Vladimir Putin: Person Of The Year
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Authoritarianism | Dictatorship | Foreign Affairs | foreign policy | Tyranny | Vladimir Putin — Comments (9) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
As a consequential figure on the world stage, I can certainly understand why Vladimir Putin got selected as Time's Person of the Year. For all of its problems, Russia remains a country with great sway and power and Putin is therefore a key player on the world stage. His efforts to shut down a nascent democracy deserve mention, attention and worldwide opprobrium. His efforts to reignite the forces of Russian imperialism via bullying former Soviet republics, a likely recognition of the efforts being made by the breakaway ethnic Russian enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia to achieve independence (this in response to any effort on the part of Kosovo to achieve independence), Russia's withdrawal from the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty and Putin's own efforts to enhance his cult of personality and his political power at home should be of deep concern to any and all Russia-watchers.
I continue to think that General David Petraeus should have been selected Person of the Year. Just as consequential as Putin, he used his talents for good, leading the troop surge in Iraq and helping to set the country on a path towards reconstruction, political reconciliation and full re-integration into the international community. But as I indicate above, the Person of the Year award doesn't just go to good people, though in this case, a powerful argument can be made that a good person (Petraeus) deserved it over a deeply flawed and power-hungry one (Putin). The consequence of this "award" should be a renewed emphasis on the threats a belligerent Russian government poses to its own citizens and to other countries. No, this is not the Cold War. Not even close. But it's nothing to shut our eyes to either.
Or to put matters more succinctly, see this.
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their power and in doing so feeds the ego of the beast.
Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion
Pej,
I think you're over-rating Vlad. Russia is a much weaker country in a much weaker position than the old USSR ever was. Just the demographics are scary (Nigeria is more populous now, and Yemen will be soon). And even with the departure of the central Asian "stans," Russia has a rising Muslim problem of its own.
Despite the noise, you have to ask where on the world stage Russia has been able to bend events to its (or to Vlad's) wishes. Georgia pace Abkhazia and South Ossetia? Moldova pace Transdniestr? That's all that big mighty Russia can do?
I'm a regular visitor to Ukraine (business), and the reality is that Ukraine (after 350 years of Russian domination) just got up and walked away, and there's nothing Vlad or Russia has been able to do about it. This must be painful, since Kyiv (Kiev) is where Russian culture was born. I've been surprised that Vlad has been so quiet about this failing, but my guess has been that it's so painful (both in what happened and in the obvious powerless-to-stop-it situation) that he hadn't wanted to bring it up.
Funny thing is that Vlad did have this outburst about Ukraine today, and of course blamed us (U.S.) for what's transpired. But in the piece, he inadvertently stumbles across the truth:
Putin noted that despite mental proximity of Ukraine, where 17 out of 45 million are ethnic Russians and 80 % of people consider Russian theirs native language, there is no desire to join it to Russia.
Vlad might want to ponder why all those ethnic Russians in Ukraine.... want to stay put there, with an independent Ukraine. Based on my time on the ground there, it's a pretty accurate assessment of the sentiment in Ukraine.
I think Romney nailed it best earlier today on the Glenn Beck show:
GLENN: Give me your thought on Petraeus not being Time magazine's man of the year but instead Vladimir Putin.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: That really, that's disgusting. I'm absolutely -- I mean, are you -- I mean, I haven't seen Time. Are you serious?
GLENN: No, I'm serious. It is Vladimir Putin, Time magazine man of the year. A guy who, you know, with all of the KGB stuff in the past, Time magazine says has transformed the country and congratulations. Time magazine man of the year, Vladimir Putin.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Well, you know, he imprisoned his political opponents. There have been a number of highly suspicious murders. He has squelched public dissent and free press. And to suggest that someone like that is the man of the year is really disgusting. I'm just appalled. Clearly General Petraeus is the person or one of a few people who would certainly merit that designation and I know Time magazine makes a distinction. They say, well, people who had an impact, whether it's good or bad, is the man of the year. I think that's a --
PUTIN THE GREAT MURDERER AND CROOK WORTH 30 BILLION
By Larry Houle
www.godofreason.com
E-mail: intermedusa@yahoo.com
In 8 short years Putin has gone from a salary of US $2000.00 per month to becoming one of the world’s richest men with a personal fortune of 30 billion.
In an interview published November 12 in the German newspaper Die Welt, Belkovsky said, "The people sitting in the Kremlin are direct representatives and joint owners of large scale enterprises. Putin is also a big businessman. He controls 37 percent of the shares of Surgutneftegaz [Russia's fourth-largest oil producer] with the market value [of Putin's putative stake] coming to $20 billion. Moreover, he controls 4.5 percent of the shares of Gazprom [Russia's natural gas monopoly]. In the company Gunvor, which sells oil, Putin has [a] 50 percent [stake] through his representative Gennady Timchenko. Last year, [Gunvor's] turnover came to $40 billion and its profits $8 billion."
There can be no doubt that President Putin is behind the recent assassinations in Moscow and London. His is the mind that is directing these evil acts with total deniability, of course. What Putin has established in the Kremlin is a Murder Inc. Mafia controlling total political and economic power. Death squads are roaming out from the Kremlin. Anyone who threatens – this power – is eliminated. The first act of nuclear terrorism came not from Al-Qaeda and Osma bin laden but from the Kremlin and President Putin. Just as Russia was about to emerge from 1000 years of darkness, into the light of democratic freedom - Putin and his KGB gang has plunged his people back into the abyss. Quoting the famous Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin “Germans, Frenchmen and Englishmen can say of themselves: "I am the state." I cannot say that. In Russia only the people in the Kremlin can say that. All other citizens are nothing more than human material with which they can do all kinds of things.” This is the Russia, Putin has created. An immoral, lawless wasteland. He is a traitor to his country. He is a traitor to his people.
in mind. If it is influence and impact that counts did Hitler ever make the grade, wouldn't be surprised. But, and apart from that silly old thing called morals, if influence/impact are so important why was Gorbachev picked over Reagan ? I mean, Pershing missiles in Europe,[ sorry Gorby], helping to defeat the S U in Afghanistan, the Iceland Conference, the glorious Reagan Berlin Wall speech, and who walks off with the award, a guy who knew he had lost, been out maneuvered, and tossed in the towel.
Something else at work here, maybe to much of an affinity for a certain kind of order, but not the Russell Kirk kind. Contemptible.
"a man's admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him". Tocqueville
Putin is no lover of democracy or civic freedom, but those are not prerequisites for Time's person of the year. It is not Time's morally upstanding person of the year.
Fact is, Russia is going through a tremendous transformation right now. It is quickly becoming an economic powerhouse again, and a massively centralized one (which means the economy will remain fragile in the long run, but the Kremlin will be able to tweak the numbers and manipulate the economy to their heart's content). The entire country was down for the count in the mid-1990's. Moscow is now the most expensive city in the world.
Russia's influence in the Iranian situation should not be overlooked. Meaningful diplomatic maneuvers between Washington and Tehran increasingly go through Moscow. And with regards to Kosovo, it looks like, for all intents and purposes, Russia is winning this political battle: independence for Kosovo is by no means a foregone conclusion. It doesn't seem like America or the West has their heart in this stand off.
While I agree mostly with the assessment concerning Ukraine above, This remains a deeply fractured country. Eastern Ukrainians don't have to be supporters of unification with Russia to be supporters of Russia. That's not the same thing. Yanikovich still holds a great deal of power and influence in the country, and many observers agree that the longer Ukraine remains fractured politically, the better it will be for the pro-Russia bloc, whose rallying cry is stability brought by closer ties with Russia.
Fact is, Putin has ensured the importance of Russia in international affairs. Issues must go through Moscow as much as they go through Brussels or Beijing. Time's designation recognizes the emergence of Russia as an essential and powerful entity on the world stage. A correct assessment in my opinion.
And if it compels American institutions and nerve centers to dust off their knowledge of Russian language and culture, all the better. Those old Russian intel guys actually mean something again!
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History is all that will help us with the future
You don't build a stable state on murder, intimidation, greed, larceny and lies.
The rosy glow on the cheeks of the new Russia is not from good health, it reflects the fever burning inside.
Like that other Time "Man of the year" Hitler, the only way Putin has brought his nation back into prominence is by throwing all respect for human life and dignity into the waste bin. Like Hitler his policies will inevitably lead to confrontation with Russia's neighbours and the rest of the world.
Gen David Petraeus. Just do it.