Putin cites security as rationale for quiet coup

Russian President Vladimir Putin is proposing a deal with the devil, trading freedom for security -- perhaps even for nothing fore than the illusion of security. Actually, proposing is too weak a word, Putin is virtually imposing his sweeping anti-democratic reforms. Only token opposition has been voiced by a few brave soles.
There is little that the rest of the world can do but taken note. What's happening in Russia is not a new story. It is the same old story of a popular, powerful and ruthless politicians cleverly consolidating power over a period of years and then using a dramatic event to his own advantage.
President Bush once said he looked into Putin's eyes, saw his soul and liked what he saw. Bush must be wondering now how his eyes could have deceived him.
Quick and efficient
In just five years in office, Putin has brought the TV networks under Kremlin control; crushed the most significant opposition parties; stacked the parliament in his favor; cowed the judiciary; all but renationalized the energy industry and jailed or exiled the oligarchs who might oppose him.
Now he has announced the elimination of direct election of Russia's 89 regional governors in favor of candidates nominated by himself. He would eliminate direct elections for half of the parliament in favor of proportional representation from handpicked slates, thus eliminating the vestigial remains of the liberal and democratic opposition. He also promised to create a new counterterrorism agency.
That not one of the 89 governors spoke up in opposition is a testament to Putin's power and his ruthlessness. As The New York Times noted, every governor in recent years who has spoken in opposition to Putin has found himself under some sort of criminal investigation. The safest thing to be in Russia today is silent.
Putin has used the recent tragic events in Beslan, where as many as 400 people were killed, many of them children, and the suicide bombing of two airliners in mid-flight to rationalize the need for more centralized power.
Criticism and response
U.S State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday that Putin's plan raises concerns about whether Russia is striking the "right balance" between "moving forward rather than backward on democracy."
Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov essentially told the United States and other countries to mind their own business. Putin's reforms, he said, are an internal matter.
Russia's transition from dictatorship to democracy was a work in progress. It is now over.
The rest of the world can react as it will through diplomatic channels, but Putin's grasp of power now appears to be complete.
The best that can be taken from this now is a lesson on how easy it is for a people to stand quietly by while their leaders trade freedom for security. And it is a good time to remember Benjamin Franklin's oft-quoted warning that those who would trade freedom for security deserve neither.