Leadership for Ill

The August 23, 2007, edition of Economist may contain one of the most chilling articles in recent memory, entitled, "Russia under Putin: The making of a neo-KGB state".  What makes the article  chilling is that it identifies one of the truly grand, destructive ideas of statehood as running rampant in the new Russia: We are a great people who have been wrongly denied our rightful place in the world, have suffered hardships accordingly, and it is now up to us to assert ourselves. 
What makes this idea so destructive is that in one form or another it has been the ideology fueling many of the great atrocities of world history.  Hitler used the same message during the meteoric ascent of Nazism in Germany.  To be sure, Vladimir Putin's rise to power from within the KGB ranks was abetted more by conventional strong-arm tactics than any ideological focus, but it is the selling of the power grab by using a dangerous idea that sets Russia on a slippery road. 
The above remind us that leaders can manipulate as well as serve.  The question is how many go along and for how long.  If history is any lesson, the answer is that a great many will and for a very long time.