As Americans, we don’t spend much time discussing or thinking about the Russians as we used to before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The media, which used to devote many of their stories and pages to the worrisome threat from Moscow, has moved on and the cold war has officially ended. But there has been a resurgence of bothersome militarism and international meddling from the Putin government that bears watching.

Vladimir Putin rose to power through the state intelligence apparatus, formerly known as the KGB. He’s popular with the Russian people, who have never known much democracy. After the overthrow and murder of the last Czar in 1917, the government was taken over by Lenin and the communists. The people favor strong leaders, which they certainly have in Putin. He has essentially put the communists out of business and provided the people with a little more freedom than they formerly enjoyed.

 Putin put an end to the oligarchs. “The Russian oligarchs are business entrepreneurs who started under Gorbachev during his period of market liberalization. Rare goods, such as PCs and jeans, were smuggled into the country and sold on the black market for a hefty profit, an unforeseen consequence of partial market liberalization with still excessive trade restrictions. In the 1990s, the oligarchs emerged as well connected entrepreneurs who started from nearly nothing and got rich through participation in the market via connections to the corrupt, but democratically elected, government of Russia during the state's transition to a market-based economy.” –Wikipedia.   Putin elbowed the successful oligarchs out of the way and took over their businesses in the name of the government. Some, such as the owner of the private oil company Yukos Oil, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, were arrested and imprisoned—others fled the country. Putin is said to be a partner in these appropriated enterprises and personally worth billions. Corruption is now a government enterprise—a sort of state-run Mafia. 

Freedom of the press was a short lived experience for the Russians after Gorbachev. The Putin government has its finger on all the major media in the country. Reporters Without Borders put Russia at 144th place in the World Press Freedom Index (from a list of 169 countries). According to the German magazine, Der Spiegel, “Journalism is a dangerous profession in Russia: No less than 261 journalists have been murdered there since the fall of the Soviet Union.”

 The term of President Putin was constitutionally limited to two 4-year terms. But that wasn’t enough for him--so he changed the rules. He selected Dmitry Medvedev to run as his successor. As soon as Medvedev was elected, he nominated Putin for Prime Minister. Putin took office in May 2008, and continued running the show as he had for the previous eight years. I expect he’ll continue his reign as dictator until he dies. Obviously elections under a non-elected dictator are superfluous and will probably be cancelled.

 With plenty of oil and plenty of money, Russia is in far better shape than it was under the old Soviet system. In a move that has stunned some and angered others,

the Putin regime has claimed the North Pole as Russian territory! Last year, a Russian expedition to the area planted a titanium Russian flag on the sea bottom at a depth of 14,000 feet.

 An article in the London Daily mail said. “Observers say the move is typical of Putin's muscle-flexing as he tries to increase Russian power.

 Russian scientists have returned from a six-week mission on a nuclear ice-breaker to claim that the 1,220-mile long underwater Lomonosov Ridge is geologically linked to the Siberian continental platform - and similar in structure.

The region is currently administered by the International Seabed Authority but this is now being challenged by Moscow.

 Experts estimate the ridge has ten billion tons of gas and oil deposits and significant sources of diamonds, gold, tin, manganese, nickel, lead and platinum.”

 Putin has consolidated his power to the point that he doesn’t care what other counties think or dislike and has allied Russia with the likes of Iran and Venezuela.

The Russians are back and here to stay. The U.S. will have Putin and a more powerful Russia to contend with for years to come. That’s something to think about when you decide who you want running our government.