With Tight Grip on Ballot, Putin Is Forcing Foes Out

[Gunny]

MOSCOW, Oct. 13 — Balloting for Parliament will be held across Russia in December, and this much is already clear: Vladimir A. Ryzhkov, who was first elected in the turbulent yet hopeful days after the Soviet Union’s fall and then blossomed into a fervent advocate for democracy, will lose.

So will Viktor V. Pokhmelkin, who used his seat to crusade against corruption in the police and other law enforcement agencies. Swept away, too, will be Anatoly A. Yermolin, a K.G.B. officer turned liberal stalwart who has been a lone voice in rebellion against President Vladimir V. Putin’s expansive power.

Nearly eight years after Mr. Putin took office and began tightening his control over all aspects of the Russian government, he will almost certainly with this election succeed in extinguishing the last embers of opposition in Parliament.

Strict new election rules adopted under Mr. Putin, combined with the Kremlin’s dominance over the news media and government agencies, are expected to propel the party that he created, United Russia, to a parliamentary majority even more overwhelming than its current one.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/w...dc1d2cb8e9b1d3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

So much for democratic elections.

 

[Diuretic]

Yep, no democracy in Russia. I don't know much about Russian history but it seems that the idea of a liberal democracy just doesn't really appear anywhere. Russia seems to have a history of authoritarianism and of course totalitarianism. I'd like to be wrong on that.

 

[waltky]

... just let the north Caucasus secede...

ANALYSIS: Putin policies risk increasing bloodshed
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 - Doku Umarov, the Chechen warlord who styles himself “the emir of the Caucasus,” told the Russian government this week that his jihadists were ready and willing to launch more terrorist attacks like last month’s suicide bombing of Moscow Domodedovo Airport, for which he admitted responsibility.

Sadly, his was no idle threat. Not only has Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin no credible plan to halt the attacks, his policy is making further atrocities more likely. Putin’s initial response to Domodedovo was typical of the unthinking aggressiveness that has characterized his outlook since he rose to the presidency in 2000 with a vow to hunt down Chechen rebels and kill them “in the outhouse.” Those behind the bombing would be caught, he said. “Revenge is inevitable,” Putin said.

Putin also rejected the almost universal assumption that Umarov was involved, arguing there was “no relation to the Chechen republic.” That’s because, in Putin-speak, the Chechen problem was supposedly solved several years ago. The opposite is nearer the truth. According to the official line, the installation in Grozny of pro-Kremlin Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, whose militia has become a byword for brutality, pacified Chechnya after a decade of bloodshed.

However, Kadyrov could not prevent a daring attack on Chechnya’s parliament in October last year. Umarov’s Chechen campaign has spread extensively to neighboring republics such as Dagestan and Ingushetia, and mutated from a separatist struggle into a pan-Caucasian jihad. Putin’s achievement, since he first became prime minister in 1999, has thus been to turn a containable local insurgency into an escalating regional war. This has led many Russians to wonder why Moscow does not just have done with it and let the north Caucasus secede.

MORE

 

[Ropey]

When the worlds eyes are on a great longer term event, then the Russian fury will come. Putin is a man with no soul for weakness. But a mind to win.

 

[Jroc]

When the worlds eyes are on a great longer term event, then the Russian fury will come. Putin is a man with no soul for weakness. But a mind to win.

So Ropey... Do you approve of Putin? Do you think a guy like Putin is good for Russia?

 

[Ropey]

When the worlds eyes are on a great longer term event, then the Russian fury will come. Putin is a man with no soul for weakness. But a mind to win.

So Ropey... Do you approve of Putin? Do you think a guy like Putin is good for Russia?

Russia, in comparison to China is a Paragon of Democracy and America has no problems dealing with China.

Putin loves Russia and clearly wants to see Russia strong, healthy and occupying a prominent position on the world stage.

I think he wants Russia to be part of the world community. He doesn’t want Russia behind a separate iron curtain, cut off from the rest of the world. But he thinks that longer terms are necessary.

I believe he will likely extend the Russian term limits again. He is smart enough to set up the response now and just await the proper time to respond.

That's the Russian way. They play chess the same way.

 

[Jroc]

When the worlds eyes are on a great longer term event, then the Russian fury will come. Putin is a man with no soul for weakness. But a mind to win.

So Ropey... Do you approve of Putin? Do you think a guy like Putin is good for Russia?

Russia, in comparison to China is a Paragon of Democracy and America has no problems dealing with China.

Putin loves Russia and clearly wants to see Russia strong, healthy and occupying a prominent position on the world stage.

I think he wants Russia to be part of the world community. He doesn’t want Russia behind a separate iron curtain, cut off from the rest of the world. But he thinks that longer terms are necessary.

I believe he will likely extend the Russian term limits again. He is smart enough to set up the response now and just await the proper time to respond.

That's the Russian way. They play chess the same way.

It seems like you have some kind of admiration for Russia why is that? I'm not comparing Russia with China, I'm only talking about Russia here, Putin wants Russia to be what it was, where’s your proof that he doesn't? He kills or impressions reporters and others who speak out against the government has made billions for himself while his people suffer, he still works against the interests of the free word as he builds nuclear power plants in Iran and wants to build them for the dictator in Venezuela, he does not work with us in our battle against radical islam and he is no friend of Israel and will end up selling them advanced air defenses soon.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Yep, no democracy in Russia. I don't know much about Russian history but it seems that the idea of a liberal democracy just doesn't really appear anywhere. Russia seems to have a history of authoritarianism and of course totalitarianism. I'd like to be wrong on that.

It seems to me the Russkies have always been willing to take a step back if they see two steps forward in the future.

I always saw the fall of the Berlin Wall as "one step back".

 

[Ropey]

So Ropey... Do you approve of Putin? Do you think a guy like Putin is good for Russia?

Russia, in comparison to China is a Paragon of Democracy and America has no problems dealing with China.

Putin loves Russia and clearly wants to see Russia strong, healthy and occupying a prominent position on the world stage.

I think he wants Russia to be part of the world community. He doesn’t want Russia behind a separate iron curtain, cut off from the rest of the world. But he thinks that longer terms are necessary.

I believe he will likely extend the Russian term limits again. He is smart enough to set up the response now and just await the proper time to respond.

That's the Russian way. They play chess the same way.

It seems like you have some kind of admiration for Russia why is that? I'm not comparing Russia with China, I'm only talking about Russia here, Putin wants Russia to be what it was, where’s your proof that he doesn't? He kills or impressions reporters and others who speak out against the government has made billions for himself while his people suffer, he still works against the interests of the free word as he builds nuclear power plants in Iran and wants to build them for the dictator in Venezuela, he does not work with us in our battle against radical islam and he is no friend of Israel and will end up selling them advanced air defenses soon.

Not admiration, but recognition. Whether one likes him or not, there are conclusions that one can draw with Russia pre Putin and today and with Putin himself.

America does much business with China. It does business with Russia as well. Why should Russia work with Israel or America? Because it is "The Free World"? Foreign policy is a game which countries play in order to increase their status in this game.

Complaining about the UN will not change the UN. Complaining about Putin does not change Putin. He is what he is and will do what he does, regardless of your dislike and my more neutral view.

Countries are not really friends Jroc. You know that.

 

[jillian]

I'm not sure it really matters what we think of Putin... Russians love him.

even the legitimate polls, without cooked numbers, give him something like an 80% approval rating.

i live with a lot of russian people... and they like people who walk around with flexed musclies (figuratively, not literally, necessarily). they have little interest in anyone they perceive as less than tough.