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Vladi­mir Putin is suffocating his own nation Thursday July 30th, 2015 at 4:57 PM

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Vladi­mir Putin is suffocating his own nation Thursday July 30 th , 2015  at  4:57 PM Business Insider 1 Share In the tumult and uncertainty that marked Russia after the Soviet Union imploded, when the state was weak and many institutions tottering, a vital lifeline was extended from the West. The U.S. government, as well as foundations and philanthropies, responded generously. The financier George Soros, through his Open Society Foundations, provided small grants that sustained many impoverished scientists. The MacArthur Foundation and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) were vital sources of support to civil society, education and human rights. Now, President Vladimir Putin is forcing these organizations out of Russia, using law enforcement and a parliament that he controls. Mr. Putin's larger target is to destroy civil society, that vital two-way link in any democracy between the rulers and the ruled. The latest move, announc