Ranking Putin against other leaders

Post Reply New Topic

Some people claim that Putin embodies return to Soviet system, at least some aspects of it. They say this because

a) Putin used to serve in KGB
b) Putin brought media back under kremlin's control
c) The results of elections are pre-determined, just like they were under communists
d) Some feel that Russia heads to stagnation period similar to Brezhnev's
e) Putin expressed regrets that Soviet system collapsed
f) Some of Putin's foreign policies resemble cold war times
g) Some claim that Putin's arrest of Khodorkovsky for "financial fraud" is politically motivated

At the same time, there are also counter-arguments to this. Namely

a) Under the communists Soviet Union was closed off by "iron curtain"; such is not the case right now
b) Putin chose to start his own party, "united Russia" as opposed to be part of communist party
c) Yeltsin, who embodied departure FROM communism, was the one who picked Putin as the next president

So in light of this it is truly impossible to say Putin is "like" any of the previous leaders. But still it would be nice to ask whom would he be "closer to" if you were to take a pick. So here are the leaders you are asked to use to rank Putin (and I will list them from "most democratic" to "biggest dictator"):

1) Yeltsin. Yes, Yeltsin was a bad guy I am not denying it (after all economic collapse was largely his fault and also he violated constitution by getting rid of parliament he "didn't like" in 1993). But lets give a credit where the credit is due: Yeltsin was the main person who moved the country from communism to democracy.

2) Gorbachev. On a grand scheme Gorbachev would probably be next after Yeltsin. Yes Gorbachev was the one who opened up the iron border and ended cold war; but at the same time he was not quite as radical as Yeltsin was since he wanted to take his time in going from communism to democracy. Well I am not saying taking the time is a bad thing. It might be a good thing since making quick radical moves proved to ruin the economy in 1990-s. But still we are not talking about good vs bad; we are only talking about democrat vs communist. So Gorbachev was closer to communists than Yeltsin was, thats a fact.

3) Khruschev. Well Khruschev was famous for criticizing Stalin. Also, he was more democratic than Brezhnev (after all, Brezhnev was the one who stopped Khruschev's moves towards democracy, although he was not as bad as Stalin). But at the same time, Khruschev was not as democratic as either Yeltsin or Gorbachev. After all, both Yeltsin and Gorbachev were opening the border, while Khruschev was not.

4) Brezhnev. Seeing that iron curtain was up he is clearly more of a communist than either Yeltsin or Gorbachev. Also, he is more of a communist than Khruschev, given that he stopped Khruschev's "de-stalinization". But at the same time he was not as bad as Stalin -- no one was

5) Stalin. He is clearly the worst. Again, no need to explain, self evident

So yean, how would you rank Putin on scale of leaders listed above. PLEASE NOTE: the above is NOT in time order but rather in the "content order". In particular, Khruschev was the one next to Gorbachev on that list even though in chronological order Brezhnev was the one next to Gorbachev. The reason I changed chronological order is that, from the point of view of politics, Khruschev was more democratic than Brezhnev, which makes him "closer" to Gorbachev.

Anyway, please rank Putin on the scale of above leaders.

Putin is a thug. A cross between Boss Tweed and a rattlesnake.

ruveyn