"Czar Putin?" By Patricia Smith- UpFront Response

Many people support this person. He restored Russia, ride horses, and posed with tigers which makes him "the most dangerous man in the world". This person is Vladimir Putin, a president of Russia. In the Up Front article, "Czar Putin?", the author, Patrica Smith, talks about a lot about him. The author described him as a ruthless dictator that 87% of Russians support him. Then, the author discuss that the relationship between Russia and the U.S. is not that great. The two nations haven't been coming together to talk about the problems and the issues in the world. The author explains about Russia's history and how Putin became president.From the start of his presidency, he have been tightly controlling the press and passing laws that "stop" any anti-government actions.While that is going on, Russia's economy is growing from Russia's biggest export, oil. Right now in the present, Russia's economy is dropping and not doing well. This makes Putin a bit less powerful than in the past. This will makes it harder for him to become more advanced.

Throughout the story, the author's message is that Vladimir Putin is abusing his power and using it to make him look powerful. For example, Putin found a way to make him run again as president for a third time. In 2008, he handpicked a successor and pick himself as a prime minister, which allow him to call shots behind the scenes.This give him a total of 25 years as the president of Russia. From the start of the third term, he have been more aggressive about the world and want to take power. Last march, Putin forcefully annexing the territory of Crimea and now it's a part of Russia. This new brings worry to countries next to Russia, such as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland, that Putin threaten them too. The U.S. want to do something about it, but Russia and the U.S. don't have a great bond. This makes it harder for them to talk about many world issues such as stopping the nuclear weapons in Iran and the civil war in Syria. Right now, Putin have to face the fact that the economy is not thriving well. The main export from Russia is oil. Russia is the third largest oil producer and it depend on the exports to support the finance of the government. The oil price start to sink and the Russian government have less money to spend on. The lost of money is a problem in Putin's hands and makes him less powerful, but people still love him. The problem is that we don't know if Putin will still be on the aggressive side or a bit more calm down.

This article made me think more about the saying "history can repeat itself". The president, Putin, is repeating history of maybe starting a new cold war and using the same king of strategy to ruling. In the past, many people take advantage of their power to become more and more powerful. Putin is doing the same thing and it might not work for him. I wonder if his popularity will go down just like the falling oil prices or stay together.