The other election
The NYT reports that Vladimir Putin's party has won by a large margin, which means that while he has promised not to run for President again, it may not matter.
“He has created really an authoritarian system, in which he is like a hill in the desert, and nobody is around,” Mr. Yavlinsky said. “Now time has come to make a transfer of power, and he really, really has no idea how to do that. And nobody else has any idea. And his character is such that he has no confidence in anybody.” Still, not everyone believes that the disquiet will last.
Stanislav Belkovsky, a prominent political analyst here, said people misunderstood Russian history and tradition. They are in awe of Mr. Putin’s high popularity ratings and fail to understand that once he leaves office, his aura will fade and authority will instinctively transfer to the new president, Mr. Belkovsky said.
So will Putin fade graciously into history like a Bill Clinton, or will he remain the power behind the throne like Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran?
posted by wretchardthecat at 12/03/2007 12:40:00 AM
4 Comments:
Perhaps a more apt comparison for Vlad Putin's choices would be George Washington. Washington had the influence to end the American Democracy, and he had strong reasons to do so. He realized that stepping down risked opening the country to anarchy.
His faith in God and his fellow man helped him choose the right decision.
Vlad Putin is a paranoid godless ex-Communist. He's probably smart enough to know that Communism doesn't work, but the things he believes DO work are brutal repression, political assassination, and breaking the rules.
The other model Vlad Putin has to follow is much more Russian. Ivan the Terrible was a very successful ruler through most of his career, though his rule ended badly.
Which model will Vlad Putin follow?
Says here that Putin gets the constitution amended to remove term limits because they are undemocratic.
Monitors say Russian vote unfair
See:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071203/ap_on_re_eu/russia_election
Hmm, I included a link in my previous post, but when I click on it, nothing happens.
Is there some trick to making links in the common section work?
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