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As Putin Begins Another 6-Year Term, He Is Entering A New Era Of Extraordinary Power In Russia

Published

4 months ago

2024-05-05

AP News - VOR News Image

Just a few months shy of a quarter-century as Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, will sign a copy of the constitution on Tuesday, ushering in another six-year term as president with unparalleled powers.

Since becoming acting president on December 31, 1999, Putin has shaped Russia into a monolith, crushing political opposition, expelling independent journalists, and promoting an increasing adherence to prudish “traditional values” that push many in society to the margins.

His authority is so strong that other leaders could only stand on the sidelines while Putin began a war in Ukraine, despite predictions that the invasion would bring worldwide condemnation and harsh economic penalties, as well as cost Russia dearly in the blood of its men.

With that amount of control, it is difficult to predict what Putin will accomplish during his next term, both at home and abroad.

AP – VOR News Image

As Putin Begins Another 6-Year Term, He Is Entering A New Era Of Extraordinary Power In Russia

The war in Ukraine, in which Russia is making gradual but continuous battlefield advances, is the primary issue, and he shows no signs of reversing direction.

“The war in Ukraine is crucial to his current political ambition, and I see no reason to believe that will change. “And that affects everything else,” Brian Taylor, a Syracuse University professor and author of “The Code of Putinism,” told The Associated Press.

“It affects who’s in what positions, it affects what resources are available and it affects the economy, affects the level of repression internally,” he said.

In his February State of the Union address, Putin vowed to carry out Moscow’s objectives in Ukraine and do everything necessary to “defend our sovereignty and the security of our citizens.” He stated that the Russian military has “gained a huge combat experience” and is “firmly holding the initiative and waging offensives in several sectors.”

That will come at a high cost, potentially depleting funds for the massive domestic projects and changes in education, welfare, and poverty alleviation that Putin detailed in his two-hour presentation.

Taylor believed such initiatives were included in the address primarily for show rather than to indicate a genuine commitment to implement them.

Putin “thinks of himself in the broad historical terms of Russian territory, putting Ukraine back to where it belongs, and things like that. And I believe them outweigh any more socioeconomic-type programs,” Taylor added.

Suppose the battle does not result in absolute loss for either side, with Russia maintaining some of the territory it has already conquered. In that case, European governments fear Putin will be tempted to engage in additional military adventurism in the Baltics or Poland.

AP – VOR News Image

As Putin Begins Another 6-Year Term, He Is Entering A New Era Of Extraordinary Power In Russia

“It’s possible that Putin does have vast ambitions and will try to follow up on a costly success in Ukraine with a new attack somewhere else,” Harvard international relations expert Stephen Walt wrote in Foreign Policy. “But it is also entirely possible that his ambitions do not extend beyond what Russia has won — at enormous cost and that he has no need or desire to gamble for more.”

However, he said, “Russia will be in no shape to launch new wars of aggression when the war in Ukraine is finally over.”

Others argue that such a sensible worry may not prevail. According to Maksim Samorukov of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, “Moscow is likely to make self-defeating mistakes driven by Putin’s whims and delusions.”

In a Foreign Affairs column, Samorukov stated that Putin’s age may influence his judgment.

“At 71, his awareness of his death undoubtedly influences his decision-making. A rising awareness of his short time influenced his catastrophic choice to attack Ukraine.

Overall, Putin may be entering his new term with less influence than he appears to have.

Russia’s “vulnerabilities are concealed in plain sight. “Now more than ever, the Kremlin makes decisions in a personalized and arbitrary manner, with no basic controls,” Samorukov stated.

“The Russian political elite have grown more pliant in implementing Putin’s orders and more obsequious about his paranoid worldview,” he stated in the letter. The country’s leadership “is at permanent risk of crumbling overnight, as its Soviet predecessor did three decades ago.”

Putin is certain to maintain his hostility against the West, which, he stated in his State of the Nation speech, “would like to do to Russia the same thing they did in many other regions of the world, including Ukraine: to bring discord into our home, to weaken it from within.”

Putin’s hostility against the West stems not only from its backing for Ukraine but also from what he perceives as the erosion of Russia’s moral compass.

Russia banned the fictitious LGBTQ+ “movement” last year, labeling it extreme in what officials claimed was a fight for traditional values such as those promoted by the Russian Orthodox Church against Western influence. Courts also prohibited gender transformation.

“I would expect the role of the Russian Orthodox Church to continue to be quite visible,” Taylor said. He also mentioned the social media anger that erupted during a party held by TV presenter Anastasia Ivleeva, in which guests were urged to arrive “almost naked.”

AP – VOR News Image

As Putin Begins Another 6-Year Term, He Is Entering A New Era Of Extraordinary Power In Russia

“Other actors in the system understand that that stuff resonates with Putin. … There were people interested in exploiting things like that,” he went on to say.

Although the opposition and independent media have nearly evaporated as a result of Putin’s repressive actions, there is still room for future movements to dominate Russia’s information space, such as continuing efforts to construct a “sovereign internet.”

The inauguration takes place two days before Victory Day, Russia’s most important secular festival honoring the Soviet Red Army’s seizure of Berlin in World War II and the war’s terrible difficulties, which cost the USSR around 20 million people.

The defeat of Nazi Germany is important to modern Russia’s character, as is Putin’s justification of the war in Ukraine as an analogous conflict.

SOURCE – (AP)

News

Canadian Man Arrested for TikTok Video That Threatened Trudeau

Published

6 hours ago

2024-09-07

Geoff Thomas

Marshall is facing two counts of uttering threats - CBC Image

A TikTok video that went live earlier this week has led to a Toronto man facing charges of threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. Andrew Marshall, 61, is facing two counts of uttering threats.

On Friday afternoon, the Ontario Court of Justice granted him bail with a surety and restrictions after the RCMP charged him on Wednesday.

Following Monday’s upload to TikTok, CBC Toronto conducted its own independent investigation of the video. Marshall vehemently opposes what he perceives as restrictions on free expression in Canada in it.

“I get them taken down all the time— I make videos — or all my comments, that are just simple comments,” Marsh says in the TikTok. “It’s just getting ridiculous, Marshall said.”

According to the CBC more and more people are threatening politicians. The commissioner of the RCMP has hinted that further measures may be necessary to ensure their safety.

In the TikTok video, Marshall explains in great detail how he would brutally assassinate Trudeau and Freeland “if it was up to him.”

Marshall attacks multiple groups throughout the roughly 11-minute TikTok video, including the media, Muslims, migrants, and the police who defend the government.

Among Marshall’s bail terms are the following: he must not communicate with Trudeau or Freeland; he must not use the internet to make social media posts or comments; he must not own any weapons; and he must not apply for a firearms permit.

During the bail hearing, the prosecution provided all of the evidence that is often not published.

Nate Jackson, Marshall’s attorney, stressed his client’s liberties and privileges as a Canadian in an email message.

“He has the right to freedom of speech, the right to reasonable bail and the right to a fair trial,” he said. “Having secured his release from custody, we will continue to defend Mr. Marshall’s Charter rights as his case proceeds.”

Neither Freeland’s nor the prime minister’s office would comment on the allegations, according to the CBC.

TikTok Says Cyberattack Targeted CNN And Other ‘High-Profile Accounts’

TikTok Says Cyberattack Targeted CNN And Other ‘High-Profile Accounts’

News

Canada’s Unemployment Rate Hits its Highest Point Since 2017

Published

6 hours ago

2024-09-07

Geoff Thomas

Canada's unemployment rate rose to 6.6 per cent in August - FIle Image

As the job market remains dismal, the national unemployment rate in Canada has risen to its highest point since 2017. This has led some analysts to question whether the Bank of Canada should be reducing interest rates more quickly.

In spite of a net gain of 22,000 jobs, Statistics Canada reported on Friday that the unemployment rate increased to 6.6% from 6.4% the previous month. The rise was due to an uptick in part-time employment and a fall in full-time employment.

Outside of the pandemic years, the national unemployment rate has reached its highest position since May 2017, according to StatCan.

Rapid population expansion in Canada has increased the overall labour pool, but the country’s unemployment rate has persisted in rising.

The summer job market was especially tough for students, according to StatCan. Not including the pandemic, the unemployment rate among students going back to school in the autumn was 16.7 percent, which is the highest level since 2012.

Two days after the Bank of Canada dropped interest rates for the third time in a row, reducing borrowing costs to alleviate economic pressure, the most recent reading of the Canadian job market follows suit.

According to TD Bank economist Leslie Preston, who wrote a note on Friday, the central bank is “giving the OK” to keep dropping rates due to the bad August jobs report. Preston predicts two more quarter-point decreases at the remaining decisions this year.

According to CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham, there are indications that the labour market is quickly contracting more than initially thought, since the unemployment rate is nearly two percentage points greater than the record low of 4.9% in June 2022.

“Due to this, we believe the Bank should be contemplating a quicker rate of reductions in order to bring interest rates to less restrictive levels,” he informed clients in a letter on Friday morning.

Canada Reports Its First Human Rabies Case in 57 Years

Canada Reports Its First Human Rabies Case in 57 Years

News

US Job Growth Falls Short of Expectations: Economy Struggles Under High Interest Rates

Published

22 hours ago

2024-09-06

Salman Ahmad

US Job Growth Falls Short of Expectations: Economy Struggles Under High Interest Rates

Last month, job growth in the United States was weaker than predicted, prompting concerns that the world’s largest economy is beginning to struggle under the weight of increased interest rates.

The Labour Department said that employers added 142,000 jobs in August, which was less than the nearly 160,000 economists predicted. It also stated that job gains over the preceding two months were weaker than expected.

However, the jobless rate went down to 4.2%, down from 4.3% in July.

The report is one of the most important indicators of the US economy and arrives at a vital time, as voters consider presidential candidates for the November election and the US central bank contemplates its first interest rate decrease in four years.

Analysts said the latest statistics kept the Federal Reserve on pace for a rate drop at its meeting this month, but did little to answer worries about the trajectory of the US economy or how much of a cut it should make.

“There has rarely been such a make-or-break number; unfortunately, today’s jobs report does not completely resolve the recession debate,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.

Soaring prices in 2022 caused the Federal Reserve to hike its key lending rate to 5.3%, a nearly 20-year high.

Faced with increased borrowing costs for homes, vehicles, and other debt, the economy has slowed, helping to alleviate pressures that were boosting inflation but exacerbating market concerns.

As inflation has fallen to 2.9% in July, the Fed is under pressure to decrease interest rates to prevent additional economic deceleration.

Although job increases in August fell short of expectations, they were greater than in July, when a slowdown aroused anxieties and triggered several days of stock market volatility.

Last month, construction and health-care firms hired the most, while manufacturing and retailers laid off employees.

Ms Shah stated that the data in Friday’s report was mixed, but provided enough concerning indicators that the Fed should make a larger cut.

“On balance, with inflation pressures subdued, there is no reason for the Fed not to err on the side of caution and frontload rate cuts,” she told reporters.

Others, however, felt the advances were just steady enough to warrant a 0.25 percentage point decrease, as markets had long projected – though this could signal more cuts than expected in the coming months.

Paul Ashworth, Capital Economics’ senior North America economist, predicted that the Fed’s decision will be “close run.”

“The labour market is clearly experiencing a marked slowdown,” he said, adding that the new statistics were “overall still consistent with an economy experiencing a soft landing rather than plummeting into recession”.

Concerns about the economy are a major issue in the US election.

According to polls, a majority of Americans feel the US is in a recession, despite healthy 2.5% growth last year.

Donald Trump has declared that the economy is headed for a “crash,” and his team instantly latched on the latest data to criticise Vice President Kamala Harris, publishing a press release titled “warning lights flash as Kamala’s economy continues to weaken.”

Democrats have defended their performance, claiming that the United States survived the pandemic and inflation better than many other countries.

They believe the slowdown is a sign that the economy is returning to a more sustainable rate of growth following the post-pandemic boom.

“Although hiring has slowed, the US job market continues to generate solid job gains and wage growth that is consistently beating inflation,” the White House Council of Economic Advisors stated in a blog.