Demonstrators hold posters demanding a new election
during a mass rally to protest alleged vote rigging
in Russia's parliamentary elections in Moscow
on Saturday, December 10, 2011.
Courtesy AP/Mikhail Metzel.
People have come together in at least 16 Russian cities in the last few days to protest alleged election fraud during that country’s parliamentary vote on December 4. Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, has ordered a probe into allegations that Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin cooked the electoral books.
According to CBS News, “Tens of thousands of Russians rallied in Moscow and other cities on Saturday in the largest anti-government protest in the nation's post-Soviet history to protest alleged fraud in the parliamentary election and to demand the departure of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.”
And here I thought things were calm and cool in that former Cold War dictatorship, once thought to be our Worst Enemy Ever and the reason why a generation of American schoolchildren was taught to hide under their desks in case of Soviet missile attacks. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – the Land of Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev – had disintegrated into 15 separate countries in December of 1991, ending the Cold War that began after World War II, proving to some that capitalism was superior to socialism, and transforming the globe politically, economically and militarily. I thought we could scratch Russia off our list of countries to worry about.
I was further reassured when I heard that Sarah Palin was keeping an eye on the place from her kitchen window or front porch or whatever it was.
I also thought Putin would be forever revered in Russia just as Reagan is here, elevated to undeserved sainthood by undiscerning voters. Putin, who served as Russia’s president from 2000 to 2008 before becoming Prime Minister again (he held this post before becoming president), has always scored well in popularity polls.
A 2005 survey found that three times as many Russians felt the country was "more democratic" under Putin than during the Boris Yeltsin or Mikhail Gorbachev years, and the same proportion thought human rights were better under Putin than Yeltsin. (Gorbachev was president of the former Soviet Union from 1988 to 1991; Yeltsin served as the first president of the Russian Federation from 1991 to 1999.)
Putin was TIME magazine's Person of the Year for 2007; that same year, Gorbachev said Putin was assured a place in history for pulling Russia “out of chaos” but acknowledged that the news media has been suppressed and election rules “run counter to the democratic ideals he has promoted.”
In 2007 the guy was receiving accolades; today he’s being vilified in the streets. Russians are now calling him a thief, accusing him of rigging elections, and mounting the biggest protest rallies the country has seen since 1991.
Russia’s presidential election takes place in three months and Putin planned on getting his old job back then.
I wonder if the people taking to the streets there will mean more or less than it has here.
A protester stands during a rally in downtown St. Petersburg on Saturday, December 10, 2011.
A sign reads "No vote." More than 10,000 people protested in St. Petersburg against Putin and his party,
which won the largest share of a parliamentary election that observers say was rigged.
Courtesy AP/Dmitry Lovetsky.
Protesters shout anti-Putin slogans during a rally
to protest alleged vote rigging in Russia's parliamentary elections
in Moscow on Saturday, December 10, 2011.
Courtesy AP/Mikhail Metzel.
Look familiar? A protester fights with a cop during a rally
in downtown St.Petersburg on Saturday, December 10, 2011.
Courtesy AP/Dmitry Lovetsky.
Sources: CBS News.com, Cold War Museum, Reuters.
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