Those who think Putin has nothing to do with it do not understand Russians, or Slavs to begin with. Being one, I do. This is the iron boot of a dictatorship eliminating the opposition. This is how it works outside the US. This is why there can never be any negotiations on the Ukraine, or Iran. This underscores the incredibly dangerous and naïve attitude of the Obama administration towards Russia, and the utterly ridiculous notion of a "Russian Reset". Perhaps this opposition movement can gain some momentum, but I doubt it. The prevalence of fear is the norm in Russia. It has been for 100 years now.
Tell us another! This has always been a prerogative of the U.S. administration to be stubborn about making any compromises and trade-offs. "Russian Reset" was set to be a reminder that Russia should return to the spineless and toothless policies of the '90s.
On top of that, you should not even argue against his conclusion, as it is based on a logical fallacy, and is thus invalid.
His "Those who think Putin has nothing to do with it do not understand Russians, or Slavs to begin with.
Being one, I do." is an example of the following:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_authorityWell, I am a Russian, born in RSFSR, and being Russian I can say that Putin's Russia is nothing like USSR (when you ended up in prison or loony bin for descent), or Yeltsin's Russia (when you got shot if you opposed the "oligarchal" plundering of the state). Oh, and having lived in the West of a long time, I can with all authority state that West is a hegemonic dictatorship under US thumb. See, this works both ways.
Also, if "This is the iron boot of a dictatorship eliminating the opposition.", then how come Russia has a plethora of political parties, many of them in sharp opposition (unlike the two parties in USA)? How come Russia has a lot of diverse media, again, openly criticizing some of the government policies (those Russia's real problems are not the ones that can make loud headlines in the Western press, as they bear a lot of semblance to the problems that the West itself has - pension age, salaries, corruption)? There is a popular political talk show, hosted by Solovjov, who invites guests, who are openly hostile to either Russia or Putin or both - he also invites guests from abroad. Yet they get air time, they can say what they think (sometimes using language bordering on unprintable) and they are guaranteed safety. In American political talk shows you usually see such guests being shut up and ridiculed.