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© Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Putin signs law allowing him 2 more terms as Russia's leader
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV MOSCOW©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
55 Comments
Bart Fargo
While I admire him a great deal, I can't believe Navalny went back to Russia.
PTownsend
It seems the majority of Russian people prefer to be governed by an authoritarian regime. Centuries of tsars, Stalin, now Putin. It's their country, after all.
But I find It worrying the global far right want a Russian style system to replace 'western' style democracies, especially watching what's happening in Brazil, Myanmar and Hong Kong where authoritarian states are showing what can happen when leadership goes unchecked.
u_s__reamer
Putin the Impostor will likely never complete two more terms as president: mice and men etc., or as the Russians say, "Don't count your chickens in the fall (because they might no longer be around come the Russian winter).
GdTokyo
The world’s favorite crime boss signs up for 2 more terms of “Who wants to be a murdering sociopath?”
Michael Machida
Like Trump, Putin is hard to get rid of.
Numan
This is why trump loves Putin because he wanted to become a dictator!
aomorisamurai
@PTownsend
"It seems the majority of Russian people prefer to be governed by an authoritarian regime."
I'm sure if they're vocal enough about not preferring it, Putin's boys will be most helpful in finding them a window they can fall out of.
Fighto!
Crooked, murderous, democracy and freedom-hating, dictator for life.
Evil Putin is simply the Russian version of Xie. Boycott Russia and ALL dealings with them permanently.
the_sicilian
I love the fact liberals here in JT utopia are trying to take this story and lean it towards things that are not associated with this new law: The US and those that are conservative.
Nice try. This is about a world leader that has his opposition poisoned. Please keep up.
Mr Kipling
Fantastic news! When the world has an intelligent, insightful and honest leader like Putin, they should hold on to them as long as possible. Putin is often the only adult in the room, especially in any conversations about the Middle East.
SuperLib
History has shown us that things like this never end well.
NCIS Reruns
It's quite remarkable that Putin has managed to stay in power without resorting to mass purges, mass executions, mass ethnic evacuations, internal exile in the Gulag, etc., that characterized the decades of Stalin's regime. Probably some Russians feel that alone is enough to qualify him as leader for life.
Peter14
He may be intelligent but he is not honest, cant be trusted and is interested only in his own power and continuing tenure as ultimate leader of Russia. He wants Russia to be world leader much like Xi wants China to have that position. At some time in the future those nations will face off as they have in the past.
This is bad news for the average Russian who wants peace and prosperity and good relations with the west rather than continual arguing and deception that Putin engages in.
Azzprin
.
Looks like he wants to hold power and break Stalin length of dictatorship.
dbsaiya
Putin is ruthlessly competent. Either way, this does not bode well for the people of Russia or the world.
Cogito Ergo Sum
I see no reason why we should complain, at all. After all the West has isolated Russia despite innumerable entreaties it has made to be part of the world family.
Let's be honest, even the democracy we pretend to have in our own countries stink to high heavens. In the US, the mecca of democracy, quite a huge chunk of the population think the elections were stolen, culminating in the raid of the seat of power at DC. Many also believe Presidents are selected, and that corporations ( Big money ) run America. The same here in Japan and elsewhere. It just might as well be straightforward and cheaper going Putin's, Xi and KJ Un's way.
I ask, why would WE want to impose our values on them? Are we smarter? Or divinely endowed to decide for them ?
Goodlucktoyou
Both Putin and Xi have done great things for their countries and people. Other nations should be jealous
timeon
Is this news related to the recent days strong build up of Russian military presence on the Ukrainian border?
theFu
No. That's just ex-Pres Trump.
Putin is a killer and, effectively, a dictator. He gets the legislature to do what he wants because they don't want to be poisoned or jailed like other Putin political rivals. Putin's hidden wealth beyond his official salary/means: https://www.aljazeera.com/program/people-power/2012/4/20/in-search-of-putins-money Note the source, please.
The US probably doesn't have the best example of a Democracy. The US system is clearly broken if "45" could even qualify to run for the Presidency.
I'm so happy my ancestors left Russia.
Cogito Ergo Sum
@timeon
Things are elephant ! Alliances have been formed, various manouvers to handle any situation are practiced, men and steel are and have been positioned, verbal , diplomatic and even ballistic warnings have been issued, and we are waiting for that one event that'll light up the fuse.
Yes @ timeon, Eastern Ukraine ( Lughansk, Donbass,Kharkiv etc) are flairing up despite the ceasefire. The other day Biden promised total support to Ukrainian President Volodimir Volensky despite Russian warnings. A war, we must have.
Hervé L'Eisa
Putin has been a great leader for the Russian people and has high approval by the populace. He has enhanced stability in his country unlike other current international leaders. Even Obama tried to suck up to him.
geronimo2006
Sounds to me like Putin wants to make anyone who dares to put their hat in the ring know they could be facing him, which could be deadly for them. Russian politics is a bit like Russian roulette -unless you're Putin. He's got the odds stacked heavily in his favor and a medical cabinet full of nasties.
stormcrow
Putin signs law allowing him 2 more terms as Russia's leader . . .
Why not? He's not an elected leader. He's the king!
starpunk
He tolerates no criticism or opposition in Russia. None.
The hope of that when the Cold War ended has been thrown away. Democracy hasn't been able to take root, grow and thrive in the post-Soviet era because of the ugly legacy of Communism and the long era of the czars before that. And Putin certainly become 'master of the world'; first by installing the traitor Dictator TrashTrump, and then by interferring with forrmer Soviet republics to build a new quasi-czardom empire for himself and then by excessive cyberwar on various nations including the United Staters.
And now Putin has abandoned all advances and pretensions of democracy now. His true colors are shining thru now, they ain't beautiful like a rainbow. Nyet.
Pukey2
And then another two terms, and then another.
I'm not fond of men who are so self-insecure they have to wear hidden high heel shoes.
Numan
Putin, Xi and lil Kim are in need of a political victory. I predict one of these countries will be attempting to annex or occupy another country soon!
trump is wishing if on his little insurrection could have worked like Myanmar!
China tried last year, but they got spanked several times by India.
I am assuming Putin is next. His reputation is in the can, and the population is wanting to vote or remove him from office!
Numan
@the Fu
Yeah, so much so that the trump administration tried to create a back channel to talk to Putin and sent several Republicans to Russia on his behalf with a message from trump to Putin. Not to mention, the NRA associates (Republican supporters) were literally in bed with Russia.
bass4funk
No, conservatives don’t like this guy at all, but they know he’s not the real threat, Xi is. But as long as the msm tries to shield that fact, it does indeed make conservatives go hmmmm....
starpunk
TrumpTraitor kissed Master Putin's ass and he openly stated he wanted to be like Xi and Mr. Marshmallowhead.
sdf_crew_member
This is a stupidity and it means he trusts no one, have no real friends and allies. Hence, when he'll go the system may and probably will fall apart.
bass4funk
The NYT did, my bad....
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/22/world/asia/biden-china-election-trump.html
Busby
Putin signs law allowing him 2 more terms as Russia's leader.
bass4funk
Dems went after Trump on Russia before he got into politics, Biden was already a politician for many, many years.
Ok, so with Trump the past matters, with Biden only yesterdays news matters?
Boy, you guys can’t dig fast enough. Lol
itsonlyrocknroll
A relic of the cold war.
Poisoning any potential rival, imprisoning, torturing dissenters.
Yet the global political élite appease this thug.
The German government Nord Stream 2 pipeline is a example.
Busby
Republicans view Russian President Vladimir Putin around three times as favorably as do Democrats, according to a new analysis of the Pew Research Center's Spring 2019 Global Attitudes Survey. Pew reported on Friday that 31 percent of Republicans have confidence in Putin to do "the right thing" in global affairs, compared with just 10 percent of Democrats.
https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-republicans-pew-survey-vladimir-putin-1486373
Kind'a says it all, doesn't it....
bass4funk
Uh-huh, you are free to believe that.
Seems like that’s exactly what the Dems are doing now.
But he still opined and was still a retired POLITICIAN with an opinion, look at Obama, he’s retired and for the left, his continued unnecessary opinions still count, so sorry, doesn’t make a difference whether Biden retired then or not.
sunfunbun
As if you wouldn't have approved of Trump cheating to stay in office. Sheesh, get real.
Makes zero sense(nothing new).
Even your narrative should tell you it's Trump who loves Putin and puts money in his pocket, Biden's the dude who said he's a killer.
bass4funk
He didn’t, if he did, that would be a different story, that’s as real as it gets.
To liberals, you are right. Lol
Not a shred of evidence and yet, even Mueller found nothing and meanwhile China is laughing at the Dems and on that point, can’t blame him.
Fighto!
You do realize what happens to people in Russia who don't support Putin, right? And polls mean ZERO in totalitarian dictatorships. His "approval rating" is 99.9%. Meaningless.
Pukey2
bassfunk:
The ONLY reason why you and the crazy GQP think Xi is the greatest threat is because China is about to overtake USA as the biggest economy soon. Amerika wants a global monopoly on power and is not willing to share it with anyone else, even if with an 'ally' like Japan or India. If Russia were the second largest economy, you can bet the GQP will be panicking about Putin. If India, then GQP would be turning on Modi. Your fat guy loser was willing to make private deals with any dictator, be it Putin, Kim or Xi.
But sure, if you want to be friends with Putin, go ahead.
By the way, the fat guy lost.
bass4funk
And you think that’s good? Brush up on politics please as well as Chinese history because if you’re comfortable with it something is deeply disturbing then.
No, not if you’re responsible like most of Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, most of Asia, China doesn’t want to play any any rules whatsoever, but that’s a worlds consensus.
We do. Japan seems happy with a lot of our hardware and the fact that we protect them and India as well.
But they’re not and there goes that bogeyman threat overall, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep our eyes on them.
And Biden is doing it double fold with China.
elephant200
Putin isn't a very great leader but the Russians still wants him being the leader of Russia! You might ask why! Why does the Russians like Valdmir putin being the Russian leader for 22 years and still supporting him? Because the west has humiliated the Russians during the 1990s after the breakup of the Soviet union, the Russians found out all western countries were "Malicious Vallians" who lead them in tragedy by causing the collapse of Soviet Union! Putin isn't a great man but at least her is tough on the west! That's why he is still in power!
SimondB
Why the outrage? If I were to return to the UK, become the political darling, get elected as PM, provided I get reelected every 5 years I can go on forever. Most western democracies do not have limits on how long you can stay as leader. The right to stand beyond 8 years in the US was a republican move to ensure no other Democrat would continue as long as Roosevelt. No other reason. If the Russians want to continue to reelect Putin then that is up to them.
Lazarus Knows
Trump literally said in public at his rallies that he wanted to run for a third term.
And he suffered an historic defeat. A landslide defeat.