Russia, Democracy, and Ivan's legacy

A posting in Travis Conn webblog starts with this point

The Russian government once again proves to us it’s lack of commitment to democratic ideals. On Saturday an unusually large crowd of anti-Putin demonstrators clashed with police resulting in over 100 arrests.

Rationally, does this really shock anyone? For centuries the Russian "motherland" has been dominated by authoritarian figures. Repression, fear, and statesim was the key to the success of the Tsarist rule. Security concerns have led to the need for the rigid control. Surrounded and open to attack, the geography of the Tsarist empire has led to the history of repression. Repression not out of pre-autocide notions of state control, but the fear that outside invaders would demise the national security. Empire security led to the purging of Tsarist Russia, a trend which continued long into the Soviet Era.

So now that our ally in the East has a fresh 18 year democracy, do we really expect them to follow the "rules" of democratic states? I propose no. History is a simple indicator of future trends. Follow the past to find the future. The Russian federation is ingrained with the aspect of governance in which more control is equal to more security, and more security equals more freedom. Freedom from invasion, both imaginary and real.

Now we hear the news that a mob of demonstrators, anti-government, was beaten by the Russian internal security division. What a shock! an anti government crowd with the agenda of changing the government attacked and arrested. Think back to the Ivan the Terrible days of the Tsarist era. The crowd would have been murdered, the leaders impaled on hot rods (alive) so that the citizenry would know the retribution of the government, and a village on the periphery of the empire would be to blame and it would be leveled killing all who dwell within it.

Its the new hip thing now in US centric foreign politics to cut slack on "democracy" values in order to solidify security, both imaginary and real. But to what extent can democracy survive in an era which promotes the Ivan. Lets just ask Ivan V Vasilyevich.