Sidelining the Opposition
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posted by zaina19 on April, 2005 as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 4/18/2005 4:01 AM Monday, April 18, 2005. Sidelining the Opposition By Nikolai Petrov In the world of Russian soccer, coaches and the president of the national governing body have been fired in the quest for success; you can't get rid of the opponents, after all. In Russian politics, on the other hand, the rules are changed so that the president and lower-tier officials can sideline their opponents and hold onto their jobs. A slate of amendments to election laws submitted to the State Duma by President Vladimir Putin, along with the bill on Duma elections passed in a second reading last week, is the latest step in a sweeping transformation of the entire electoral system. This is Putin's second crack at election reform, and it may prove more radical than the first, especially when you figure in the recently implemented system of appointing governors and the shift away from direct mayoral elections that is part of the ongoing reform of municipal government. At ... >> full
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 4/19/2005 12:50 PM 19.04.2005 Rice’s “Russia gambit” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visiting Russia for the first time as America’s top diplomat, is expected to promote an agenda of closer security and defense cooperation, as well as to reiterate Western concerns related to Vladimir Putin’s commitment to democracy. Balancing both policy agenda, Rice is expected to press head with the former and approach latter indirectly. Slated to visit Moscow for two days starting Tuesday, Rice has made it clear U.S. policy toward Russia is one of engagement, but with concerns about what her predecessor Colin Powell called «Russia’s democratic backsliding." As Rice departed for Moscow, she echoed some of the same sentiment, stating: «Our relationship with Russia holds enormous potential, and we can do even more together as Russia moves along a democratic path." Is Rice’s approach toward Russia the same as Powell’s? One could ask and even question whether Rice is of the same mind when it comes to U.S. policy toward Russia ... >> full
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The liquidation of Aslan Maskhadov — a new stage of the coup d’йtat in Russia?
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
18.04.2005 After Maskhadov The liquidation of Aslan Maskhadov — a new stage of the coup d’йtat in Russia? Maskhadov is dead. But the war continues, because the death of the president of unrecognised Ichkeria has not so far solved any of the essential problems. Yet could it? However, in order to answer the question «What will happen in Chechnya now?» we must at least know what the disposition of forces was at the moment of Aslan Maskhadov’s murder, and what was the resistance’s real potential. And this is a tricky problem that contains many unknowns. If it is really true that Maskhadov held in his hands all the controlling threads of military operations, their planning and coordination — then yes, the blow was a powerful one, and the movement was decapitated, if only for the simple reason that there was among the separatists no other figure of equivalent stature, either from the point of view of purely human authority or of military talent. While Shamil Basayev, now de facto becoming ... >> full
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 4/19/2005 1:27 PM April, 19, 2005 "Pragmatic Slaves" Once again the favorite policy carried out by Russia in the Chechen Republic pushes itself to a precipice once again. Knowing neither Chechens, nor their historical roots, with silly conceit continuing to revel in its nonexistent "greatness", Russia has turned into a blind machine, destroying everything in its way. And only having collided with the movement of the Chechen Resistance, this machine stops, - however, not really realizing with what it has actually collided. At all times the victories of Russia were reached by that they used the superiority in strength, prevalence of manpower resources. The matter is not that Russian soldiers are at war worse or better than soldiers of other armies; the matter is that always the tyrannical Russian state preferred to cover its ideological inconsistency, its antinational essence (tyrannical state regimes can never be "national") with use of the gun meat thrown for indemnification of failures in external or internal policy. Having ... >> full
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Prev Discussion Next Discussion Send Replies to My Inbox Reply Recommend Message 1 of 1 in Discussion From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 4/26/2005 4:09 AM April, 25, 2005 The genius of mediocrity What would Ekaterina Andreeva say if she had Joseph Stalin's case? The person, who conceals his stature, can hardly be named great. It is precisely known about Lenin, that he did not conceal his stature: he was small and dynamical, and his internal greatness was shown literally in each his movement. We also know about Napoleon, that he almost did not conceal his stature because he was very movable. It is known about Stalin, that he carefully masked his stature. It was done so carefully in all documentary and other films, that many people today do not know, that Stalin was only slightly taller, than Lenin. Actually, he was of the same stature, but they had absolutely different manners to move. Stalin moved slowly, was silent for a long time with a pipe in his hands, ... >> full
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