It appears Vladimir Putin is going to be in power in Russia for quite a while.
Putin is supposed to step down from the presidency in March, according to the Russian Constitution or what passes for it, but Putin's formula for remaining in charge after the end of his presidential term was to announce that he is running for Parliament and will lead the very pro-Kremlin United Russia party in parliamentary elections in December...which paves the way for him to become prime minister instead.
Putin's very popular in Russia, and pretty much controls the press and a lot of the electoral process by this time. His party is more than likely to emerge from the parliamentary elections in December with enough of a majority to become Prime minister, with a rubber stamp majority to push through constitutional changes to strengthen power of the prime minister and turn the presidency into a figurehead.
Speaking of figureheads, Putin prepared the ground for this three weeks ago by unexpectedly appointing as prime minister a longtime associate and little-known apparatchnik named Viktor Zubkov, which instantly elevated Zubkov to the top tier of presidential candidates. Actually, with what Putin has planned,it doesn't much matter who wins...he's made an end run around the democratic process.
Or to put it another way, he's using the form of a democratic succession to dispense with the substance.
7 comments:
Vladimir Putin appears to be one of the most clever political leaders who has ever lived. Unfortunately he is quite evil. Vladimir Outin and Russia are by far and away the most dangerous enemy that the US has. Hopefully all of the focus on Iran and Iraq has not cuased us to lose sight of Russia.
Of course Putin is popular in Russia. He contols the press and anyone who opposes him gets killed. Also, he has rebuilt the Russian military into a very formidable force. This has no doubt made many Russians quite happy. Right now it is every bit as strong as the US military and in some areas the Russian military is stronger than the US military.
While Putin is quite clever, he is not without flaws. He has had a largely unbroken string of successes. This has caused him to become quite arrogant. Arrogant people eventuallly make mistakes. We need to be on the look out for the inevitable mistakes that Russia will make. It would be much easier for us to do this if we will stop fighting among ourselves and if we will develop the moral confidence to defend our civilization.
but you forget b.
boosh has looked into his soul......
"boosh" ought to be impeached. Instead of worrying about what some insignificant talk show host nameed Rush Limbaugh said the Democrats could do something useful. They could do something useful like beginning impeachment hearings on the President. For starters, Bush should be impeached for failing to secure the borders and for being dumb enough to trust Putin. Of course this would require the Democrats to do something useful and patriotic. Somehow I jsut don't see current crop of Republicans or Democrats doing any thing useful or patriotic.
I'm no Bush fan, however, for better or worse he is my president and when Hillary wins the next presidential election she will be my President at that time. I jsut hope and pray when the time comes that my Presient whomever that may be will do the right thing.
big business is looking for slave labor where ever it can get it. the reason the dems don't impeach boosh for not securing the border is because they are complicit in the act. they will do big business bidding the same as the repubs. in this, george wallace was right.
besides the time for impeaching boosh has passed. hillary won't allow it to proceed at this point. she has more money than she can spend and doesn't need the looney left. she can spew moderate pablum from here on out.
as for the next president, with the wallyworld headquarters in bentonville and certain former residents of arkansas' relationship therewith, my advice b. would be to not hold your breath on that right thing wish.
i'm just wondering out loud here. but i wonder if hugo is looking at the political manuever puken did and wondering to hisself if he could pull off something like it in vennyland.
Louie
Big business plays a role in the immigration situation. There is no question about that, however, I think the biggest issue is the far left who hates the US and all of Western Civilization. This groups controls the elite media. Any politician who supports secure borders will be viciously attacked by them. Big business does not have the power to drive government policy, however, they can influence it. The wide open borders situation is the brain child of the anti-American left. Big business has simply found a way to operate within this situation. Of course they are not complaining about cheap labor. If we don't secure these borders soon, big business and every one else will one day regret it.
I respectfully disagree with you when you say Hillary does not need the left. The left controls the elite news media. The list of scandals that the Clintons have been in seems to be miles long. It is likely that the media has enough dirt on Bill and Hillary to destroy them if they wanted to. The left owns Hillary.
As for impeachment, I suspect it will have something to do with the BSA wire tapping program. A few months ago I predicted that George W. Bush would not finish his term. At the time, I predicted a 95% probability that the President and the Vice President would be impeached. I still stand by the prediction, however, the odds of impeachment I think have decreased to about 65%. The reason for this is because the troop "surge" in Iraq so far seems to have had moderate success. I think this has helped the President's odds.
If impeachment hearings happen, they should start sometime around this November or December and they will likely be completed by August 2008. This will coincide with the full US withdrawl of troops from Iraq. If this plays out, the Democrats will get credit for impeaching an unpopular President and Vice President and for ending an unpoplular war. They should be able to coast to lopsided victories in the November elections.
As for the long range consequences of conceding Iraq to Iran and other Islamic terrorists, that is not entirely known. We will have to deal with that later. In the short run, there are elections to be won.
The moderate success that the surge has had so far has thrown a slight wrench into the plans of the Democrats to withdraw prematurely from Iraq or to impeach the President and his Vice President. The moveon.org wing of the Democratic party who owns this party is clearly displeased by all this.
Finally, I think Hugo Chavez can pull off something simillar to what Vladimir Putin did. I think he is already trying to be President for life or something like that. Hugo Chave is an extremely dangerous enemy of the US. Hopefully all of the focus on Iraq and Iran has not caused us to lose sight of this.
Hi Guys,
Putin isn't `clever' merely a ruthless ex-KGB apparatchnik with the ability to manipulate things on his home turf.
As for the string of successes, I would query exatcly what those are.Aside from `federalizing' the Russian economy (an error that will become apparent once the easy money frompetrodollars is no longer coming in)and cosolodating power for himself, I see no concrete successes except a lot of saber rattling...typical for someone who was part of the old Evil Empire.
Russia is a deeply dysfunctional nation, where up to 70% of pregnancies end in abortion except in the Islamic parts of the country. I could very easily see the Russians pushed back into their historic confines in Novgorad and Muscovy in the near future if these trends continue.
Putin is a modern day DeGaulle, with little real power but with the ability to be a spoiler and troublemaker, to the extent we buy his crap. So far, Bush, to his credit has pretty much ignored him.
As for the Bush Impeachment, while I personally have little regard for him or his presidency, impeachment is highly unlikely, though I'm certain that articles will be drawn up.
We don't impeach presidents for incompetance or poor judgement but for `high crimes and misdemeanors'.
I doubt that the NSA wiretapping ( I think that's what you meant, Poster)will be the cause..more likely the infamous `prosecuters' case or the Bush Administration's failure to move on contractor's
corruption in Iraq.
In any case, I don't think the Dems have the votes in the House or Senate to toss him out of office, no matter what.
Putin's successes are rebuilding the Russian military to a level that is on par with the United States and doing his part to get the United States tied down in a war in the Middle East. This has the effect of driving up the price of oil, which Putin has used to build up the Russian military and the Russian economy.
My understanding is Putin has implemented subsidies for people to have more children. I see the Russians reversing the trend you are mentioning. The income from the sale of oil will go on indefinitely. In fact, the price of oil will go up before it goes down. Even if the Russians do come face to face with the problems you mention, this makes them even more dangerous. They may try to launch a massive military campaign in order to try and stay in power.
You credit Bush for ignoring Putin. Russia is the enemy behind America's most dangerous enemies. Ignoring Russia would seem to be the worst possible policy. I suggest the US choose one of the following: 1.) Open negotiations with Russia. Find out what it will take to get Russia to withdraw support from Iran, Syria, and other terrorist supporting nations. Without Russian support the Islamic terrorists would be much easier to defeat. A possibility would be for the USt o withdraw support from the former Soviet republics. In return for this, Russia would withdraw support from Iran, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea, and other terrorist supporting states. 2.) Inform Russia in no uncertain terms that we will brook no aggression from them. We will build up our military to levels not seen not since the Cold War. It is clear that Russia wants to renew the Cold War. We should be prepared to do this and place the country on a footing simillar to the Cold War. Personally I like option 2 better. In fact, I don't like option 1 at all.
O inderstand that Presidents are not impeached because they are incompetent. They can only be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors as you write. With every main stream media pundit and government investigator worth their salt digging into any thing and every thing this Administration has done I find it inconceivable that they will not find SOMETHING that they cau use for impeachment.
The treatment that the Bush Administration has received is the exact opposite of what the Clinton Administration received. During the Clinton Administration every main stream media pundit and Government investigator worth their salt did any thing and every thing they could to protect the Clinton Administration.
With that said I am going to reiterate that I have little use for this Administration. I don't want any one to think I'm defending this Administration, however, Bush is my President and no matter who wins the next election they will be my President as well.
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