Michael,
<<There are literally 100s of despots right now throughout the world all seeking economic viability through internal taxation and deals with other despots, democracy is the exception. It is based on a long history of the rule of law. Law must become established and respected. This is the unique beauty of the English empire, it grew around a respected legal system and populated the earth with fledgling legal systems that followed in its path.>>
Ah Michael I think you need to clarify a bit here. There are laws and then there are laws. For example, there is a law here in Malaysia, called the "internal security act", that basically suspends any sort of "constitutional rights" such as Americans are familiar with. This particular Draconian law is a holdover from the British themselves who used it extensively during "the emergency" period of Malaysian history when there were communist insurgents active in the country. Perhaps the "beauty of the English empire" is hidden under some tarnish? It is a law now wielded freely by the current regime to silence political opponents. It allows arrest and incarceration for renewable 90 day periods during which all rights of the arrestee are basically suspended. This is a law that is still on the books in spite of the public outcry against it. The problem is that the public outcry is not vociferous enough from within the country. This brings me to a final point.
Plato, in his dialog "The Republic", makes a powerful and almost irrefutable assumption that the character of a government expresses, or mirrors, the character of its citizens. While it may be true that Russia has slipped into a feudal system that doesn't reflect the wishes of most of its citizenry, the circumstances that have led to it were likely aided and abetted by a largely apathetic or poorly equipped citizenry who lacked the will for change, and in that sense mirrors the collective character of its citizens and, perhaps, lends credence to your assumption that Russia is not ready for democracy.
Set against this understanding Al Gore may not have been all that off the mark when he used the term "brave citizens of Malaysia" when he controversially described the proponents of the infant reform movement here. In fact, it almost seems that any other position taken would be analogous to following all the other lemmings to the cliff. Only time will tell whether Malaysia, or any one of the many countries where despotic governments reign such as you allude to, is ready for democracy as the U.S. would, collectively, define it. Keep in mind the catch here. Plato believed that there were as many "characters of governments" as there were citizens.
Best,
Stitch
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