VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
It wasn't Putin at the Abba tribute show - he's more of a Beatles man anyway
WHILE Western leaders remain mired in 20th-century thinking, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia has reinvented dictatorship for a new century. The new czar's creation is tolerant totalitarianism.
Vladimir V. Putin's Russia has become so controlling that political and economic liberalization may be an essential part of engineering an economic recovery here, a close aide to President Dmitri A. Medvedev said Monday.
Insider trading in Russia is widespread but offenders are rarely caught.
Al termine del discorso pronunciato giorni fa da Putin al Forum di Davos, il primo da due anni a questa parte senza più toni arroganti né allusioni minacciose, gli interrogativi s' accavallavano. Come bisognava spiegarsi le parole concilianti del primo ministro russo, la sua esplicita e improvvisa apertura a migliori rapporti con l' Occidente?
Russia has lost an empire and not yet found a role. As we approach the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we should pay tribute again to the fact that a nuclear-armed superpower surrendered its vast continental empire with scarcely a shot fired. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, many Russians have been regretting that act of historic magnanimity ever since.
The Russian economy, already pummelled by falling oil prices, trade disputes with neighbours and fleeing investors, took another step towards the abyss yesterday as the country's credit rating was downgraded. Russia is the first G8 nation to have suffered a downgrade since the start of the global financial crisis.
Amid economic crisis and political feuding, the Kremlin invites Gorbachev to share his thoughts. President Dmitry Medvedev has even taken to criticizing his mentor and prime minister, Vladimir Putin.
In its recent disputes with Georgia and Ukraine, Russia has been crashing around like a bear in a china shop. As a result, the west has been hyperventilating about the dangers of Russia's resurgence and a new cold war. But as the global financial crisis and collapsing commodity prices shake Russia's economy and strain its political system, the west may soon be worrying again about the country's weaknesses rather than its strengths.
Before the fall of communism, arms control was the yardstick by which all East-West relations were measured. Soviet-US détente produced a series of agreements to cut back the huge nuclear arsenals of each superpower. But although the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the nuclear stand-off remains. And the recent worsening in Russia's relations with the West, together with the expiry in December of the crucial 1991 Start pact to reduce nuclear warheads, has again made arms control a vital component of global security. It is an issue that President Obama now seems ready to tackle with an urgency not seen for two decades.
