FSTDT Forums
Community => Politics and Government => Topic started by: Lana Reverse on March 18, 2018, 04:25:20 pm
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43452449 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43452449)
Unsurprisingly, there are claims that people were ordered to vote (https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/03/18/world/europe/18reuters-russia-election-observers-irregularities.html).
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GEE WHO'D A THUNK IT A MASSIVE TIN POT DICTATOR WOULD'VE JUST SAID THE ELECTIONS HAPPENED! WHO'D A THUNK IT?
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Putin is an even worse liar than Trump. On top of that he's bringing the cold war back by threatening the US with super nukes and shutting down the US power grid through hacking.
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And apparently we already have new videos of election officials cheating...
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Putin? Rigging things so he'll keep power over the Russians?
Unheard of!
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Time to go anecdotal. I discussed Russian politics last year with a Russian woman who is on a teaching gig in the local University. She told that her ex-husband was a primary school teacher and when elections came the teachers were given quotas of how many parents they were supposed to talk into voting for the ruling party. In another election her current husband was a city/town council member. The council members were given lists of passport numbers and they were put to work forging voting records that showed that these people had voted.
I'm quite sure that the open election fraud is not meant to ensure victory for Putin - that would happen anyway. The purpose is to make sure people know the process is corrupted so they don't even try to challenge him and to make the corruption and oppression part of everyday life so people just accept it as normal in every level.
Edit: To make my point more clear. The openness of the election fraud is meant to demoralize people, Putin doesn't even want to be subtle with that stuff.
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I wonder if Putin knows that when he kicks the bucket, Russia goes down with him. He's the only thing keeping that whole thing from coming apart right now. Nobody stronger then Putin, that's the way. Only he's mortal and edging into his 70s. Granted he's a very fit man but one has to wonder how many more years he's got left.
Ironbite-the mind does slow down eventually.
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It's possible but I wouldn't be so sure about that. If someone gets majority of the oligarchs behind him or Putin sets the table for a successor they can just step in to fill the void. The government institutions will stand behind him to preserve their own power specially since I suspect the Soviet era authoritarian mentality is till ingrained in these institutions. Maybe the new ruler will be more of a puppet for the oligarchs but I doubt the whole system collapses.
If Putin dies suddenly the power struggle will be most destructive. If he just gets more frail and his death/retirement can be foreseen from far enough there will be time to perhaps have the struggles mostly done by the time he is gone.