Staunton, May 16 – Commentators have been examining the recent rash of appointments to the government and the Presidential Administration for an indication as to who is likely to emerge as Putin’s successor. But as long as Putin is alive, Anatoly Nesmiyan who blogs under the screen name El Murid says, the Kremlin leader will never name anyone as his successor.
Putin knows better than anyone else that were he to do so, an alternative power center would emerge and he would be significantly weakened and possibly overthrown, El Murid says. He got burned with Dmitry Medvedev a decade ago and will not risk anything similar again (t.me/anatoly_nesmiyan/18405 reposted at kasparov.ru/material.php?id=66443FD1A87F4).
Only after Putin’s death will there be any open competition for power, and then, the commentator continues, “everything will happen not as planned but in a form full of content, up to and including full-fledged combat operations.” But until then, the appearance of competition will remain just that, a specter that will dissolve whenever it suits Putin.
According to El Murid, “the Byzantine model of governance, which has taken shape in Russia as the autocratic despotism of one person, completely excludes the transfer of any real power while the despot is still alive.” That is because if he begins to lose power, “no one will give even a kopeck for his life and position” – and he knows that “better than anyone.”
No comments:
Post a Comment