People (in Russia) see what this crazy politics led to, they see widespread corruption, they have firsthand experience with the inadequacy of the state. But they still believe in the leader (Putin) because for the past several years, the leader was doing one thing very well: He was brainwashing the Russians.
The art of leadership... consists in consolidating the attention of the people against a single adversary and taking care that nothing will split up that attention.
There is a different culture there, different people. There are their own acting local leaders who are more prepared, probably better educated than me.
