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Putin Stops Pretending
With his announcement that he will run for President, Russian ‘Prime Minister’ Putin has ended the pretense that he hasn’t been running the show the whole time via his puppet Medvedev.
Assuming, as is likely, he wins then Putin will be able to serve two 6 year terms. Adding this to his two prior terms as President (2000-2008) and his service as ‘Prime Minister’ from 2008-2012, he will have ruled Russia for about a quarter centurt (2000-2024).
This would make him second only to Stalin in terms of modern Russian/Soviet leaders and among the longest ruling leaders in Russian history.
Given his authoritarian tendencies and his less than positive view to the west and the US, this is not a positive development.
4 Responses to “Putin Stops Pretending”
This is probably the most important news story of the last many weeks… for Putin considers himself ‘a strong man’ in the style of some of the old mob bosses of Russia. No one needs another cold war that so starved the already starving in Russia, nor an oil war, nor a nuclear stand off via his allies in South America, in the ‘stans’ or the islands or in Asia, or perhaps Iran in the mideast. It will be interesting to see if there really are ‘independent, free and democratic’ elections in Russia. Mother Russia is so rich in people of great heart, I hope what comes for them, for all of everyone else, is good to all the people instead of another regime of guns and tanks, that ought to be a regimen of care for the people. Just seeing films of the elderly starving in Russia, literally starving in half underground dirt burrows… I’d like to see whomsoever is leading Russia stop being so intent on wearing minks and being driven around in Rolls, Mercedes and BMW’s and instead go take food to the hungry ones…. food of many kinds, for many kinds of hunger. On second thought, it seems its not the mink and hardware that is addling. It’s the mindset. Changing that… even slightly… to include a heart for the people… well…
this would be useful for many ‘premier’s’ across the world regardless of which country, including several demographics of people in our own.
Given what happened to Russia in the nineties, you should be grateful that someone as rational Putin made it to the top of the Russian state.
We could send them some corn instead of grinding it into gasoline additives, but that wouldn’t be as profitable would it?
I have to stop complaining.
I forgot we were capitalist and don’t really care. Even about our own old people.
For those interested in reading more there is a good book called The Return which examines the whole transition from Gorbachev to Medvedev
http://www.amazon.com/Return-Russias-Journey-Gorbachev-Medvedev/dp/1416560718