MILNET
Opinion Putin the
Secret Dictator, 10/02/2007
MILNET is one of the online sites that has continued to point at our so
called new friends in Russia with some disdain. For instance, we
are staunch proponents of the theory that a new cold war is in
operation,
with the nation of Russia as the obvious replacement for the old Soviet
Union -- smaller, less dangerous, but dangerous still.
We are not comforted by the rhetoric of the Russian government or its
current President Vladimir Putin. In fact, we believe Putin is nothing
more than a dictator cynically using the appearance of an elected,
democratic government as a propaganda tool rather than actually
operating a democratic government.
For years Putin has been placing his cronies in charge of major
elements of the government. Some of these cronies are in fact
ex-KGB pals whose understanding of democracy is from their wide
experience in trying to destroy them. Is it any wonder than that
they cannot seem to make their declared democracy in Russian work?
By proclaiming that they are trying to make their democratic experiment
stay afloat, they can easily call it quits one day and proclaim both
that the experiment has failed, and then take over like the old
days. Think I am delusional? Well, think again, and look at
these salient facts:
Ex-KGB officials are at present in positions of over 30% of the
Russian Government 8
The Russian government has slowly been eroding many of the rights
first proclaimed as part of the new Democratic Russia 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
The Russian spy machine has not slackened off one bit including a
rather arrogant and very public assassination of a Russian dissident
through the use of a telling poison, a nuclear material. 12
The Russian penchant for creating world problems through arms
incentives and political alliances to enemies of freedom has not abated
. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 11, 14, 15
Russian diplomacy in the U.N. retains almost all of the former
Soviet Union positions, with additional moves that strengthen nuclear
proliferation in countries such as Iran 3
Russian nuclear materials aid, while demonstrably more aimed at
profit making for the Russian government and Russian government owned
companies, flows to the world's most ruthless and defiant,
non-compliant nations 2,3
Moreover, recent news centering around the upcoming Russian elections
are disheartening to say the least. 16
The problem we see is clear. The new Russian constitution does
not allow Putin to run again after two consecutive terms. This
will essentially, on paper, take Putin out of power. However, he
has a novel approach to the problem. He has named his successor
and is considering "accepting his party's nomination" to become the
next Prime Minister, an appointed position. Who names the Prime
Minister? Why the party makes a recommendation and the new President
makes the appointment.. And since his
named successor is almost surely going to win the election, then Putin
simply changes chairs and continues to stand at the top of the Russian
government. A term as Prime Minister than allows Putin to once
again run for election and another ten years as the President.
This revolving chair syndrome is not unfamiliar to dictator watchers
the
world over. Indeed Washington Post's Peter Finn implies that all
this is just a push by Putin to become the next Premier of
Russia. The scenario is based upon the theory that if Putin
accepts the urgins of the United Russia party, that party may gain
enough votes to control the Russian Parliment and change the Russian
Consitution at will. From that point it becomes almost a trivial
matter for Putin to change the way Russia is led, making him a true
dictator. 21
And while there is an urge to call Putin a petty dictator, there is
nothing petty about Putin's plan. The Russian dictator is
slowly taking more and more control of the Russian Empire, and despite
the fact his old colonies are now his new enemies, he is consolidating
power and influence at a frightening pace. He is even able to
convince his former enemies in Western Europe that he has their best
interests at heart.
Of course, Eastern European leaders are not fooled. Having lived
under the
yoke of Russian nonsense for 50 years, they have no desire to return to
that situation and are not fooled for a minute. Indeed, some of
the most vocal in resisting Russian expansion and detailing Russian
abuses of their new democracy are
the former Soviet satellite nations.
The dangers of a continued movement by Russia away from democracy are
also quite clear. Russia has proven time and time again, and
especially over the last decade, that it is no friend of the United
States, and while it makes noises that it is the friend of Western
Europe, it is clear that Putin's cynical approach to democracy will
eventually leave no room for Western Europe liberalism either.
With Russia funding and supplying arms to Iran and Syria, as well as
supplying Hamas and perhaps also aiding Hezbollah, isn't it clear that
not much has changed since the iron curtain came down over a decade
ago. In fact, some might even argue things are actually worse --
Russia is shaping up to be a bigger and meaner monster than the old
Soviet Union.
And Putin? He makes some of the old Russian dictators look
tame. Not publicly of course, this is a new Russia and its leader
is ten times the evil lurking hidden behind the curtain.
