Delthayre
09-14-2004, 12:07 AM
It is not unexpected, but it is still disheartening to know that once again Russia is falling out of the grasp of her people.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is proposing a number of radical changes to the Russian administrative structure (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17838-2004Sep13.html).
The basic jist is that Putin intends to strengthen the already powerful presidency and centralize authority while reducing the power of the voters.
As Kevin Drum notes, there's a sort of eerie parallelism, if to fiction.
President Vladimir Putin outlined plans Monday to "radically" change the Russian political system in a way that would increase his own power, portraying the moves as a means of combating terrorism in the aftermath of this month's deadly school seizure.
Putin's plan would eliminate the popular election of governors and individual members of parliament. The president would appoint governors, subject to the confirmation of regional legislatures. All members of the lower house of parliament, known as the State Duma, would be drawn from party lists rather than elected in individual districts.
As Kevin Drum (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/) notes, there's a sort of eerie parallelism to events close to our minds, though ones from fiction.
GRAND MOFF TARKIN: The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I've just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.
COMMANDER TAGGE: That's impossible! How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?
TARKIN: The regional governors now have direct control over territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line.
It's someting of a glib comparison, I know, but the similarities ring fairly true. I've known that Putin was well on the way to returning Russia to a more or less dictatorial state by shutting down independent media and establishing de facto absolute rule through dominance in the Duma, but it still rankles me. It is especially worrisome that he does this under the auspices of fighting terrorism. I think it could well make a cautionary tale that warns of the potential for manipulation that terrorism can allow.
I want it to be clear, however, that while I think both parties have amply exploited terrorism, I would suffer no hackish parallels to either candidate. Not even in my most partisan and hackish would I ever stoop so low as to place President Bush at the level of Putin. However, I think we lose nothing and gain some greater security in our liberty to be wary of what those in power can do with public fears.
"Under current conditions, the system of executive power in the country should not just be adapted to operating in crisis situations, but should be radically restructured in order to strengthen the unity of the country and prevent further crises..."
This quote stands out to me because of a historical parallel. The Russian Czars of the nineteenth century often claimed that Russia's brutal autocracy was necessary for governing and maintaining the unity of so vast an empire. Putin is making a similar claim, but with the more modern crutch of security. That he is pressing ministries to prepare anti-terror plans is laudable, but they hardly outweigh what strikes me as a fairly brazen effort to turn Russia away from rule by its own multitudinous people once more.
Poor Russia, she has never really known the good times, only the least awful ones.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin is proposing a number of radical changes to the Russian administrative structure (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17838-2004Sep13.html).
The basic jist is that Putin intends to strengthen the already powerful presidency and centralize authority while reducing the power of the voters.
As Kevin Drum notes, there's a sort of eerie parallelism, if to fiction.
President Vladimir Putin outlined plans Monday to "radically" change the Russian political system in a way that would increase his own power, portraying the moves as a means of combating terrorism in the aftermath of this month's deadly school seizure.
Putin's plan would eliminate the popular election of governors and individual members of parliament. The president would appoint governors, subject to the confirmation of regional legislatures. All members of the lower house of parliament, known as the State Duma, would be drawn from party lists rather than elected in individual districts.
As Kevin Drum (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/) notes, there's a sort of eerie parallelism to events close to our minds, though ones from fiction.
GRAND MOFF TARKIN: The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I've just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.
COMMANDER TAGGE: That's impossible! How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?
TARKIN: The regional governors now have direct control over territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line.
It's someting of a glib comparison, I know, but the similarities ring fairly true. I've known that Putin was well on the way to returning Russia to a more or less dictatorial state by shutting down independent media and establishing de facto absolute rule through dominance in the Duma, but it still rankles me. It is especially worrisome that he does this under the auspices of fighting terrorism. I think it could well make a cautionary tale that warns of the potential for manipulation that terrorism can allow.
I want it to be clear, however, that while I think both parties have amply exploited terrorism, I would suffer no hackish parallels to either candidate. Not even in my most partisan and hackish would I ever stoop so low as to place President Bush at the level of Putin. However, I think we lose nothing and gain some greater security in our liberty to be wary of what those in power can do with public fears.
"Under current conditions, the system of executive power in the country should not just be adapted to operating in crisis situations, but should be radically restructured in order to strengthen the unity of the country and prevent further crises..."
This quote stands out to me because of a historical parallel. The Russian Czars of the nineteenth century often claimed that Russia's brutal autocracy was necessary for governing and maintaining the unity of so vast an empire. Putin is making a similar claim, but with the more modern crutch of security. That he is pressing ministries to prepare anti-terror plans is laudable, but they hardly outweigh what strikes me as a fairly brazen effort to turn Russia away from rule by its own multitudinous people once more.
Poor Russia, she has never really known the good times, only the least awful ones.
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