Just a quick one, but an important one.
First, the Guardian reported that:
President Vladimir Putin today dismissed Russia’s government ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections and appointed a little-known ally Viktor Zubkov as the country’s prime minister.
After months of speculation about a possible reshuffle, Mr Putin said he had accepted the resignation of the prime minister, Mikhail Fradkov, and his government during a meeting in the Kremlin.
The Kremlin later announced that Mr Zubkov had been nominated as the new head of Russia’s government – ahead of parliamentary elections on December 2 and a presidential poll in March 2008.
Then, the Associated Press:
The chairman of Russia’s upper house of parliament said Saturday that Vladimir Putin, barred from seeking a third consecutive term in elections next year, should run again for the presidency in 2012, Russian news agencies reported.
The comments by Sergei Mironov are likely add to furious speculation about Putin’s intentions.
Indeed.
Bush looked into his soul and saw the man he’d like to be.
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dag. good catch, but a brilliant take on it.
is the end of the cold war.
He’s appointing Zubkov as his official, four year bench warmer, after which he will return to run for President again. Democracy in Russia is officially on the DOA list.
tricky way to get readers, Turkana
I had heard briefly about this on the radio
maybe NPR. My first thought was
he is setting himself up as the
dictator of the New & Improved USSR.
It appears he is pretty hands on
and obsessed with power. I remembered
him changing the way regional leaders
were elected to him appointing them.
Article in Moscow Times October 5, 2004
by: Vladimir Ryzhkov
http://www.cdi.org/r…
The only dissent will come from the Communists and independent deputies, about 60 votes in all. Some 370 to 390 deputies will vote for the bill, and the Duma may decide to hold all three readings of the bill in a single session. Approval of the bill by the Federation Council will inevitably follow. By the time the 87th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution rolls around, the Russian people may well have been stripped of one of their most important democratic rights — the right to elect their regional leaders.
Deputies will have no chance to amend the legislation. Conceptually, the law is so simple, even primitive, that the slightest change would alter its substance. The substance of the bill is this: The president can install anyone he likes as a regional leader. He can also remove those leaders at will. Regional legislatures must confirm the president’s nominees, but in practice this will amount to nothing more than a rubber stamp.
The process works like this: The president nominates a Russian citizen at least 35 years of age for approval by a regional legislature. A majority vote is required for confirmation. If a majority is not obtained, the president has one week to nominate a new candidate or to send the same name back to the legislature. If deputies again refuse to play ball, the president appoints an acting governor and has the option to dissolve the legislature. He can also leave well enough alone; the acting governor, you see, can serve for up to five years. In any case, the president’s man runs the region, not someone elected by the people or the legislature.
very interesting article
Power must be a better high than dope–once a leader, they almost all want it for life,and like dope, it’s a bad idea. Putin has dreams of reincorporating the Soviet Union– and most of the former satellites are shitting bricks. Some have gone so far as to feign love of Bush–an over-reaction, for sure.
This isn’t our dance, our exercise in butting into Russian politics put us in bed with Osama bin Laden–enough said. Hopefully we stay out of this–and keep our missiles far away. We don’t allow Russian missiles in Cuba, why should they allow ours in Poland? Trying to work against Putin will make him more appealing to nationalists–similar to Muslim extremist’s reaction to our invasion of Iraq–we help the one’s we hate.