Posted on 09/16/2004 2:22:02 PM PDT by Lukasz
The European and Russian governments are living in two different worlds
"Business is politics in up-to-date Russia. The government controls all aspects of the nation's life and the commercial field is not an exception," the chairman of the committee "2008: Free Choice", Grand Master Garry Kasparov said on September 13th at the Baltic Forum of Development in Hamburg. Below you can find excerpts from the chess player's speech.
"We must draw a distinction between the current Russian leadership and the citizens of Russia. The rich culture, creativity, the knowledge and humanity of our nation is still alive and means a lot more to the world than the whole Russian oil," Kasparov said. "High oil prices make the only support for Putin's regime. Citizens of other oil-extracting countries do not derive profit from the oil wealth. Both oil and all other natural resources of Russia should have their own markets and open ways to reach those markets."
Garry Kasparov believes that Russia should unite with Europe. "This union would be important to the Russian nation for social and economic reasons. The traditions of the European democracy and the relative economic stability will help Russia become a modern state. However, Putin's regime mixes up the past and the present. A lot of Russia's neighbors are still being suspicious about Russia, and they have reasons for it. An order in the past is necessary for the future progress. The European and Russian governments are living in two different worlds," Kasparov stated in Hamburg.
"One of the examples to prove it is the fact how our media outlets defend the notorious pact of 1939 between Nazis and Soviets. The USSR attacked Finland because of the pact, it invaded the Baltic republics, occupied a part of Poland and assisted in unleashing WWII. Russia needs to acknowledge the crimes of its Soviet predecessors.
"The avowal of guilt is a good spiritual remedy, which also means the acknowledgement of universal moral values, which the Kremlin currently rejects. One of these values is the ability to find common language. Putin's administration does not know how to speak this language.
"The Soviet past still dominates the Russian reality and politics. Putin is aware of that. In his address to the nation after the hostage crisis in Beslan, the president said that the nation is living under the conditions, which have been created with the collapse of a great state, which proved to be helpless in the changing world. It would be the same to say that you have been living in a house without the water supply system," Kasparov said.
"The Soviet Union could not and cannot be a part of modern Europe. It could become a part of Europe only with its conquests. We must distinguish between modern Russia that we need and the Soviet past that Putin is trying to retrieve.
"There is no place for Committee 2008 and the real opposition in the Russian press. However, there is a place for nationalists and Stalinists, who grieve about that "great state." They decline basic democratic values. These talks about the return to the erstwhile glory are becoming more frequent now. The Nazi propaganda is prohibited in Germany, but not in Russia," Kasparov said.
"Unfortunately, this is not the only aspect, in which Putin exercises himself as a Stalinist. He talks about everything in the old Soviet language. He suppresses freedom of speech, freedom of commerce, he has led Russia astray.
"Putin announced that he would cancel elections of regional governors as a measure to struggle against terrorism. Local parliamentarians will have to approve the selected nominees. Putin is destroying democracy at the time when we need it most. Western politicians might say that the Russian Constitution technically allows it. However, if the West keeps silent, we will most likely witness similar changes happening in the presidential election procedure.
"Even the national lucrative oil market does not function according to the standards of the civilized world. The scandal with Yukos and its CEO, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has exerted a destructive influence on the economy.
"It is impossible for Europe to deal with the current Russian administration. Europe should press on Putin for changes. One should not let Putin mix the Soviet past with the Russian future in an attempt to keep the relations.
"Schroeder and Chirac are using double standards instead, which brings a lot of harm to the Russian nation. It is not time for Realpolitik. Each meeting of the Group of Seven with Putin's participation is perceived as the approval of Putin's home policy.
"There is no such think as a unprejudiced person. We all see the world through our own colored galsses."
I did not disagree, just acknowledged that it fits you like a glove.
"But if you are going to make a point like how people at a political rally wear Putin's face on a tshirt and compare that to North Korean show rallies when I can post pics of Bush tshirts and make you look foolish with your statements."
Now you are really reaching, because I made no comment about Putin tshirt/N.Korea mental "Il" tshirts, (by the way what on earth was Putin thinking sending that mental "Il" horses for his birthday?) and President Bush tshirts.
Oh good, JR Nyquist. He's a great Russian hater. He was writing books about Russia years ago. It's like using what Michael Moore says about Bush to make your point. In other words, worthless.
You fail to mention that he lied to the nation about the extend of the situation.
You fail to mention that many of the parents of those children were angry at him and spoke out.
You fail to mention how his own brutal polices, which have been well documented, lead to this situation.
You fail to mention many things...
Not surprisingly.
They were and are very angry with the president of their country, North Ossetia. Go back and read the threads again. You are confused.
By the same token, the BBC and other media sources are putting it about that Russian TV played down the Beslan crisis, while only western channels reported live, the implication being that Putin's Russia remains a highly controlled police state. But this view of the Russian media is precisely the opposite of the impression I gained while watching both CNN and Russian TV over the past week: the Russian channels had far better information and images from Beslan than their western competitors. This harshness towards Putin is perhaps explained by the fact that, in the US, the leading group which pleads the Chechen cause is the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC). The list of the self-styled "distinguished Americans" who are its members is a rollcall of the most prominent neoconservatives who so enthusastically support the "war on terror".
And you fail to mention it each time I have shown your posts to be lies.
The Kremlin moves swiftly to strengthen its vertical power by giving Gazprom the green light to take over state-owned Rosneft, paving the way for the consolidation of the state’s control over the energy sector.
By Charles Gurin for The Jamestown Foundation
In yet another move apparently aimed at strengthening the Kremlin's "vertical of power" in the wake of the Beslan tragedy, President Vladimir Putin on 14 September gave a green light to the Gazprom natural gas monopoly to acquire the state-owned oil company Rosneft. Putin also gave the go-ahead to eliminate the dual-ownership system of Gazprom shares, which restricts foreign ownership of the company. The thrust of this move, however, was towards consolidating the state's control over the energy sector. This was underscored by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, who told the president he had come up with a way to increase the state's stake in Gazprom from 38 per cent to a controlling one, the Moscow Times reported on 15 September. This means that the state is set to gain formal control over an entity that produces 20 per cent of the world's natural gas and owns 60 per cent of the world's gas reserves. It will soon also include Rosneft, which in July was placed under the control of one of Putin's inner circle, deputy presidential administration head Igor Sechin. At the time Sechin was named chairman of Rosneft's board of directors, some observers speculated that his appointment was part of a plan to create a giant state energy holding that would, as one newspaper put it, "completely control the export of oil from Russia and define the rules of the game on the internal market". Rosneft, however, is only Russia's fifth-largest oil producer, meaning that that in order to create such an energy giant, the state would probably have to get its hands on more oil producers. This is where Yukos comes in: Over the summer, a number of observers speculated that either Rosneft or Gazprom would wind up with Yuganskneftegaz, the embattled Yukos oil company's main production facility. A revival of the Soviet-era oil and gas ministry?
While Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said on Tuesday that it is not considering taking part in auctions of Yukos property should such auctions be announced, Interfax reported, some observers think otherwise. "Within the framework of Russia's gas monopoly, a first-rate state oil-extracting company will be created that will unite the extracting assets not only of Gazprom and Rosneft, but presumably also [those of] the fallen-out-of-favor Yukos," wrote the Politcom website's Natalya Ratnikova on Tuesday. Some analysts viewed the plan to amalgamate Gazprom and Rosneft into a large state energy holding as an attempt to create a Russian version of Saudi Arabia's Aramco, while others, like Moscow's private MDM bank, saw it as a revival of the Soviet-era Ministry of Oil and Gas, according to the Moscow Times. Whatever the case, it is probably not coincidental that the Kremlin's moves to consolidate control over the energy sector came just one day after Putin announced, in the name of mobilizing all of the country's resources to fight terrorism, a sweeping political restructuring plan under which Russia's governors and other regional leaders will be appointed by the president, rather than popularly elected, and single-mandate State Duma seats will be abolished, leaving only deputies elected from party lists.
A ‘new level’ of terrorism
During a special cabinet meeting on 13 September, Putin also ordered the creation of a "crisis management system geared to the terrorist war that is being waged against Russia" and the creation of a special Federal Commission for the North Caucasus, to be headed by Dmitry Kozak, who has been named to replace Vladimir Yakovlev as presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District. Kozak's commission, Putin said, will have "broad powers" to coordinate federal ministries and security bodies, and Kozak himself will be given "powers in the sphere of security necessary for prompt reaction to the threat of terrorist attacks". Putin also called for banning "extremist organizations which use religious, nationalist, and any other lexicon but are in fact the breeding ground of terror" and prosecuting their leaders and "active members", RIA Novosti reported on Monday. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin announced that because terrorism has "reached a new level", spending for the Interior Ministry (MVD), Federal Security Service (FSB), Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Federal Guards Service (FSO), and the Federal Border Guard Service (FPS) will be increased by around 50 billion rubles (US$1.7 billion) - an increase of almost 50 per cent - while funding for the Defense Ministry will go up by 107 billion rubles (US$3.66 billion). Kudrin also said that additional federal funds would be earmarked for cities with subways, which have been targeted by terrorists.
Unconstitutional, undemocratic
Putin's plan to appoint governors and abolish single-mandate Duma seats was immediately criticized by independent Duma deputies, liberal politicians, and the media as anti-constitutional and undemocratic. The critics also predicted that the moves would do nothing to make the country safer from terrorist attacks. Likewise, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the changes announced by Putin amounted to "pulling back on some of the democratic reforms." He further explained, "We understand the need to fight against terrorism . . . but in an attempt to go after terrorists I think one has to strike a proper balance to make sure that you don't move in a direction that takes you away from the democratic reforms or the democratic process", Reuters reported on Tuesday. Responding to Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the "administrative" and "legislative" reforms and "processes" taking place in Russia are its own business. He said it was "strange" that Powell should view any actions that do not correspond to democracy, as it is understood in one particular country - the US - as a retreat from democracy. "We do not criticize such 'retreats' from the norms of democracy as indirect elections for the president of the United States," Lavrov said. "Therefore our programs, our processes, and projects are also the internal affair of our country", RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday.
This article originally appeared in Eurasia Daily Monitor
Was using the esmaple @ #171
Destro why do you live in the United States? IF we are such an bad place you are not required to live here. Go help Putin, he really needs you?
Not brutal policies, but failures to control corruption. This is what he was chastizing himself for in his speech. You don't read Russian do you?
Wall Street Journal (Commentary) ^ | Sept 8, 2004 | Garry Kasparov
When two Russian aircraft exploded in the air simultaneously two weeks ago there was no word about terrorism from President Vladimir Putin. When a suicide bomber blew up near a subway station in the center of Moscow a few days later, the Russian people again waited in vain to hear something from their president. - - - - - - -Snip - - - - - - . After years of pretending that there was no crisis in Chechnya, it is now very hard for the government to admit that the inflamed North Caucasian province isn't becoming a utopia. What will it take for Mr. Putin to admit that Chechnya won't abide Kremlin-appointed leaders, especially while its villages are blown apart daily by the Russian military and Kremlin-backed bandits who are no different from the terrorists? -------------- snip ------------- There has been one high-level Moscow resignation in the early aftermath of the Beslan horror -- but just don't look inside the Kremlin's walls. The editor in chief of the prestigious newspaper Izvestia, Raf Shakirov, stepped down Monday. There was no comment from the paper's owner, an oligarch on good terms with the Kremlin, but there is little doubt that Izvestia's emotional coverage of the Beslan crisis angered the Putin regime and that Mr. Shakirov suffered the consequences. For a similar example, we need only look back two years to Nord-Ost, when NTV television's director lost his job after the Kremlin criticized their coverage of the crisis. That expulsion took several weeks; this time the chilling cycle required just 36 hours. --------------- snip -----------------
Because he can see and label hypocrisy, he hates the US? That's a leap or five.
"Not brutal policies, but failures to control corruption. This is what he was chastizing himself for in his speech. You don't read Russian do you?"
Yes we have quite a bit of corruption here as well, lots of lying crooked commie liberals. President Bush has not yet decided he will pick the "governors".
Putin’s moves worry Washington
WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday expressed concern about moves by Russian President Vladimir Putin to strengthen his powers. “These steps certainly raise concerns,” said US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
Putin has called for a new system of selecting regional leaders that would give the Kremlin a strong role in the process. He has also toughened security in the North Caucasus and appointed a new government chief of staff after the Beslan school hostage tragedy.
Boucher said the United States would want to discuss the measures with the Russian government.
The spokesman emphasised that “we stand in solidarity with Russia in the fight against terrorism. Nothing justifies the sort of horrible terrorist actions that occurred last week in Russia.”
But he added that it was important “to strike the right balance between fighting terrorism but also moving forward on democratic reforms and the democratic process.
“That is a fundamental issue that has to be faced, and one that we’ll be discussing with the Russians,” he said.
The United States has joined the European Union in raising concern about the new political measures announced by Putin on Monday.
European Union: The European Commission urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to respect democracy and human rights as he bolsters control over regions and boosts security after a spate of terrorist attacks.
“Obviously this is an internal affair for Russia,” said a spokeswoman when asked about Putin’s call for a new system of selecting regional leaders that would give the Kremlin a powerful say in the matter. “But all I would say is that all of us who are faced with the challenge of tackling the modern evil of terrorism have to at the same time pay due respect to democracy and human rights.
Meanwhile in Moscow, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that the threat of terrorism has climbed to new heights in Russia and funding efforts to fight it will be a top budgetary priority for the state next year. Kudrin, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency, said both motives and technological means behind terrorism had “risen to a new level” and therefore needed to be met with new and expanded means to counter them.
“We will allocate the necessary means to strengthen the fight against terrorism,” Kudrin said. According to the draft 2005 Russian budget, financing allocated for national security, specifically for the armed forces, the police and the intelligence services, will grow by 27 percent in comparison with this year.
If I was Russian or spoke it - Russia has a 13% flat tax. Is about to teach Christian culture in school and has begun to limit abortions to lower levels than in America.
Not so bad. - Oh yea, trade surplus too.
I would not compare region of Chechnya which is in the middle of Russian territory, size of 5,800 square miles and populated by warring clans with Mexico.
Putin got his Reichstag fire.
A number of Reichstag fires - capturing of hospitals, theaters, exploding apartment buildings, raids on neigbouring provinces, slave trade etc ...
Americans would act much sooner and harsh if they had such problem on their territory. Would you classify 9/11 as Reichstag fire?
"Because he can see and label hypocrisy, he hates the US? That's a leap or five. "
Are you for real " see and label hypocrisy", now come on this is not a con game.
Actually it was over graphic photos, which are, btw, not allowed here either. Not like those, at least.
There is free press in Russia - go on Internet and see for yourself. If you do not know Russian use Babel Fish Translation . Do not take my word - do your homework and look.
So these people are wearing shirts with Putin on them. They, too, are political. Why is it only bad in Russia?
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