As expected in the following Treehouse posts:
- Enter The Dragon – Putin positions himself for massive global influence, including the Middle East. Iran, China, Turkey coalition
- The New Cool Dark Overlord of Communism – The resurgence and marketing plan of Vladimir Putin similar to Obama’s hope and change.
- Putin Calls America a “Parasite” – The New Beginning
- Russian Academics Freaked Out About Putin – Russian people begin to realize what might happen.
MOSCOW – Vladimir Putin claimed victory in Russia’s presidential election before tens of thousands of cheering supporters Sunday, even as the opposition and independent observers insisted the vote had been marred by widespread fraud.
At a massive rally just outside the Kremlin, Putin thanked his supporters for helping foil plots aimed at destroying Russia, sounding a nationalistic theme that has resonated with the prime minister’s core supporters amid a wave of unprecedented protests.
“I have promised that we would win and we have won!” he shouted to the flag-waving crowd, which responded with shouts of support. “We have won in an open and honest struggle.”
He said the vote showed the majority of Russians has rejected “political provocations” by his opponents aimed at “destroying Russia’s statehood and usurping power.”
Putin tallied 58-59 percent of the vote, according to exit polls cited by state television.
Communist Party candidate Gennady Zyuganov received about 18 percent, according to the surveys, and the others — nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, socialist Sergei Mironov and billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov — were in single digits.
Official vote results from the far eastern regions and Siberia where the count was already completed seemed to confirm the poll data. With about 60 percent of all precincts counted, Putin was leading the field with 65 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said.
If thousands of claims of violations made by independent observers and Putin’s foes are confirmed, they would undermine the legitimacy of his victory and fuel further protests by Russians exasperated with corruption, rising social inequality and tight controls over political life.
The opposition is gearing up for a massive rally in downtown Moscow on Monday.
“These elections are not free … that’s why we’ll have protests tomorrow. We will not recognize the president as legitimate,” said Mikhail Kasyanov, who was Putin’s first prime minister before going into opposition.
Golos, Russia’s leading independent elections watchdog, said it received numerous reports of “carousel voting,” in which busloads of voters are driven around to cast ballots multiple times.
Alexei Navalny, one of the opposition’s most charismatic leaders, said observers trained by his organization also reported seeing extensive use of the practice.
Putin’s campaign chief, Stanislav Govorukhin, rejected the claims of violations, calling them “ridiculous.”
Evidence of widespread vote fraud in December’s parliamentary election drew tens of thousands to protest against Putin, who was president in 2000-2008 before moving into the prime minister’s office because of term limits. They were the largest outburst of public anger in post-Soviet Russia.
Putin has dismissed the protesters’ demands, casting them as a coddled minority of urban elites working at Western behest to weaken Russia. His claims the U.S. was behind the opposition protests appealed to his base of blue-collar workers, farmers and state employees, who are suspicious of Western intentions after years of state propaganda. (read more)