tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27932062.post1056542695542781093..comments2023-10-10T15:39:35.168+00:00Comments on Centre for European Reform: Is Putin going soft?Centre for European Reformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06815454225955436329noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27932062.post-45655991344105731432013-10-17T09:28:07.421+00:002013-10-17T09:28:07.421+00:00Charles,
Having just come from the annual meetin...Charles,<br /> <br />Having just come from the annual meeting of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum in the Hague I doubt if there are any civil society activists who would even pose the question ‘Is Putin going soft?’ He has closed down Memorial and Golos, two of the most respected NGOs in Russia, and their leaders have had to flee Russia for fear of persecution. I could give you countless other examples of the crack-down on civil society eg Bellona being fined 20K euros for having only one instead of two fire extinguishers on its premises. The law on ‘foreign agents’ hangs over the head of any NGO seeking to develop ties with the West.<br /> <br />If you think Putin is heading for democracy you may have had one vodka too many. He is quite simply the boss of a Mafioso state where journalists and lawyers are killed with impunity.<br />Brussels observernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27932062.post-65846584117819469822013-10-17T09:24:56.090+00:002013-10-17T09:24:56.090+00:00Charles,
... or is it you who is going soft? Putin...Charles,<br />... or is it you who is going soft? Putin has stamped on the demonstrators, controls the Duma, and is himself in power for another six years. He can afford to give Navalny a little (but only a little) slack, and risk the election of a couple of relatively independent mayors (it is worth recalling that no less than the mayor of Moscow was genuinely independent until three years ago). He is running a system which might be dubbed "adequate authoritarianism" in which you control only what you need to control; State TV but (mostly) not the newspapers, core parties but not the fringe, judicial decisions only when they have potential political implications, the internet only in extremis, and vote counts only when you really need to. And for this he gets encomia from nice Westerners such as (apparently) yourself.<br />Yours,<br />Tony (Brenton)<br />Tony Brentonnoreply@blogger.com