Posted on 09/14/2004 8:12:06 PM PDT by SamFisher
Putin’s moves worry Washington
* EU urges Putin not to ignore democracy
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.
I have my concerns too. I doubt the old days of Russian dominance in the area has been forgotten by the power elite, and could see how terrorism could be used as an excuse to re-establish the old regime.
It would be a shame if one form of oppression was replaced with another.
The Cold War was largely about Russia pushing marxist policy on other countries, not so much about the internal affairs of the USSR. I think Putin has to assume the role that Abe Lincoln faced-- a southern culture of rebellion, only Chechnia is not based on a Confederacy, rather it's based on Islamic nutjobs.
I wonder what Putin, North Korea, and China are thinking of America as they watch this circus called an election.
I hate to say it but I think Russia needs some serious emergency measures, temporary strengthening of government powers to shake off extreme corruption and muslim terrorist incursions. Putin is a sharp cookie and up to the task. Some regional governors plainly need dumping. I'm going to give Putin slack on this one, and naively hope that liberty and democracy flourishes after some overwhelming changes are firmly confronted by Putin. You know this country just had two passenger planes suicide bombed, hundreds of school children shot up, a subway blown up... There are Chechen warlords who openly talk about creating a strict islamic state from the caspian to the black sea, and have actually repeatedly invaded Daegestan, killing over 1000 people. If something strong isn't done the country will just disintegrate.
Putin tightens grip on power
The Age ^ | September 15, 2004 | Julius Strauss
Posted on 09/14/2004 9:47:41 AM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1215689/posts
Why do you wonder that?
I don't see Putie's moves as a prelude to a direct challenge of the US. Fighting terrorism should be enough. But only Putie knows his long-term goals.
"said US State Department spokesman "
Sorry, that's not part of the US.
Bush didn't say anything, Cheney didn't say anything, Rumsfled didn't say anything, need I go on?
The State Department is on the side of the terrorists. There needs to be a wholesale purge after the election.
Don't get me wrong. I sympathize with Russia's problems too, and won't blink an eye if they take the fight to the terrorist war lords and their supporters. I just don't think they can justify anything and everything from what has happened to them.
I am a strong supporter of President Bush's efforts to go after terrorists whereever they can be found, and those countries that have given them support. If that is what Putin does, he will have my moral support too. I hope he will join with us in our global effort.
But I don't want to see America justifying Russian attrocities in the name of the war on terror. Democracy in Russia is young, and there are still many over there that rue for the old days of Communist control. If that happens we will see ourselves sliding back into a cold war with Russia, and then where would we be?
We should give Russia support right now, but we should also let them know (quietly through deplomatic channels) where we draw the line.
Comments?
Communism is back on the table again in Russia.
Bill Clinton would have loved to have that power.
Chuckle. Good point.
I agree. I believe the war on terror has been generally successful, but the karping about the war from some of our liberal leaders have cheered our enemies and encourages them to hold out a little longer. Some of those 1,000 deaths in Iraq IMO are directly due to this, and I won't forget it on election day.
It sickens me that the Dems cannot produce a better candidate than John Kerry. There was a time when the differences were on mostly minor policy differences, or methodologies, but now we see major differences in overall phylosophy. I don't think most Democrats agree with their leaders. Most are basically conservative, but the leaders are so far left they are out of touch. Would to God the rest would open their eyes to that fact and let that party die.
Look for it to happen. Putin's speech about Russia having become "too weak" was a dead giveaway that he's not entirely convinced that Communism was a bad thing.
Having a strong state does not equal Communism.
I think you mistake Communism with Russia's greatness.
Russians and Putin want great and strong Russia back, not Communist regime.
As Alexander Solzhenitzyn put it, "They targeted Communism, but they killed Russia"
Proposed Putin's reforms have nothing to do with democracy or authoritarianism.
Putin wants to abolish Russian federalism and turn Russia once again into a unitary state without explicitly breaking Russian Constitution.
While such a big country probably would have been better off as a federation, historically Russia was unitary state. Current Russian federalism is thus a historic abnormality.
(Note that federal state and unitary state do not stand for democratic or authoritarian. France and Britain are unitary states, Germany and the US are federal states, all four are democracies)
Moreover, Putin seems to think that federalism in current form makes Russian state weaker and Russian regions more corrupt.
And neither corruption nor weakness can be tolerated when Russia is at war.
Yeltsin in the federation: extreme decentralist...till the state almost collapsed. Putin centralist.
Back and forth.
As for communism, that is an economic system that lends itself best towards autocracy. Capitalism lends best towards Republicanism...though this is not necessarly true: Chile, prewar Japan, Spain, prewar Italy, prewar and post war Greece.
People, in ignorance, scream communism when ever a state is not like the US, without even understanding the meaning of the word.
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