Russian activists in Moscow escalate their protests against Vladimir Putin despite promises of reform from him and Dmitry Medvedev after the disputed parliamentary elections.

And Gorbachev calling Putin to step down.

the two countries (i.e. arabia and russia) are coupled to each other via oil prices...i say they would benefit from each others demise (which would definitely raise oil prices)

Russia actually stands a chance to become democratic - it already has some press freedom & democratic organizations.

Good luck to the demonstrators !

What country do you mean by "Arabia" ? Many Arab countries have either no oil or just enough for home consumption.

That would be the mythical lands owned by "Lawrence of", I believe.

What Arab spring?! Except for Libya where the regime change, helped to orchestrate by the French, was for real, nowhere else has anything substantial happened. Russia is a KGB-stan, so unless the core of power collapses you may forget any "change", except for a new muppet instead of Mr M. or Mr. P.

You may look back to the Prague-Spring, which ended in misery. BUT contributed what in 1988-90 resulted in THE change of the late 20th Century. In spite of the USSR trying for two decades to stop change. Developments in Egypt and Tunisia will not go as hoped for but within a decade will result in real progress. What is to become reality in Russia remains to be seen.

That Mr Medwedew announced that people in Russia would elect the governors directly again may not solve the problems but may be a step in the right direction.

Please do not forget that there was also the US autumn.
So after the US Occupy protests the Russian protesters call themselves We are the 146%

The Arab Spring theme is a dream. They will just get another despotic leader, zero religious tolerance ane even more corruption. They will end up regretting topling the old dictators.

WTF post of the day...

It's already a historical reality: Mubarak, Ben Ali, Gadhaffi, Ahmed Ali Saleh all gone. What happens remains a challenge for the people. They had free elections in Tunisia and Egypt for the first time...so it's already a big step.

What in fact IS regrettable in both Tunisia and Egypt is the fact that exactly two dictators got toppled who had given their countries an excellent service in regard to the economy, the infrastructure, education and social welfare. That both regimes had become increasingly corrupt and that Hosni Mubarak had become senile, are undeniable facts, does not change the fact that both will be missed. Statues in their honour will be put up within 30 years. Not so in case of Khaddafi, who never has performed as much as the other two. But much so in case of General Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had done a lot to move Yemen forward. But let's state it clearly, 30 years are enough

To forecast
- other despotic leaders
- zero religious tolerance
is simply premature to tell

Not exactly Tunisia and Libya, not Egypt.

I don't believe it will, no. I spend a lot of time in Russia and I have Russian family so I'm lucky to have views to add to that which is widely reported.

Firstly, the protests were not anti-Putin per se. They have slowly drifted towards that, but the request was for the repeat of the elections to the Duma (the house) rather than about the presidency.

Second, the differences between the Arab spring and Russia are i) there is no country-wide desire to change and ii) there is no alternative to the current leadership. Putin is still wildly popular in Russia particularly outside the city-state which is Moscow. He is seen as the guy that made Russia strong and prosperous.

Thirdly, there is too much apathy to the current situation amongst people who should know better. My wife and I went to the march in Geneva on the day that the other marches were taking place and I was surprised that many of her friends (smart, university educated, young, well travelled) were either dismissive of any of the marches ("Its pointless, nothing will change") or critical of idea of marches taking place around the world ("If people leave they have no right to complain"). If the young people of the Twitter generation can't be bothered, change won't happen.

And finally, and I'm sure I will be corrected here about other examples, but Russia came out of authoritarian times in the Soviet Union, then into democracy with Gorbachov and Yeltsin and then as a country allowed itself to drift back into the current situation. I'm not aware of any other examples where the populace has permitted a loss of democracy in such a manner (I'm not talking about a coup d'etat or similar)

The protests are more about corruption in the system than about Putin. And if you read about Peter the Great turning Russia from agrarian to a modern state in the early 18th century, he encountered corruption that he said was the major block to that journey - of state officials learning very low salaries needing to boost it through bribes. Well, currently a police lieutenant in Moscow (one of the most expensive cities in the world) earns $360 per month - so guess what?

Not Libya, as Khaddafi has not done too much to bring his country forward, while Hosni Mubarak has done quite a lot to bring economy, infrastructure, education, healthcare, etc in his country forward. So that it is Tunisia and Egypt

There is time for everything. After Eltsin, the Russians hoped somebody would clean up the mess. Because not only Eltsin was the west's best friend, but he also the Russians' best enemy. The level of corruption is still high in Russia, but it's nothing compared with the Eltsin years. Putin had the guts to stand up against the local governors, who ended up running countries inside the countries with no saying from the Moscow government what so ever. The Russian voter didn't like that either. At all. That may be fine in some cultures, but it was definitely not what the Russians wanted. Putin was the man of the situation. The question is whether he still is. Opinions may differ.

Russia is a pretty normal country: the ones demonstrating in urban centers are not the majority of voters even if it's impressive when they are ten thousands gathered in the same street. It still doesn't match the millions that want Putin back and probably even more of the Rambo style than what Putin himself shows off. The huge small town, country side and far off province voters are not only pro-Putin but most probably find him a little weak at the moment. Even without fraud, Putin or any kind of strong figure president will always win this part of the country. And it's a huge part. For argument's sake: are you sure that the ones on the street for more democracy in Tunisia and Egypt are the same as the elections' big winners? I doubt so very much. Same in Russia, with a difference though: Putin is and stays popular in large parts of the population, just not 70% anymore.

Do you have any numbers to support this?

I was looking at the UN Human Development Index for 2011, and according to it Libya was ahead of Tunisia and number 2 in Africa and 64 worldwide. Tunisia was number 4 in Africa and 94 total. Both Libya and Tunisia were rated as countries with high Human Development Index. And Egypt was number 7 in Africa and number 113 worldwide and rated as medium HDI.

I hope I remember correctly that before 2011 Libya was even rated as the country with the highest HDI in Africa.

No surprise to me, if the country generates so much income from oil it attracts all kind of indsutries and ivestors. Neither Egypt nor Tunisia can compete. Energy is and will be the largest industry sector worldwide, followed by arms, finance, food, drugs and sex. Tourism is what Tunisia and Egypt rely on and it is not in this list.

The index is worth what you put in it. Libya lives from the oil income but if you have a closer look at education, healthcare, woman's status and economy (beyond the oil sector) it's a catastrophe. Most Libyans go to Tunisia for healthcare treatment actually.

But why the index for Libya is so high? The index is designed to measure healthy living (life expectancy), literacy, education, income index, child welfare. Why is it so high for Libya? Sure the money comes from oil there, but still -- it looks like the standards of living in Libya were rated as "high" by the UN and higher than for Tunisia.
About most Libyans going to Tunisia for healthcare treatment ... Many Swiss go to Germany for the dental care too. Maybe the prices in Libya were a bit too high?