is an interesting article, with a good
picture of Putin ( hansome devil ! )
"MOSCOW, March 28 -- President Vladimir Putin today installed
loyalists to oversee the military and domestic security forces and
ousted several holdovers from Boris Yeltsin's cabinet
Putin described the shake-up as a historic effort to assert
civilian control over the armed forces
"As you can see, we have civilians coming to key
posts at military institutions," Putin said. "This is done
consciously. This is a step toward the demilitarization of
Russia's public life."
On the issue of corruption, I noticed these things:
"In a surprise move, Putin also forced out Atomic Energy Minister
Yevgeny Adamov, who had come under fire in parliament for alleged
corruption.
" (Sergeyev) lost a months-long fight with Anatoly Kvashnin,
chief of the general staff, who has been pushing for more spending
on conventional troops at the expense of the nuclear forces favored
by Sergeyev.
"Other decisions announced today included the dismissal of the
head of the tax police, Vyacheslav Soltaganov. The tax police have
become an especially feared force in Russia, sending teams of
masked, armed agents to raid homes and businesses.
"The moves won wide approval in Moscow, particularly the notion
of civilian control of the armed forces. "It's one of the great
principles of a democratic society to have civilian control of the
military and other organizations," Andrei Kokoshin, a former
secretary of the security council, said in an interview. "It's a
very important symbolic move."
. . . . . . .
"At the height of the debate over Adamov's nuclear waste
proposal, the Duma's anti-corruption committee produced a report on
his personal business activities and demanded a criminal
investigation. Adamov, the report alleged, set himself up in
business with a U.S. partner in the early 1990s, winning contracts
from the atomic ministry at the same time he headed a top-secret
institute there.
""Environmentalists in the whole world are applauding this
decision," Tobias Muenchmeyer, a Russia nuclear expert at
Greenpeace, said after Adamov was sacked. Putin had to make the move
because he told the public "that there wouldn't be Yeltsin-style
corruption anymore and Adamov didn't fit into this."
In the US, we may have to consider such moves. Such moves
are difficult, within the complexities of a real, working human
system. To make them well takes hard work, as well as wisdom. I wish
the Russians well with these reorganizations, and those to come. A
strong, stable Russia is needed for world prosperity, and for
peace.
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