The only problem with Vladimir Putin was; who would take over when he's gone and I'm sure that bothered him as well, so everything he's doing should be seen in that context. Now tell me, does this look like the kind of leader that wants to gain more power, or one who is preparing his country for a transition? "... In a move that looks set to significantly boost the power of parliament, Vladimir Putin called for changes to the Constitution that would enable the Duma to select the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers instead of the President..." Anyway the government had to resign since it is under Medvedev and he has been removed from the position of PM. This will give the new Prime Minister the chance to form his own government. Medvedev will now be the deputy chairman of the Security Council.
Vladimir Putin wants the whole country to vote on the changes in the Constitution, so they probably won't come into affect until September. Until then Medvedev will probably remain in position, as well as his government.
The Kommersant in Moscow is calling this the January Revolution. Seems fitting for a former KGB agent who bemoaned the demise of the USSR...
Sorry guys, you can lie and deceive the American people all you want with your spins, but it ain't gonna change a thing in Russia. Vladimir Putin is making sure of that. I'm dancing now so full of glee, to tell you that our dear country is not for sale, nor will it fail and if you think it's just a tale, then let me say that we are proud and burned too much in history; from others that were just like thee. But being burned's a lesson learned and trust is something one must earn and you haven't - so give it up! - Jeannette
Could go either way, but I suspect Putin is ready to walk away while much of his popularity and legacy remains in tact.
It's safe to say nobody knows what Russia's Constitution says.... http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-07.htm Chapter 6. The Government of the Russian Federation Article 117 1. The Government of the Russian Federation may offer to resign and the President of the Russian Federation either shall accept or reject the resignation. 2. The President of the Russian Federation may take a decision on the resignation of the Government of the Russian Federation. 3. The State Duma may express no-confidence to the Government of the Russian Federation. A no-confidence resolution shall be adopted by a majority of votes of the total number of the deputies of the State Duma. After the State Duma expresses no-confidence to the Government of the Russian Federation, the President of the Russian Federation shall be free to announce the resignation of the Government or to reject the decision of the State Duma. In case the State Duma again expresses no-confidence to the Government of the Russian Federation during three months, the President of the Russian Federation shall announce the resignation of the Government or dissolve the State Duma. 4. The Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation may raise before the State Duma the issue of no-confidence to the Government of the Russian Federation. If the State Duma votes no-confidence, the President shall adopt in seven days a decision on the resignation of the Government of the Russian Federation or dissolve the State Duma and announce new elections. 5. In case of a resignation of the Government of the Russian Federation it shall continue to work on the instruction of the President of the Russian Federation until a new Government of the Russian Federation is formed. ____________________________ Constitutional Amendments are voted on by the people. Just for good measure: Chapter 4. The President of the Russian Federation Article 81 1. The President of the Russian Federation shall be elected for six years by citizens of the Russian Federation on the basis of universal, equal, direct suffrage by secret ballot. 2. Any citizen of the Russian Federation not younger than 35 years of age and with a permanent residence record in the Russian Federation of not less than 10 years may be elected President of the Russian Federation. 3. One and the same person may not be elected President of the Russian Federation for more than two terms running. 4. The rules of electing the President of the Russian Federation shall determined by the federal law. Article 84 The President of the Russian Federation shall: announce elections to the State Duma according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the federal law; dissolve the State Duma in cases and according to the rules fixed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation; announce a referendum according to the rules fixed by the federal constitutional law; submit bills to the State Duma; sign and make public the federal laws; address the Federal Assembly with annual messages on the situation in the country, on the guidelines of the internal and foreign policy of the State.
Ty for sharing that. Putin will clearly remain in charge at least until another government is formed. Which makes perfect sense - the last thing Russian needs is a transition period of anarchy.
Someone will have to prove it can be done, or Russia will always just be one bad dictator away from collapse.
I think the government is formed by the Prime Minister, and since Medvedev is resigning as PM, it gives the new PM a chance to form his own government. (I might be wrong, but this is how I took it). As for Vladimir Putin, he remains in office until 2024 - or so I believe.
What Vladimir Putin said is: "Those who do not reminisce about the Soviet Union have no heart, and those who want it back have no brains". Putin considers the break up of the Soviet Union the worse calamity of the last century, only because 20 million Russian's found themselves living outside of Russia. This doesn't mean the fears of nations such as the Baltic ones towards Russia aren't legitimate - especially considering the Russian populations there are living under an apartheid system. Russia tries to pacify their fears, by showing through its own example how nations can federate and give more rights to the ethnicities and faiths within them. But it's not easy to alleviate their fears when the US is manipulating the same fears for their own interests.
Rapid change has never been Russia's friend. Putin may be able to establish a sustainable benign democratic system. It will be a challenge.
"What Vladimir Putin said is: "Those who do not reminisce about the Soviet Union have no heart, and those who want it back have no brains"." That's very good. Do you have citation/url for that quote?
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/22931 President Vladimir Putin: Distinguished Members of the Federal Assembly, Citizens of Russia, In this Address of 2005 I will dwell on a number of fundamental ideological and political issues. I believe such a discussion is essential at the current stage of Russia's development. The most important social and economic tasks facing us, including specific national projects, were set out in the previous Address. I intend to elaborate them in the coming Budget Address and in a series of other documents. At the same time I would ask you to consider last year's and this year’s Address to the Federal Assembly as a unified program of action, as our joint program for the next decade. I consider the development of Russia as a free and democratic state to be our main political and ideological goal. We use these words fairly frequently, but rarely care to reveal how the deeper meaning of such values as freedom and democracy, justice and legality is translated into life. Meanwhile, there is a need for such an analysis. The objectively difficult processes going on in Russia are increasingly becoming the subject of heated ideological discussions. And they are all connected with talk about freedom and democracy. Sometimes you can hear that since the Russian people have been silent for centuries, they are not used to or do not need freedom. And for that reason, it is claimed our citizens need constant supervision. I would like to bring those who think this way back to reality, to the facts. To do so, I will recall once more Russia’s most recent history. Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and compatriots found themselves outside Russian territory. Moreover, the epidemic of disintegration infected Russia itself. Individual savings were depreciated, and old ideals destroyed. Many institutions were disbanded or reformed carelessly. Terrorist intervention and the Khasavyurt capitulation that followed damaged the country's integrity. Oligarchic groups – possessing absolute control over information channels – served exclusively their own corporate interests. Mass poverty began to be seen as the norm. And all this was happening against the backdrop of a dramatic economic downturn, unstable finances, and the paralysis of the social sphere. Many thought or seemed to think at the time that our young democracy was not a continuation of Russian statehood, but its ultimate collapse, the prolonged agony of the Soviet system. But they were mistaken. That was precisely the period when the significant developments took place in Russia. Our society was generating not only the energy of self-preservation, but also the will for a new and free life. In those difficult years, the people of Russia had to both uphold their state sovereignty and make an unerring choice in selecting a new vector of development in the thousand years of their history. They had to accomplish the most difficult task: how to safeguard their own values, not to squander undeniable achievements, and confirm the viability of Russian democracy. We had to find our own path in order to build a democratic, free and just society and state. When speaking of justice, I am not of course referring to the notorious ”take away and divide by all“ formula, but extensive and equal opportunities for everybody to develop. Success for everyone. A better life for all. In the ultimate analysis, by affirming these principles, we should become a free society of free people. But in this context it would be appropriate to remember how Russian society formed an aspiration for freedom and justice, how this aspiration matured in the public mind. Above all else Russia was, is and will, of course, be a major European power. Achieved through much suffering by European culture, the ideals of freedom, human rights, justice and democracy have for many centuries been our society's determining values. For three centuries, we – together with the other European nations – passed hand in hand through reforms of Enlightenment, the difficulties of emerging parliamentarism, municipal and judiciary branches, and the establishment of similar legal systems. Step by step, we moved together toward recognizing and extending human rights, toward universal and equal suffrage, toward understanding the need to look after the weak and the impoverished, toward women's emancipation, and other social gains. I repeat we did this together, sometimes behind and sometimes ahead of European standards. It is my firm belief that for present-day Russia democratic values are no less important than economic success or people’s social welfare. First, every law-abiding citizen is only entitled to firm legal guarantees and state protection in a free and just society. And, no doubt, safeguarding rights and freedoms is crucial both to Russia's economic development and its social and political life. Continues.......
I know what Putin said and I'm capable of interpreting his remarks without your spin, propaganda and anti-American fear mongering, thank you. Vlad the Invader is little to no different than the other moral and intellectual pygmies who reminisce about Nazi Germany and consider its breakup the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the last century, and it's not surprising that a man who served the USSR's machine of oppression would feel that way. Like the fall of Nazi Germany, the fall of the Soviet Union was one of the most positive events of the last century that liberated hundreds of millions of human beings from the Kremlin's murderous, dictatorial and rapacious rule. Putin is a product of that monstrosity and he is patterning the current government after it. He has effectively re-established one-party rule in Russia with him as its leader and just like the folks at the Kommersant it's not hard to see and predict where his January Revolution is headed. Fortunately, what happens in Russia isn't my problem and I hope it stays that way, but as we saw with Nazi Germany, the USSR and even revolutionary France, what happened in those countries didn't stay there and they wound up becoming a problem for the world around them.
I actually linked the state of the union address that everyone takes out of context, a video addressing that point again, and parts of the actual Russian Constitution and you want to come up in here with that? Apparently you DON'T know what he said or you can't READ what I linked.
Once again I am struck by the fact that the great geo-political catastrophe in the USSR-Russia during the last century was not the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 but the fall of Russia in 1917. I can't help but see that as the root of all the problems Putin complained about in that speech.
I wasn't responding to your post in #44, and you'll never convince me that the USSR was something to reminisce about or that it's fall was the greatest geo-strategic catastrophe of the 20th Century. Vladimir Putin and many of his countrymen may feel that way but I don't, and neither do the Russians I've met and spoke with here in America. As for your post, I responded to it in #45. By all means, feel free to agree, disagree or not respond at all to what I posted.
Russki trolls should be drooling &fawning!) Welcome to your dictatorship......the only way Putinka will be removed is when he falls over dead from a stroke or heart attack...LOL. Vatniks should enjoy their perpetual diet of sardines and cheap samojonka.LOL.
So, in short a cry me a river drivel from the porch monkey lamenting lost glory days. And most dumb vatniks buy it hook, line, and sinker.)
No one told you to reminisce about it, but obviously there are people in the Russian Federation who do reminisce and there is nothing wrong in learning how people feel - especially when it comes to geo politics.
Well that's a nice spin but either you can't see or read. I'll help you with this video. It has subtitles so you can read along if you can figure out how to turn them on in ytube. You seem to think that Putin is a Lenin fan.....you would be wrong. He has repeatedly said Lenin was a traitor/committed treason/set a bomb under the country...etc.