Dear Mr. Putin,
We have some complaints about your recent activities. We think that what you are doing to try to have Medvedev win your upcoming election is unfair—-and for lack of a better word, pointless.
Honestly, accusing a candidate of forging 62,000 signatures isn’t too smart and very childish. How could a person even have the time to think of 62,000 names, and sign each one differently?!
And banning Kasparov from using the public meeting places? Please!
Doing all of this just shows that your favored candidate is weak. It also shows you that you have brainwashed him just like all of your followers.
Mr. Vladimir Putin, your actions scream that you are a dictator, and nothing more.
Signed,
Flying Onion Boy
Image retrieved from http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2001/07/20/putin.GIF on January 25, 2007.
The Blurb Nation 
I also agree that it would be very hard to make up names or take the time to copy so many names.
But I think that Putin will just be the puppeteer behind his favorite candidate.
Well, personally, to forge 62,00 signatures is redicoules. Putin is obiously trying to cheat the polls.
Unfortunatley, he has the power, and fame to do that. By fame, Putin will make Medevdev very well known, and the likely canidate to win. Like the last president election. Everyone knew that Bush was going to win, not that he cheated- but everyone knew him and so, most people voted for him. It’s the same scenario here.
Very good coment, you are right how could one person forge so many names, and one thing to remeber that Putin is not running for presidant.So my guess is that he is trieing to scare all the other canadates awawy. Sould he have that much power?
Or should he?
Should Putin have power over who is takeing over Russia after him?
Giggles asked:
Should Putin have power over who is taking over Russia after him?
That is a very good question because there are two sides of the story.
I would say that he should not be able to because he had his turn to be the president, and now it is time for the people to pick who they want to be the next president.
The other side is that the people in Russia like him because he made there economy go way up, so if Putin wants Medvedev to win then he will probably be just like Putin and will help or keep the economy.
Since oil and gas is what made there economy strong what will happen if we find ways where we don’t need oil and gas.
I think that Putin is a bad person for riging the elections!
I completely agree with you. Kicking someone out of the competition with that lame of an excuse just shows that you aren’t strong enough to beat them. Putin must have a LOT of power to be able to convince people that someone forged 62,000 signatures!! Don’t you think that’s a bit too much power?
Even though Putin can’t be president, he can still be Prime Minister. Medvedev will just be a little puppet under Putin’s power, and Putin will be in power for another 8 years (assuming Medvedev will be re-elected). My question is, is Russia better off with or without Putin?
None of you guys know what you are talking about. You can’t even spell “rigging the election” right!
Still, I have to agree, accusing Kasparov of forging 62000 signatures is pretty weird. But none of you have commented insightfully on the weirdness yet!
So what _would_ an insightful comment look like? Well, first of all, it would have to recognize that undemocratic though they are, these elections under Putin are a LOT more democratic than anything under the Soviets, and much more sustainable than the horrific chaos that prevailed under Yeltsin.
In fact, calling that chaos ‘democracy’ is _exactly_ what undermined democracy in Russia. For after all that suffering, everyone in Russia _knew_ that they wanted no part of _that_ kind of ‘democracy’.
Another thing an insightful comment has to cover: Russians really _do_ look up to a ‘strongman’, even when the strongman is obviously operating outside the law. Why? Because that is all they have _had_ for leaders (with rare and usually unsuccessful exception) ever since the Mongol Conquest!
Most Russians really are pretty happy with Putin. It is easy to be happy with him, as long as you are not part of the “Robber baron class”, and don’t live in Chechnya;)
But this comes to the most interesting question: if Russians are happy with him, why does he feel the need to beat down so unfairly on opposing candidates? A: both the idea I mentioned above are relevant: he has to appear a strongman to keep the respect he earned, and the people _accept_ this as assurance that the painful chaos of the ‘democratic’ years under Yeltsin will not return.
Matt J,
First off, I want to get some things clear. The comment that said “riging” the elections isn’t us. And the comment wasn’t even that good anyway.
Plus, I totally agree with your comment saying that the comments have to be more insightful. And yours was very good.
Now that I’ve got that off my shoulders, I can start to talk about a more important matter. The open letter isn’t from someone in Russia, but from me. I was saying my opinion about the event. Plus, I was merely comparing them to the current elections that are going on in the United States.
I know they have only been doing elections for 20 or so years, so of course it would be corrupt, but you are missing the point. The point is that leaders with lots of power usually abuse it.
In my opinion though, their government hasn’t reached anything close to democracy, it is just slowly moving towards it. It hasn’t reached it yet, but it eventually will.
Signed,
Flying Onion Boy