Well, well, well.  That comment, coming from "contributing editor, Atlantic Monthly", just after AM put one of the most blistering pieces regarding Russia behind their subscription firewall:

Russia Is Finished: The unstoppable descent of a once great power into social catastrophe and strategic irrelevance, by Jeffrey Tayler, Atlantic Monthly, May 2001.

If Starobin is serious about his position, he should arrange to put one the sharpest ctitiques of Russia, published by his own magazine, in front of the firewall where it's been for years.  Or arrange for permission to publish it where the world can still see it.

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The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.
W. Churchill