Putin: We’ve been down this road before
October 6, 2011 No CommentsAlexandra Manthey
College of Arts and Sciences
Class of 2013
Within a relatively short amount of time, Vladimir Putin, current Prime Minister and former President of Russia (and one-time KGB operative), has managed to create somewhat of a stir in the international community.
First came the announcement two weeks ago that Putin—by way of an “arrangement” with friend, successor, and current president, Dmitri Medvedev—will ascend to the highest Russian office once again next year. There had been hope that Medvedev, considered by many to be more pro-Western than Putin, would run for a second term, but now it seems that his only role was to serve as a placeholder for the man who really calls the shots. Despite angry accusations from Western press of the death of Russian democracy and the creation of a “Russian Chavez,” few high-ranking Russian officials have dared criticize the pact. The finance minister, Alexi Koudrine, is the notable exception, saying, “I do not see a new government.”
Then, this Sunday’s news: in Izvestia, a Russian quarterly magazine, Putin announced his plan for a “Euro-Asian Union,” a supranational body much like the European Union, which would just so happen to include all of the countries in the former Soviet Union. Russia, of course, has been trying to get into the EU itself for years, but this is likely to happen right about the time that hell freezes over…
It doesn’t take a genius to see that Putin is trying to claim power and prestige for himself and for Russia, in much the same way as the former Soviet dictators and tsars did. It is also not hard to see that a strong Russia based on this model is bad news for both the United States, whose policy in Libya is strongly opposed by the Kremlin, as well as the European Union, who is dependent on the large natural gas pipeline between Europe and Russia. And it’s not as if Putin hasn’t stepped outside the rules for a fair and open democracy before. (Just ask Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the billionaire who is in jail right now because he sponsored Putin’s competition.)
All of this begs the question: will it ever be possible for Russia to pull itself out of this cycle and become a fully functioning democracy? Honestly, all the evidence points towards no, not in this lifetime. And despite how old and well-worn this path is, the events of these past weeks seem particularly ominous, like be two more nails in a coffin. For all those who hoped for a lighter, more tolerant Russia, who had entertained the fantasy that gradually, gradually the feisty Medvedev would wrest power away from Putin, the dream is shattered. Because quite frankly, we know how this story will end. We have seen it before. But it is perhaps the fact that we know the narrative so well that this time in particular is so crushing. Because with each action he takes, Putin has shown the Russian government to be a total sham, a mockery of democracy.
A sobering day for all.
Photo courtsey of The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/09/vladimir-putin-action-man/100147/
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