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標題:Putin Returns to the Kremlin
新聞來源: (須有正確連結)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/putin-returns-to-kremlin-with-iron-grip-a-831784.html
By Matthias Schepp in Moscow
Mass arrests of protesters over the weekend signal tough times ahead for
Russia. Vladimir Putin's inauguration for his third term as president on
Monday heralds the rollback of meager reforms made by his predecessor Dmitry
Medvedev. Instead of expanding freedoms in the country, Putin has been
vaguely refining his Potemkin democracy.
One of Vladimir Putin's predecessors is so close to his heart that he
compelled his squad of ministers to donate a month's pay for a memorial in
his honor. The monument to Pyotr Stolypin, the prime minister under the last
czar, will be erected within sight of the government seat.
Stolypin helped farmers with small loans and is remembered as one of the
great reformers of Imperial Russia. It's the way Putin himself would like to
be remembered -- as the father of a nation who guided the country into
modernity after the traumatizing collapse of the Soviet Union.
Those who stand to gain something from him also believe in Putin the
reformer. American businesses and the European Union countries hope that he
will use his third term in office for the further privatization of the
Russian economy. Meanwhile, Western governments hope that Putin will react to
the latest mass protests with a liberalization of a system of rule in the
country that is overly authoritorian. Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schrö
der has attested that his friend in Moscow is "seriously oriented towards a
real democracy" in Russia.
A Grand Inauguration
Putin thanked Schröder for his solidarity with an invitation to his grand
presidential inauguration on Monday. In front of some 3,000 guests he took
the oath of office in a ceremony that was broadcast live by state television.
Already in his first presidential term in 2000, Putin moved the ceremony out
of the grey Soviet assembly hall and into the glowing golden Kremlin Palace
-- the same location where Russia's heaven-sent autocrats allowed themselves
to be courted.
This time, too, the event is an expression of his power. Imperial pomp is
meant to distract from Putin's recent moments of weakness. He's been on shaky
footing since his United Russia party's weak election results in December
were followed by mass protests against election fraud as oligarchs and
Kremlin boyars discussed whether it wasn't time to risk ousting Putin.
He hasn't forgotten this. Indeed, his enthronement is just the official
starting shot of his counterrevolution. Behind the scenes, his revenge
campaign and political rollback have long since begun. Stolypin is a role
model for Putin in this matter, too. Aside from his reforms, the former prime
minister is remembered by Russians for "Stolypin's necktie," the gallows
where he had revolutionaries against the czar's rule executed in short shrift.
Putin has decided to take a hard line against those who wanted to send him
into retirement during the winter demonstrations. A protest march attended by
more than 30,000 Putin opponents ended on Sunday with the arrest of around
500 demonstraters. The radical part of the opposition surrounding the "Left
Front" had thrown stones and bottles at police. Special forces responded much
more harshly than they have in recent months. Both sides got what they
needed: The opposition were able to distribute photos around the world of
police officers clubbing protesters on the eve of Putin's inauguration. And
Putin's team got the opportunity to demonstrate to his people that the new
president doesn't see the need for any real political reforms.
Even prior to his return to the Kremlin, Putin successfully watered down the
reforms that had been promised by Dmitry Medvedev, who was still president at
the time, in response to the winter protests. Medvedev, to whom Putin has now
turned over his former office as prime minister in a dubious game of musical
chairs, had announced that governors of the country's 83 regions could be
directly elected once again. But Putin wants to screen candidates to
allegedly rule out criminals and fascists. In truth, what this means is that
governors will only make it into office if they have Putin's blessing.
Splintering the Opposition
In response to criticism by civic opposition groups, Putin is only vaguely
refining his Potemkin democracy, baiting or punishing protesters. Journalist
Olga Romanova, a leading figure in the protest movement, was forced to watch
helplessly as her businessman husband disappeared into jail for alleged
securities fraud. The arrest occurred some 10 days after she called Putin a
"Mafia godfather" at a demonstration.
But thanks to last-minute elections reforms pushed through by Medvedev,
opposition leader Vladimir Ryshkov has been allowed to resurrect his
Republican Party, which was banned in 2007. Still, this is only a democratic
breakthrough at first glance. The number of members needed to found a party
has been lowered from 40,000 to 500, splintering the already disunited
opposition.
Already some 160 parties have applied for official recognition at the Justice
Ministry, including political groupings for car drivers, beer lovers,
gardeners and even dacha owners. Meanwhile, a group of Cossacks aims to
delight the Russians and a "heavenly coalition" is fighting for a strictly
Christian lifestyle and a ban on mini-skirts. "Subtropical Russia" is calling
for a constant temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) in
the land of long winters.
A Media Coup
It's easy for Putin's team, in the best of Soviet traditions, to portray
democrats and dissidents as freaks and madmen. He is the hero of the silent
majority who are dependent on state funding and adhere to a Soviet worldview
-- and they don't want any experiments. Putin's media feeds this conservative
zeitgeist with polemic agitation against the opposition on a daily basis.
The public has hardly noticed that Putin's friend Yury Kovalchuk has managed
to snap up a powerful media empire through buyouts and a network of
subsidiaries. Kovalchuk now controls five television stations, the daily
newspaper Isvestiya, three of the country's biggest tabloid papers and, since
the purchase of energy giant Gazprom's media holdings, the radio station Echo
Moscow -- once a platform for opposition politicians.
It's an empire that eclipses the high points of media might for both former
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Rupert Murdoch in the United
Kingdom. Dmitry Muratov, editor in chief of the government-critical daily
Novaya Gazeta, has called it a "media coup in Putin's favor."
Putin's junior partner Medvedev had advocated greater media freedom, but the
short thaw ended when Putin accused critical editorial offices of being a
primary driving force behind the mass protests. Medvedev did manage to push
through one of his pet projects -- the founding of a public television
channel -- but the general director as well as the editor in chief will be
appointed by Putin.
A Blow to Oligarchs
Economically, Putin's team is set to strike oligarchs like Viktor Vekselberg,
owner of the conglomerate Renova Group, who have a reputation of offering
more support for Medvedev than the new president would like to see. Putin
plans to delay privatization advocated by Medvedev despite having paid lip
service to the reforms. After all, under Putin's aegis, state-owned companies
rose from 24 percent in 2000 to more than 50 percent today.
But if Russia's growth, driven by natural resource exports, were to fall
victim to the European-American economic crisis, then Putin would face the
fate of his role model Stolypin. That prime minister's reforms were too
short-sighted. Six years after his assassination, communist revolutionaries
toppled the czarist rulers.
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自動評價人們的品質而忽略運用理性或道德判斷的責任﹔而更重要的是，它尋求自動的自
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