The Empire Gets Stronger



In last Sunday’s Russian presidential election, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was elected with some 70 percent of the vote. The communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov took almost 18 percent while Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democrats, scored nine percent. Last came the Democratic Party leader Andrey Bogdanov, with a little more than one percent.

The current Russian President ,Vladimir Putin, was not entitled to run for office because, according to the Russian constitution, he could not be president for a third time in a row, but he unquestionably remains the only real ruler of Russia. The president elect Dmitry Medvedev is one of the faithful to Mr. Putin, was elected with his support and in practical terms he is the interim president until the next election which will signify the return to the presidential chair of Mr. Putin. In the meanwhile, Mr. Putin will keep being the absolute ruler of Russia as prime minister. The 70 percent of the votes received by Mr. Medvedev are real votes honestly gained, but in real terms reflect the voters’ approval of Mr. Putin who is considered by Russians as a new Czar, insofar as they see him as their Czar.

Russia has been powerfully reborn as a world power and makes front page titles with its oil and gas diplomacy. It is in this context that Mr. Putin has managed to bring Russia back to the world chessboard, but in this case, energy diplomacy is not enough. Russia is becoming militarily stronger. Indeed, under President Putin, Russia has put its military industry in full production again with new, intelligent weapons suitable for the changing needs of modern warfare. At this moment, there are in Russia four major centres of power.

The Kremlin, the Ministry of Interior in charge of internal security, the Ministry of Defense in charge of border protection, and the military industry, and the Ministry of Emergency in charge crisis management, handling of natural catastrophes and terrorism. Mr. Putin controls them all. Russia is an Empire and can keep existing only as an empire.

Mr. Putin is the Czar of All Russias and he will be there forever as the Czar, for the rest of his life, no matter what his formal title will be. Indeed, in Russia, Czars never retire or resign. Either they rule till they die by natural causes or they are decapitated.