Posted on 09/16/2004 1:32:40 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
If you're looking for an ego boost, then let's just say it was you that made me interested.
Yes, the world misunderstands Putin. I'm sure he was a wild and funny guy during his 17 years as a KGB agent. I bet he was a real cut up while he was in East Germany...we all know how funny the KGB was there.
Eog boost...you couldn't boost a Soviets ego.
I'm going to disregard that remark.
Not out of spite, I just don't know what the hell you're talking about.
Ada Simanduyeva - Staff Reporter, Daily Online
The March 26 election of Vladimir Putin to the highest office in Russia left the world questioning the leader's KGB past and his penchant to tell people what they want to hear, leaving his true motives disguised.
Melor Sturua, a well-known Russian journalist and current senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute, spent an hour at the University's Cowles Auditorium giving an audience of 50 his analysis of Putin's past, present and possible future.
Sturua said although Putin garnered 52 percent of the Russian vote, the leader's ambiguous statements and future plans leave doubt in the minds of many.
"We don't know who Putin is, and if he can be a leader of a great state, for he has no preliminary data for it -- he was never elected before, never was engaged in economics on a large scale, so his preparation to become a president arouse definite apprehensions," Sturua said.
Putin's background as a KGB official has made Russian citizens and political officials wary. Sturua said many of Putin's opponents left the political scene because they were afraid of him.
Many former opponents began supporting Putin because they feared the leader's KGB connections could result in blackmail.
Newspapers and magazines also remain afraid to examine his political program and criticize him fairly.
"Independently of Putin's future actions, his appearance in Kremlin evoked shock and fear in Russia's population, because when people see a former KGB official in a role of a president, fear unintentionally arises," Sturua said.
Although Putin has said he is no longer associated with the KGB, his staff consists mostly of former KGB officials. Sturua said the officials could prove positive, since most of them are well-educated and know Russia like no one else.
University student Aleksandr Ivkin said he is not happy with his country's presidential choice.
"He led lots of unpopular reforms, which turned me away from him as a potential voter," Ivkin said.
Putin, however, has won over many other Russians with his stance on issues close to many Russians' hearts, like the war in Chechnya.
After several explosions in Moscow and the other Russian cities, anti-Chechen feelings began to formulate because the explosions were believed to be caused by members of Chechen gangs. Putin used hard tactics to deal with the Chechen rebels to win Russian affections.
"It was not unexpected, because after Chechnya's war actions began, his positions grew stronger since he was a representative of tough measures. The population liked it, and literally, in the course of several days, he became the most popular political figure of Russia," Sturua said.
Sturua recently visited Russia to cover the presidential elections for the Russian and American media. Sturua said there are several apprehensions when discussing Putin.
First, many of his statements are laced with ambiguity.
"His every statement carries a double meaning, and he probably does it purposely, so that everybody would be off balance, while at the same time, they all would be pleased," Sturua said.
Sturua said a perfect example is Putin's relations with the U.S. government. He said he agrees with negotiations about arms control and drastically reducing nuclear forces.
Putin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are on a first-name basis, and both Blair and President Bill Clinton have said they can work with Putin. At the same time, Putin is increasing the budget of armed forces and makes nationalistic statements.
He also hinted to Japan's former prime minister that Russia will give the Kuril Islands back to Japan, meanwhile telling Russian people that Russia's territory belongs to Russia, Sturua said.
Although his present and future motives are unclear, the economic situation has improved. The national product rose 3 percent and has potential to go higher. Also, such factors as the ruble's devaluation and increase in oil's price have temporarily made the economy strong.
Sturua said in order to improve the economic situation, Putin has to come up with a realistic plan, which will be more than words on a piece of paper, and only Putin's actions can explain his true persona.
Mark Stipakov is Putin's former classmate, who said Putin is "a man of action, not a man of word." Stipakov, who now resides in Minnesota, said he remembers Putin as being loyal, honest and purposeful.
"If he is aiming for a goal, he will get it," Stipakov said. "He has a possibility of becoming a great president."
Ada Simanduyeva covers international perspectives and welcomes comments at adasa@daily.umn.edu.
Actually very few understand us in the Eastern church. You would be surprised. We have our own culture and it is extensive and universal. We are very different from the rest of Christianity.
Please don't.
A perfect example of being Orthodox is, in fact, right here.
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, January 30, 2000
DRESDEN, Germany
...Putin defends the Soviet-era intelligence service to this day. In recent comments to a writers' group in Moscow, he even seemed to excuse its role in dictator Joseph Stalin's brutal purges, saying it would be "insincere" for him to assail the agency where he worked for so many years. Fiercely patriotic, Putin once said he could not read a book by a Soviet defector because "I don't read books by people who have betrayed the Motherland."
Yes, he can be a professional and accomplished KGB agent and convince people he's a Christian.
I will try once more to explain this to you and then I am done. My oldest daughter, as I have said is from Russia, adopted.
Her birthparents were horrid people. But we do not tell her she is the product of two horrid people, do you understand why?
Putin, on December 20, 1998, nostalgic for the golden days of the Soviet police state, celebrated the 81st anniversary of the founding of the feared Bolshevik Cheka (Security Organs Day) by praising the secret police on Russian television - only finding room to condemn their activities during the Stalin era. For the uninitiated, this translates into praise for Lenin, and a denial of the existence of the post-Stalin, far more gruesome, political murder oriented KGB. Indeed, Putin's historical outline of the Cheka listed every name change of the Cheka except its change to the KGB.
On December 21, 1999, the 120th birthday of Josef Stalin, Putin assembled the leaders of the Duma into his office and toasted Stalin, the greatest mass murderer of history.
This is not true but I do not have years to explain to you about being Orthodox.
Oh, so being Orthodox is perfectly alright to be a KGB agent and work with the Stazi for two years...and we all know how deeply religious the Stazi were.
The greatest mass murderer in history...I'm sure that's perfectly normal. So what's another brutal dictator to them. I'm starting to understand you rationale now.
Of course we must admit that those agencies just don't seem to recognize the warm and fuzzy side of Comrade Putin, unrepentant Soviet, admirer of Stalin, ex-KGB agent with two years working with the Stazi...oh,yes, up-and-coming christian dictator.
Remember the example Ronald Reagan gave us, the Soviet Union is an Evil Empire, and it's second coming will be no different.
Russian men are very much real men, btw.
Above all, believe it or not, a chance to suffer.
LOL! Sure they are. How can people who worship Stalin not be real men?
How can men who so easily bow down to brutual dictators not be real men?
How can people who would allow their hard won democracy to be stolen from the not be real men?
Your ideas of a real man are very twisted.
It is hopeless to explain to you. And you have no interest in understanding.
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