G8 Summit and Russia's Prez
As we all know (hopefully :? ) Russia hosted the G8 Summit this year in St. Petersburg. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, is a former KGB colonel who was stationed in East Germany. He's probably a communist at heart, and if he isn't he's got a funny was of showing it: he's revised the Russian constitution to expand government control on everything, including the media, and limit public voting for office. He's slowly turning the country back to Soviet times. In fact, he called the collapse of the USSR "the worst political disaster of the century" or something along those lines. Those weren't his exact words but it was the same general idea--he's not happy the Soviet Union is no more, and unless something can be done to stop what he's done to the political situation in Russia, a Soviet-like regime may be back :o
Any thoughts on any of this?
Re: G8 Summit and Russia's Prez
Quote:
Originally Posted by RusskiSlav
a Soviet-like regime may be back
It would be great man, yeah, it would be really great. I'm missing free education, free apartments, the low crime level, free medecine and the real freedom for all. Unfortunatly it never comes back.
Re: G8 Summit and Russia's Prez
Quote:
Originally Posted by RusskiSlav
As we all know (hopefully :? ) Russian hosted the G8 Summit this year in St. Petersburg. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, is a former KGB colonel who was stationed in East Germany. He's probably a communist at heart, and if he isn't he's got a funny was of showing it: he's revised the Russian constitution to expand government control on everything, including the media, and limit public voting for office. He's slowly turning the country back to Soviet times. In fact, he called the collapse of the USSR "the worst political disaster of the century" or something along those lines. Those weren't his exact words but it was the same general idea--he's not happy the Soviet Union is no more, and unless something can be done to stop what he's done to the political situation in Russia, a Soviet-like regime may be back :o
Any thoughts on any of this?
I completely agree, what the collapse of the USSR was a worst political disaster of the century.
I don't think, what Putin is "slowly turning the country back to Soviet times", however. Because:
- in Soviet times, there was no open multi-party system (and one-party system was even declared in Soviet constitution until 1990). Now, the parties and social movements are really countless.
- in Soviet times were no free alternative elections (and almost no elections at all, only 100% formal elections of the deputies of the Supreme Council). Now there are lots of elections, with are alternative: there are typically up to 10 candidates to President's post, and 20-30 parties/movements participating in Duma elections.
- there was almost no freedom of speech and non-government media did not exist. Now, there is a lot of private newspapers, radio and TV companies.
- finally, there was almost no economical freedom -- and now there are a lot of private and partially private companies and corporations.
So, where's the "turning back to the USSR"? Putin is smart enough not to repeat mistakes of the old...
Re: G8 Summit and Russia's Prez
Quote:
Originally Posted by JJ
Quote:
Originally Posted by RusskiSlav
a Soviet-like regime may be back
It would be great man, yeah, it would be really great. I'm missing free education, free apartments, the low crime level, free medecine and the real freedom for all. Unfortunatly it never comes back.
Well, while I'm not a Putin-hater, I have to disagree.
Education is still free if you mean universities. Not very easy to enter one for free but still possible. If you mean ultra-popular universities of Moscow, there sould be some "filter" anyway. Are bribes and блат better than official payment?
Free appartments - if you mean коммуналки, then yes. I used to live in one. I would prefer a rented flat to living in коммуналка.
Low crime level - I see no difference. Except that in USSR crimes were not so widely spoken about on TV (which perhaps was good).
Free medicine - there was one but the quality was on the same level as the price (paid indirectly through taxes).
Real freedom - well we were free and still we are free. Who took your freedom away?
The positive thing the present government is trying to do is not the restoration of USSR, but actually bringing Russia to a normal social and economic level - the thing that was equally missing in USSR and after its breakdown.
But, JJ, they respect your opinion about free appartments and will retain the last 5-floor "хрущевка" building in Moscow as a memorial:
http://www.vesti.ru/news.html?id=96350
Re: G8 Summit and Russia's Prez
Quote:
Originally Posted by pisces
Quote:
Originally Posted by JJ
Quote:
Originally Posted by RusskiSlav
a Soviet-like regime may be back
It would be great man, yeah, it would be really great. I'm missing free education, free apartments, the low crime level, free medecine and the real freedom for all. Unfortunatly it never comes back.
Well, while I'm not a Putin-hater, I have to disagree.
Education is still free if you mean universities. Not very easy to enter one for free but still possible. If you mean ultra-popular universities of Moscow, there sould be some "filter" anyway. Are bribes and блат better than official payment?
Formally, the higher education is still free, but in fact...
As time goes, more and more "commercial" faculties, less and less free ones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pisces
Free appartments - if you mean коммуналки, then yes. I used to live in one. I would prefer a rented flat to living in коммуналка.
Why necessary communal flats? Lots of people got a quite normal, 1-, 2- and even 3-room apartments. Now these flats cost a significant amount of money.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pisces
Low crime level - I see no difference. Except that in USSR crimes were not so widely spoken about on TV (which perhaps was good).
The crime level *definitely* was much lower! If you compare number of really hard crimes (like, with use of firearms...) -- I'm afraid, the present rate is *orders* higher than in Soviet times!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pisces
Free medicine - there was one but the quality was on the same level as the price (paid indirectly through taxes).
For free, the Soviet medicine was really not bad (which was admitted by the UNHCR, for examples).
And, BTW, the modern medicine isn't so good, especially thinking how non-free now it is. ;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by pisces
Real freedom - well we were free and still we are free. Who took your freedom away?
I always thought, what *freedom* is a very personal thing in fact. Like, if some person want to be free -- he *will* be free (in any country and any times). Alas, 99% of people just don't want and need to be free (regardless of country and political system, too).
Quote:
Originally Posted by pisces
The positive thing the present government is trying to do is not the restoration of USSR, but actually bringing Russia to a normal social and economic level - the thing that was equally missing in USSR and after its breakdown.
Agreed completely.