Russia's Modern Government
Russia's current type of government is considered a "managed democracy". There is only one political party, United Russia, and the elections are not free or fair. Their system of government is known for their "centralization of power", where almost all of the control lies with the wealthy who are closely tied with the government and barely any lies with the people of Russia.
The government has a tight control over Russia and the way they rule resembles authoritarianism. All TV stations and most radio stations are controlled by the government and strong intimidation causes fear in Russians to publish any media that is not supportive of the government. The government also holds the right to neglect private property rights and seize control of private property for any reason. Although Russia is no longer a communist nation, their "managed democracy" shares some similarities with communism. For example, the government does not tolerate the growth of personal wealth unless it's by a member of the government.
The government has a tight control over Russia and the way they rule resembles authoritarianism. All TV stations and most radio stations are controlled by the government and strong intimidation causes fear in Russians to publish any media that is not supportive of the government. The government also holds the right to neglect private property rights and seize control of private property for any reason. Although Russia is no longer a communist nation, their "managed democracy" shares some similarities with communism. For example, the government does not tolerate the growth of personal wealth unless it's by a member of the government.
Putin Power
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was named the Prime Minister of Russia in 1999. He promised the country to get rid of the separatist leaders, "even when they're taking a crap," from here everything went down hill, fast. The 'real man', or so he calls himself, claimed his victory of the presidential election by "carousel voting". "Carousel voting" is a type of rigging the election, in this case bus loads of people went from town to town changing their names and voting. Chechnya had more people voting for Putin than there was registered voters. Putin was elected president in 2000, a war was left by formal president Boris Yeltsin in which Putin carried out. The war was horrifying killing 100,000s of innocent people.
Some may say Vladimir Putin was an awful man, or the 'real man for Russia' he calls himself, Putin did bring some positive things to the table. During Putin's rule salaries were doubling, even tripling, poverty was 50% less than what it used to be, and Russia charged high prices for other countries to by their oil which helped the economy boom upward.
Some may say Vladimir Putin was an awful man, or the 'real man for Russia' he calls himself, Putin did bring some positive things to the table. During Putin's rule salaries were doubling, even tripling, poverty was 50% less than what it used to be, and Russia charged high prices for other countries to by their oil which helped the economy boom upward.
Problems in Chechnya
Problems in Chechnya, a place that is known today as home from the Boston Bombers, began as a nationalist movement resisting the Soviet Union's communist reign. In the mid 1990's, Russia tried to gain control of Chechnya and a war broke out. The war caused so much destruction that Gronzy, the capital of Chechnya, was named "the most destroyed city on the planet" by the UN in 2002. In 2003, Akhmad Kadyrov became president of Chechnya and tried to bribe rebels with forgiveness and a job in the Chechen security forces and if they did not accept, they were killed. A year later, he was killed in a bombing and his son Ramzan Kadyrov, a former rebel, took his place as president. His main tactic to reducing rebel activity is inducing fear into the people of Chechnya and "has been criticized as harsh and violating human rights."
"A woman is standing at the Park Kultury station where people keep on bringing flowers in memoriam of the 29th March 2010 blast victims. (RIA Novosti / Ruslan Krivobok)"
Since the mid 90's when the conflict between Russia and Chechnya re-sparked, terrorism has been common in Chechnya. In 2004, over 1,000 people were taken hostage by Chechen terrorists at a secondary school. They were held for three days and 318 were killed (186 of them children). This incident was seen by Putin as a "declaration of war" on Russia. In 2010, thirty nine people were killed when Russia's most wanted criminal, Doku Umarov ordered two suicide bombers to attack a metro station. Umarov, known as "Russia's Osama Bin Ladin", is also responsible for many more terrorist attacks. It is rumored that the Tsarnev brothers, responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing, were inspired by Umarov. Putin plans on continuing security operations against terrorism, but he isn't doing anything more than that to prevent any future acts of terrorism.