George & Vladimir Yawn at Democracy--Moscow Times (great insights)

[Gloria]

From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


1//The Moscow Times, Russia Monday, January 30, 2006. Page 9,

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/01/30/006.html



OPINION: GEORGE AND VLADIMIR YAWN AT DEMOCRACY

By Alexei Bayer

(Alexei Bayer, a former Muscovite, is a New York-based economist.)



At first blush, there is little similarity between the diligent ex-KGB foreign intelligence officer who rules Russia and the blue-blooded scion of a political family who rules the United States. And yet, when George W. Bush declared in 2001 that he got a sense of Vladimir Putin's soul by looking "the man in the eye," it rang strangely true. There actually are close parallels between the men who, at the start of the new millennium, stumbled upon the presidencies of the two former Cold War rivals.



Both are accidental rulers. Putin was chosen almost at random by a coterie of rich oligarchs and Kremlin insiders. Bush, although born with a silver spoon in his mouth, was so lacking in experience and intellectual depth that even his own family never hoped to see this particular Bush in the White House. In fact, it took a Florida recount and a Supreme Court ruling to make him the leader of the free world.



Vladimir Vladimirovich and George Georgevich came to power around the age of 50 and both as exceptions to the rule that modern democratic political leaders typically rise to power through party ranks.



Bush and Putin didn't have to pay their dues, and thus failed to learn about compromise and realism -- qualities that make politics, in Bismarck's famous words, "the art of the possible." As a result, the two presidents have introduced something that had been pleasantly absent from great power politics for several decades -- namely, the private vendetta.

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[bemildred]

1. Hi Gloria, I'm not impressed with this thesis.

It reminds me of the "JFK was like Lincoln" stuff circulating after JFK was shot.
Conflating Putin (who has many flaws) with Bush (who is an ignorant fool) is a big mistake.

[Gloria]

2. I think it's pretty much focused on the "vendetta" theme...

I think he's correct on that...and they did come up through "unsusual" paths.

But, you're right--Putin certainly flawed. And Bush IS a fool, but he has Cheney behind him. I think, however, that Putin and Bush also share "craftiness" as a common trait.
That almost visceral survival instinct....

[bemildred]

3. Yeah, OK, but Pooty-Poot, so far, does not have Bush's fecal touch.

Which is why Pooty-Poot's "approval ratings" far exceed Bush's.
Whether Bush has Cheney or whomever else behind him, and despite
the fact that his policies have been very good for the wallets
of his backers, his policies have been uniformly destructive to
the wealth and power of the USA. Pooty-Poot has played a better
hand then the Bushites. Of course, much of that is because Russia
no longer has the imperial pretensions that the USA labors under.
You could make a good argument that when Pooty-Poot acts imperially
(e.g. in Chechnya) he's just as dumb as Bush.

But they are both weasels, it's like a job requirement for "democratic
leaders" I think, and it's true they both are examples of the fact
that "anybody can be president" these days. But when you consider
Andropov or Reagan, that is already quite clear, as with Caligula
and Nero in ancient Rome.