Description: Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Russian people have seen a breakdown not only of communist ideology but of the basic norms of a functioning society. The pervasive, almost palpable atmosphere of despair has led many Russians to seek extreme solutions for their societal malaise. Vladimir Zhirinovsky has exploited this growing desperation, taking the country by storm with his outrageous pronouncements and promises. Seen by Western critics with varying degrees of skepticism, Zhirinovsky is no fleeting curiosity in his motherland. He has even been called by some the "only man who can lead this country out of the darkness and into the light". Indeed, polls have shown that he is considered by many Russians to offer the greatest hope of pulling post-Cold War Russia out of the social and economic slump that has brought the country to its knees. Yet others in his native land and abroad have likened him to Hitler. Disturbingly, he does not shy away from these comparisons.

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