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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia | |
| Russia's Medvedev takes power, pledges freedom | |
| 2008-05-08 | |
| Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as Russian president on Wednesday and nominated his predecessor Vladimir Putin as prime minister, ushering in an unprecedented period of dual rule. Medvedev, a 42-year-old former corporate lawyer and longtime Putin ally, stressed freedom and the rule of law in his first remarks after taking the oath of office in a solemn, emotional ceremony in the Kremlin's glittering St Andrew's Hall. "I believe my most important aims will be to protect civil and economic freedoms," he told guests at the inauguration, broadcast live on state television. "We must fight for a true respect of the law and overcome legal nihilism, which seriously hampers modern development."
The new leader, who arrived at the Kremlin alone in an armoured black stretch Mercedes limousine flanked by 11 motorcycle outriders, inherits a booming $1.3 trillion economy fuelled by high oil prices -- and a sobering set of challenges. They include rampant corruption, rising inflation, a falling population, sickly industry and agriculture and increasingly tense relations with former Soviet neighbours and the West. A White House spokeswoman said U.S. President George W. Bush wished Medvedev well in his new role and was looking forward to working with him. The two leaders will probably meet at the Group of Eight summit in Japan this summer, she said. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 Yeah, that theory is perfectly demonstrated in N. Korea, Zimbabwe and Myanmar, to name a few. But I guess those people just wanted repression and starvation. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2008-05-08 18:46 |
| #3 The leader of any country, be it a king, a prime minister, a president, or even a foreign invader, is constrained by the people. That is because, though they give the orders, the people have to execute them. So in the carrot and stick manner, if he tells them to do something they want to do, they do it quickly, efficiently and well. If they don't want to do it, they are sluggish and the work is done poorly or not at all. Medvedev, and Putin before him, face the same people, after a fashion, that did the communists and even the Czars. And all of them eventually have to give the people what they want. And there are times when the Russian people are intensely xenophobic, when they confuse liberty with weakness and crime, and basically, they want a government that is more brutal than what the government wants to be. So the leader has to, one way or another, give them what they want. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-05-08 09:31 |
| #2 Why do they bother mouthing these platitudes? |
| Posted by: mojo 2008-05-08 09:04 |
| #1 See also RENSE > GORBACHEV: US PROMISES CANNOT BE TRUSTED. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-05-08 01:19 |