Ed, the
CSM agrees with you. Kremlin’s
corporate seizure a war of elites @ http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1031/p01s03-woeu.html “Until now, Putin has
apparently kept the two conflicting Kremlin clans in check by playing one off
the other. But the likely departure of Putin's chief of staff, Alexander
Voloshin, is being seen as a symbol of the new power shift - and a warning to
business. Voloshin - a main Kremlin advocate of big business - is a former
Yeltsin aide known as the "Gray Cardinal" for his master-of-intrigue
influence. He played a critical role in bringing Putin to power. Dmitri Orlov, deputy
head of Moscow's Center for Political Technologies, predicts that "the
authoritarian nature of the current regime will increase ... and expansion of
the siloviki will have negative
consequences for the whole of civil society and the political future of the
country. "The problem is
that, being aggressive as they are, and expanding quickly, this group has no
positive program," says Mr. Orlov. "It's clear a change of elites is
taking place at the top, but what is their message? Let it be a totalitarian
program, but it should be clear. It can't just be power for power's sake." Critics of the growing
power of the siloviki faction,
including many in Russia's print media, charge that the informal system of
checks and balances that prevailed in the Kremlin until now is crumbling, as
the St. Petersburg faction makes its play for more control over Russia's vast
natural resources, which in turn means more political power.” I believe
that, constitutionally, Putin has one more term to go but cannot run again in
2008. I don't think that Putin went after K. on petty political grounds,
but on grounds of who runs Russia, the central government or the
oligarchs. I repeat what I've said before: Russia, except at the village
level, is not inherently democratic. There are too many diverse interests
and too many nationalities. When I was there in the mid-nineties, the war
against the Chechens was getting all of the attention, but there were several
other little regional wars going on at the same time - one of the academics I
talked to said as many as twelve. The central government, whether
czarist, communist or Putinist (KGBist?), firmly believes that to control
Russia, it has to sit on it hard, very hard, and be extremely wary of any
threats to its power. During the past decade, governments have not been
in a position to do the hard sitting, but it now seems that Putin has built
up a bureaucracy of former KGBists, well able to do the kind of dirty work
that needed to handle threats to his power. I would be willing to bet
that by the time Putin leaves the scene everything will be under control and
that his successor will be a Putin clone. Ed Dimitri Simes
of The Nixon Center was just on CSpan this morning being interviewed on a
number of topics covering Russia and confirmed that Khodorkovsky may have
political ambitions. He said that
Putin cannot run for reelection next time, the implication is that K. has to be
taken out of the competition or become a rehabilitated loyalist who will
continue to play Putin’s game. Simes mentioned
that the court imposed prison sentence ended Dec. 31st. Is that correct? If it extends
beyond that, there would seem to be more politics involved, or Tsarist
tendencies, as Keith has suggested, at play. KWC |
- RE: [Futurework] Article on Khodorkovsky Karen Watters Cole
- Re: [Futurework] Article on Khodorkovsky Ed Weick
- Re: [Futurework] Article on Khodorkovsky Karen Watters Cole