Thursday, January 15, 2009

Vladimir Putin: Facebook Rockstar


We just noticed that one of our (personal) Facebook friends became a supporter of, "Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich – The Greatest Statesman of Modern Russia." Why we think this is interesting: the president has 18,925 Facebook supporters!

For those that bemoan Russia's slide back to authoritarianism (our hands our raised too), remember: this isn't happening in a vacuum. Russia's citizens aren't dumb, and they like what they see. Until a compelling alternative emerges (yes, yes, we know the Kremlin doesn't make it easy -- see our own Russia fieldwork for details), expect more of the same.

Meanwhile, you can show Global Integrity some Facebook love here.

-- Nathaniel Heller

Image credit: Antonis Shen (cc by/nc/nd)

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