Political Crossfire Forums

[Azmorott]

The tragedy that happened in the city of Beslan, Russia was a cruel attack on innocent children. Those who are responsible for the attack deserve the ultimate punishment, which is death. But is this all a staged incident to frame the Chechnyans and help Putin gain more power? Or is Putin using the tragedy in attempt to gain more power?

Putin's recent attempts to change the Russian Parliament, is proof that he is using it in his play for more power. Here is my scenario, which is an extreme one. Putin or some of his associates hired some people to pretend to be Chechs and siege the school. Then Putin sent in his own troops and wiped them all out, which gets rid of all evidence. Now he can begin to present his changes to the Parliament as way to tighten national security in Russia. The perfect disugise for his plan.

Azmorott

[BlueEmperor1]

For nearly two weeks after the barbaric terrorist slaughter of 338 Russians in Beslan, half of them children, President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin were largely, and strangely, silent. Then came, however, the deluge of change. They have been announced by President Putin one after the other and it seems pretty clear to me that, finally, here had come the moment Mr Putin had been waiting for, empowering him to put into place a number of provisions he had clearly long been planning and working toward.

His first step was to destroy what was left of any democracy in the provinces: He has now abolished that miserable 10 per cent of gubernatorial elections he had, reluctantly, left in place. Now all provincial authorities will be appointed by the Kremlin. President Putin has told the 89 governors that, in future, their appointment would be ratified by regional parliaments on the recommendation of the presidency. Most of the governors are now scrambling over one another to join President Putin's party, United Russia.

Next, he moved to crush the remaining independence of the Duma. Now, its members are to be elected solely on a party list basis, giving President Putin control. The other half, hitherto elected by local constituencies, will be eliminated.

Most worrying of all, he has called for an integrated "internal security" and anti-terror system. Many now believe that he intends to re-form the KGB. I did Soviet and Russian Politics during my second year at university and, in my view, these moves were pretty predictable. Since President Putin came to power in 1999-2000 he has, while talking the talk of democracy, been walking the walk of taking power for himself. But the additional steps he has taken, not expected by anyone, point to extremely ominous new possibilities. President Putin blames conflicts such as Chechnya on the collapse of state power after the Cold War and calls the fall of the Soviet Union a "national tragedy". We now also know the real reason behind the sudden arrest of the enormously rich oil tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, founder and head of the Yukos oil empire - President Putin has given the go-ahead to consolidate the state's control over the entire energy sector of Russia and has approved a plan to combine Russia's state oil company with the Kremlin-controlled natural-gas giant OAO Gazprom. This gives the Kremlin control over the vital energy industry and creates the world's largest energy company open to Western investment. It can be expected that, while Mr Khodorkovsky rots in gaol, this new giant will acquire the Yukos assets. All of which points towards Vladimir Putin's Russia sliding back to Soviet-style total central control. The democratic hopes of 13 years ago now seem all but dead.

We see the character and psychology of the ancient Russian mind returning. When President Putin abolished the remaining independence of the governorships the elected governors simply stood up and praised him - reminiscent of those 1930s show trials when loyal Bolsheviks praised Stalin as he sent them to their graves. President Putin's regime, once called "managed democracy" or "populist nationalism" or even "market Bolshevism", following the events of this September, is now ominously being referred to as the "September Revolution".

B.E.

[Azmorott]

Finally, someone else that sees my point of view. But to back up proof that leaders gain power in times of tragedy. Look at President Bush (yeah go Bush!!!!!!!) after 9/11 it seemed as if the whole country would follow him off the end of the earth. But being the good man that he is, Bush did not take advantage of the people in that situation. Putin however, realizing that the people would now follow him anywhere. He then took advantage of the situation to completely change the Russian political system. I would not be surprised if Putin tried to do away with the term limits within the next few months.

AZMOROTT