mackaycartoons

Graeme MacKay's Editorial Cartoon Archive

  • Archives
  • Kings & Queens
  • Prime Ministers
  • Sharing
  • Special Features
  • The Boutique
  • Who?
  • Young Doug Ford
  • Presidents

Leonid Breshnev

Tuesday March 28, 2000

March 28, 2000 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 28, 2000

Wary optimism best way to view Putin’s regime

When crooks and clowns — the Russian mafia and Boris Yeltsin and Co. — have ruled a country for years, anyone with a modicum of restraint and common sense looks good by comparison. That’s especially true of Russia, a country still struggling in the transformation from a totalitarianism to democracy, from superpower to … well, a much lesser world power.

That’s not to damn president-elect Vladimir Putin with faint praise, but to acknowledge the realities of the massive nation. Russia is still very much the “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” that Winston Churchill described in 1939. Getting elected, let alone governing in Russia, happens within an entirely different set of rules and expectations than here in the comfortable West.

Russia is a nation of terrible disparities: Enormous wealth for a select few and soul-stealing poverty for many more; a space station orbiting Earth but a disintegrating health system that has led to life expectancy for Russian men of just 58 years. Russia today is plagued by crime and alcoholism but is also “Motherland” to a nation of remarkably resilient and patriotic people.

Putin now has to govern while balancing Russians’ still-tentative moves into the unknown of a free-market economy and those same citizens’ demands for restored stability.

Despite all that, the West should be warily pleased with Putin’s election, which appears at the moment to be good for that country and for its neighbours. He has a strong popular mandate and is outspoken in his determination to root out corruption, reverse the country’s fortunes and do it without resorting to the excesses of his former masters.

Putin brings to office the pragmatism and ruthlessness of the spymaster that he was. The brutal assault on Chechnya has been more about campaign strategy than military tactics, and Putin’s first major challenge must be to find a graceful way out before his army becomes mired in an Afghanistan-style war of attrition.

Putin is smart and articulate and has shown he has the ability to be a good manager. Time will tell if he will be a good national leader. In the meantime, the West should applaud the winner of only the second democratic presidential election in Russia’s history — but keep two fingers crossed for Russia while we do so. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial, A10, 3/28/2000)

 

Posted in: International Tagged: Boris Yeltsin, International, Josef Stalin, Leonid Breshnev, Matryoshka dolls, Mikhail Gorbachev, nesting dolls, Russia, Vladimir Putin

Click on dates to expand

Please note…

This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

Social Media Connections

Link to our Facebook Page
Link to our Flickr Page
Link to our Pinterest Page
Link to our Twitter Page
Link to our Website Page
  • HOME
  • Sharing
  • The Boutique
  • The Hamilton Spectator
  • Artizans Syndicate
  • Association of Canadian Cartoonists
  • Wes Tyrell
  • Martin Rowson
  • Guy Bado’s Blog
  • You Might be From Hamilton if…
  • MacKay’s Most Viral Cartoon
  • Intellectual Property Thief Donkeys
  • National Newswatch
  • Young Doug Ford

Your one-stop-MacKay-shop…

T-shirts, hoodies, clocks, duvet covers, mugs, stickers, notebooks, smart phone cases and scarfs

Brand New Designs!

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets
Follow Graeme's board My Own Cartoon Favourites on Pinterest.

MacKay’s Virtual Gallery

Archives

Copyright © 2016 mackaycartoons.net

Powered by Wordpess and Alpha.

 

Loading Comments...