[AntEater]

I still can't see what is so bad about a strong Russia.
For many westerners it seems that the only Russia they want is one they can plunder at will for natural resources, people and whatever. Problem is, Russia is not the Phillipines or Rumania or Kongo.
Under Yeltsin, western media was always concerned about "stability" and basically approved of any antidemocratic measure ole Boris took.
Now they got stability and are yet incontent.
I didnt really like what Schröder did in internal politics, but his main foreign political steps, keeping Germany out of Iraq and improving relations to Russia, were very far sighted. Sadly Merkel and her cronies are about to reverse that. Ok, understandably most of Europe's conservative political and media elite grew up in the Reagan/Thatcher era and mostly made their career by being cold warriors. They just want to go back to familliar terrain. I was so ashamed when Merkel criticized Putin for clamping down on that idiot Kasparow (does anybody in Russia take this guy seriously?) while her own government did exactly the same to leftists in Hamburg and Berlin, even applying Stasi methods. I never thought germans were able of such double standards.
The war on terrorism is so vague and so unglamorous that a little blast from the past seems attractive.
I prefer Russia, even under Putin or his successors over the whole Muslim world and China any day.
Russia is part of Europe and of the western civilization and western leaders and media would do good to try and remember that.

Regarding this blog, I bet if somebody had started a blog like that against Turks, it would have been shut down within days...