All Posts Tagged With: "Putin"

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Another Twist: Putin to Become Prime Minister?

President Vladimir Putin announced that he would become Prime Minister if his named successor, Dmitri Medvedev, takes the presidency. Andrei Vavra provides an analysis of what this announcement shows about the stability of Putin’s government.

Dec 21, 2007 | Continued
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Kasparov on TIME ‘Person of the Year’ for Putin

Exclusive statement from Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov on TIME Magazine awarding its “Person of the Year” award to Vladimir Putin. “This will be promoted within Russia and around the world as an endorsement by the West of Putin’s policies of dictatorship.”

Dec 19, 2007 | Continued
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Russians Skeptical About ‘National Leader’

Only 17% of Russians support the appointment of President Vladimir Putin as the “national leader” of Russia. These results, obtained by the independent Levada Center public research group, were reported on December 5th in Vedomosti.

Dec 5, 2007 | Continued
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Pointkovsky on Homo Putinicus

Our friend Andrei Piontkovsky has written an informative column in the Moscow Times. In it, the author of the essential collection “Another Look Into Putin’s Soul” examines the phenomenon of accused murder Andrei Lugovoi’s popularity in Russia today. Sharp tongue firmly in cheek, Piontkovsky wonders if Lugovoi should take seriously a Russian interviewer’s thought about […]

Aug 3, 2007 | Continued
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Putin’s History Books

The Washington Post has a depressing account of how the Putin administration is bringing his cult of personality and campaign of misinformation to Russia’s children. The old joke about the USSR, that it was a “country with an uncertain past” can now be revived. We believe in a strong Russia, but not an isolated, xenophobic, […]

Jul 20, 2007 | Continued
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Inside the Putin Youth Cult

Michael Hammerschlag has an insightful item called “Putin’s Children” on the Kremlin-funded Nashi youth group in the International Herald Tribune.
The 120,000-odd Putin Youth members are perhaps the most creepy demonstration of Putin’s “Back to the Future” cult of personality - youth groups created, supported, and used by the Kremlin to harass, bully and intimidate opponents […]

Jul 6, 2007 | Continued
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Dissent in Art

The excellent web magazine Slate has a compendium of political cartoons from around the world, regularly updated. As the saying goes, a picture is often worth a thousand press releases. These below and many others on Putin are found in the Europe index at Slate. The first two are by Yuri Cherepanov, whose cartoons for […]

Jul 3, 2007 | Continued
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Birds of a Feather Dept.

What do Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Vladimir Putin have in common? Many things, in fact. All three lead increasingly repressive petro-states whose regimes are kept in power by the high price of oil and the power it purchases. All are dealing heavily in the world of armaments, with Russia selling weaponry and technology to […]

Jun 29, 2007 | Continued
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Putin’s Rules on Trade

Last weekend Vladimir Putin attacked the World Trade Organization for being “archaic, nondemocratic and unwieldy.” As The Wall Street Journal pointed out yesterday, WTO director Pascal Lamy was quick to remind that these characteristics haven’t stopped Russia from attempting to join. The article continued:
Yet the biggest sticking point concerns Russia’s failure to fulfill promises it […]

Jun 16, 2007 | Continued
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Bush’s Backtrack

In his statement at the June 5 Prague Conference on Security and Democracy, US President Bush said, “In Russia, reforms that once promised to empower citizens have been derailed, with troubling implications for democratic development.” The next day, in his remarks to the travel pool of reporters, Bush found it necessary to explain his speech. […]

Jun 8, 2007 | Continued