Quote:
In Russia's troubled region of Chechnya, run by pro-Kremlin President Ramzan Kadyrov, electoral officials have said a partial count showed United Russia won more than 99% of the votes on a 99% turnout.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7124585.stm
This kind of thing happening in Russia really is not a surprise. Don't get me wrong, United Russia would have won the election in any case. And I wouldn't give a flying damn about their interior affairs. Seriously, whatever floats their boat. Live and let live, thats how it's often put. Except I'm worried about the letting live part.
Putin definitely is capable of boosting Russian national self-confidence straight through the ceiling. You bet Russian people are sick and tired of having lived in a farce of a country pretty much since the dissolution of the USSR (I don't think Soviet Union was better) - chaos, crime, poverty, corruption, economical, social, political and military demise. So, then in New Millenium's Eve Yeltsin pulls Putin out of his sleeve and voila - not a decade has passed Russia is feared and kind of respected once again. If I was an average Ivan I too would probably be all for Putin's firm fist. I think it's a part of Russian mentality that they are ready to give up and sacrifice part of their personal freedom and quality of life in exchange for a mighty and powerful mother Russia.
What worries me though, is what this new Putin's Russia is built of. Political influence/control through downright blackmailing with natural resources (Ukraine etc.), using "good olde" KGB methods (FSB is now thriving), media control, muscle-flexing by developing new ballistic/nuclear weapons, sending strategic bomber jets, submarines and warships on long-range patrols (UK, Norway, including the incident about two years ago when a Russian Su-27 fighter jet breached Lithuanian aerospace and crashed near a small village a little more than 100 miles from its capital) etc. Many of these things fall quite far from the "live and let live" maxima, thus they don't really fall under Russian interior affairs anymore.
The whole point of my post is probably very simple - call me paranoid, but as a person living in a country bordering Russia I do not feel safe. I really hope Putins Russia is not a time bomb for the rest of the world.
I congratulate Russians with their elections, and hope each of them will get what he/she voted for. And I do hope that when their life quality has increased, they start thinking of getting some of their freedoms back, if it's not too late. Peace and prosperity to everyone!
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Edited by ivi (12/03/07 03:23 PM)
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