Rice on Russia

US Secretary of State href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleezza_Rice">Condoleezza
Rice has some choice words for href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin" rel="tag">Vladimir
Vladimirovich Putin.  

href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3726309">Rice
Worried by Putin's Broad Powers

Rice Criticizes Putin's Concentration of Power, Says It
Interferes With Move to Democracy

By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW Oct 13, 2007 (AP)



The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has amassed so
much
central authority that the power-grab may undermine Moscow's commitment
to democracy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday.



"In any country, if you don't have countervailing
institutions,
the power of any one president is problematic for democratic
development," Rice told reporters after meeting with human-rights
activists.



"I think there is too much concentration of power in the
Kremlin. I have told the Russians that. Everybody has doubts about the
full independence of the judiciary. There are clearly questions about
the independence of the electronic media and there are, I think,
questions about the strength of the Duma," said Rice, referring to the
Russian parliament...

The Kremlin had no comment.  What could they possibly say?
 One of the architects of the US href="http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20060109_bergen.html">Unitary
Executive policy
is criticizing a democratic ally for concentrating too much power at
the top.  The zebra is calling the tiger striped.
 Eve is
calling Adam naked.  The Emperor is boasting about his fine
new
suit.  Of course the Kremlin
has no comment.  There simply is
nothing to say.