Medvedev Wins Russian Presidency

Tsar Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s hand-picked successor for President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Anatolivich Medvedev, was easily elected in yesterday’s polling, securing 70.23% of the votes cast. Far behind was Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov of the Communist Party (which really isn’t communist) with 17.76% of the vote. Third place went to Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party (it is neither) with 9.4%. Turn out was almost 70%. The process was so rigged that none of this was a surprise.

Nor was it a surprise when President-elect Medvedev announced that his choice for Prime Minister of Russia would be the leader of the United Russia Party, one Vladimir Putin. Many are asking now the old Soviet era question, “Just who runs Russia?” If the inquiry is aimed at a specific individual, the answer is a bit murky. If the question is aimed at determining what group runs Russia, it is the Chekists, also known as the siloviki, and that says a great deal about Russia’s future.

Karl Marx stated that the power of the state would always be used to support in interests of the ruling class. At the time, the analysis was ground-breaking, but after the experience of the 19th and 20th centuries, it seems almost tautological. Those who run a nation tend to run it for their own benefit, and even when the opt to pursue the “national interest,” they define that interest through the prism of their own position and history.

So the fact that the Russian Federation is being run by the former (and current) secret police says a great deal about that nation’s future. Such a chekocracy will act to create an environment in which patriotism, paranoia and pride combine to support the government no matter what it does. It is a situation in which many voluntarily support what most had to be compelled to accept under totalitarianism.

Whether Mr. Putin takes his power with him from the presidency to the prime minister’s office, or whether Mr. Medvedev truly calls the shots is largely irrelevant. The members of the ruling class in Russia have the same worldview, the same interests and the same worries. The result is a seamless transition from one president to another, a highly stable situation in which stability has been purchased at the price of Russian freedoms. And the saddest part of all is that a great many Russians approve of it.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Kensington Review Home