open Democracy News Analysis - Will Citizen Putin learn to bark?, Hugh Barnes - Comments

cseniornyc on "Will Citizen Putin learn to bark?"

cseniornyc — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:00:45 +0000

This piece by Barnes is standard boring CIA paid Putin/ Russia hater article. His two major references are very telling :the sold out well paid Belkovsky and the atrociously dumb Anders Aslund. Mr Barne's anti Putin propaganda is an abuse of Open Democracy which is place supposed to be dedicated to serious intelligent analysis and not to PR pro Bush non sense.

ianniscarras on "Will Citizen Putin learn to bark?"

ianniscarras — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:52:10 +0000

But is it all about Putin? A number of features of the current situation suggest otherwise. * One of the characteristics of Russia's ruling elite is their self-perceived vulnerability. The wealth of a significant percentage of Russia's elite depends on their ability to receive what are in effect rents from the export of raw materials, above all gas and oil, and on their access to government contracts. * Rent dependency however has consequences: elite groups have to play the patronage game, passing wealth up and down the political and social ladder in order to maintain their privileged position. And they have to be careful. There are dangers in amassing too much personal wealth and running foul of other patronage groups eager to usurp key positions. * Patronage networks thus hold the ruling elite together in a precarious embrace. In this context the ruling elite's self perceived vulnerability is not in itself surprising, especially given the vast and frequent transfers of wealth that have characterised the transition from Soviet to Russian realities over the last two decades. This vulnerability (or should we say fear) provides ample explanation for continued elite support for the Putin status quo, smothering all the possible alternatives. * The fascinating, and thus far largely unanswered question in all of this, is the role of the FSB. To what extent can one speak of the FSB as a unitary organisation promoting its members to key positions of patronage and power where they can usefully access rents? Or is the FSB itself subject to the same sort of patronage politics and internal competition for key positions as the rest of society? The answer is probably some combination of the above. * Though Putin would seem to be the clear victor in the last election (fraud or no fraud), the emphasis must be on "seem". Constraints on his power come not so much from the institutions of the Russian state, and certainly not from opposition parties, as from the patronage networks of which he is a part and which he too has to cultivate to maintain his precarious position. Patronage (like corruption) cuts both ways. In the absence of functioning institutions, it provides the ruling elite with its power base but also forces that same elite to address the needs of considerable segments of society. * If this analysis is accepted, it might be wiser not to concentrate on the person of Putin alone. The power structures that support his continued control of high office would not seem to be to be those of a personal dictatorship, but rather those of an loose and flexible oligarchy, struggling to maintain its privileged position. * Oligarchic government and not dictatorship then? The oligarchic model, with all its negatives, might permit a clearer explanation as to why, despite considerable limitations, Russian citizens under the current regime enjoy many of the freedoms that they have been denied in the past. * Iannis Carras, Athens, Greece.

intermedusa on "Will Citizen Putin learn to bark?"

intermedusa — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 05:59:10 +0000

Putin is not only corrupt but a murder 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. 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. Written By, Larry Houle E-mail: intermedusa@yahoo.com

Will Citizen Putin learn to bark?, Hugh Barnes

Hugh Barnes — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:34:35 +0000

The curious incidents surrounding Vladimir Putin's Ostankino broadcast 3 days before the election were just the latest in a number of Russian dogs that have failed to bark in the night. His mysterious decision to record the speech at an outside television studio, instead of in the Kremlin, as usual, sparked feverish speculation that he was finally about to answer the so-called "2008 question". Will Putin stay in power or will he go? A bit of both was the preferred option of Sergei Mironov, the leader of Russia's upper house, the Federation Chamber. Mironov was the leading proponent of a "leave and stay" option whereby Putin could exploit a loophole in Russia's constitution, which prohibits three "consecutive" terms, by quitting before the presidential campaign got under way and then - hey, presto! - emerging from his mini-break to run again. Conspiracy theorists saw the Ostankino connection as a clear signal that Citizen Putin would use the broadcast to show he was no longer the Kremlin's incumbent. Read the rest of this post...