Veronica Enriquez
Mrs. Thirsk/Wurster
Globish 10 E
7 May 2012
World Today: Vladimir Putin “ I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles, but today it means getting along with the people” Mahatma Gandhi once said. The greatest and most influential leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and our founding fathers were loved and got along with the people; although, modern day Russian President, Vladimir Putin might suggest “what they don’t know, won’t hurt them” as a motto. Vladimir Putin has managed to deceive the people and manipulate his current election as the President of Russia.
Vladimir Putin appears to have an innate nature to deceive and manipulate. Born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) on October 7, 1952, Mr. Putin grew up in a Soviet environment. He served as a counter intelligence agent in East Germany as part of the KGB from 1985-1990. Upon leaving the KGB in 1990 he joined the St. Petersburg reformist party for Russia’s early democratic movement. “It is a résumé that for better or worse may cite as the foundation of his ideas and personality” (Hill). Although, many others believe that the true foundation is when “on August 9, 1999, Yeltsin (Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia from 1991-1999) dismissed Sergei Stepashin, who had been prime minister for three months, and appointed Vladimir Putin to replace him”(Russia). Working for the KGB, Putin became a pro at staying a secret but as the public saw his face more he made his way to “acting President” on January 1, 2000 and was formally elected that March with a surprising 53% of the vote (Chaos). This led to curiosity on how someone can rapidly win 53% of the vote with only five months in office as Prime Minister (Chaos). Suspicion on Mr. Putin’s “main weapon” to how he became in power grew (Chaos). His main weapon was manipulation and it got worse as his popularity over Russia increased.
Vladimir Putin proved that muscles were not needed to be a leader. What Vladimir Putin lacked in muscle he made up for it in strategy. By the time Vladimir Putin had faced re-elections in March of 2004, he had a whopping 70% of the vote (Hill). In an appeal to the people he battled “wealthy business executives who controlled the economy, asserted power over disloyal governors and imposed state control over the media” (Hill). As Putin appeared to grow ever more confident, his grip on power grew steadily firmer. Vladimir Putin being seen as, “a strongman who has helped stabilize its (Russia’s) economy and politics while restricting dissents” was re-elected President of Russia for his second term in March of 2004-2008 (Hill). This was Putin’s second consecutive term as President of Russia. Vladimir Putin as President for the second time, promised to bring Russia back to its wealth. Vladimir stayed true to his word for the time being, in 2000 the official statistics, record a 3.2% economic growth from 1999, foreign-currency reserves were increasing by $1billion a month, inflation was under control, and public finances were looking remarkably healthy. However, with the arrival of Vladimir Putin the KGB had become more influential, and “the government has announced a 50% rise in spending on military equipment” (Chaos). Mr. Putin appeared to be using his power for the people but being a master of deception it in turn benefited him. His perks as President soon ended in 2008 due to a constitutional ban on a third consecutive term as president (Russia Election). Vladimir Putin had chosen Dmitri Medvedev as his successor that came to no surprise, as Dmitri Medvedev was his right hand man when in office (Russia). Although, Dmitri Medvedev was President, Vladimir Putin remained in “ultimate authority” (Hill). Medvedev chose Vladimir Putin to be Prime Minister of Russia (Hill). Being Prime Minister of Russia gave Putin more power and is still considered part of the “Putin reign”(Chaos). Being Prime Minister did not stop Putin from manipulating the public, Medvedev, or the Kremlin, the Russian government in Moscow. As Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin made it his duty to remain in power for as long as he can. In December of 2008, just months after Putin was chosen as Prime Minister, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a law extending the presidential term to a six-year term. Medvedev, Putin's handpicked successor, proposed the changes in November, starting with the next president (Russian). The Kremlin said in response to these actions “in a move many observers believe is designed to bring former president Vladimir Putin back to the nation's top office” (qtd. in Russian). Corruption had become more apparent to the people of Russia and Vladimir Putin didn’t give up his grip on power. Every move Putin made benefited him one way or another in his quest for power. He stopped at nothing to get back into office after being Prime Minister and his victims were the people of Russia. He manipulated them at all cost during the current 2012 Presidential elections, and the people fell for it, or at least that’s what the polls say. Vladimir Putin won 64.7% of the vote in the current 2012 elections. “This came as no surprise to many Russians” that Vladimir Putin would have won (Kendal), not because of his popularity though but because it’s no secret that the votes were skewed. Vladimir Putin, who is sworn in as President until 2018 as of May 7th, 2012, “was once again not a fair reflection of the country’s preferences, but a pre-cooked theatrical display, manipulated to produce the result the Kremlin always wanted” (Kendall). During his campaign Vladimir Putin made spending promises to “raise wages for doctors and teachers, padding retirement checks for everyone and refurbishing Russia’s military arsenal” in response to demonstrations by young and middle-class protestors in Moscow (Kramer). What Putin failed to mention as part of his theatrical display was that in order to accomplish these demands, that were made on an instant to entertain protestors, was that “doing that without busting the Kremlin’s budget would require oil to reach and sustain a price it has never achieved-$150 a barrel” (Kramer). That was yet another example on how he manipulated his current elections along with alleged allegations of voting fraud. 64.7% of the vote that Vladimir Putin supposedly won fair and square was not won “because he is overwhelmingly popular, but because his support will be supplemented by a potent mixture of vote-rigging and the debarring of all plausible alternative candidates” (Russia’s Presidency). Suspicions on violations in the voting process emerged from multiple sources during Election Day; such as “merry-go-round voting, where groups of voters turned up to vote more then once at different polling stations” (Kendall). Russian officials denied such allegations and “their parallel complaint was that opposition activists were deliberately flagging up rumors and ‘false information’ in an attempt ahead of time to undermine the election result” (Kendall); but many would disagree. “Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov was even more remarkable . . . he claimed the country was run by a mafia-like clique, that had in its pocket both the police, the courts and the chairman of the electoral commission in charge of these elections’ ” (Kendall). The Russians are split 50-50. Some are Pro-Putin and others are Anti-Putin. During this controversial election process demonstrations have appeared starting in January, when Putin announced he’ll be in the race this term. Demonstrations of ten of thousands of Russian have gathered together in either support or against Putin, all sharing the interest of being heard. “A demonstration in Moscow on February 4th got 100,000 people out in a temperature of -22 degrees Celsius” (Russia’s Presidency). Demonstrations such as these have continued since then. Demonstrations where organizers estimated more then 130,000 people present for Anti-Putin rallies. Where there is one party there’s the other. Police say they’ve had protests with 14,000 protestors against Putin in areas like Pushkin Square, and then a separate protest would occur in Manege Square, filled with an estimated 14,000 in support of Mr. Putin.