Article

2012-03-09 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Putin Vows 'Non-Party' Presidency for Russia

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Posted by Fred 2012-03-09 00:00|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 What's the difference between "Non-Party" and "One-Party"? I wonder.

Posted by Willy 2012-03-09 03:50|| 2012-03-09 03:50|| Front Page Top

#2 Little or nothing. A large number of Russians still embrace the concept of a "Vohzd" (leader)(typically the polite address for Lenin and Stalin, though it fell out of favor with Khrushchev), be it a Czar or a General Party Secretary.

Historically, Russia was ruled by the Czar over what amounted to a senate of major landholders. If the Czar was weak, the landholders would pick up the slack.

This resulted in a miscalculation on their part once, with Peter I "The Great" (1672-1725). When he traveled to Europe to steal technology, mostly shipbuilding technology, the landholders assumed he was weak, so tried a coup. But Peter had a competent first minister, who arrested and held them for his return.

He used a sword to personally cut off the heads of the traitors.

To his credit, he did build a navy, and because of his actions, by the turn of the 20th Century, Russia had become the world's fourth largest industrial power, a huge accomplishment in that they began for the most part from an almost medieval state.

Posted by Anonymoose 2012-03-09 10:02|| 2012-03-09 10:02|| Front Page Top

#3 Russians have a very bad associations with the word "Party".

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2012-03-09 10:47|| 2012-03-09 10:47|| Front Page Top

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