jelzin, served the country very badly and made it weak and a playxball of foreign powers and entrepreneurs. The caste of rich ologarchs now present in Russia - formed up in this era of relative freedom and decentralised - or better: lacking - power of Moscow.

In older threats I repeatedly indicated that I believe that democracies are the more dysfunctional and errazic and prone to corruption and inner rottening the bigger the society is that tries the experiment of democracy. Russia spreads through various different cultural spheres and includes several very different people and their traditions and worldviews. In the southern provinces it is challenged by growing Islamic movements that want to separate, if they can. I think it is illusional to govern and keep together the national and political entity that "Russia" is - with a non-centralised and more "democratic" government. Democracy would strengthen separatism, and by that would work for the falling-apart of several parts of Russia. For a country having nuc lear weapons and an unsatisfied military and a secret service that is highly influential and powerful, such conditions are a very threatening danger - for Russia, and for the West as well.

Stability must be our priority regarding Russia. Call it Realpolitik. Compared to destabilization in Russia, Putinism is the lesser evil.