Posted on 03/12/2004 9:15:30 PM PST by Destro
A Promising Post-Soviet Russia
By Paul M. Weyrich
CNSNews.com Commentary
February 23, 2004
For a decade, my colleagues at the Free Congress Foundation and I taught Russians about how to win elections and how to build a civil society. At the end of my final lecture I would always say, "We are not here to tell you what to do. We are here to tell you what we did that worked. But whether or not it will work for you is for you to determine. Ultimately you have to fashion a system that will work for you."
At these same training schools I was constantly asked about the Chilean model. Russians, despite their repression by a brutal Communist regime, were far better informed about politics than most Americans. They were fascinated by anti-Communist General Augusto Pinochet, who led Chile with an iron hand while permitting the free market system to flourish there. Again and again I was asked if Russia didn't need what citizens there called "an iron fist".
Well that is what Russia has right now. President Putin is about to be re-elected to another term. He has eliminated much of his political opposition. He has taken control of the television networks. He has cracked down on business corruption. He now has, in effect, a rubber stamp parliament known as the State Duma.
But the free market in Russia is flourishing. The economy is growing significantly. Foreign investment has begun to flow into Russia. Real income of most ordinary folks is increasing.
While Putin is no absolute dictator as Pinochet was in his first years in office, he is the "iron fist" most Russians were looking for. Boris Yeltsin ruled over a Russia that had more freedom than it has now, but it was chaotic. Russians do not want chaos. Depending on which survey you believe in, Putin enjoys the support of anywhere from 70 to 85% of the Russian population. His closest opponent in the upcoming election registers from 2 to 5%.
Putin has fashioned the sort of system the Russian people want. Not everyone is happy. Chess Champion Gary Kasparov has founded a new political party with the objective of taking on Putin four years from now. By then, Kasparov figures the bloom will be off the rose. He complains that Putin has established a semi-dictatorship. United States Secretary of State Colin Powell recently upbraided Putin for his seeming lack of concern for political and human rights.
Former Army officer Ralph Peters, who specialized in Russian studies, writing in the New York Post compared Putin to Peter the Great. He was a Russian leader who shook things up while at the same time bringing stability and prosperity to this great land.
We should be concerned about what happens to Russia. But as Ed Lozansky, the President of the American University in Moscow, wrote in an open letter to President Bush in response to remarks made by Colin Powell, "Is it good policy and, moreover, is it in the United States interest to give a public dressing down to a nation which achieved tremendous and impressive positive results during this extremely short transitional period from one of the world's most repressive regimes to freedom?"
Lozansky suggested that it was unfair to criticize Russia for not achieving in a dozen years what it took Europe to accomplish in two hundred years. He opined that it would have been better for Powell to express his views privately. While Powell has suggested that freedom of the press has been diminished with Putin, Powell's comments were printed in Izvestia , the leading political newspaper in Russia.
Peters and Lozansky have a point.
Russia is finding its way. Had the chaos Yeltsin fostered continued, Russians might well have elected to really take a step backwards. Right now, under Putin, Russia is still moving forward albeit not necessarily in exactly the way we would like.
The important issue is this: We need Russia as an ally. If we are serious about the war on terror, then Russia is indispensable because she has a great understanding of what my colleague, Bill Lind, calls "Fourth Generation" warfare. That is the kind of warfare we are experiencing in the Middle East and in Iraq with the demise of the state's monopoly on war.
Putin has made it clear that he is an Orthodox Christian. He wants to see a revival of Christianity in Russia. The reason is Islam. He does not want Russia to become an Islamic state. America has a great interest in the revival of Christianity in Russia.
We should be concerned about some worrisome things Russian officials have said about what they call the "near abroad", which includes the Baltic States, Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine - all of which are also needed in the effort to blunt the advance of Islam.
The way to insure that these newly independent nations are not threatened is to invite Russia into NATO. We have advocated that before. We call for that again.
Russia is indeed finding its own way. But new churches continue to open and that is encouraging. Thousands of churches have been restored in recent years. People are free to leave the country. They are free to travel internally. They are free to work in whatever endeavor they wish. They do have a lively free press and even on Putin-controlled television comics joke about their President in Jay Leno fashion.
Under the Communists, if you went to one of the very few churches that were open, you would end your career. You had to have permission to travel more than 50 km from home. Only hard core Communists were permitted to travel abroad.
If you joined the Communist party, you usually did reasonably well, but if you did not, you had little choice about what you did or where you did it. And jokes about Andropov on television? Forget about it! The comic would not live to repeat it.
Finally, only elite members of the Communist party had decent goods available to them. Ordinary Russians had to stand in line for hours just to get supplies for basic needs. Now there are no shortages. No lines. True, things are expensive. But ordinary Russians can buy almost anything they want, and basic goods are abundant.
Russia has continued to move ahead. Their system may not end up looking the way we would prefer, but if we can count on Russia as an ally, why should we fret? We have had far worse allies when we were fighting the Soviets.
Yes, let's keep the pressure on. Let's do it privately. And let's figure out how we can work more closely with Russia against the greatest threat of all: militant, radical Islam, which considers all of us, including Putin, infidels. We had better take that threat seriously.
(Paul M. Weyrich is chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.)
Copyright 2004, Free Congress Foundation
Free Congress Foundation is politically conservative, but it is more than that: it is also culturally conservative. Most think tanks talk about tax rates or the environment or welfare policy and occasionally we do also. But our main focus is on the Culture War. Will America return to the culture that made it great, our traditional, Judeo-Christian, Western culture? Or will we continue the long slide into the cultural and moral decay of political correctness? If we do, America, once the greatest nation on earth, will become no less than a third world country.
Ah, so they finally leveled Lenin's Tomb! Arrested the Communists! Good news.
Forget that the Russian mafia in America is former KGB.
Be Rush Limbaugh and deny all possibility of conspiracy.
Be happy. Watch sports. Shop. Baaaa.
So, Taiwan Bocks, what would you have? I'm not watching sports, not listening to Rush, I know about the spread of the Mafiya (Russian Mafia), I am shocked that 'spies make up the government' (and i am unsure what is wrong with that ....a spy is merely a citizen of a country that has the job of gathering pertinent information, and when the spy is not spying he is a citizen. Hence a Russian spy working in Russian government is somehow not setting off my alarm gongs ....wake me up when Russian spies are working in American government), and i am definetely not making 'Baa' sounds. However i would like to know what you would like to see occuring in Russia.
And one more thing, if you give me an answer, do you think that would work in Russia? And would it be good for Russian people?
And if the Russian people overwhelmingly approve of Putin and how he is doing his job, then should they stop doing so because they were alerted that 'spies make up Putin's government' and 'the Russian mafia in America is former KGB?' Something tells me they will be too busy worrying about their families and futures to bother about spies in the shadows and gangsters in California. I also doubt they know (or care) who Rush is.
And trust me, even here in the US having someone like Putin is a good thing. After all the alternatives (think impotent Yeltsin clones or hard-nosed megalomaniac types) having control over the arsenal of the only nation with the capability to wipe away our way of life within 30 minutes makes one stop and consider.
Yeah right. And the sun rises in the north.
It's the vogue his mentor Yeltsin had put into circulation. Has surely nothing to do with any religion.
But the above is not from your post, Spetz. Never mind, yours does deserve some closer look too.
i am unsure what is wrong with that ....a spy is merely a citizen of a country
Obviously, it's all about the spies who go after their fellow citizens, not your heroic fighters from the invisible anti-imperialist front. About the political secret police. You have no problems with that too?
if the Russian people overwhelmingly approve of Putin...
How overwhelmingly? One hears that 70-85 per cent of Russians are Putin's fans, one can't help but doing two assumptions: it's either duff, or 70 to 85 of every 100 Russians are dumb.
Methinks, to believe the latter, one must be an absolute asshole himself.
One major faux pas (to put it midly ...very midly) that people commit is that they believe that what worked for situation A is going to work for situation B. That is a fallacy! For example if we went to Iraq and instituted US-style constitutional republic form of Democracy that country would fragment faster than a hollow-point! Hence the reason why there is a surrogate government, which shall give way to an elected coalition govt (once the elections take place), and it shall be some time before Iraq can stand on its own feet.
Russia is a similar (not same) case. Similar in that what might work for the US may not be the best for Russia. Basically it is tantamount to this: If Joe Blow puts 4 spoonfulls of sugar in his coffee does not mean he should put 4 spoons into the coffees of his pals when they come to visit him. Crude analogy but parallel.
Most people say Putin is this and Putin is that, and virtually all those people are foreign. Russians overwhelmingly support Putin, and i know you said those that do so are 'dumb' but it is still their choice. I am sure many Europeans think American Republicans are the dumbest lot to ever grace the face of the earth, but that is moot since those Europeans do not have a direct stake. Likewise, whether you think the Russians are dumb or not, they have had bad governance for the better part of the last century, and if they think Putin is good for them then that is their decision. I fail to see why their choice is eliciting so much ire from you.
And anyways, as always, the most important thing i want from you is your solution on how things should be run, AND whether your solution would work if implemented? Answer that and your post gets credence. Fail to answer that and you have no basis to criticize Putin when his measures are not only working (Russia's economy is the fastest growing in the world, and they have managed to tackle many of their fiscal woes), but the Russian people support those measures. Especially when those 'baaaaad' measures made their economy go up by 6.4% in the first quarter, gave them a trade SURPLUS in the months of JAN-FEB of 9.56 Billion dollars, and increased their disposable income by 16.3% this year alone (less than 3 months mind you). Wow, i wish we had such a 'baaaaaaad' system here in the US. However i am sure you can come up with something that is much better.
Anyways, let me answer some of the points you made (but remember i am extremely curious as to what YOU would do, and how you think it would work).
Obviously, it's all about the spies who go after their fellow citizens, not your heroic fighters from the invisible anti-imperialist front. About the political secret police. You have no problems with that too?
Ah, i think you have your chronological frame lop-sided. The 'secret police' that used to crack down on dissidents is a relic of the past. It is not only atrophied but extinct. Unless you are talking about the FSB (which is the child of the now ex KGB). Well, that is akin to the British MI-5/MI-6. They are too busy hunting down Chechnyan terrorists to be worried about hunting 'dissidents.' And, by the way, would you like to explain what, to use your own words, 'spies who go after their fellow citizens?' I am terribly curious since i have not heard of such a thing in more than a decade.
How overwhelmingly? One hears that 70-85 per cent of Russians are Putin's fans, one can't help but doing two assumptions: it's either duff, or 70 to 85 of every 100 Russians are dumb.
I think i have already dealt with this part. However, it is certainly nto 'duff' since it is not Putin's people reporting this alone but a myriad agencies, including several foreign ones. Unless, ofcourse, Putin's spies are everywhere from the foreign news media to the CIA. As for the dumb Russians part, i answered that one above.
Methinks, to believe the latter, one must be an absolute asshole himself
Well, if your logic is infallible, then i must be an A-hole. However i have to say i am forced to seriously disagree with that assertion, and with the logic behind it. And anyways, making a point that says that disagreeing with the point makes the person an 'absolute asshole' smacks of arrogance, intellectual dissonance, or a medley of the two.
However, just in case you forgot, let me repeat it again. What would you do, and how would it work?
One more question for you Neophyte. Might you know (or might you be) a freeper called Fusion? If it's you Fusion under a different moniker then welcome back. It's been some time since i had some laughs. Just in case you are Fusion, for old times sake, 'the forces of freedom march on, the lights in Chechnya shine-on shine-on, and little gnats fly around the nostrils of drunk Chechnyans etc etc etc blah blah blah ad infinitum.
Ya think its Fusion?
These pseudo patriots are more of a threat to my nation then Putin is.
I think Neo was speaking with real emotion but little else. Criticizing a nation (or person ......hear that John Kerry) is easy ....anyone can do that. Coming up with viable alternatives is the hard part (and, going to the upcoming elections, Kerry better hope he doesn't win because all that rhetoric he is throwing against Bush will come a-knocking on his front door).
Russians overwhelmingly support Putin, and i know you said those that do so are 'dumb'
No, I didn't.
I said there are two possible assumptions, and Russians being dumb is the second ("latter") of them. To believe in this, I continued (and you cited me!), one must be an ass hole. I don't see myself as a one, so obviously I don't believe in the assumption in question. And indeed, I think the overwhelming support for a dictator in making is duff. There are enough professionals in this area in Russia...
Is it too complicated for you to grasp? If so, I'm sorry... but not for the phrase, just for your inability.
Of course, there is one more possibility here, too: that you've understood me perfectly well but just prefer to discuss fictitious statements instead of the real problem. There is one more clue in this direction: when you pretend (quite inconvincingly) to mistake me for the notorious (Con)Fusion. Another effort of smokescreen in vain...
The 'secret police' that used to crack down on dissidents is a relic of the past. It is not only atrophied but extinct. Unless you are talking about the FSB (which is the child of the now ex KGB). Well, that is akin to the British MI-5/MI-6.
Well, it isn't. I'm not sure either MI5 or MI6 are busy with the internal security in the UK, but neither of them is flooding the Parliament, government and state bureaucracy with their agents.
And I just love this prefix "ex" some people use for everything having to do with the KGB! Putin (and Russian ambassadors to many countries, and... and... and...) are all "former KGB-men". ROFLMAO! Yeah right, and Michael Jackson is a former Negro...
...the most important thing i want from you is your solution on how things should be run... Fail to answer that and you have no basis to criticize Putin.
This is totaly and absolutely wrong premise. I suppose, you don't know what to do to restore some order and lawfulness in, say, Zimbabwe. It doesn't mean you cannot critisize Mugabe, does it?
Znal by prikup, zhil by v Sochi, you know what I mean?
Look at thousands of brainwashed liberal zombies protesting in Madrid in front of the ruling conservative party's HQ. They state that the atrocity of March 11th was a result of the country's involvement in the war against terrorism! What a logic! One would think that a war against terrorism is a consequence of terrorism, not the other way about.
Yes, the Islam, this religion of peace, is the enemy No 1 for the Western civilisation.
However, Russia hasn't yet become part of the West and, in my opinion with which you're not obliged to agree, still isn't a steady ally. Who knows, may be some day...
Oops, it's around, not about! Sorry for the typo.
Funny fellow American socialists say same of Bush but I see that only 50% American "dumb". Putin put more conservative things to Russia then Bush to US and unlike in US where yearly average income drop for 3 years, Putin's government rise income every year almost twice to rate of inflation...go figure he's popular. In 2003 alone percent below poverty go from 25% to 20% and still on drop. Maybe Russians not so dumb after all.
Wow boy, wasn't your last one long, Spetz? Well, the quantity of the output has never guaranteed quality... sad, but true. However, here are several points.
True, quantity has never guaranteed quality .....both ways. A long protracted post does not guarantee credence, and neither does a truncated one. Hence we both agree on that one.
No, I didn't. I said there are two possible assumptions, and Russians being dumb is the second ("latter") of them. To believe in this, I continued (and you cited me!), one must be an ass hole. I don't see myself as a one, so obviously I don't believe in the assumption in question. And indeed, I think the overwhelming support for a dictator in making is duff. There are enough professionals in this area in Russia...
Yes you did. You stated that reports of a high percentage of people supporting Putin are either 'duff' (which i assume you mean is the result of spin-doctors concoting numbers and obfuscating the true results), OR if the numbers are true then that percentage of Russians are dumb. At which point i stated that if it is 'duff' then a myriad agencies have been fooled, ranging from the foreign news media to our CIA. I know the CIA has made some faux pas, but i doubt they swallow hook-line-and-sinker everything given to them (although you do seem to attribute great efficacy to 'Putin's spies' hence they may be controlling everything. Goodness, GW invited Putin to his ranch hence he must also be a spy for Putin).
Is it too complicated for you to grasp? If so, I'm sorry... but not for the phrase, just for your inability.
Ha! My 'inability' to grasp your 'complicated' post. LOL ....i could say more but on the grounds of propriety and decorum i shall desist from doing so. Ha!
Of course, there is one more possibility here, too: that you've understood me perfectly well but just prefer to discuss fictitious statements instead of the real problem. There is one more clue in this direction: when you pretend (quite inconvincingly) to mistake me for the notorious (Con)Fusion. Another effort of smokescreen in vain...
Yes, i understood you completely. (Again we agree ....i am afraid a trend may be developing. Yikes). And by the way, i am not discussing 'fictitious' statements. I even gave you numbers on how Russia is reviving itself (although i guess i conjured those from thin air since i am so adept at 'fictitious statements' ......lol). Putin has helped Russia, and i gave you numbers. And the opinion polls (yeah, i know you said they are 'duff') also point toward the same thing. The Russian economy is growing like crazy (although i am afraid you might say that growth is 'duff' as well, or the people believing those stats are dumb). I gave numbers. What did you do? All you did is say that putin's spies are all over Russian govt and that the secret police is keeping tabs on the people. Oh puh-lease! Yours is pure rhetoric. I can come and post on FR that Prez. Bush is in reality a marxist revolutionary from Cuba, and that his name is actually Jurgen Bushneka! Simple ....all i do is type words. Unless someone else can come to the same conclusions with facts all i have done is simply type words. You say Putin has spies all over. Ok. Fine. Prove it! Show me where his 'secret police' are keeping tabs on russian citizens. Show me. And i am not going to bother you by asking you to post links. Just show me where i can find that information. If it is a website tell me which one. If it is a book (has to be readily available) tell me which one and i assure you i will go and peruse through it (i always value new knowledge, and Putin's secret police running amok in Russia would truly be new). When you talk about 'fictitious statements' you better make sure you are not referring to your own.
Well, it isn't. I'm not sure either MI5 or MI6 are busy with the internal security in the UK, but neither of them is flooding the Parliament, government and state bureaucracy with their agents.
Well, for your information, the British MI-5 is in charge of internal security. They keep tabs on things that are going on within the United Kingdom. Think of the CIA doing the FBI's work (oops, internal spying. I am sure the naughty Brits are up to no good having the MI5 spy on internal issues). MI-6 on the other hand is like our CIA proper .....they delve into external issues (hence these are some of the guys being 'duffed' by Putin's spies). And by the way it is standard British policy (and Mossad too) to flood several levels of government with spies (in Britain's case the MI-6 is everywhere ..,..even if it is the exterbal spy branch). The reason is whenever these guys have to go to other countries they need viable covers .....hence whenver 'Putin's spies' are trying to ensure no naughty Brit James Bond spy is trying to get into the Kremlin they check out to see if Bond has been employed for a certain period of time in the British Foreign Secretary's office. Hence if Bond has been working for 3 yrs he is seems legit, however if he has only been there 3 months then he is a suspect personage. The only bad spies in govt are foreign spies.
Yeah right, and Michael Jackson is a former Negro...
Huh?
This is totaly and absolutely wrong premise. I suppose, you don't know what to do to restore some order and lawfulness in, say, Zimbabwe. It doesn't mean you cannot critisize Mugabe, does it?
Well, yes! In Zimbabwe's case the country is being mismanaged to the ground by Mugabe, who is a despotic ruler that has trashed a nation that was one of the promising nations in Africa after independence. Currently Zimbabwe is a cess-pool, rife with all sorts of ills, and its economy is not only in the doldrums but engaged in active freefall. Inflation rates are skyhigh, and the currency is not worth the paper it is printed on. And the people abhor Mugabe .....and they riot, only to be captured and either imprisoned, killed, or made to 'disappear.'
Making Zimbabwe better is simple ....get rid of Mugabe. The nation has potential, but it will not get anywhere while Mugabe is in power.
However Russia is a different case. Growing economy, increasing purchasing power and discretionary income, growing fiscal stability, popular goverment ('duff' or not), and a wind of change that has been making things better.
I have said how to fix Zimbabwe. Simply remove Mugabe since he has been hampering that nation with his nefarious and heavy-handed need for a lifetime presidency. The fundamentals in the country are ok, not great but ok, and all it needs is Mugabe's demise. That was easy. I am still waiting for you to tell me how you would make Russia better. Get rid of Putin and his 'spies?' Exposing the 'secret police?'
Please tell me. Or better yet show me how you came to know of the 'spies in Russian government' and their secret police. You are either omniscient or you have access to some really good (and secret) information. Or maybe you are, ahem ahem, using 'fictitious information.'
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