Putin: we have lost Russia's trust

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, admitted that his government had lost of the trust of its people and pledged to introduce what he called "direct democracy" to refresh it, when he is returned for a third presidential term next March.

Challenged during a meeting with foreign academics and journalists to admit that power in Russia was too centralised, that 80% of President Dmitry Medvedev's decrees were ignored or not fully implemented by the regions, and that no one trusted the power structure he had created, Putin astonished everyone by agreeing. He said: "I tell you, I agree. I don't object to anything you have said."

He said when he first became president 11 years ago the country was in so much chaos it was on the verge of civil war. He established a system of "manual control" over the regions, abolishing elections and appointing governors himself.

Speaking to a meeting of the Valdai Club, Putin said it was time to devolve certain powers and taxation back to the regions: "I have every intention to do that, but we have to act carefully. We have certain ideas about how to expand direct democracy, but it would be premature to announce them now. The British say it took 400 years for a lawn to be made, but we have not got that time."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/12/putin-russia-lost-trust

[tcaudilllg]

1. They've compared him to Darth...

but he's much, much worse. People knew Darth was bad... but Putin... why, they worship him!

[Fool Count]

5. Well, in comparison to the bunch of bozos you folks have in

Washington Putin is a veritable FDR, JFK, Einstein and Leonardo combined. At least he didn't
spend $2 trillion of his country's money fighting useless foreign wars.

[JesterCS]

2. among other things. like nuclear materials *snark* n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

3. I guess he hasn't been rearing his head...

in Alaskan airspace in a while :)

[Dover]

4. This may seem inflamatory but I'll say it anyway.

At the time he first came into power in Russia, I think Putin acted in the best interest of his country when he kicked out some of the oligarchs and took back control over big oil and other primary Russian assets. Privatization of Russia's assets was working great for the West but it was not good for Russia as a whole imo. It's similar to what Chavez decided to do. I'm not saying Putin is a great man or even a good man because I'm not close enough to that situation or informed enough to make a judgement. Power is still accumulating in a relatively few hands in Russia. But I do think at the time he had to act quickly and make some big moves. He did manage to pull his country back from the brink.
I'm guessing part of what he is saying now about decentralization could be to diffuse concerns about him stepping back into the drivers seat there for another term. It will be interesting to see if he actually 'devolves certain powers'.

A little more about this:
http://www.thomaswhite.com/explore-the-world/bric-spotlight/2010/russia-oligarchs.aspx


I wish Obama would/could make some big sweeping moves to get OUR oligarchs under control, but alas...power has a way of just changing hands rather than being dispersed or shared. So the dark side of crony capitalism seems to always be a corrupting force. I have more faith in what might come of a grassroots effort by the people to create new forms of governance that puts humanity and the planet as a whole at its core.

[Ginas]

6. Back to totalitarianism?

Putin-stan?