He’s No Democrat
“Democracy is a beautiful word. But I am convinced I will not live to see the day when we will have real democracy. It has to be built brick by brick, without hurry. It is a colossal task to build up a system of laws that will defend the weak. We Russians have never even had a horse on that field.
“What is being presented to us as democracy is actually ersatz, an attempt to make someone else’s experience our own. Like Gorbachev, who inappropriately tried to grow cactus at his summer dacha, we have grown an ugly plant not suited to Russia. Today, the so-called democrats are, in their present shape, not acceptable, and it is not possible for the Communists to rule. So we must seek a place in between. No matter how long you strive to seek the horizon, you never reach it. But we need to live today with what we have.”
ALEXANDER LEBED, in an interview conducted this week in Moscow by Global Viewpoint contributing editor Flora Lewis and correspondent Mikhail Bruk.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
