>> Under Yeltsin ... population was free to organize and promote positive change.
I see that you have some illusions about that period, perhaps due to the fact that you could only see it through the lens of the western media. No, population was not free. The gangs controlled the country. If they did not like what you had to say - you were killed on the spot, right out in the open in the daylight. Simple as that. People lived in fear through the 90's. Fear of making ANY move: business - would be taken away from you by the gangs, or politics - ruled by apparatchiki with criminal connections who took you out if they did not like the way you looked that day.
I disagree with your blanket statement that Russians need (or desire) an authoritarian leader. Not all Russians are the same, far from it. (Its similar to going in the middle of USA and concluding that all Americans are god worshiping red necks or something like that.) There are (and were) a lot of progressive thinkers that are capable of organizing an opposition. The issue is - they are forced out of the country by the state (best case scenario) once they gain any traction or are eliminated in one way or another.
The choice for many russians is simple - do i want to suffer physical/mental abuse by the state, fight the system and stay in the country or am i better of immigrating? the choice is simple, especially if you have/want a family.
Russian immigration has been going on for over 100 years now for that very reason.
>>Oh, and by the way, Putin has you exactly where he wants you. He would like you to be a supporter, but if people like you are instead cynical and don't try to understand what is needed for positive change, then he is free to stay in power for the rest of his life.
No Putin does not want me to be where i am now ;) yes im cynical but i do know what is needed for a positive change. there is one little thing - i do not want to waste my life on fighting that system "for the good cause". Life is too short to spend it on "nari".