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surfguy
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 6979
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 Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Michael Hammerschlag: Putin's dominance is proof Russian democracy is dead
Michael Hammerschlag, guest columnist — 10/23/2007 11:24 am
MOSCOW -- To anyone studying Vladimir Putin over the last year, it was hard, even impossible, to believe he would voluntarily leave office. Everything he has done to concentrate all power into his hands and the Kremlin argued against it.
Putin has simply achieved the unitary power that President Bush only dreams about, the absolute power to dispense tens of billions of dollars, crush any critic, imprison any potential rival -- without a single questioning or dissenting voice ever being raised.
"Let's face it. Putin is a dictator," says Peter, a casino manager, in a rare display of candor. (Casinos have a particular beef -- Putin has exiled them to a few remote regions).
Putin has become a black hole, absorbing all power in Russia, even light, and the craven fealty to him is appalling to see.
The stunning announcement of unknown loyalist Viktor Zubkov as prime minister was another display of Putin's profound cynicism -- the entire country existing as his personal plaything, and the mechanics bear that out. Zubkov was informed of his ascension only the day before, and within two days the rubber-stamp Congress had overwhelmingly ratified the obscure financial investigator as prime minister.
Putin has to leave the presidency after two terms, but is not prevented from coming back. Now speculation is that Putin will have his Petersburg crony run for president, win (foregone), appoint Putin prime minister, then step aside after six to eight months to allow the wildly popular strongman to return as president.
The idea that Putin can just designate a nobody as successor and get him elected is indicative of how far democracy has sunk in this land of maximum rulers. The minister most representative of Western-style transparency, responsibility and openness, German Gref, was sacked as trade and finance minister.
The destruction of Mikhail Gutseriyev, a hard-nosed Chechen-Ingush oil billionaire, is illustrative of Putin's tendency to squash people almost as sport. Gutseriyev's real crime was either to speculate on running for high office or to dare to bid for pieces of Yukos, which everyone knew only Rosneft, the giant state oil company, was allowed to steal. First he was forced to sell his oil company by government bullying. When he had the audacity to complain about it, in quick order his accounts were frozen, his son died in a mysterious car crash, arrest warrants for tax evasion were issued, and he fled the country to England.
Gutseriyev went from billionaire to broken refugee criminal in four weeks. For good measure, the case against him was filed in two courts simultaneously. If one didn't think it held water (which happened), the other would. If the Kremlin wants you, innocence is not an option.
Zubkov, who helped in Putin's first campaigns against the oligarchs, has pledged to fight corruption, which is rampant in the newly expensive Russia, but there is no acknowledgment of the spectacular corruption in the Kremlin, where Cabinet members are CEOs of the biggest companies in the world, even as they make multibillion-dollar decisions crushing or absorbing competitors and enriching themselves. A cabal of KGB and St. Petersburg mayor's office pals of Putin have bestowed on themselves the wealth of the kingdom. All this stratospheric corruption and conflict of interest are so far above the clouds that it is invisible to average voters, who have accepted, as in communist and czarist times, that their opinion and vote have no weight and no power.
No, the corruption they speak of stamping out is that of Russia's mayors, virtually the last directly elected officials -- dozens of whom have been arrested on charges as idiotic as illegally giving a woman an apartment or faking a college diploma. Any other center of power must be forced to grovel, particularly if achieved through the ballot box.
Even when not overtly corrupt, Putin's gigantism, his pathological urge to combine companies into huge state conglomerates, is manifestly unhealthy. Huge state corporations are unwieldy, slow, deaf and blind -- there was a reason these things were broken up. A huge state industry has no competition (if it does, it swallows it), no investors' voice, no pressure to modernize: to be efficient, fast, nimble and smart. It is easier just to raid and pillage some other business.
What is left is a sterile Soviet desert of huge clunky obsolete spastic firms with no real reason for being, unable to compete except by constantly gaming the system and abusing their power.
Witness Shell's Jerome Van der Veer, after he'd been stripped of his stake in the Sakhalin 2 oil fields, thank Putin for his support, in a display that could have come straight from a Stalinist show trial.
Vladimir Putin, able to recite facts and figures in five-hour marathons, is a very smart man in some respects, but willfully blind in others. Despite his huge popularity, his massive power distorts time and space around him into an unhealthy combination of passivity, supplication and corruption.
The political landscape he has created is devoid of real free media, parties, elections, or alternatives -- a Potemkin democracy of meaningless gestures and illusionary choices.
It would be better for Russia if he really left power in March, but there's no chance of that.
Michael Hammerschlag has been studying and writing about Russia for decades. |
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StephenB.
VIP
Joined: 18 Aug 2007
Posts: 807
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| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Interesting article Surf. It appears that some people would like to see Putin leave office in March. I agree the man is smart, however, the country is still staggering in economic growth in many cities other than Moscow and St. Petersburg. The infrasturture of transportation is the worse I've seen in Europe. Speaking to people in Russia many of them are mad because the smaller cities and villages are neglected with money, whereas, Moscow and St. Petersburg is very cosmopolitan and the flow of money keeps on coming. Corruption is still the law in many of these smaller cities where they start a project, however, it takes three years to finish anything. The local governments have to beg for money to get anything done. Putin needs to wipe out this corruption if he stays in power because so far it doesn't look great for Russia. Maybe a new leader would be appropriate for the Russian people. |
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surfguy
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 6979
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| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Well the good of Putin will be the stabilization of the country...however the ill of him will be the cost to the average Russian and are they getting what they want and need. The corruption is staggering and the coersion that is used is horribloe. I was just reading an intelligence report on How Venezuela was granting citizenship to chinese in exchange for vote for Hugo...talk about stuffing the ballets. And they were flying them in by the plane loads. Talk about corruption. So I see in Russia the people are not truly free. But hey I guess it is what they want...and I'm not sure what is right for them over there...but I hope what ever the out come is...is that it is for the benefit of all the world. Let's not forgot...Putin had nothing 20 years ago...he's almost just as guilty as those he accuses. But I guess too when state assetts do become privatised...someone always stands to profit. So if it wasn't him then it would just be some other fool. Personally now that I think about it. He should not be able to be in a controlling position in the Russian Government. |
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StephenB.
VIP
Joined: 18 Aug 2007
Posts: 807
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| Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 1:08 am Post subject: |
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| I think Russians want to go back to what is familiar to them. They are afraid of changes and they really don't have good people who are looking out for their interests. They haven't really experience a democratic society that in the long run would benefit them. Look at the East Germans how long it has taken them to assimilate into a democratic society. However, the good thing about the East Germans is that they had West Germany to lean on the hard times especially when they had to rebuild up the infrastructure up and adapt to modern necessities. They were so far behind in technology and had an archaic infrastructure that the West Germans were pissed off that they had to pick up the tab for their cousins in the East. Nevertheless, they are doing much better and now Berlin is almost back to its glorious self again. |
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RusskiCanadian23
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 27 Mar 2007
Posts: 1104
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada/Ванкувер, Британская Колумбия, Канада
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| Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 1:31 am Post subject: |
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| mister_wizzz wrote: |
It is your opinion, and your opinion don't worth a shit.
I will not discuss about that with you, one point I agree nethertheless, Germany is the only country which succeed in beating France in a military point of view without the help of anyone :
the 1st time in 1871
the second time in 1940
In 1918, sorry France won and Russia got crunched.
Russia never defeated France, your freezing winter yes.
But each time the Russian faced the French with weapons, the Russian had their ass kicked : Austerlitz, Borodino, Crimea.
LOOOOOOL
You know, each time journalists are talking about G8 in Europe, they don't call it G8 but G7 + Russia
LOOOOOL
It says a lot... Putin is a guest, he is only invited to the G7 table because the Europeans need the Russian gaz and oil, that's the only reason.
Russia represents only 1.7% which is NOTHING, you can't change that.
Overagressive ? come on, re read your posts, the only thing you do here is trashing France, Europe and USA... oh you also tell us your drunkard parties.
Overagressive? maybe but only with stupid drunkards like you. |
A. Crimea: Yes, you won, BUT, you had the British AND the Turks on your side, and you lost (I mean all three of you) 3 men for each Russian that died there. And you could only eneter Sevastopol when the last Russian soldier defending it was dead! So that says something too, huh!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sevastopol_%281854-1855%29
B. Borodino: | Quote: | | The successful withdrawal of the Russian army from Borodino was a pivotal point in the campaign, as it preserved its military potential and eventually forced Napoleon out of Russia. |
That's not me, that Wikipedia. And Russia did kick Napoleon's ass, he ran from us all the way through Europe, like the little bitch he was! 
Now shut the fuck up, you stupid patriot of France, who is not even French! Or, as you say it in Spanish, ¡Cerrar la cogida, tú hijo de una puta! |
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MelissaCato
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 176
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| Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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Awesome thread !!
Ya know, I was so excited to watch the Czar Putin CNN special last night and wouldn't ya know it, nothing. Bastards. It was to air @ 10pm and 1am and all they showed all day and night was Hillery and her speech .. talk about a set up. My son and I waited up thinking maybe they would show it at 1am and NOTHING. I'm pissed, Christopher wanted to see the Russian Pres, darn it.
I emailed them a letter too. I bet Hillery arranged this crap because she knew most America would be watching. Did I say I'm pissed ...
BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA |
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surfguy
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 6979
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| Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:26 pm Post subject: |
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| it's....BLYADDDDDDDDD! Hillary...ahhhh what a joke this women is...well you shall get plenty of Putin in the news tonight and tomorrow as the the elections will happen and United Russia is sure to win! But of course they are! |
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jo jo 7
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Posts: 3248
Location: Louisville,Kentucky
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| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:37 am Post subject: |
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| MelissaCato wrote: | Awesome thread !!
Ya know, I was so excited to watch the Czar Putin CNN special last night and wouldn't ya know it, nothing. Bastards. It was to air @ 10pm and 1am and all they showed all day and night was Hillery and her speech .. talk about a set up. My son and I waited up thinking maybe they would show it at 1am and NOTHING. I'm pissed, Christopher wanted to see the Russian Pres, darn it.
I emailed them a letter too. I bet Hillery arranged this crap because she knew most America would be watching. Did I say I'm pissed ...
BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA |
It was on at 11 pm with Christi Amiarpore ( sorry if the name is mis-spelled). Second part is on next Friday evening. |
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gomer
WayToRussified
Joined: 30 Mar 2007
Posts: 446
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| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 3:07 am Post subject: |
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| According to Western press, Putin had an approval rating of 70% with Russian voters, before he signed on with United Russia party. United Russia party had an approval rating of 35%. What is it about United Russia party that 65% of Russian voters did not like and supported a different party instead? All this before Dec. 2 election, of course. |
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surfguy
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 6979
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| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 3:51 am Post subject: |
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| scary if you asked me...politics going on behind closed doors and the people of russia are getting scammed!! |
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StephenB.
VIP
Joined: 18 Aug 2007
Posts: 807
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| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 4:14 am Post subject: |
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| surfguy wrote: | | scary if you asked me...politics going on behind closed doors and the people of russia are getting scammed!! |
Nothing new to them.  |
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mister_wizzz
VIP
Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 580
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| Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:22 am Post subject: |
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Here is the PM Ruskii the drunkard sent me :
¡Cerrar para arriba sobre Rusia, albóndiga estúpida! ¡No ensuciar conmigo otra vez! ¿Imbécil de mierda, qué la cogida tú incluso sabe sobre Rusia? ¡Conseguir un cerebro de mierda! ¡Sí, eso correcto! ¡Hablo un poco español también! ¡Docto él en la escuela! ¡No hablar tan nunca de Rusia, tú pice estúpido de la mierda! ¡Tú no saben nada sobre él, tú el muchacho de la mam3a estúpida, y tú no son nada!
LOOOOL
He didn't have the balls to insult me in the public forum and this retard tried to do it in spanish LOOL
I have just come back from week end, thanks Ruskii for the good laugh
And to finish 2 other battles where the French kicked the Russians ass :
EYLAU
FRIEDMAN
I am think there are many more but I had only these 2 now in mind.
PS : take some lessons drunkard, your spanish is very bad |
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surfguy
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 6979
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| Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:04 am Post subject: |
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I wondered if all new conscripts and officers in the Russian military will have to say this starting tomorrow
| Quote: | I promise and do hereby swear before the Almighty God,
before His Holy Gospels, to serve His Imperial Majesty, the Supreme Autocrat,
truly and faithfully, to obey him in all things, and to defend his dynasty,
without sparing my body, until the last drop of blood.[ |
My how history repeats it's self
| Quote: | | Anna had the support of other nobles who feared oligarchic rule more than autocracy. Thus the principle of autocracy continued to receive strong support despite chaotic struggles for the throne |
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RusskiCanadian23
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 27 Mar 2007
Posts: 1104
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada/Ванкувер, Британская Колумбия, Канада
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| Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:00 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I am think there are many more |
Take some lessons, idiot, your English is horrible! |
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mister_wizzz
VIP
Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 580
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| Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:55 pm Post subject: |
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LOL
Sometimes yes, when I am really tired.
But let's correct it :
"I think there are many more"
Satisfied stupid drunkard ? At least I am able to use the present time properly... |
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