When the Berlin Wall collapsed, most young, educated Russians aspired to what could broadly be described as Western values: democracy, free speech, anti-imperialism. Teenagers were infatuated with Western music and clothes (all the more attractive because they were forbidden), while older Russian intellectuals echoed their Eastern European dissident colleagues in calling for a reckoning with the past, the turning of a new leaf and building an open society. Everything about Soviet society, from its clothes to its ideas, seemed drab and clunky compared with the vibrant, thriving West.What a difference a few years make. Central and Eastern Europe have slipped largely into Europe's cultural and political fold. But in Russia, thanks to a decade of anti-Western fervor propagated by the Kremlin, a new generation is growing up strikingly out of sync with the West. "Back in the perestroika years, young intellectuals sincerely believed in certain things, like freedom of speech and transparency of the state," says Maria Lipman, a fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center. "The generation who grew up in the Putin era have a completely different mentality. Modern pro-Kremlin youth groups are so well fed by the state that they've grown faithful as tame dogs." The result is a generation that not only buys into the Kremlin's world view, but is also deeply distrustful of anybody who thinks differently.spacerfalse300falsefalsefalseBoxWhiterightfalsefalse300falsefalsefalsespacerfalseyesStandardImage75/lastrevolution_inlinelabel.jpgfalsefalse980falsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalse10/19/2009 5:00:01 PM200910101950001PMMondayOctOctober1710/19/2009 9:00:01 PM10/19/2009 9:00:01 PM200910101990001PMMondayOctOctober2110/19/2009 9:00:01 PM63391582801000000063391568401000000010/19/2009 5:00:01 PM200910101950001PMMondayOctOctober1710/19/2009 9:00:01 PM10/19/2009 9:00:01 PM200910101990001PMMondayOctOctober2110/19/2009 9:00:01 PM633915828010000000633915684010000000spacerIt Was Never Just a Wallnotrueheadlinebullet11/2/2009 5:44:29 PM20091111254429PMMondayNovNovember1711/2/2009 10:44:29 PM11/2/2009 10:44:29 PM200911112104429PMMondayNovNovember2211/2/2009 10:44:29 PM63392798669000000063392780669000000011/2/2009 5:44:29 PM20091111254429PMMondayNovNovember1711/2/2009 10:44:29 PM11/2/2009 10:44:29 PM200911112104429PMMondayNovNovember2211/2/2009 10:44:29 PM633927986690000000633927806690000000spacerThree Authors on Why the Berlin Wall Fellnotrueheadlinebullet11/4/2009 6:45:48 PM20091111464548PMWednesdayNovNovember1811/4/2009 11:45:48 PM11/4/2009 11:45:48 PM200911114114548PMWednesdayNovNovember2311/4/2009 11:45:48 PM63392975148000000063392957148000000011/4/2009 6:45:48 PM20091111464548PMWednesdayNovNovember1811/4/2009 11:45:48 PM11/4/2009 11:45:48 PM200911114114548PMWednesdayNovNovember2311/4/2009 11:45:48 PM633929751480000000633929571480000000spacerFive American Presidents at the Berlin Wallnotrueheadlinebullet11/3/2009 4:27:01 PM20091111342701PMTuesdayNovNovember1611/3/2009 9:27:01 PM11/3/2009 9:27:01 PM20091111392701PMTuesdayNovNovember2111/3/2009 9:27:01 PM63392880421000000063392862421000000011/3/2009 4:27:01 PM20091111342701PMTuesdayNovNovember1611/3/2009 9:27:01 PM11/3/2009 9:27:01 PM20091111392701PMTuesdayNovNovember2111/3/2009 9:27:01 PM633928804210000000633928624210000000spacerBerlin Never Recovered after the Wall Fellnotrueheadlinebullet11/2/2009 7:07:05 PM20091111270705PMMondayNovNovember1911/3/2009 12:07:05 AM11/3/2009 12:07:05 AM200911113120705AMTuesdayNovNovember011/3/2009 12:07:05 AM63392803625000000063392785625000000011/2/2009 7:07:05 PM20091111270705PMMondayNovNovember1911/3/2009 12:07:05 AM11/3/2009 12:07:05 AM200911113120705AMTuesdayNovNovember011/3/2009 12:07:05 AM633928036250000000633927856250000000spacerThe Berlin Wall Was Not the First to Fallnotrueheadlinebullet11/3/2009 9:37:51 AM20091111393751AMTuesdayNovNovember911/3/2009 2:37:51 PM11/3/2009 2:37:51 PM20091111323751PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/3/2009 2:37:51 PM63392855871000000063392837871000000011/3/2009 9:37:51 AM20091111393751AMTuesdayNovNovember911/3/2009 2:37:51 PM11/3/2009 2:37:51 PM20091111323751PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/3/2009 2:37:51 PM633928558710000000633928378710000000spacerEconomy: Stuck In a 1989 Mindsetnotrueheadlinebullet11/2/2009 7:00:18 PM20091111270018PMMondayNovNovember1911/3/2009 12:00:18 AM11/3/2009 12:00:18 AM200911113120018AMTuesdayNovNovember011/3/2009 12:00:18 AM63392803218000000063392785218000000011/2/2009 7:00:18 PM20091111270018PMMondayNovNovember1911/3/2009 12:00:18 AM11/3/2009 12:00:18 AM200911113120018AMTuesdayNovNovember011/3/2009 12:00:18 AM633928032180000000633927852180000000spacerArchival Footage: Building the Wallhttp://www.newsweek.com/id/40211#?l=20927435001&t=20973135001Generic_blanknotrueheadlinebullet10/18/2009 4:53:12 PM200910101845312PMSundayOctOctober1610/18/2009 8:53:12 PM10/18/2009 8:53:12 PM200910101885312PMSundayOctOctober2010/18/2009 8:53:12 PM63391495992000000063391481592000000010/18/2009 4:53:12 PM200910101845312PMSundayOctOctober1610/18/2009 8:53:12 PM10/18/2009 8:53:12 PM200910101885312PMSundayOctOctober2010/18/2009 8:53:12 PM633914959920000000633914815920000000spacerArchival Footage: The Wall Comes Downhttp://www.newsweek.com/id/40211#?l=20927435001&t=20972334001Generic_blanknotrueheadlinebullet10/18/2009 4:53:12 PM200910101845312PMSundayOctOctober1610/18/2009 8:53:12 PM10/18/2009 8:53:12 PM200910101885312PMSundayOctOctober2010/18/2009 8:53:12 PM63391495992000000063391481592000000010/18/2009 4:53:12 PM200910101845312PMSundayOctOctober1610/18/2009 8:53:12 PM10/18/2009 8:53:12 PM200910101885312PMSundayOctOctober2010/18/2009 8:53:12 PM633914959920000000633914815920000000spacerPhotos: The Walled-Off Worldhttp://www.newsweek.com/id/220911Hadrian's, Berlin and other great walls throughout history_selfnotrueheadlinebullet11/3/2009 11:57:30 AM200911113115730AMTuesdayNovNovember1111/3/2009 4:57:30 PM11/3/2009 4:57:30 PM20091111345730PMTuesdayNovNovember1611/3/2009 4:57:30 PM63392864250000000063392846250000000011/3/2009 11:57:30 AM200911113115730AMTuesdayNovNovember1111/3/2009 4:57:30 PM11/3/2009 4:57:30 PM20091111345730PMTuesdayNovNovember1611/3/2009 4:57:30 PM63392864250000000063392846250000000011/2/2009 8:27:46 PM20091111282746PMMondayNovNovember2011/3/2009 1:27:46 AM11/3/2009 1:27:46 AM20091111312746AMTuesdayNovNovember111/3/2009 1:27:46 AM63392808466000000063392790466000000011/2/2009 8:27:46 PM20091111282746PMMondayNovNovember2011/3/2009 1:27:46 AM11/3/2009 1:27:46 AM20091111312746AMTuesdayNovNovember111/3/2009 1:27:46 AM633928084660000000633927904660000000Denis Volkov, of the Moscow Levada Center, has studied the attitudes of Russia's youth toward the West and its values and uncovered a scary picture. Over the past decade, numbers have been falling. A poll last month showed that 40 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds have a "negative" attitude towards the U.S., not far behind those over 55, a Soviet-era generation that has long been steeped in anti-Western propaganda. And in a kind of demented historical throwback, Stalin is once again in favor. More than half the older crowd said they felt "positively" about the Soviet leader, while more than a quarter of young people agreed, up from just over 15 percent at the turn of the millennium. A generation after their forebears hankered after blue jeans and tapes of Western music, young Russians now wear the same clothes and listen to much of the same music as their Western counterparts. But while they may look more Western, there is a deep and widening divide in their attitudes, according to the Levada Center's statistics.The rollback of pro-Western attitudes is largely a direct result of a concerted state policy aimed at shaping the hearts and minds of Russian youth, led by Putin and executed by his chief ideologist, Vladislav Surkov. Across Russia, state-created youth groups are stepping up efforts to shape the hearts and minds of Russian youth by organizing camps, congresses, and talent competitions, just like the Komsomol, the youth branch of the Soviet Communist Party, did once upon a time. By no means are all of them sinister, but they are all political. The youth-led Orange Revolution in Ukraine and the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003 and 2004 came as a deep shock to the Kremlin, which suddenly feared that a similar grassroots revolution could destabilize Russia. In response, Putin's regime unleashed the mind-warping assault, says Stanislav Belkovsky of the Moscow-based National Strategy Institute, who worked with the Kremlin on promoting pro-Russian candidates in the 2004 Ukrainian election.Surkov and other top Kremlin ideologues quickly ordered a slew of anti-Western television propaganda casting George W. Bush's campaign to spread democracy in the Middle East as an attack on Russia. Surkov characterized Ukrainian democracy as chaotic and the Georgian leadership as corrupt. He also created several state-funded youth groups, such as Nashi ("Ours") and the Young Guards. At the height of the regime's paranoia about the possibility of an Orange Revolution in Russia, circa 2005 to 2006, these youth groups numbered up to half a million members and dominated campuses with a strongly nationalistic, anti-Western philosophy. "Putin's television anti-Western propaganda has done its dirty business," says Lipman. "Young Russians are cynical people who believe that Russia is surrounded with enemies, that the West does not want Russia to grow stronger." The last generation of liberals now tend to be older, people who are now between 25 and 35. Everybody younger, says Lipman, "is a proud patriot who dislikes the West."Ella Panfilova, an adviser to President Dmitry Medvedev on human-rights issues, underscores the problem. "The state should not participate in youth movements at all," she says. "Most young people in Kremlin-organized youth movements still have a Cold War mindset. It is not right for Russian authorities to divide young people into those who are members of Nashi and the rest."The political journey of Andrei Tatarinov, 21 years old, is a perfect microcosm of many of his generation. In the early 2000s, while still at school, he was an opposition activist and went to street protests that were violently dispersed by police. He quit in 2006 because, he says, human-rights campaigner Lev Ponomarev "hurt my patriotic feelings" with his talk of returning the Kuril Islands to Japan and allowing foreign oil companies access to Russian energy reserves. Both ideas are considered treacherous by Russian nationalists. Now Tatarinov is the political leader of the Young Guards youth group, and part of United Russia, the official pro-Kremlin party that dominates the Duma. He is unabashed in his stance. "We do not tolerate anti-Russian talk," Tatarinov says. "Everybody who wants Russia to grow weak is our enemy."And the Young Guards are on the move. As proof of their zealousness in weeding out any hint of Orange revolutionaries, on Oct. 15 the Young Guards organized a picket of liberal governor Nikita Belykh's offices in the northern Russian town of Kirov. The governor's crime, according to the Young Guards, was to have been the former leader of one of Russia's main opposition parties, the Union of Right Forces. Furthermore, Belykh had raised the suspicions of local Young Guards activists by inviting Western-leaning Russians as guests to regional conferences. "Belykh is friends with people who financed the Orange Revolution," says Ruslan Gatarov, 31, who helped to organize the Oct. 15 protest. "He invites Orange-type guests like [human-rights campaigner] Ilya Ponomarev to his region. We have a saying in Russian: 'Tell me who your friend is, and I will tell you who you are.' " Even appearing to be too pro-Western, it seems, is a dangerous sin in the eyes of the Putin youth.Nationwide hysteria about the threat of an Orange Revolution may have died down, but the Kremlin's youth movements are still busy. Recent Young Guards camps at Lake Seliger and in 10 other regions focused on getting young people to present new technology and business projects. The winners were tech schemes with a Russian twist, such as a computer operating system called Russian Windows and a photo program called Russian Photoshop. "We have to be prepared for the day America turns off the Internet for us, and have our servers covering our own Internet," says Tatarinov. "Now we have a chance to collect all the best ideas on how to modernize Russia and send them directly to the president."Paranoid as the Young Guards projects may sound, they're undoubtedly popular among young people who see that getting involved with a Kremlin-sponsored project is the best path to professional advancement. "Most young people today are career-focused," says Lipman. "They know that [state-owned companies like] Gazprom and Rosneft are the best employers, and the closer you get to the state, the more chances you have to get a job. It does not matter to them much what the ideology is."Earlier this month at a Kremlin-organized youth camp at Selias, near the southern Russian town of Astrakhan, a crowd of several hundred young people waited around a stage—for a politician. They'd come for a free concert, the social life, and for the chance to be noticed by visiting Moscow political hotshots. "Hello, Selias! Do you feel lucky to be here?" yelled Sergey Markov, a member of Parliament from the Kremlin-created United Russia party, running onto the stage in baggy cargo pants and a sweatshirt. "You're in the right place at the right time! We'll choose the most talented [of you] here, and the best ones might even come to Moscow to work for me!" Selias is a strange combination of talent competition and ideological boot camp. Experts and consultants meet with young people in six large tents to help them develop projects in fields such as youth, municipal, or regional policy; technology; or local tourism. Most important, the organizers bring government cash and can dispense development grants of up to $3,300.Russia's dwindling number of Boris Yeltsin-era liberals find such attitudes scarily reminiscent of Soviet-era groupthink. A recent campaign mounted by Nashi activists in Moscow against a dissident journalist likewise shows that the Kremlin-backed youth groups are growing more powerful than ever, and that they're repeating the kind of harassment of independent thinkers common in the 1970s. Last month Alexander Podrabinek, a political prisoner under Brezhnev, wrote a story criticizing war veterans for praising the U.S.S.R. without acknowledging the Soviet Union's harsh repression of dissent and use of gulags. In response, Nashi activists picketed outside Podrabinek's apartment building, threatened his life, and publicly challenged him to leave Russia if he didn't like it. When presidential human-rights adviser Ella Panfilova stood up for Podrabinek and labeled Nashi an "extremist organization," she was quickly slapped down by United Russia and by Putin himself, who dismissed Podrabinek's article as "hooliganistic.""Moscow's politics is now concentrated on finding the most talented young people in the regions who will be able to save Russia from economic crises," says Evgeny Nizhnik, 31, a charismatic youth leader who has been involved in youth politics since 1991. "Chaos, cheap drugs, alcoholism, and racism were the result of unlimited democracy in the 1990s. Russian youth needs a strong grip in order not to get lost in chaos." Of course, another side effect of that strong grip is to prevent dangerously independent thoughts that could challenge the Kremlin's hold on power. It's a sad outcome for those who hoped to see a young generation use the new freedoms won after the fall of the Berlin Wall to embrace liberal values.

There is no need for any special anti-Western propaganda. It is enough to publish in Russia anti-Russian articles like this. After reading such opuses every honest man will hate the USA, its ruling clique and its venal media.

What anti-western propaganda they are talking about? It is enough to see USA deeds for start hate the West. Yugoslavia, Serbia, Iraq... NATO around Russian borders, anti-Russian regimes at former Soviet republics. Lie and dirt at mass-media about Russia. Look at the western interpretation of South Osetia conflict.

Don???t you try to think that the modern Russian young are smart enough to make their own conclusions? Please accept the fact that there is no politics involved in the way the modern young people in Russia think and behavior BUT the Russians acts this way because of all that lies and hypocrisy in Western media and political life.
You might not like it but the western way of democracy is a kind of course word today in Russia, because of so called the ???spread of democracy??? in Iraq and Afghanistan turned out to be nothing but business about oil and gas and never-ending murder of civilians and loosing of US and UK soldiers, and the big lie of WMD in Iraq as an excuse for intervention.
Thank you, we in Russia don???t need such democracy.
The ???spread of democratic media??? proved to be nothing but instruments of geo-politics, and the Georgian aggression to the South Osetia was a clear example of it. I remember the big-lettered footage of ???Russian aggression??? in all major press and media in August 2009. It???s clear to everybody that that was Georgia that started that war, but the lie is still the lie. And it means that the honest and independent press is not of Western origin. Sorry, we also don???t need lying press even if you called it a democracy.
The most surprising fact for western people might be that the majority of Russian young people really support the Russian government and the Russian President, and we do it consciously and reasonably.
Please accept it, respect our choice and leave our own country of Russia for us. It???s our own business to make Russia as the country to live in.

To all you commies you were all so virtuous during the cold war. Entirely USA fault. Get bent.

I agree with the posters who ask 'what propaganda'? Anyone living in a country other than the US merely has to look at how the US behaves domestically and internationally and see the disregard for their own people, the invasions of other countries for no specific reasons, the 'war on drugs' 'war on terror' etc (everything we do is a 'war') and how citizens in the US treat one another, our racist and ethnocentric views and actions, our disdain for our own poor and unemployed, our refusal to help our own (calling assistance 'handouts'), our crime rates, sheesh. Hardly propaganda when it's reality. Our tv shows and music are violent and our children spoiled. Greed, hatred, - I could go on, but I won't. We've become our own worst enemy. Why would young Russians want to emulate us?

I see Russian government and it's press did a great job to make you think what you do

You say lies, decadence and a bad behavior from the west? Where did you see this? Media? The western media that you say are full of lies? Hypocrites.

i am agree so much with Leo2006 comment(4 comments before this) - he/she said exactly right things. this article is usual Western propaganda on how Russia and Russian way is bad. but why is it that anti-Western movement bad, but anti-Russian- ooh, awesome? Where is freedom in this? but, yeah, freedom is good as long as it follows the American way.
this article is such a big piece of BS- the one mention of how great liberals of Yeltzin time are is a proof enough to show how this article and the author are wrong!!
hugely disappointing by article, but it did not surprise me.
and true- Live Russia be! i don't understand why Americans think it's their sole responsibility in this world to tell everybody how to live their lives.
and calling Russinas commies- just shows how uneducated and stupid you are. learn history! it is over by almost 2 decades now. i live in the US and there are people here still how even don't know that USSR broke apart, or they have other crazy ideas- so what can you expect from such uneducated people?!?!

Relax Olgochka, dissenting viewpoints is what free thought is all about. Most readers of this article have read many other views as well. What you sound like is someone who take take a criticism and like someone who can't turn a caritical eye at themselves. I know the drawbacks and failings of my country - are you willing to understand yours?

As a person living in Russia and often travelling to the US, It is easy to see where conflicts arise. What is seen from US in one light, bad Putin, nationalistic groups, etc, Russians regard (surprise) differently. Putin as saviour ( it's hard to explain, you should have been here in the 90's to understand), groups as an alternative to drugs, crime, although they do have an agenda. Don't forget, people are now free to travel wherever they want, and upon returning to Russia, people make their own opinion and draw conclusions. The percentage of such people is quite large, especially in Moscow, where these groups are usually born. 2cents, you are saying dissenting viewpoints is normal and I agree, but not when it becomes the only viewpoint. No one says Russia is perfect, far from it, it has many problems which Russians perfectly know about, but when I read american press or watch american television, I am shocked at the amount of mud that is thrown into Russia and it becomes very clear where americans get the picture about Russia that they have. Russians listen, (more so than Americans listen to Russia), take it into account, and react. Seeing both sides, I usually try to stay unbiased and find reasons for things, but in this case I have to choose sides. All this propaganda as you say, is no more than a product of the american media - Kremlin propaganda becomes unnecessary. Russians only have to see what the Americans say about Russia. When they read American media, they don't recognize the country they are reading about. Coming from a brainwashed Russian I know it will sound sly and ill-intended, but until you actually go there, try not to trust everything you read or listen about the country. I invite you to Russia, you will most likely also not recognize the country you are told about

As a person living in Russia and often travelling to the US, It is easy to see where conflicts arise. What is seen from US in one light, bad Putin, nationalistic groups, etc, Russians regard (surprise) differently. Putin as saviour ( it's hard to explain, you should have been here in the 90's to understand), groups as an alternative to drugs, crime, although they do have an agenda. Don't forget, people are now free to travel wherever they want, and upon returning to Russia, people make their own opinion and draw conclusions. The percentage of such people is quite large, especially in Moscow, where these groups are usually born. 2cents, you are saying dissenting viewpoints is normal and I agree, but not when it becomes the only viewpoint. No one says Russia is perfect, far from it, it has many problems which Russians perfectly know about, but when I read american press or watch american television, I am shocked at the amount of mud that is thrown into Russia and it becomes very clear where americans get the picture about Russia that they have. Russians listen, (more so than Americans listen to Russia), take it into account, and react. Seeing both sides, I usually try to stay unbiased and find reasons for things, but in this case I have to choose sides. All this propaganda as you say, is no more than a product of the american media - Kremlin propaganda becomes unnecessary. Russians only have to see what the Americans say about Russia. When they read American media, they don't recognize the country they are reading about. Coming from a brainwashed Russian I know it will sound sly and ill-intended, but until you actually go there, try not to trust everything you read or listen about the country. I invite you to Russia, you will most likely also not recognize the country you are told about

2cents- believe it or not, as a Russian I do know the drawbacks of the country I'm coming from. It is by no means perfect. What I also see as a person currently living in Canada is the MONUMENTAL amount of Anti-Russian propaganda in the Western media. Bad Russians this, bad Russians that, Russians planning to take over the world again, blah blah blah.

I can tell you- THIS is the best anti-western propaganda that can be supplied to the population of Russia. Whatever programs Kremlin runs PALE in comparison. Outside Moscow, noone knows about Nashi, Our Russian, etc. But they do see what Westerners think about the Russians. You see, most Russians feel that they've went through great sacrifices in the 90's to unite with the West. Russia gave up huge territorial, military and economical advantages, tried to adopt all the failing policies Clinton's administration threw at Eltsin's administration. The first major event that made Russians turn away from the West was NOT Putin. It was the bombing of Yugoslavia, Belgrade.

Russians felt that the thanks they were getting from the West for UNPRECEDENTED concessions were bombs for their allies and humiliation for the nation. The only reason Russia did not go into war with the US was the current weakness of its army. Every single US and European action since then acted to reinforce the Russian's perception that they were bullied. The thing is- it took an incredibly long time for the current opinion to form. I can explain this only but the forgiving nature of the Russian soul.

The last drop was the Western perception of the war in Georgia, where Georgia attacked Osettians- people very close to Russia culturally and historically. EVERY Western nation sided with the aggressor. YES, aggressor, since this was finally confirmed by an independent European commission more than a year after the fact. Do you know that Osettia was made part of Georgia by the great humanitarian, STALIN? How come the West supports Georgian "aspirations for democracy", while denying the same for the nation BULLIED by the great Soviet dictator into becoming a part of Georgia? How come the West doesn't see Osettians far more deserving their independence from Georgia then Kosovars deserving their independence from Serbia? That's what drives Russians' attitudes towards the West, not the Kremlin's propaganda.

This story does not come as a surprise to me at all. Everyone who is remotely aware of Russian politics recognizes that the Russian youth- in fact, most of the Russian population- has transformed into mini-Putin's who have no problem in advocating a strong sense of nationalism. We can see this rather abruptly in many of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev's) policies in general; more militarism within its "near-abroad"; Kremlin-sponsored candidates in Ukraine and Georgia; political campaigns in Eastern Europe; and strong opposition to American interests in European, and Asian affairs. Perhaps the most significant of these challenges is Moscow's unwillingness to blindly follow American proposals at the U.N. Security Council (Iran in particular).

It certainly is a frustrating prospect for the White House, especially when the Russians seem to oppose every single initiative that the United States offers to the international community. However, in some areas, this Russian opposition is warranted. Immediately after the Cold War, the former Soviet Union found themselves amassed in a swath of economic devastation, rising unemployment, a devalued currency, and a decreased stance in its global position. This was not simply a result of a collapsed regime, but rather a combination of U.S.-backed political and economic reform swithin Russia as a whole. Boris Yelstin, while pro-American, was simply not getting the job done in the eyes of ordinary Russian civilians; many of whom were sick and tired of western arrangements that failed to bring about anything substantial in their daily-lives.

When Vladimir Putin was elected President in 1998, the situation almost changed overnight. Today, Russia is much more nationalistic than in the Yelstin years. Equally annoying to Washington is Moscow's reliance on traditional forms of power, such as its control over natural resources and its military. While this irritation is understandable from the American perspective, we must not forget that Moscow's re-emergence in the traditional Eurasian values has resulted in a variety of Russian accomplishments. Today, the Kremlin holds veto-power in the most powerful international organization; it controls a vast portion of the world's oil reserves; it is modernizing its military; and it is beginning to re-assert itself on the world stage.

No wonder why Putin, after more than a decade in power, retains an approval rating of close to 80 percent. It is therefore only natural for pro-Putin sympathizers to further exploit his popularity, whether this involves government propaganda on television or the founding of youth groups.

-Daniel R. DePetris
http://depetris.wordpress.com

I think that wide spread anti Western sentiment exists but it is so ridiculous to explain it by Russian state run propaganda, it became clear to people in Russia that western propaganda machine (e.g. this article) is no different from the one the Soviet Union had and that freedom of speech and other rights are something that West proclaims but are non- existent in the West itself as major western media are controlled and follow government lines when covering events, e.g. the war in Chechnya when civilian victims of the war and their stories made headlines in the West on a daily basis and now Iraqis and Afghanis' stories and their constant murdering by the West are nowhere to be found in the western media, all these double standards became clear and the west and its goals and media lost any credibility.