Word: putinã
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There is much to lament about Putin??s Presidency, from his promotion of the siloviki (former military and KGB officers), to his gradual elimination of independent media outlets. But the Chechen conflict has been Putin??s most dramatic—dramatically horrific—failure. With the confidence of a cowboy and the sophistication of a schoolyard bully, Putin favors using a tank to crush a cockroach. Throughout the war, calls for moderation and respect for basic human rights have been dismissed as unreasonable restraints on Russia’s ability to achieve a long-term...
However, I favor the “Putin is half-crazed” explanation. If his irrational persistence in Russia’s clearly failed approach to the Chechen conflict were not enough, I would point to a few choice press conference quotes. When questioned on the Chechen conflict, Putin??s impassive KGB demeanor has slipped on a number of occasions, betraying his crude vocabulary and coarse mindset. Asked to describe Russia’s goal in the Chechen conflict, he stated that it was to “whack the bandits in the john [toilet...
Putin, however, has been quick to celebrate Maskhadov’s death as a validation of his Chechen policies, as justification of the indiscriminate use of force as a solution to difficult problems. Putin??s celebration would be the rough equivalent of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon putting a hellfire missile through Mahmoud Abbas’s window, celebrating the defeat of Palestinian terrorism, and ignoring Hamas. While the moderate, democratically elected Chechen leader Maskhadov lies dead, other, more radical Islamic fundamentalist fighters are still at large. In particular, Shamil Basayef, the mastermind of the horrific Moscow theater...
...into the quagmire: the Parliament passed a series of non-binding resolutions declaring the election invalid, outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has endorsed a new vote, and the Supreme Court this week is hearing Yushchenko’s challenges. The international community, too, is weighing in, with Russian President Vladimir Putin??s government endorsing the election results and several diplomats from the European Union expressing implicit support for the Western-leaning Yushchenko...
...hardly gives him the credibility to criticize another nation’s sacrifices in the name of security. Even if the president did have the moral authority to rally the world’s democracies, it is not clear most Americans would care to see him do it. After Putin??s most blatant power-grab yet, the threat of de-democratization in Eastern Europe will likely continue to seem remote to an American public used to thinking of Russia as a defeated, ailing society—more of a joke than a potentially powerful state...