Little hope for democracy

After the victory of the communists in the Republic of Moldova the left-liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung sees little chance for democracy in Russia's vicinity, as the region's political culture was never touched by the "colour revolutions": "Was Western solidarity too limited, and the pressure from Moscow too great? Is the time for radical system change over for good? That would be depressing, but it's not the case. Every one of the colour revolutions has failed in its own way. But what they all have in common is that they were not in fact revolutions. Their systems didn't change, just the personnel. All of the protagonists occupied high, even the highest, offices, some of their careers go right back to Soviet times. ... They have no place for conflict resolution, respect for opponents is foreign to them, and they often perpetuate abhorrent traditions marked by corruption, paranoia and violence. America and Russia do all they can to polarise these societies while most of the time Europe focuses on other matters. However that should not prevent the shouldering of responsibility for this failure."

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