THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2 2007
NEWS
5A
RUSSIA
Putin may try to retain power President calls prime minister proposal 'entirely realistic'
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Leading members of the United Russia party applaud President Vladimir Putin during a congress of the party in Moscow on Monday. The sign at stop reads: "The eighth congress." Putin said Monday he would lead the dominant United Russia party's ticket in December parliamentary elections and suggested he could become prime minister, the strongest indication yet that he will seek to retain power after he steps down as president early next year. If Putin becomes prime minister, he may be able to push the parliament to give him more power than the new president will have.
BY STEVE GUTTERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin, in a surprise announcement, opened the door Monday to becoming Russia's prime minister and retaining power when his presidential term ends next year.
The popular Putin is barred from seeking a third consecutive term in the March presidential election, but has strongly indicated he would seek to keep a hand on Russia's reins after he steps down.
Putin's remarks Monday at a congress of the dominant, Kremlin-controlled United Russia party hint at a clear scenario in which he could remake himself as a powerful prime minister and eclipse a weakened president.
Putin, 54, told United Russia that his name will top its ticket in Dec. 2 parliamentary elections — a huge show of support from a president who has always sought to remain above the grit of party politics.
He called a proposal that he become prime minister "entirely realistic," but added that it was still "too early to think about it." For him to consider it, he said, first United Russia would have to win the elections and Russia elect as president a "decent, competent, effective, modern person with whom it would be possible to work in tandem."
Putin's name on the ticket will make the first task much easier. Laden with top officials who can use the media, law enforcement and other levers to pressure opponents and influence voting, the party already has a huge advantage. And Putin's powerful support could ensure it retains the two-thirds majority needed in the State Duma, or lower house of parliament, to approve changes in the constitution.
Putin's move points to the possibility that the constitution could be changed to shift power from the presidency to the government, which he would lead as prime minister.
"The most logical way for Putin's team to fulfill its main goal — to step down but stay in power
— is to change the constitution" to strengthen the prime minister and his Cabinet, political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin said in an interview. "The president would become a decorative figure."
Former chess champion Garry Kasparov, a fierce Putin critic chosen by his opposition alliance this weekend to run against the Kremlin-backed presidential candidate in March, said Putin's move displayed "the anti-democratic and anti-constitutional nature of this whole electoral process."
"In fact, Putin has done nothing more than decide to use United Russia as the main mechanism for retaining power," Kasparov told Ekho Moskvy radio.
While transferring power from the president to the prime minister would on the surface suggest a major change in the political system, the chief editor of Ekho Moskvy radio said it would make little difference in reality, comparing Putin's power to that of the czars or the Soviet-era Communist Party chiefs.
"In Russia — as before — a regime of personal power has been established: The power of one person, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, and whether he is called president
or prime minister ... is meaningless," Alexei Nedikovt said.
He said the power could be effectively shifted to the prime minister without touching the constitution, by changing a law to transfer power over the Defense Ministry and law enforcement from president to premier.
There are no term limits on the premier, and the prime minister replaces the president if he dies or is incapacitated.
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"I knew it was wrong at the time because I knew it was a form of abuse," Frederick, a former Virginia state correctional officer, said at his court-martial. He testified then, and again at Jordan's trial in August, that at least some of the abuse, such as threatening the man with electrocution, stripping male prisoners and covering their heads with women's underwear, was directed by military and civilian interrogators.
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soldiers photographed him; jumping and stomping on a pile of seven detainees accused of rioting; and punching a detainee in the chest so hard he needed medical attention.
Frederick pleaded guilty to conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault and committing an indecent act. Prosecutors dropped several other charges in a plea deal.
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"We're just elated that he's coming home," his sister Miriam Frederick said in a telephone interview.
Frederick is among 12 U.S. soldiers convicted in the scandal that erupted in April 2004 with the release of pictures of grinning U.S. soldiers posing with detainees, some naked, being held on leashes or in painful and sexually humiliating positions.
CRIME
Frederick, 40, of Buckingham, Va., declined interview requests made through defense attorney Gary Myers and family members.
Convicted soldier placed on parole
Frederick is among 11 enlisted soldiers convicted in the scandal. Jordan, the only officer charged, was acquitted of abuse charges but convicted of disobeying a general's order not to communicate with others about a subsequent investigation of the abuse.
Former Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick Jr. served about three years of an eight-year sentence for actions that included placing wires in a detainee's hands and telling him he would be electrocuted if he fell off a box.
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — The highest-ranking U.S. soldier convicted of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was paroled Monday from military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., his lawyer said.
Man released after serving three years for Abu Ghraib crimes
Myers said Frederick's cooperation with prosecutors, including his testimony at the trial in August of
Frederick, of the 372nd Military Police Company of Cresaptown, Md., supervised the night shift in the prison's "hard site," where detainees deemed to be of high intelligence were held. At his court-martial in Baghdad in October 2004, Frederick admitted placing the wires in the hooded detainee's hands; forcing another, naked detainee to masturbate while
Myers said Frederick's prosecution was a political attempt to shift blame from former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other high-ranking government officials whom Myers said had created an environment in which the Geneva Conventions were disregarded and misconduct was allowed in the name of national security.
"Chip Frederick was never a 'bad apple' as the Army tried to portray him," Myers said in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press. "Frederick recognized that he had done wrong and, like the decent man that he is, pleaded guilty to some of the charges against him."
final Abu Ghraib defendant Lt. Col.
Steven L. Jordan, aided in his early release.
ENTERTAINMENT Court ruling forces Britney to give Federline custody
LOS ANGELES — Britney Spears was ordered Monday to surrender custody of her children to ex-husband Kevin Federline.
Superior Court Judge Scott M. Gordon ruled that Federline would take custody of Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, beginning Wednesday "until further order of the court."
The order stemmed from an unspecified oral motion made by Federline's attorneyys and was handled in a closed-door hearing. The judge's order didn't state the
reason for the change in custody, and all transcripts of the proceedings were ordered sealed.
Phone messages left for representatives of Spears and Federline were not immediately returned Monday.
Last month, Gordon said Spears engaged in "habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol." He ordered the pop star to undergo random drug and alcohol testing twice a week as part of her ongoing custody dispute with Federline.
Spears also was previously ordered to meet weekly with a "parenting coach" who was
to observe and report back to the court about her parenting skills. Both Spears and Federline must complete the court's "Parenting Without Conflict" class.
An MTV Video Music Awards performance last month meant to herald Spears' comeback was universally panned. The following week, Spears' management firm dropped her, and her divorce lawyer resigned.
She then was charged with misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run and driving without a valid license in August.
Associated Press
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