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Putin: Western Model of Democracy Doesn't Exist
english.pravda.ru - 11/6/2010
Vladimir
Putin gave a traditional interview to French journalists prior to his
visit to Paris. In the interview, the chairman of the Russian government
said that the Western model of democracy does not exist per se. Below
you can read several most intersecting excerpts from Putin’s interview.
About
democracy
“Can you tell
me what it is – the Western model of democracy? France has one model of
democracy, the USA has another one. A French politician told me once:
one can not do anything at the elections in the USA without money –
whether they are elections to the Senate or Congress, not to mention the
presidential election. There is nothing to do there without a sack of
money. So what is that democracy about? Is it democracy of those who
have a lot of money? The USA is a presidential republic, Great Britain
is a monarchy. All of that are elements of democracy, but what kind of
democracy? There is no single model of “ Western democracy ”. It doesn’t
exist.
“Tony Blair is
a good friend of mine. His party won the elections under his leadership.
Afterwards , Laborites decided that he should step down . Mr. Brown
immediately took his position and automatically became the prime
minister, without elections. What is it ? Democracy ? Yes , it is . That
is the way it is – good or bad.
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Putin
“I’ve had many
discussions with American colleagues. I asked them how could it happen
that the majority of US citizens voted for one person, but another one
took office as president owing to the system of electoral delegates. The
Americans answered: you do not need to interfere, we are used to it, and
that’s the way it will be. We do not interfere. Why do you think that
you can interfere with us? We will solve our problems alone.”
About
Georgia
“Georgia has a
very long ground border with Russia. People died as a result of the
criminal action launched by President Saakashvili two years ago. Russia
was forced to defend the lives of its peacemakers and the citizens of
South Ossetia. We stopped 15-20 kilometers far from Tbilisi. We stopped
there not because we could not enter Tbilisi – we stopped because we
didn’t want to do it. We didn’t want any military action at all. I hope
there will never be another armed conflict between Russia and Georgia,
never.”
“You know, I’ve
been going in for judo since childhood. It would be strange if I was
trying to conceal that. I have a judo black belt. It’s one of the
biggest lifeworks for me. When it attracted so much attention in the
media, I was very surprised because I did not see anything unusual about
it. It’s routine for me – the things that I do every day. Well, not
every day – every other day. There was a period when I was getting ready
to take part in the judo championship of the Soviet Union. I had daily
training sessions in the national judo team.”
About personality cult
“First off, I
just live and work the way I can. I do the things that I like to do.
There’s one life and one has to learn to enjoy it despite various
limitations. Secondly, speaking of the personality cult, I think that
our citizens know exactly that personality cult is not just attention to
one person. It also includes countless violations of law and
repressions. I can not imagine, not in my wildest dreams, that it can
happen again in modern-day Russia. The Russian society today is mature
enough not to let the 1930s, 40s and 50s repeat again.”
About
democracy in Russia
“Authorities
always try to look better than they really are in the whole world. They
try to somehow restrict opportunities of mass media. As a rule,
authorities can not do it in a country with a well-developed civil
society. A lot of things need to be changed and improved in the Russian
political system, but this is a long process that takes place the
society grows.
About next presidential election in Russia
“Me and
President Medvedev think about it, of course, but we agreed not to pay
much attention to this problem. The decision will depend on how we work
on our positions.”
About
World Cup
When asked
which country Putin will support during the Word Cup, the prime minister
dropped a curtsey to the French and the French team, which, unlike
Russia, will go to South Africa to enjoy the game of football.
Font:
http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/11-06-2010/113772-putin_democracy-0
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