A kinder, gentler Stalin

[debgeisler]

If there's any opposition in Russia, it's all sponsored by evil foreign governments. How could anyone possibly disagree with the Prez?

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin, using Cold War rhetoric, accused foreign governments on Wednesday of sponsoring his opponents in next month's election to weaken Russia and carry out "dirty tricks" against it.

"Unfortunately there are still those people in our country who still slink through foreign embassies ... who count on the support of foreign funds and governments but not the support of their own people," Putin told thousands of cheering young supporters at a U.S.-style rally in a Moscow sports stadium.

These political enemies, he said, had a different view of Russia. "They need a weak and feeble state. They need a disorganized and disoriented society, a split society, so that they can carry out their dirty tricks behind its back."

I'm so very sorry for the people of Russia. They nearly had a democracy.

Soon, very soon, I expect to hear speeches about "returning ethnic Russians to Russia."