Putin to Retake Presidency as a ‘Reformer’?
The Obama State Department said it was disappointed and troubled by the attack on Kasyanov, and the Kremlin quickly responded that Kasyanov was free to try again. But neither Hillary Clinton nor Obama himself have thrown their weight behind the bill pending in Congress to block the worst Russian human rights abusers from entry to the U.S. — on the contrary, they’ve seemed open to lobbying efforts by those very offenders against the bill. And no other tangible policy has been suggested which might actually punish Russia for the worst of its anti-democratic purges.
Prokhorov’s public statements are noteworthy because he specifically states that his party should not be considered an opposition party, and because he focuses his ire on the presidency, which Putin does not currently occupy. It would not surprise me in the least to see Putin step forward in coming days and claim that he must return to the presidency because Medvedev has seized too much power and relegated the legislature to a figurehead role. Putin has every legal right to take back presidential power for the next twelve years, and it would probably delight him to no end to do so under the guise of a democratic putsch.
I think Obama might well be foolish (or cowardly) enough to applaud such a move, or at least to stand mute while Putin rolls down a new iron curtain just a bit closer to Moscow this time. But no Republican appears to be any wiser. Republicans have not proven they have a real understanding of the dangers posed by the Putin dictatorship, much less that they have the courage to demand that Obama face him down. Nevermind Republicans appeasers of Putin such as Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan.
The party must remember the legacy of Ronald Reagan and produce a leader who can do the right thing on Russia.
In the February/March 2000 issue of Midstream I quoted a Columbia University translated transcript of Boris Yeltsin’s Communist Party resignation speech at the Soviet Party Congress in July 1990 which made it clear what Russian “democracy” would look like: “Various political parties are gradually being formed in our country. At the same time, a fundamental renewal of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is inevitable. A parliamentary-type party will emerge. Only this type of party will be able to win election for one or another of its factions…it will become possible for this alliance to become the vanguard of society in actual fact.” I also noted Richard Pipe’s report of Putin’s speech, seven years after the Soviet flag was lowered in Moscow, praising “the organs of state security” on the “anniversary of the creation of the CHEKA, the first Soviet secret police.” And J. Michael Waller’s book Secret Empire was cited in the article for its notation that on December 20, 1992 the new Russian foreign intelligence service “celebrated not its first anniversary but its 72nd, marking the founding of the CHEKA’s foreign intelligence arm on the same date in 1920.”
On December 4, 1992 on Mayak radio new Russian Foreign Minister Kosyrev promoted as a reformer sounded much more like a traditional Communist than a democrat when he stated: “We are talking about…a principled choice for Russia’s course and consequently…for the course to be pursued by other states…not only of the former Soviet Union, but also of the whole so-called Socialist camp…because of the reality…that the Russian Federation has been at the center of that configuration and is today economically, culturally and in many other senses certainly the locomotive which by the direction and speed of its movement determines the direction and speed of movement of other states.” (Midstream June/July 1993). From his START concessions, to treating Russia’s clients, Iran and Syria, less forcefully than our Egyptian ally, President Obama seems to be heeding Kosyrev’s assertion about Russia’s primacy.
There are the autocrat Putin in republic(once upon a time democratic)of Russia!
Though Russians don`t like the democracy,there are some democrats who don`t like Putin.That`s the whole story.The West happy that Soviet rockets will not fly patiently waits for them to rust,but after the Pakistani and Iranian success in Nuks there appears the doubt of the Russian rockets rust,there are no doubts in Russian democracy.
Any democracy can vote themselves into dictatorship. The Russians has done just that. Through the years I have read countless man on the street interviews from Russia. And incredibly enough they all love Putin. 5 out of 5 think he’s great because he’s a “strong” leader. They say again and again that foreigners don’t understand Russians and that they need a strong leader to keep them in check. There is no helping stupid people.