DECEMBER 2007

From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 12/6/2007 2:48 AM
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Kremlin Wins a Duma With No Legitimacy
By Konstantin Sonin
I drafted this column on Sunday before the results of State Duma elections were in, but I do not need to change much after the Central Elections Commission announced their preliminary results on Monday. The most important result of these elections was not the number of seats gained by three pro-Putin parties and the Communists. The most significant consequence is that we have a parliament with very little legitimacy.

The crucial reason for this lack of legitimacy is that the laws that governed these elections did not meet even the minimum democratic standards. Furthermore, compliance with these laws was extremely selective. On top of this, the majority of international observers were excluded from monitoring the elections. Although the positions of foreign governments have little influence on the dynamics of Russian politics, this decision undermined the legitimacy of the elections.

The problem is that the large-scale use of the ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 12/6/2007 2:54 AM
Tuesday, November 27, 2007.
A Losing United Russia Program
By Alexei Pankin
 
Addressing a For Putin meeting at the Luzhniki arena last week that had been paid for by United Russia campaign funds, President Vladimir Putin sent a message to his compatriots that life had become better and happier. But he also said the country runs the risk of falling apart due to the machinations of Russia's enemies, who are supported by oligarchs and foreigners, and the demagoguery of certain political parties that promise unrealistically high pension increases (read: the Union of Right Forces, or SPS).

A common feature of all elections since 1993 is that the authorities use the full force of the media to discredit those forces they feel represent a real threat to their power. This time around, SPS was just about the only designated enemy in town. The overwhelming majority of coverage against SPS that was broadcast on Channel One, Rossia and NTV television was negative in ...
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Wednesday, November 28, 2007
 
Unmasking President Putin's Grandiose Myth
By Anders Aslund
 
Most political leaders are mediocre, a few are heroes and some are just plain lucky.

  In Russia, many see President Vladimir Putin as a hero -- an authoritarian reformer who has brought economic growth and stability to Russia. But let's scrutinize his record a little closer. Russia's outstanding achievement is that its gross domestic product has increased six fold from $200 billion in 1999 to $1.2 trillion this year, but this is primarily a result of the market reforms undertaken in the 1990s.

The real growth rate is not outstanding. The whole Eurasian region raging from China to the Baltics has been growing at rates from 7 percent to 11 percent annually since 2000, but Russia's growth rate has only been 6.7 percent. In spite of its abundance of oil and gas, it ranks 9th among the 15 former Soviet republics in growth for this period. The reason is that Russia is lagging behind in most reforms.

Financial ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 12/6/2007 3:45 AM
    
Putin washes his hands of parliamentary election
05.12.2007     Source: Pravda.Ru     URL: http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/102286-putin-0

Russian President Vladimir Putin has commented on the parliamentary election results. As expected, he began to distance himself from United Russia party. His primary goal now is to retrieve his role of the national leader.

For a start Putin demonstratively refused to visit United Russia headquarters soon after elections. Putin has even more bad news for his party: he excluded a possibility of forming one-party government. United Russia still remains just a part of the parliament.

Why did Putin decide to chair the election list of United Russia? There can be different versions found to explain his decision. Some think that it was done to retain control over the constitutional majority in the Duma, at the cost of the national leader status. Others think that Putin needs some additional trust mandate to solve problems with his future employment.

Putin’s participation in elections could give him a ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 12/7/2007 6:27 AM
09:19 GMT, Dec 07, 2007
Communist Party prepares suit against alleged elections violations

     MOSCOW.  Dec  7  (Interfax)  -  The  Communist Party of the Russian
Federation  (KPRF)  is  preparing  a  petition  to the Central Elections
Commission seeking to recognize the State Duma elections as invalid, and
will also  hold  a  national  protest action on this point, First Deputy
KPRF Chairman Ivan Melnikov said.
     "The KPRF does not recognize the results of the elections. The KPRF
legal department  is  preparing  a  petition  to  the  Central Elections
Commission and the Supreme Court requesting that the election results be
recognized as invalid. An All Russian protest action against all blatant
violations  of the elections will be held on December 22," Melnikov said
at a press conference in the Interfax Central Office on Friday.
     The  KPRF  Central  Committee  Presidium  has  recognized  that the
December  2 elections were dishonest, non-free, and so the KPRF does not
recognize the election results," Melnikov said.
     "We   have   noted  that  falsification  of  elections  took  place
throughout  the  whole  Russian ...
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