Russia no longer can pose as democracy
News outlets in previous years described G-8 summits as meetings of the world’s richest democracies.
Things have changed. Now most news outlets have stopped referring to G-8 members as democracies. The Economist, for example, slyly refers to this week’s meeting as the G-7 democracies plus Russia.
The new description merely recognizes reality. Russia was added to the G-7 (United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, France, Italy and Japan) after Russia embraced genuine democracy after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Vladimir Putin, however, restored autocratic rule during his tenure as Russian president.
It’s a tribute to Putin’s cunning that the reversion from wild and wooly democracy to velvet-gloved autocracy happened with so little alarm or concern among the rest of the world’s democracies. The other members of the G-8 could kick out Russia, of course, but they lack the will.
At least Putin no longer is fooling the world.
The human rights organization Freedom House in a report last month said it became clear last year that Putin had grabbed authoritarian power with an “Iron Triangle” of government officials, industry leaders and security services.
The Iron Triangle muzzles independent news media, squelches political dissent and intimidates political opposition.
Freedom House said Russia has become the leading anti-democratic force in its region, lending support to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, which are run by dictators, while at the same time trying to undermine democracy in Georgia.
Some Western observers believe Russia is encouraging Georgian separatists so it can use the violence as a pretext for annexing the region. Even as the G-8 nations were meeting this week in Japan, a bomb went off in Georgia, killing at least four people.
That popularity made it easier for Putin to retain power when he switched offices this year, moving to the position of prime minister while his hand-picked successor Dimitry Medvedev was elected president.
The election, however, failed to meet minimal standards of democracy. Russian officials “blocked international and independent domestic observers from monitoring the elections in a substantive manner,” Freedom House reported.
There’s little doubt that Putin remains popular with the Russian people, primarily because the nation’s economy has continued to improve, in large part because of oil reserves.
And Putin’s success in retaining international respect while subtly gathering authoritarian control will embolden those with similar inclinations elsewhere in the world.
The days that Russia could masquerade as a true democracy, however, are over.
Things have changed. Now most news outlets have stopped referring to G-8 members as democracies. The Economist, for example, slyly refers to this week’s meeting as the G-7 democracies plus Russia.
The new description merely recognizes reality. Russia was added to the G-7 (United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, France, Italy and Japan) after Russia embraced genuine democracy after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Vladimir Putin, however, restored autocratic rule during his tenure as Russian president.
It’s a tribute to Putin’s cunning that the reversion from wild and wooly democracy to velvet-gloved autocracy happened with so little alarm or concern among the rest of the world’s democracies. The other members of the G-8 could kick out Russia, of course, but they lack the will.
At least Putin no longer is fooling the world.
The human rights organization Freedom House in a report last month said it became clear last year that Putin had grabbed authoritarian power with an “Iron Triangle” of government officials, industry leaders and security services.
The Iron Triangle muzzles independent news media, squelches political dissent and intimidates political opposition.
Freedom House said Russia has become the leading anti-democratic force in its region, lending support to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, which are run by dictators, while at the same time trying to undermine democracy in Georgia.
Some Western observers believe Russia is encouraging Georgian separatists so it can use the violence as a pretext for annexing the region. Even as the G-8 nations were meeting this week in Japan, a bomb went off in Georgia, killing at least four people.
That popularity made it easier for Putin to retain power when he switched offices this year, moving to the position of prime minister while his hand-picked successor Dimitry Medvedev was elected president.
The election, however, failed to meet minimal standards of democracy. Russian officials “blocked international and independent domestic observers from monitoring the elections in a substantive manner,” Freedom House reported.
There’s little doubt that Putin remains popular with the Russian people, primarily because the nation’s economy has continued to improve, in large part because of oil reserves.
And Putin’s success in retaining international respect while subtly gathering authoritarian control will embolden those with similar inclinations elsewhere in the world.
The days that Russia could masquerade as a true democracy, however, are over.
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