Heil Putin!

[Y2A]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3517331.stm

Putin dismisses entire government

Viktor Khristenko becomes Putin's temporary prime minister.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed his government in a live television broadcast.

The surprise move comes weeks before a presidential election which Mr Putin is expected to win by a landslide.

Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko has been named as temporary replacement for Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov.

Mr Kasyanov was known to be unpopular with Mr Putin, but his future had been expected to be secure until after the 14 March election.

He was among the Kremlin's few survivors from the camp of Mr Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. Most liberal Yeltsin-era figures had already been driven out by Mr Putin's new breed of appointees.

He also had links with the oligarchs - the super-rich businessmen who made their fortunes during Mr Yeltsin's post-communist privatisation era but have fallen out of favour since Mr Putin's election.

The announcement on state-run television was trailed simply as a statement.

Shares dip

Mr Putin said the decision did not reflect on the government's performance, which was satisfactory "on the whole".

"This is linked to my wish to set out my position on what the country's course will be after 14 March 2004," he said.

Mr Putin said he had the power to ask for the government's resignation under article 117 of the Russian constitution.

Russian share prices dipped after his announcement.

Analysts said Mr Putin's main target had almos

t certainly been Mr Kasyanov, but under the constitution he was unable to remove him without firing the entire cabinet.

"Putin just simply can't stand Kasyanov," said Igor Bunin of Russia's Centre for Political Technologies.

VIKTOR KHRISTENKO
A 46-year-old former economics professor
Rapidly rose to deputy PM under Boris Yeltsin
Served as emissary to the IMF
Seen as a technocrat, loyal to Putin
"There has been a lot of disagreement over economic policy, like issues related to taxes, mortgage schemes and so on."

Voters are likely to respond positively to the signal that Mr Putin is cutting Russia's last tie with the Yeltsin years, he added.

"If his rating stands at 80% now, it will jump to 85% after this announcement," he said.

Most analysts, however, had expected Mr Putin to act against Mr Kasyanov only after the election.

[Y2A]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3517713.stm

Full text: Putin dismisses government


Mr Putin is to name a new head of government
Esteemed citizens of Russia, in accordance with Article 117 of the Russian Constitution, I have taken a decision to dismiss the government.

This decision is not related to an assessment of the results of the activities of the former composition of the government, which on the whole I consider to be satisfactory.

It has been dictated by a desire to once again set out my stance on the issue of what the course for the country's development will be after 14 March 2004 [the date of the presidential election].

I think Russia's citizens have the right to and should know the proposals for the composition of the supreme executive body of the state if I am elected president of Russia.

The progress of all state and socioeconomic reforms depend to the most vital extent precisely on the government.

Therefore, I consider it right to announce right now, without waiting for the end of the election campaign, the composition of the supreme executive body of state authority, which will have to assume its part of the responsibility for the further development of our country.

The timely formation of the government will make it possible to avoid uncertainty in the structures of federal executive authority and consequently to support the state apparatus's ability to work and preserve the speed set for reforms, including within the framework of administrative reform that has begun.

In accordance with Article 111 of the Russian Constitution, I intend to submit to the State Duma the candidacy of the chairman of the Russian government [i.e., the prime minister] within the set time.

Within a week of being appointed, the chairman of the government will have to present me with proposals for a new structure of the federal bodies of executive authority.

At the same time, I instruct the current composition of the government to continue to carry out its obligations until a new government of the Russian Federation is formed.

[Y2A]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3517867.stm

Analysis: What's behind Putin move?

By Sheila Barter
BBC News Online


Russian President Vladimir Putin took Russia and the world by surprise by suddenly announcing his entire government had been dismissed.

But the momentum towards the decision had probably been building for months as Mr Putin's allies consolidated their hold on the Kremlin.


Kasyanov was among the last top survivors of the Yeltsin era
Mr Putin's dramatic swipe at his government, less than three weeks before presidential elections, was targeted on one man: his prime minister, Mikhail Kasyanov.

"I would say that it is not the firing of the government. It's the firing of Mikhail Kasyanov," said Sergei Markov of Moscow's Institute of Political Studies.

"According to the constitution, Putin can't do it without firing the whole cabinet."

Wiping out a whole cabinet to remove one man may seem excessive, but Mr Kasyanov represented an entire era, not just a single figure.

It is very positive because it shows that Putin is severing the last links with the Yeltsin era

Erik Wigertz
United Financial Group
He was a Boris Yeltsin-era appointee, one of the few to have survived the onward march of Mr Putin's allies into the Kremlin.

"It's a symbolic move. Putin stood up and effectively said: I want to make it clear that all ties with Boris Yeltsin's family and its son, Kasyanov, have now been severed," Igor Bunin of the Centre for Political Technologies told Reuters news agency.

Mr Putin's move was also being depicted elsewhere as an "end of empire" move against the Yeltsin men.

"It is very positive because it shows that Putin is severing the last links with the Yeltsin era," said Erik Wigertz of United Financial Group.

Most analysts, Igor Bunin included, had expected the purge to come after the election.

But in the end, psychology as well as symbolism played their part, he believes: Mr Putin simply could not stand Mr Kasyanov, and they were disagreeing on key areas of economic policies.

Family versus clan

Mr Kasyanov was the last big-name survivor of the Yeltsin-era camp at the Kremlin, known as the "family".

The most recent high-profile casualty was Kremlin chief-of-staff Alexander Voloshin, relieved of his duties by the president last October.

Mr Voloshin, like Mr Kasyanov, was a liberal with strong sympathies for the oligarchs who made their fortunes in the chaotic days of privatisation which Mr Yeltsin presided over.


Putin's purge had been expected after the election
As the liberal "family" members have been ousted one by one, their places have been taken by the "clan" members of Mr Putin's entourage.

Some have been allies from Mr Putin's former life as head of the former Russian secret service, the KGB. Others have been from his heartland in St Petersburg.

Mr Voloshin, for example, was replaced by his deputy Dmitry Medvedev, a close Putin associate from St Petersburg.

The loss of Mr Voloshin - a key Kasyanov supporter - left the prime minister exposed. Analysts say his two other claims to the job - his economic management skills and his ties with the oligarchs - have also faded in significance.

'Tsar Vlad'

"The three reasons are no longer important," said Sergei Markov.

The president, admired by many Russians for his strong leadership, is already sailing towards the 14 March presidential elections with an unassailable lead.

His latest tough-man act is expected to earn further electoral respect.

"He wins time - the new government can now be appointed earlier than if he had done this post-election," Mr Wigertz says. "He shows strength and that he is not afraid of controversy."

Mr Putin has already attracted the nickname of "Tsar Vlad" during his steady consolidation on power. His latest decision is likely to strengthen his hand - and his image - still further.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Welcome to capitalism, Russia.

Is this sort of thing happening in all former eastern bloc countries not jumping up and down at the EU's door?

[RedCeltic]

It is quite sad that Russia isn't any more democratic under capitalism than it was under the Soviet Union. I wouldn't go so far as to imply that this is any short coming of capitalism. Yet I would point out that the democratic problems that Russia and other former Soviet block nations face, go deeper than simply the enconomic system.

Democratic centerism may have made things easier for power hungery soviet leaders to take control, yet I feel that it is something much deeper in the culture of those nations that causes leaders to seek absolute power, and people to accept it. It's pretty frightening really.

[Iepilei]

...but, they have a free-market system so they're a democracy, right?

:o :( :unsure:

[Saint-Just]

Democracy is not an issue of division of the state and the government or elections. Democracy is concerned with which ideas hold sway. These ideas determine the base superstructure of society, thus our education, our economic system, and so, how free individuals are to act and think.

It is a bourgeois lie that society is democratic because individuals have such and such participation in elections and so forth. It is justified by the reasoning that there is no ideological struggle, that through elections the most progressive ideas will be chosen. Democracy depends on the victory of socialism, Marx said 'the meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism', similarly that is the case for the meaning of freedom and democracy.

Capitalism is an economic system, and however democratic a society is, it is a bourgeois dictatorship under capitalism. Democracy does of course allow us the possibility that we may change ideas, nevertheless we must not be fooled into thinking that in the liberal democratic system people will be free. It is which ideology holds sway, and in capitalism, socialism will not hold sway and therefore society will not be democratic however liberal democratic it is.

Many need to reject the bourgeois notions of philosophy and politics they have and chose the Marrxist, socialist view of the world.

[Autarky]

Originally posted by [email protected] 25 2004, 02:20 PM
...but, they have a free-market system so they're a democracy, right?

:o :( :unsure:
The two are not always intertwined.

[Y2A]

When have I ever said that a capitalist system is completely immune to corruption??? Fucking idiots.

[Iepilei]

it appears as though we have struck a nerve. sarcasm has a bitter sting.

[Saint-Just]

Of course from a Marxist perspective no capitalist system is democratic (as I explain in my above post). From such a perspective the relevence of corruption to democracy in a capitalist society is non-existent.

[Slobo Is God]

There has never been either Democracy or Capitalism in Russia and anyone who thinks that there has either isn't Russian or has never been to Russia. Vladimir Putin is a KGB trained Communist dictator who drugs and kills all of his Capitalist political opponents.

[General A.A.Vlasov]

KA:

Y2A...what kind of an idiot are you!? :huh: :angry:

Dismissing the govt. is his RIGHT!!!
He did it because he don't want to loose time! "Administrational" reform would be stopped because of (potential) Inactivity of new govt.!

Putin want to create new govt. to make this reform quickly!
OF COURSE he want to create PRO-PUTIN's govt. And this is normal - with his people in govt. his work will be more easy and faster!

Almost every american president did the same...

[Ortega]

Originally posted by General [email protected] 28 2004, 04:01 AM
Almost every american president did the same...
None that I can think of. American presidents have gone pretty far in the past, but if any American president went far enough to dismiss his entire government (as Putin has done), he would be out of office before you could blink.

Of course it's not Putin's "right" to disband the government... what about the people?? What about their rights??

[Saint-Just]

Originally posted by Slobo Is [email protected] 27 2004, 05:20 PM
There has never been either Democracy or Capitalism in Russia and anyone who thinks that there has either isn't Russian or has never been to Russia. Vladimir Putin is a KGB trained Communist dictator who drugs and kills all of his Capitalist political opponents.
Interesting conspiracy theory on Putin.

[General A.A.Vlasov]

KA:"

Slobo Is God - silly, brainwashed boy!

Ortega, by our constitution disbanding govt. is right of president!!!
If you don't belive me, read our constitution!


American presidents have gone pretty far in the past, but if any American president went far enough to dismiss his entire government...

I told you about carrying president's friends into govt.!

Khristenko willn't be premier minister! There are alot of candidates!

[Liberty Lover]

Free the World (http://www.freetheworld.com) has Russia listed at number 112 of 123 in its annual Economic Freedom of the World report. This is not surprising.

[General A.A.Vlasov]

...and?

[Y2A]

Originally posted by General [email protected] 9 2004, 10:59 AM
...and?
and.........his point is that everyone here is "blaming" the evil capitalist system meanwhile the Russians do not have much economic freedom. It's basically putting the commies on check with their BS by pointing out that it is not very capitalist. Hell, the state to this day still owns media sources.

[STI]

Y2A, do you consider Canada to be capitalist?

[Y2A]

Originally posted by [email protected] 10 2004, 01:44 AM
Y2A, do you consider Canada to be capitalist?
No country is truly "capitalist". As a matter of fact there has never actually been a "capitalist" country nor should there be. "True Capitalism" would only result in monopolization and inevitably destory the basic capitalist principle of competition. As for Canada, it is more of a regulated capitalist system.

[General A.A.Vlasov]

Ok.

Well now, our new chairman of govt. is M.Fradkov!

[sh0cker]

Zdravstvuj, Rusi!

Putin is the only men who can save Russia now!
As we all now during past years, Russia was very corrupted, and on of the former of KGB is the only one who can settle things down.
Just look at him, you will see that he is not one more stupit president like some people think, it is not even close to truth!


sh0cker