"Russian Democracy Has Disappeared?: Clifford J. Levy, New York Times

Russian Democracy Has Disappeared?
Clifford J. Levy, New York Times

1. What is human rights? According to the author, identify human rights issues
the current political regime in Russia have violated. Human rights are rights that
are believed to belong justifiably to everyone, along with the basic morals any
government should follow in order to keep a nation free. According to the article
Russia broke human rights because Russia has taken any peaceful protest
supporters and send them to prison or jail and lock them up. In Russia, the
government and people in Russia are manipulating the system they have and
change it to benefit them and make them better. Also, current leader Putin and
former leader Medvedev work together to change their power in government, since
they can only run for a certain amount of time. So once one of them are done their
term, the next one takes over and is the leader, to have the other one take over
when they are done. This way they constantly control the government and make
Russia run the way they want it to.
2. Identify political corruption issues Mr. Levy identifies in Russia today. In Russia,
some of the political corruption issues they are facing is that no one has come up
with any ideas to fix the values in the country, along with providing proper
functioning of democracy. Along with that, there is an issue with the law because
they have decided to use jurors as judges, instead of a real judge. Lastly, the law
keeps being bent, allowing the government to take control over everything and
make the country run the way they want it to, making it rigged.
3. How does Mr. Gorbechev, the previous Russian premier, feel about the current
leaders? Why does he feel this way? In a democracy, it begins with people having
the right to choose their leader in a majority vote, which Russia is changing to
make the people think democracy is run a certain way, the way the government
wants it to be run. Former leader of Russia Gorbechev believes that Putin could be a
great leader of Russia, but democracy stands in his way.
4. The caption for the picture on page one is titled, Batman and Robin. Explain
this caption. The caption is Batman and Robin because Putin and Medvedev are
like batman and robin the way they rule Russia. Putin is like Batman because he is
in charge and Medvedev, who is like Robin, is his sidekick and helps him. Putin
makes the decisions for what to do for Russia and Medvedev supports him as his
sidekick.
5. According to the author [and Mr. Gorbechev], democracy begins with:
ELECTIONS, ACCOUNTABILITY, and TURNOVER.
6. In addition to the aspects of democracy identified above, which other key
ingredient is necessary for a democracy? According to the author, how does Russia
meet this ingredient? Back up your answer with facts. In addition to the aspects of
democracy, the key ingredient necessary for democracy is representing the rule of
law. Representing the rule is something Russia frequently manipulates to serve only
the needs of the government. In Russia, they bend the laws to fit the governments
needs, and will do whatever necessary to do it. An example would be Putin still in
control of Russia, due to him finding a fault in the government and being able to
use it to his advantage.
7. Identify two cases the author identifies where the Russian government has
failed the democratic test. Examples of when Russian government failed the
democratic test are when Mikhail offered support to an opposing party and ended
up severely beaten, spending several years in jail, along with having his company
sold off to supporter of Putin. Another example is when they arrested
Khodorkovsky, the head of a major company in Russia, he was simply funding the
social rights activists and was imprisoned.
Levy, Clifford J. "Russian Democracy Has Disappeared." (n.d.): n. pag. Russian Democracy Has
Disappeared. The New York Times. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
<http://worldculturesmst.weebly.com/uploads/7/9/1/4/7914641/has_russian_democracy_disappeared
.pdf>.

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Clifford J. Levy, New York Times

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