Putin wins another 6 years as Russian leader
MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin rolled to a crushing re-election victory Sunday for six more years as Russia’s president, and he told cheering supporters in a triumphant but brief speech that “we are bound for success.”
There had been no doubt that Putin would win in his fourth electoral contest; he faced seven minor candidates and his most prominent foe was blocked from the ballot.
His only real challenge was to run up the tally so high that he could claim an indisputable mandate.
With ballots from 80 percent of Russia’s precincts counted by early Monday, Putin had amassed 76 percent of the vote. Observers and individual voters reported widespread violations including ballot-box stuffing and forced voting, but the claims are unlikely to dilute the power of Russia’s longest-serving leader since Josef Stalin.
As the embodiment of Russia’s resurgent power on the world stage, Putin commands immense loyalty among Russians.
More than 30,000 crowded into Manezh Square adjacent to the Kremlin in temperatures of minus-10 degrees (15-degrees F) for a victory concert and to await his words.
Putin extolled them for their support — “I am a member of your team” — and he promised them that “we are bound for success.” Then he left the stage after speaking for less than two minutes, a seemingly perfunctory appearance that encapsulated the election’s predictability.
Since he took the helm in Russia on New Year’s Eve 1999 after Boris Yeltsin’s surprise resignation, Putin’s electoral power has centered on stability, a quality cherished by Russians after the chaotic breakup of the Soviet Union and the “wild capitalism” of the Yeltsin years.
But that stability has been bolstered by a suppression of dissent, the withering of independent media and the top-down control of politics called “managed democracy.”
A recurring nightmare for Facebook: Helping muddy up elections
MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — Facebook has a problem it just can’t kick: People keep exploiting it in ways that could sway elections, and in the worst cases even undermine democracy.
News reports that Facebook let the Trump-affiliated data mining firm Cambridge Analytica abscond with data from tens of millions of users mark the third time in roughly a year the company appears to have been outfoxed by crafty outsiders in this way.
Before the Cambridge imbroglio, there were Russian agents running election-related propaganda campaigns through targeted ads and fake political events. And before the Russians took center stage, there were purveyors of fake news who spread false stories to rile up hyperpartisan audiences and profit from the resulting ad revenue.
In the previous cases, Facebook initially downplayed the risks posed by these activities. It only seriously grappled with fake news and Russian influence after sustained criticism from users, experts and politicians. In the case of Cambridge, Facebook says the main problem involved the transfer of data to a third party — not its collection in the first place.
Each new issue has also raised the same enduring questions about Facebook’s conflicting priorities — to protect its users, but also to ensure that it can exploit their personal details to fuel its hugely lucrative, and precisely targeted, advertising business.
Turkey-backed forces capture Syrian Kurdish town of Afrin
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish military and allied Syrian forces marched into the center of the northern Syrian town of Afrin Sunday, raising their flags and shooting in the air in celebration nearly two months after launching their offensive on the Kurdish enclave. The advancing troops faced little resistance from the Kurdish militia that retreated and vowed to turn to guerrilla tactics.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the capture of Afrin, previously controlled by the Kurdish militia known as the People’s Defense Units, or YPG.
“Many of the terrorists had turned tail and run away already,” Erdogan said in a speech in western Turkey. “In Afrin’s center, it is no longer the rags of the terror organization that are waving but rather the symbols of peace and security.”
The Kurdish militia called the assault on Afrin an “occupation” and vowed a “new phase” of guerrilla tactics against Turkish troops and its allied Syrian fighters.