[Erunsenef]

From her body of work I don't think there is any shortage of suspects that had motive.

[boxcigsnick]

Originally posted by Comrade Tassadar


True enough. I think we can all agree that Putin is far far preferable to Yeltsin Boris Yeltsin, the Friedrich Ebert of Russia.

[imawlBoli]

Originally posted by Serb


Please, enlighten me about political direction Russia has been going. Are you saying you are happy with the continued centralization of power?

From Radio Free Europe

President Putin continues to stamp his mark on the Russian political system -- with the emphasis, as ever under his leadership, on strengthening what he calls the "vertical of power.” In practice, this has meant top-down democracy, instructions from above rather than the delegation of powers, and the erosion of regional government. Some dispute that it is democracy at all, but President Putin maintains that there is no one democracy and that conditions in his country dictate that Russia determine its own way.


Prague, 12 December 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Symbols are very important for Vladimir Putin and none are more emblematic than the national anthem -- the old Soviet anthem dressed up in modern words. This reflects what he sees as state-building: laying claim to the past and all that means but doing so in terms that express what Putin believes Russia should be today.

The Russian political tradition -- and it matters little whether you go back just as far as Lenin or step beyond -- offers little encouragement to supporters of participatory democracy. The Russian tradition is of statism writ large. Many hold that Putin is merely following a well-trodden path.

Whatever the case, it is clear that there is little now to stop Putin from pressing ahead with further centralization except, perhaps, his own better judgment. Among them an increasingly forlorn opposition, which believes the system of government in Russia today has precious little to do with democracy.

Aleksandr Malashenko of the Carnegie Endowment in Moscow wouldn't go that far but he shares the view that Putin's heavily centralized government risks choking democracy in Russia at birth. He argues that "the only way for them to keep themselves as rulers is centralization and the construction of the so-called vertical of power but, at the same time, it is impossible to start real reforms under the slogan of centralization. And this, in my opinion, is the main conflict between the system of power of today and the needs of society."

What has happened to set the democratic alarm bells ringing? Critics note the continuing diminution of the powers of regional and local authorities, following last year's decision to replace the election of regional governors with Kremlin-approved appointments.

An attempt by the once-powerful Yaroslavl regional legislature in October to buck the trend by challenging the president's right to appoint regional leaders ended in humiliating retreat. A warning from Moscow was enough to make the regional deputies see the folly of their ways.

And it doesn't stop there. A law passed this year on the election of deputies to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, puts an end to the direct election of deputies in single-mandate districts, leaving voters to select party lists instead. Parties now have to win at least seven percent of the vote to make it into the State Duma. It has also become almost impossible to hold a referendum in Russia unless it has the state's support.

For all her doubts about Putin, the independent journalist and author Masha Gessen rejects the idea that the Russia president is working to some sort of ideological blueprint. "I don't think he has a strategy,” she says. “I think it is force of habit and I think that, at this point, it's self-perpetuating because I think he and his people have done enough that if they ever give up power they risk going to jail."

So, if no master plan, what? Gessen believes that Putin and many of those he keeps in his personal entourage are acting on instincts honed during their formative years together in the Soviet Union. "These are people who feel comfortable in a closed system,” she contends. “They will do anything to make contemporary Russia resemble the system to which they are accustomed, which is the Soviet Union and, more specifically, the KGB, so space in all respects will keep getting smaller. They are not comfortable with anything they don't control."

Gessen points to the state’s domination of public television in 2005, the continuing erosion of independent television, and the pressure on the print media to toe the official line as evidence of what she believes is a full-scale retreat from democracy.

According to this scenario, the bill now working its way through parliament on nongovernmental organizations is part of the same picture: a government obsessed by control and determined to establish a rigid chain of command or what Putin himself calls reestablishing the "vertical of power.”

Aleksandr Petrov of Helsinki Rights Watch in Moscow is another who has watched the galloping re-centralization of Russia with alarm -- not so much because he thinks the country is sliding back into the past but more because he fears Russia's marginalization on the world stage. "Any kind of centralization, whether it be the full subordination of parliament [to the president] or the subordination of the mass media, and especially television, or the process that has just begun to marginalize nongovernmental organizations will represent to some degree a step back,” he says. “I don't want to suggest that Russia will soon be transformed into the Soviet Union but in the long term Russia risks losing its place in the world arena -- and forever."

Whatever the case, it is clear that there is little now to stop Putin from pressing ahead with further centralization except, perhaps, his own better judgment. Civil society in Russia is still in its infancy, the political opposition is enfeebled, and most Russians appear quiescent in the face of Putin's transformations. The temptation for him will be to consolidate his power still further -- to rigidify that "vertical of power" -- especially as the challenge of parliamentary elections lies not far ahead, in 2007. But at what cost for Russia? http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/12/ace0524f-7ade-4a60-be05-ccf14183ae07.html


Hows about selling Iran the material to build a Nuke?

[tsovimnpb]

Originally posted by pchang
looking at her past work. Start looking at the stories she was still working on at the time of her death. Her work in progress will provide a much better motive and suspect list. On the day of her murder, Politkovskaya had planned to file a lengthy story on torture practices believed to be used by Chechen authorities, Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov said. Those accused in the story of practicing torture belong to security detachments loyal to Chechnya's pro-Moscow Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, Muratov said. The detachments are known as kadyrovtsy. A day after Politkovskaya was found dead, police seized her computer hard disk and material she had assembled for an investigative article; the story may now never be published. Additionally, Muratov said, two photographs of the suspected torturers have disappeared.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Politkovskaya#Death

[viagra-kaufen]

Originally posted by Comrade Tassadar


True enough. I think we can all agree that Putin is far far preferable to Yeltsin I can't

[denwerdinoss]

.

[erroxiainsona]

Originally posted by Arrian
But what do I know? I'm an American fascist Russia-hater.

-Arrian Really?
Before this statement I considered you as one of my few friends here.
I'm sorry for calling your country fascist, thus hurting you patritoic feelings, but whenever an American calls Russia a fascist state, I reply accordingly. Nothing personal.

[Nifoziyfar]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris
Sure we should wait for an investigation, the justice system in Russia is so transparent. Exactly.

[Obenuearema]

Originally posted by VJ

And I and Serb both think it's "BS".

[teridbruse]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
everything Putin does is defensible on the surface. Sure, the elected governors had issues with corruption, and plenty of democracies dont have elected governors. Case closed.

OTOH all the democracies that are comparable to Russia in size and extent DO have elected governors, 1) Give me your list of democracies comparable to Russia in size, that have elected governors.
2) Our governors ARE elected. The people who elected them do not vote for exact candidate directly. They vote for political parties at local parliament elections. The party who won the election, then offers its candidate for approvement to the president of Russia, whom the people of Russia, aside "the beacon of democracy and the last hope of humankind - US of A", ELECT DIRECTLY, not through electoral college like you do.
The fact that you don't elect your president directly, like the most democracies worldwide, makes USA a dictatorship?

[Afigenatjola]

Originally posted by Serb

Case closed.


1) Give me your list of democracies comparable to Russia in size, that have elected governors.
2) Our governors ARE elected. The people who elected them do not vote for exact candidate directly. They vote for political parties at local parliament elections. The party who won the election, then offers its candidate for approvement to the president of Russia, whom the people of Russia, aside "the beacon of democracy and the last hope of humankind - US of A", ELECT DIRECTLY, not through electoral college like you do.
The fact that you don't elect your president directly, like the most democracies worldwide, makes USA a dictatorship?
When it was instituted, in 1789, it along with several other provisions WERE intended to make the US less than a full democracy. Indeed, at that point most states had property requirements to vote. Not only at that time was the president chosen by electors, but the electors were usually chosen by state legislatures. However since 1789 numerous reforms have been made which have made the US system democratic. Now IF the US, under a strong charismatic leader were making changes going in the other direction - then yes, that would be a sign of concern.

You will note that I havent said that Russia today is a dictatorship. I am concerned that Russia is headed in that direction though.

as for continental scale democracies, IM thinking the US, Canada, Australia, Brazil. As far as I know none of them require central govt approval of state/province governors. India has on occasions had the central govt take over a state govt, IIUC, but thats always been a sign of the weakness of Indian democracy, I thought.

[biannaruh]

Originally posted by Spiffor

Very interesting. Thanks for the explanation
The way it was presented here, I thought governors were nominated from Moscow. The head of state approval in most western parliamentary democracies is pretty nominal - the head of state not having much real power. How would there be danger from the Pres. of Germany approving the Chancellor, when the Presidency of Germany (today, not Weimar) has so much less power than the Chancellorship? In Russia the approving office is the President who dominates the executive - Spiff, can you even name the PM of Russia without looking it up? And from all Ive gathered the CHANGE was motivated by the actions of particular governors. the justification is that the governors were corrupt, were obstructing progress,etc. But it was certainly a real change.

[zueqhbyhp]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


Boris Yeltsin wont get a parking ticket. That was the deal your lovely Putin made to get into power. If you dont like the deal, you should vote against Putin. And speak up against him. While you can Damn, how many times should I say that I didn't vote for Putin (both times).

[Golotop]

ACHTUNG: Sarcasm again (mostly).

Originally posted by lord of the mark
The head of state approval in most western parliamentary democracies is pretty nominal - the head of state not having much real power. How would there be danger from the Pres. of Germany approving the Chancellor, when the Presidency of Germany (today, not Weimar) has so much less power than the Chancellorship? If the power of the German president is so nominal, what's the point to let him approve or not approve the candidacy of new Chancellor elected by parliament?
Do you belive there is something in the German constitution which prevents him to say NO, that he always have to say YEA?
Sure, when the Chancellor is approved, he gets much more power than president, but before that...

In Russia the approving office is the President who dominates the executive Really? Please tell me more about that. I'm actaully shoked, 'cause the Russian constitution (Article 110: Executive branch) doesn't have a single word about President domination over the executive. The Russian PM is elected by the Russian parliament.

- Spiff, can you even name the PM of Russia without looking it up? I can, as well as 99.99% of Russians, so?
Spiff or you aren't Russians. Why should you know the name (Fradkov) of our PM?
I can't name the PM of United States of America, no matter how hard I'm trying to look it up. So what?
You blame Russia: “Russian president dominating the Russian PM”, while your own president (once again, the president “elected” in disregard to modern standarnds of true democracies ( I mean direct presidential elections) even doesn't have a PM to dominate upon.

Does it mean that USA is not a democracy and actually heading towards dictatorship?
Sure it doesn't, because US was a dictatorship from the beggining.
In US the President and the executive are the same junta:

[Rqvtwlfk]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
heres an article on Russia by Putins own former PM.

http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=700710
Ah.... what a crap

And you claim we don't have a free media?

[janeemljr]

It's rather telling that Serb has to resort to the rather tired UR line of "but the US..." in his rather weak defense of the state of Russian democracy.

[StivRichardOff]

Originally posted by Arrian
It's "what crap" Serb. No "a" in that.

I take it you think the man just has an axe to grind with Putin?

-Arrian I mean that even such moron here has a tribune for spreading his so fascinating, so lying and so funny BS stories.

p.s. Thanks for correction. There are no articles in Russian language and all those "a" and "the" are real pain in the ass for me. Can you educate me about proper use of "a" and "the" in PM?