Vladimir Putin, the Bumbling Imperialist

Wall Street Journal ^ | November 30, 2004 | GEORGE MELLOAN

[OESY]

...Vladimir Putin... has again exhibited his contempt for democratic rule and his tin ear for the angry opposition in the world's democracies....

Ukraine was starved into submission by Stalin 72 years ago, but when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence. It was not, however, an independence willingly accepted by Russian hardliners....

The massive outpouring of demonstrators in what they call the "Orange Revolution" is an attempt to replicate the "Rose Revolution" in Georgia... Serbia... the Berlin Wall, the "Velvet Revolution" in Czechoslovakia and the Solidarity victory in Poland. There was one significant failure too, the Tiananmen Square freedom effort bloodily put down by Chinese troops in 1989.

In Russia, Mr. Putin has waged a brutal war against the Chechens.... He has threatened the government of Georgia, which Russia tried to subvert even when it was led by Mr. Shevardnadze.

In Russia, Mr. Putin has seized control of television news. Independent-minded journalists increasingly risk losing their jobs, and some have lost their lives. He has all but destroyed one of Russia's leading private companies....

Meanwhile, Mr. Putin has grown testy with foreign leaders....

In fact, it is Mr. Putin who doesn't understand the modern politics of democratic rule. By stifling democracy and private enterprise in Russia, he has ensured that when things go wrong, he personally will get the blame. Civil institutions and the free debate that are so vital to viable government will never emerge.

But civil, nongovernmental institutions are emerging in Ukraine, made evident by the well-organized, peaceful street demonstrations under way now. Mr. Putin would like to stop them and make sure that they never spread to Russia and threaten his increasingly authoritarian rule. He is on the wrong side of history.

[nw_arizona_granny]

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