Another thread started with this article as a reference:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-e...dt-novak20.html
I was intrigued by this sentence, written by Bob Novak:
Quote:
| The Bush administration's ...restrained reaction to Russian President Vladimir Putin's seizure of power. |
Granted, I am not a news junkie, but I try to keep up. And I had never heard this. So I asked in the thread, "Did I miss something?" And nobody anwered.
Now there is this:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...1,1418022.story or truthout if you don't wanna register for the LA Times:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092104C.shtml Quote:
Putin responded to the school tragedy by saying that the nation was "weak - and the weak get beaten," and by taking steps "to ensure the unity of state power." On Sept. 13, he announced a plan to eliminate the general election of regional governors and of independent seats in parliament, essentially removing the last real checks on his personal dominion over the largest nation on Earth.
As a result of these measures and others put into place over the last four years, the Kremlin now controls an absolute majority in parliament, all major television stations, the Russian gas giant Gazprom (which reportedly is positioning itself to acquire the private oil company Yukos), the country's corrupt judicial system and a massive state security apparatus.
"Putin is now past the point where his regime can be removed peacefully by democratic means. There is no way for democratic transition," said Vladimir Kara-Murza of the pro-democracy Committee 2008 organization. "There's no independent media, there's no parliament to speak of, there are no real parliamentary elections and now with the decision about the regional governors, there are no elections at all."
In an office at the parliament building Friday, one official broke from Russian into English and lowered his voice to barely a whisper, nodding his head toward the wall, as if it might be listening.
"Democracy is finished in this country," he said. "It is over. It ended on the 13th of September."
Asked whether his caution and pessimism were not extreme, he shook his head firmly. "Many have already been given very severe and hard instructions," he said. "Not to comment. Not to criticize. And real threats. All of us are in a state of shock. We are in the middle of 1937." |
The article than goes on to analyze the reasoning behind the strengthening of rule by the administration and its possible results.
My question comes as a meditation on a quote at the end of the article:
Quote:
Chess champion Garry Kasparov, now heading Committee 2008, told Echo of Moscow radio that the public has become disillusioned with the idea that a strong state can cure all the nation's ills. "It's power that has dragged us into this horror, and power that dragged us into this war, and all along this power had nothing but promises, preening with its own force....
"But this power is bankrupted now. And it's not just bankruptcy - we can say that this power has become a threat to everyone in this country.... And in order to move forward, we must at least begin to diagnose our own illness." |
Does this assessment of the power equation apply as well to the US Government?