This ominous throwback to the Stalin era is not getting the attention in the West that it should.
Russian President Vladimir Putin first took power in 2000. He succeeded Boris Yeltsin in Russia’s first peaceful transition of power from one democratically elected leader to the next — ever. It was a historic moment for Russia.
Putin, however, had decidedly undemocratic ambitions. He was restricted by the Russian Constitution to two terms in power at the most — that is, two elected four-year terms, if chosen by voters. This meant that Putin’s run would have ended in 2008. Quite the contrary, Putin ever since has done everything from unilaterally reconfiguring the Russian Constitution to manipulating elections to bully, coerce, and at times kill dissenting voices. With his many dark maneuvers, Putin has crafted for himself a hold on power that now extends to the year 2036, assuming he lives that long. If he does live that long, he’ll find a way to seize more power for yet more years to come.
