Vladimir Zhirinovsky

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Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky (Russian: Влади́мир Во́льфович Жирино́вский, formerly Vladimir Volfovich Eidelshtein, born April 25, 1946) is a Russian politician, deputy and vice-chairman of the State Duma (the Russian parliament), and lawyer. Zhirinovsky is the founder and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), the third largest party in the Duma. He is also a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

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[edit] Early life and politics

Zhirinovsky was born in Alma-Ata, former capital of the then-Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan. In July 1964, Zhirinovsky moved from Alma-Ata to Moscow, where he began his studies in the Department of Turkish Studies, Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University, from which he graduated in 1969. Zhirinovsky then went into military service in Tbilisi during the early 1970s. He would later get a law degree and work at various posts in state committees and unions. He was awarded a Ph.D. in philosophy by MSU in 1998.

Though he participated in some underground reformist groups, Zhirinovsky was largely inessential in Soviet political developments during the 1980s. While he contemplated a role in politics, a nomination attempt for a seat as a People's Deputy in 1989 was quickly abandoned. [1] Zhirinovsky, whose father was a Polish Jew, began his formal political career in the Shalom Cultural Society, a Jewish organization given support by the Soviet government in order to compete with independent Jewish groups which sprang up during the era of glasnost under the tenure of Mikhail Gorbachev in the latter part of the decade. [2]

After many years of denying his Jewish heritage, going so far that in an interview, when probed about his heritage, referred to his mother as Russian and his father as a lawyer. Zhirinovsky finally acknowledged his father's Jewish identity in 2003. On a private visit to Israel in June 2006, Zhirinovsky paid his first visit to the grave of his father, Wolf Isakovich Eidelshtein, who is buried in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon.[1]

[edit] Liberal-Democratic Party

In 1990, Zhirinovsky, along with Vladimir Bogachev, took initiatives which led to the founding of the Liberal Democratic Party, the second registered party in the Soviet Union and therefore the first officially sanctioned opposition party. In elections that same year, after which Gorbachev became the first President of the Soviet Union, the LDPR officially gathered 8% of the vote. Afterwards, the LDPR would garner a reputation as an ineffective vehicle for opposition against the government, and one that lacked either credibility or authenticity, particularly given Zhirinovsky's vocal support for the Soviet coup attempt of 1991. This view was further encouraged by rumors, denied by Zhirinovsky, that he was an agent of the KGB and that the LDPR was a farcical creation meant to either discredit or distract earnest opposition to the government. Such impressions would last even as the Soviet Union was dissolved and the Communist Party itself was thrown into an opposition role.

Nonetheless, the Liberal-Democratic Party remained an important force in Russian politics. At the height of its fortunes, the LDPR gathered 23% of the vote in the 1993 Duma elections and achieved a broad representation throughout the country - the LDPR being the top vote-getter in 64 out of 87 regions. This fact encouraged Zhirinovsky to once again vie for the presidential office, this time against incumbent Boris Yeltsin. The fact that Yeltsin's candidacy seemed seriously challenged by Russian nationalist groups and a rejuvenated Communist Party alarmed many outside observers, particularly in the Western world, who were concerned that such developments posed a serious threat to the survival of Russian democracy, already in a very fragile state. Zhirinovsky became a focal point of harsh criticism and seemed to be the living embodiment of authoritarianism and militarism in modern Russia.

[edit] Politician

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Zhirinovsky at a news conference.
Zhirinovsky at a news conference.

For his own part, Zhirinovsky has done a great deal to foster a reputation as a loud and boisterous populist who speaks on behalf of the Russian nation and people, even when the things he says are precisely what many people, at home or abroad, do not want to hear. Zhirinovsky infamously promised voters in 1991 that if he were elected, free vodka would be distributed to all. Similarly, he once remarked, during a political rally inside a Moscow department store, that if he were made president, underwear would be freely available.[2] He has on several occasions been involved in altercations with other politicians and debate opponents.

Despite his past association with Jewish groups, Zhirinovsky has been widely accused of anti-Semitism [3]. He has expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler,[citation needed] as well as 1996 U.S. Presidential contender Pat Buchanan, who has faced similar accusations, on the verge of his victory in the New Hampshire primary. Referring positively to a comment in which Buchanan labeled the United States Congress "Israeli-occupied territory", Zhirinovsky remarked that, "We have the same situation in Russia."[citation needed] He said that both countries were "under occupation" and that "to survive, we could set aside places on US and Russian territories to deport this small but troublesome tribe."[citation needed] Buchanan strongly rejected Zhirinovsky's endorsement, eliciting a harsh response by Zhirinovsky: "You filled your pants as soon as you got my congratulations. Who are you afraid of? Zionists?" [4]

He is also well known for his boasts pertaining to other countries, having expressed a desire to reunite countries of the ex-Soviet "near abroad" with Russia, and dreaming of a day "when Russian soldiers can wash their boots in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean".[citation needed] Zhirinovsky has been quoted to the effect that, among other things, Russia should retake Alaska by using force[citation needed], construct large fans to blow Russia's nuclear waste into Germany and the Baltic republics[citation needed], and use nuclear weapons against its adversaries.[citation needed]

While some observers were inclined to consider such comments as stark efforts to drum up nationalist support and should not be viewed as anything more serious than electoral fodder meant for domestic consumption, there was great consternation at the fact that in February 1996, months before a presidential election, Zhirinovsky placed second in opinion polls, behind Communist Gennady Zyuganov and ahead of Boris Yeltsin. In the end, however, Zhirinovsky placed fifth with a 5.7% share in the first round of voting. Since then, the party's fortunes have somewhat stabilized, with 2003 seeing a LDPR vote share of 11.7%, while the effect of Zhirinovsky's personality only increased his irrelevancy in successive presidential elections. In 2004, he declined to even be nominated by the party, leaving that role to Oleg Malyshkin, who received a nearly negligible portion of the vote.

As a candidate Zhirinovsky also took part in 2000 Russian presidential elections.

[edit] Ongoing controversies

Zhirinovsky hailed what he described as "the democratic process" in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, whom he supported strongly. The friendship dates at least until the first Gulf War, during which time Zhirinovsky sent several volunteers from the "Falcons of Zhirinovsky" group to support the Iraqi president. The gestures apparently did not go unrewarded, as allegations have dogged Zhirinovsky closely since the fall of Baghdad that he personally profited from illicit oil sales as part of the Oil-for Food scandal, a charge investigated in 2005 by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI). [5]

Zhirinovsky also has a history of igniting violence in political contexts. In June 2003, Zhirinovsky celebrated the eighth anniversary of his notorious debate with Boris Nemtsov in 1995, during which a "juice fight" broke out. Zhirinovsky had deliberately spilled the contents of his glass, namely fruit juice, onto Nemtsov. The celebration in 2003 involved an open tournament of splashing juice onto one's opponent. This "tournament" was opened by Zhirinovsky himself by splashing juice onto a group of volunteers, and the event was held in the open near a theatre in Moscow. [6] In 2003, Zhirinovsky engaged in a fistfight after a television debate with Mikhail Delyagin. [7] In 2005, Zhirinovsky ignited a brawl in the parliament by spitting at a legislator, Andrei Savelyev. [8]

In 2005, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan declared Zhirinovsky persona non grata on the territory of his historical homeland, due to the politician's controversial speech about the change of the Russia–Kazakhstan border, in which he questioned the Kazakh people's place in history. Zhirinovsky maintains his view, claiming that his position is backed by a number of academic works on history and geography. Moreover, he called on the government of Kazakhstan not to take offense on the matter. [9]

In reaction to Condoleezza Rice's criticism of Russian foreign policy during the January 2006 Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, Zhirinovsky stated that Rice's comments were a reflection of her own unmarried and childless status, and that "Condoleezza Rice needs a company of soldiers. She needs to be taken to barracks where she would be satisfied." [10]

Also (as of October 2006), he is persona non grata in Ukraine.

On the November 2006 death by poisoning of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko, he said any traitor must be eliminated using any methods. [11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Melman, Yossi. "The Jewish Side of the Family", Haaretz, 2006-06-30.
  2. ^ Fedarko, Kevin. "A Farce to Be Reckoned With", TIME, 1993-12-27.

[edit] External links

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