Gorbachev is cited in Gazeta (the syndicated partner of the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph) as saying that Putin's party is a bad copy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union:
«Я ее страшно недолюбливаю, это плохая копия КПСС, - признался бывший советский лидер по поводу «Единой России». - Собрались там все администраторы и хотят нас убедить в том, что они партия народа». По мнению Горбачева, ЕР использовала парламентское большинство и «шаг за шагом демонтировала многие завоевания избирательной системы, для того чтобы проложить себе дорогу к успеху». «Это не годится вообще!» - возмутился экс-президент и заметил, что «тут надо вмешаться президенту».
"I terribly dislike [the party United Russia], it is a bad copy of the CPSU", admitted the former Soviet leader with regards to United Russia. "It has gathered all the administrators in the party and wants us to believe that it is the party of the people." In Gorbachev's opinion, United Russia used its parliamentary majority to "dismantle step-by-step many of the gains achieved in an electoral system in order to clear its road to success." "This is not a good thing," the ex-president said with indignation and observed, that "it is necessary for the president [Vladimir Putin] to intervene." [my translation]United Russia is seen as a rubber stamp for Vladimir Putin, ensuring his control of the legislative assembly.
2 comments:
Here's what else Gorbachev said in that speech:
"The Americans then gave birth to the idea of a new empire, world leadership by a single power, and what followed? What has followed are unilateral actions, what has followed are wars, what has followed is ignoring the U.N. Security Council, ignoring international law and ignoring the will of the people, even the American people." "It is a massive strategic mistake: no single centre can command the entire world. No single group of countries, like the G-8, can do it. There is no option other than to build a multipolar world order, no matter how complicated this is." "The Americans want so much to be the winners. The fact that they are sick with this illness, this winners' complex, is the main reason why everything in the world is so confused and so complicated." "Under the current U.S. president I don't think we can fundamentally change the situation as it is developing now. It is dangerous. The world is experiencing a period of growing global disarray"
From AP and Reuters reports:
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1175312007
http://www.kyivpost.com/bn/27039/
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/27/europe/EU-GEN-Russia-Gorbachev.php
Hi Colleen!
Thank you for the comments and the links to Gorbachev's speech.
Michel
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