Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of being behind protests over the results of Russia’s parliamentary elections.
Mr Putin said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “set the tone for some opposition activists”.
She “gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started active work”, he said.
Ms. Clinton is just a magnet for conspiracy theorists, isn’t she.
I happen to think we would do well to tone down our anti-Putin rhetoric. I realize he’s no liberal western-type democrat, but it’s worth noting that the second biggest winners in the recent elections were the Communits Party. It would be unwise to undercut Putin to the benefit of the Communists. Russia and the rest of the world have suffered quite enough at their hands already.
True. While Mr. Putin is certainly no saint, He doesn’t seem inclined to the kind of Stalinesque restructuring that killed off 20 Million + kulaks in the 20th century. Neither does he appear to be stupid enough to resurrect the cold war.
That being said, he may very well have a point; Given “Hillary!”‘s track record, I expect she would be much more inclined to side with the communists than with Putin.
Not that I am a conspiracy theorist or anything…..
There is really good article on Vladimir Putin that I substantively agree with…
[blockquote] There is one incontestably great actor on the world stage today, and he has no interest in following our script. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — soon to be Russia’s president again — has proven remarkably effective at playing the weak strategic hand he inherited, chalking up triumph after triumph while confirming himself as the strong leader Russians crave. Not one of his international peers evidences so profound an understanding of his or her people, or possesses Putin’s canny ability to size up counterparts.
Putin’s genius — and it is nothing less — begins with an insight into governance that eluded the “great†dictators of the last century: You need control only public life, not personal lives. Putin grasped that human beings need to let off steam about the world’s ills, and that letting them do so around the kitchen table, over a bottle of vodka, does no harm to the state. His tacit compact with the Russian people is that they may do or say what they like behind closed doors, as long as they don’t take it into the streets. He saw that an authoritarian state that stops at the front door is not only tolerable but also more efficient.
As for the defiant, he kills or imprisons them. But there are no great purges, no Gulag — only carefully chosen, exemplary victims, such as anti-corruption activist Sergei Magnitsky, who died in police custody, or the disobedient billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, imprisoned on charges Russians regard as black humor. Western consciences may be briefly troubled, but Putin knows the international community won’t impose meaningful penalties. Seduced by Kremlin policies — from oil and gas concessions to cynical hints of strategic cooperation — Western leaders have too many chips in the game. And at home, the common people, the chorny narod, don’t mind. Instead, they gloat when the czar cuts off the beards of the boyars — or humbles an envied oligarch. As for gadfly journalists, Putin wagered that they could be eliminated with impunity, as in the case of Anna Politkovskaya. Our outrage is pro forma and temporary. [/blockquote]
Read the rest [url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-genius-of-vladimir-putin/2011/09/26/gIQAcSXF0K_story.html]here[/url].
Regarding Russian politics and leaders, one can paraphrase an old addage making it both more agreeable and relevant: one can put lipstick on a bear, but it’s still a bear.