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Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
May 6 2012
World press on elections in Iran, Armenia and Russia (May 5-6, 2012)
The Washington Post reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
support in Iran's parliament crumbled as final results released
Saturday showed conservative rivals consolidating their hold on the
legislative body in a runoff vote. Iran has touted a robust turnout
for Friday's vote as a show of support for the country's religious
leadership in its confrontation with the West over the Islamic
Republic's controversial nuclear program. The result is also a new
humiliation for Ahmadinejad, whose political decline started last year
with his bold but failed challenge of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei over the choice of intelligence chief. Ahmadinejad's
opponents had already won an outright majority in the 290-member
legislature in the first round of voting in March. Of 65 seats up for
grabs in Friday's runoff election, Ahmadinejad's opponents won 41
while the president's supporters got only 13 seats. Independents won
11, according to final results reported Saturday by state media.
The same agency published the article headlined `Vladi¬mir Putin
returns to Russian presidency weaker than when he left it.' It says
that Vladimir Putin returns to the Russian presidency Monday in the
throne room of the czars, now a dangerously weakened autocrat. The
protests of December shook his all-powerful countenance, setting off
machinations by the powers behind him who are intent on preserving
their authority and privilege despite demands for democracy and
reform. That conflict portends difficult and uncertain days for
Russia, with Putin pressured to display more muscle than compromise.
By March, when he was elected president with a reported 64 percent of
the vote, doubts had appeared about his legitimacy. Now, few expect
anything but a long, tumultuous road for democratic reform. Many fear
turmoil. No one knows what lies ahead after Monday's inauguration for
what now is a six-year presidential term. If Putin antagonizes the
hard-liners, an assortment of security and military industrial
insiders among them, he risks plots against him. If he cannot quiet
the protests, he courts a popular upheaval.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton's three-day trip to India, starting Sunday after a weekend
stop in Bangladesh, comes amid reduced expectations and political
distraction on both sides and a relationship increasingly marked by
incremental movement on a variety of issues. Though India remains an
important ally, few big-ticket nuclear and defense deals that the
United States had hoped for have materialized. India is wary of
becoming too closely aligned with the U.S. to the detriment of its
relations with Russia and Iran. And politics, including the U.S.
presidential campaign and the growing weakness of India's Congress
Party-led government, has limited the scope of agreements.
The Turkish information agency Hurriyet published the article
subtitled `Armenia heads to polls amid claims of foul play.' It says
that Armenians are poised to cast their votes on May 6 in a
parliamentary election that looks set to become a battle for supremacy
between the governing party and its current coalition partner, led by
an ultra-rich former arm wrestling champion. Opinion polls suggest
that President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican Party, which currently
controls the majority of seats in Parliament, is ahead of its ally in
the outgoing coalition ` the Prosperous Armenia Party, led by
millionaire tycoon and former arm wrestler Gagik Tsarukian.
Authorities have pledged an unprecedentedly clean contest for the
131-seat National Assembly in the mountainous country of 3.3 million
people. The general perception among the public, however, tells a
different story.
The same agency reported that As NATO prepares to announce the
completion of the first important phase of its ambitious nuclear
missile defense system during the alliance's Chicago summit this
month, Turkey's decision last September to host the early warning
radar system for the shield has proved to be a turning point in the
government's relations with the West, said Professor Mustafa Aydın,
the rector of Kadir Has University. Aydın is also the head of the
International Relations Council, which has been organizing
brain-storming meetings on security issues in several cities
throughout Turkey on the occasion of Turkey's 60th year of NATO
membership. By hosting the radars, `the government chooses its side.
It gives the message to the world that Turkey will continue to act
with the West,' he said. Meanwhile with his recent statement that
Turkey will lead the wave of change in the Middle East, Foreign
Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu has announced the end of the `zero problems
with neighbors' policy.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/world-press-review/politics/26309.html
May 6 2012
World press on elections in Iran, Armenia and Russia (May 5-6, 2012)
The Washington Post reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
support in Iran's parliament crumbled as final results released
Saturday showed conservative rivals consolidating their hold on the
legislative body in a runoff vote. Iran has touted a robust turnout
for Friday's vote as a show of support for the country's religious
leadership in its confrontation with the West over the Islamic
Republic's controversial nuclear program. The result is also a new
humiliation for Ahmadinejad, whose political decline started last year
with his bold but failed challenge of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei over the choice of intelligence chief. Ahmadinejad's
opponents had already won an outright majority in the 290-member
legislature in the first round of voting in March. Of 65 seats up for
grabs in Friday's runoff election, Ahmadinejad's opponents won 41
while the president's supporters got only 13 seats. Independents won
11, according to final results reported Saturday by state media.
The same agency published the article headlined `Vladi¬mir Putin
returns to Russian presidency weaker than when he left it.' It says
that Vladimir Putin returns to the Russian presidency Monday in the
throne room of the czars, now a dangerously weakened autocrat. The
protests of December shook his all-powerful countenance, setting off
machinations by the powers behind him who are intent on preserving
their authority and privilege despite demands for democracy and
reform. That conflict portends difficult and uncertain days for
Russia, with Putin pressured to display more muscle than compromise.
By March, when he was elected president with a reported 64 percent of
the vote, doubts had appeared about his legitimacy. Now, few expect
anything but a long, tumultuous road for democratic reform. Many fear
turmoil. No one knows what lies ahead after Monday's inauguration for
what now is a six-year presidential term. If Putin antagonizes the
hard-liners, an assortment of security and military industrial
insiders among them, he risks plots against him. If he cannot quiet
the protests, he courts a popular upheaval.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton's three-day trip to India, starting Sunday after a weekend
stop in Bangladesh, comes amid reduced expectations and political
distraction on both sides and a relationship increasingly marked by
incremental movement on a variety of issues. Though India remains an
important ally, few big-ticket nuclear and defense deals that the
United States had hoped for have materialized. India is wary of
becoming too closely aligned with the U.S. to the detriment of its
relations with Russia and Iran. And politics, including the U.S.
presidential campaign and the growing weakness of India's Congress
Party-led government, has limited the scope of agreements.
The Turkish information agency Hurriyet published the article
subtitled `Armenia heads to polls amid claims of foul play.' It says
that Armenians are poised to cast their votes on May 6 in a
parliamentary election that looks set to become a battle for supremacy
between the governing party and its current coalition partner, led by
an ultra-rich former arm wrestling champion. Opinion polls suggest
that President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican Party, which currently
controls the majority of seats in Parliament, is ahead of its ally in
the outgoing coalition ` the Prosperous Armenia Party, led by
millionaire tycoon and former arm wrestler Gagik Tsarukian.
Authorities have pledged an unprecedentedly clean contest for the
131-seat National Assembly in the mountainous country of 3.3 million
people. The general perception among the public, however, tells a
different story.
The same agency reported that As NATO prepares to announce the
completion of the first important phase of its ambitious nuclear
missile defense system during the alliance's Chicago summit this
month, Turkey's decision last September to host the early warning
radar system for the shield has proved to be a turning point in the
government's relations with the West, said Professor Mustafa Aydın,
the rector of Kadir Has University. Aydın is also the head of the
International Relations Council, which has been organizing
brain-storming meetings on security issues in several cities
throughout Turkey on the occasion of Turkey's 60th year of NATO
membership. By hosting the radars, `the government chooses its side.
It gives the message to the world that Turkey will continue to act
with the West,' he said. Meanwhile with his recent statement that
Turkey will lead the wave of change in the Middle East, Foreign
Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu has announced the end of the `zero problems
with neighbors' policy.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/world-press-review/politics/26309.html