Posted on 03/29/2005 6:49:06 PM PST by RWR8189
Sergei Mironov, speaker of the Russian upper house, was talking recently about the "real threat of a fascist putsch in Russia" -- "a new fuhrer with fascist-type, nationalist ideology" emerging in the 2008 presidential campaign.
But while it would seem that so grave a danger calls for urgent and resolute action, Mironov sounded vague and nerveless about what should be done. Perhaps, he mused, the looming threat would simply impel the Russian people to ask President Vladimir Putin "to stay, not to leave" in 2008, when his constitutional term expires.
The idea that the Kremlin might use the risk of a nationalist takeover as a justification for scrapping the election and extending Putin's tenure is but one of several 2008 scenarios thought to be circulating in that body. It's telling that the one scenario missing from the political rumor mill and analysts' forecasts is a democratic transfer of presidential authority, something that has never occurred in Russia.
As in any "soft" authoritarian regime, the prospect of yielding power to a political rival is unacceptable to the ruling elite. Putin presides over a political system in which state power is basically usurped by the administration. Other branches of government are reduced to mere decoration, and decision making is confined within the Kremlin walls.
Laws and courts are bent to fit the needs of the regime. In addition, the new Putin elite has increasingly gained control over huge chunks of Russia's resources, the most striking example
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Imagine the current Red-Brown NBP radicals taking power. Then imagine the resulting state become redder by the day.
Oh, that's a good one! I'll have to remember that for future use! ;)
self ping
It appears that the Washington ComPost despises Putin almost as much as Bush. What gives? How they can defend Khodorkovski/Yukos and the other oligarchs is beyond belief. You don't let bank robbers keep their loot, even if they go legit after the robbery.
"lesser evil".
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