J.Wyllie , Russians and former Soviet people have every reason to be careful with this so called 'democratization'. usa/uk politics and nato war games are ABSOLUTELY imperial and agressive. nato is nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing. that goes for western mainstream media and politics as well. please, what if in fact the majority of these people (russians+former soviets+warsawpact) dont want this? cnn likes to focus on protesters in iran holding banners 'what about my voice?' ... they should let iran run its own course, and start working on their own flaws/problems, which are big enough at the moment. usa government is hijacked by wallstreet and bankers, and nobody sees it. your talking about the KGB and a boogie man, it makes me wonder who really has the empty head here? i would like to see you and your friends react to russia placing huge anti defense on cuba and venezuela (please dont mention missile crisis and peter.great) coast, east siberia and border alaska..... oh its just for defense against terrorists... have u ever studied warfare and false flags? golf tomkin would be a good starter for you. 'Russia aka Soviet Union is anything but defensive' yeah i guess its really clear who exactly is the boogey man.... its a fortunate thing the good old US and A has never engaged in coups, secret war and bombings, massive torture, powercorruption, terrorism (even on own soil) etc etc etc ... nooo, thats the KGB! this post must make u wonder where i come from . well as u can see from my poor english, its not the usa or uk, yeah thats for sure, but my following comment should give u a better clue ... Russia: Thank you for your the huge sacrifices you made defeating nazism. Even tho we are supposed to think different, I know the cause was right. It is just that we are all in a time of development, so is your great country. And you should decide for yourself which road and way. Long live Russia.

@ Count Cash, agree about NATO. Sorry to say I didn't start paying attention to what they were doing until the Georgia war last year. While it wasn't NATO troops shooting at the Russians, that war was prompted by Georgia's desire to join NATO and the perceived need for them to "pacify" their rebellious provinces first (and kill all the Russian peacekeepers who were in the way). Then I started reading about new military bases and installations far to the east of where NATO "promised" it would stay, and then hearing a NATO general saying NATO was still needed to protect Europe from Russia. It surprised me to learn that many people still think the communists are poised to send waves of shocktroops over Europe, any day now. The same people think the Russian flag is still red and are surprised when I tell them the real communists don't like Putin. Sheesh, didn't Ronald Reagan tell us we won the Cold War? The mainstream media over here is really schizophrenic, on one hand saying the west and USA were triumphant, and on the other hand telling us to be afraid, be very afraid of Russia. "Git the gun, Martha, I think I see a Rooskie in them thar bushes!"