Russia Votes - Metro Card
Russia votes today for President. It’s not really a competitive election, we all know who’s going to win by a landslide. In part because of voter fraud and locking out any real opposition, but also because a majority of the people love Putin, so they’re vote for whomever he tells them to. A friend in Moscow recently bought a metro ticket for 60 trips that came with a handy reminder:
This is a great idea, and makes for a neat-looking card.
This election would be a lot more important than it is if Putin was actually passing the torch. He’s not. Instead, he’s going to stay in power as the Prime Minister. Many people think that this means he’ll still retain most of the power and use Medvedev as a puppet. I’m not entirely sure. Remember, Putin was picked in ‘99 because he was a weak, unknown candidate. There were various factions fighting to see who would take over from Yeltsin, and in order to sort of make a peace agreement Yeltsin selected Putin, who wasn’t a part of any of the factions. The difference is that Putin was a former KGB officer and Yeltsin left the scene. Medvedev is a businessman, and Putin’s staying on. So, I’ll withhold judgment for the time being. The thing about Russia is that you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Given the chaos of the 90’s, any smooth transition of power is progress, even it’s one as rigged as this.
“I consider it vitally important for our country to keep Putin in a highly important office of power.” - Medvedev
Не забудьте, голосуйте за Путина Медведева!!!!!
I guess that’s the difference between you and me (and, admittedly, between myself and many Russians). I prefer actual freedom to “smooth transition of power”. During the Soviet days, the transition of power was fairly smooth, as far as the average citizen was concerned, especially compared to Western-style democracies. They even cleaned up the history books, to make it even smoother… Nice and seamless.
Comment by Bugmaster — March 4, 2008 @ 1:03 am
You didn’t live on the former Soviet space during the 90s. You value freedom because you’ve had the privilege of living in a stable, free country since the time you were politically cognizant.
Comment by Owen — March 4, 2008 @ 11:04 am
I would like to hear more of your thoughts on the subject, Owen, as well as on the subject of Putin being the best possible ruler for Russia (you’ve said this before, but didn’t elaborate). It sounds to me like you’re saying that some countries simply aren’t ready for democracy; and, perhaps, it’s not a right system for them, at all. Is this accurate ? If so, why ? If not, why not ?
Comment by Bugmaster — March 4, 2008 @ 2:45 pm