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Boris  Kagarlitsky, Moscow

THE WRATH DAY LIKE A GROUNDHOG DAY

25 March 2010


The protest actions, which the Russian extraparliamentary opposition had scheduled for March 20, were held as planned, they surprised or frightened nobody. Just as it had been expected, the activists of many organizations supporting the Wrath Day took to the streets… but saw there only the policemen, journalists and each other.


RUSSIA’S FAILURE IN THE OLYMPIC GAMES

12 March 2010


The failure of the Russian team in the Vancouver Olympic Games would not have become a serious problem, if the Russian authorities had not spoken about the sports in its propaganda for many years. The successes of the Russian football and hockey players were presented as a proof that Russia reacquires the great power status in sports, if not in world politics and economy.


DOUBLETHINK

04 March 2010


I’ve recently realized that the Soviet hypocrisy and doublethink are better for me than the modern cynicism. Why was it banned during the Leonid Brezhnev era to write about the crimes committed under former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin? Because the Communist party functionaries understood at heart such things should be ashamed of and, in a sense, they admitted the guilt of the Communist regime.


ILLUSION OF MODERNIZATION

11 February 2010


Many years ago German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck said about the Russians: “They harness their horses slowly but they drive them fast.” Strange as it may seem, Russians like this aphorism very much. As a matter of fact, the fast driving justifies any protracted, unsuccessful and stupid efforts to “harness” the progress chariot. On the other hand, it is exactly those perpetual delays that make our “fast driving” necessary.


“FREEDOM” – WHAT A PLEASANT WORD!

28 January 2010


Last week the Heritage Foundation published the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom. According to that rating, Hong Kong is the world’s freest economy, it is much freer than the USA. Armenia is freer than Brazil, Estonia is much freer than Germany, and Kazakhstan is freer than India. Russian economy is not free, Tajikistan outstrips it.


THE ANNIVERSARY OF STANISLAV MARKELOV AND ANASTASIA BABUROVA’S MURDERS

19 January 2010


Lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova were killed a year ago in Moscow. They were killed in broad daylight, in the center of Moscow, thus defiance was bid to the society and, in a sense, to the Russian authorities. The Kremlin officials disliked Stanislav Markelov, but they do not like disorders and scandals even more. So, this time, the authorities tried to solve the crime. Two suspects have been arrested.


DEFAULT IN EUROPE

16 December 2009


When the Arab emirate Dubai was on the verge of bankruptcy, the international financial speculators became worried. The rating agencies simultaneously came to correct their assessments. The bankers started to check if their debtors were solvent. Another financial crisis is in the air. It turned out that not only Ireland and Latvia, but also Greece and Spain face a default. Iceland has already become bankrupt.


WE LIVE LIKE DURING A WAR

02 December 2009


If a train was blown up in Western Europe (as was the case with the “Nevsky Express” train when it travelled between the capital Moscow and St Petersburg last week), the railway companies would suffer in a much larger measure – many people would return the tickets they bought. In Russia the situation is totally different, and nobody is going to induce the passengers to buy tickets offering them the New Year discounts.


PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS ABOUT TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS AND DAY-LIGHT SAVINGS TIME

19 November 2009


On Thursday Evening, when looking for the 2009 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s Annual Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, I found his previous Address which he made in 2008. After having read the two texts I was perplexed. In some parts of his message the President repeats what he said in 2008. Why does he do so?


PHILOSOPHY PROTECTION COMMITTEE

06 November 2009


The modern architecture is inhumane, it does not fit into the historical and cultural context and destroys any ensemble. In other words, it is important not only what has been destroyed, but also what has been built. Constructing a modern architecture building in a historical district is destroying this district. More than that, this kind of destruction is deliberate and mercenary, as the destroyers know what they do.


20 LOST YEARS

26 October 2009


The East European countries began celebrating jubilees, the historians and political scientists in the Western countries hold conferences and discussions: twenty years have passed since the “autumn revolutions”, which started the democratic epoch in the former Communist countries. It is the worst time to observe the anniversary. The new regimes in Eastern Europe are suffering acute social, economic and political crises.


HAPPY LIFE PICTURE

08 October 2009


At first, I did not understand why that article should be read and discussed, since many various articles are published every week. So, I refused to take part in the round tables discussing the article “Russia, go ahead!” by Dmitry Medvedev. Having looked through it, I found neither original ideas, nor refined language, nor some other advantages that would make the article better than all the Internet publications.


EVERYONE HAS HIS OWN PROBLEMS

24 September 2009


The subject of the global financial crisis is getting less and less interesting. Many articles about the crisis have been published and a lot of conclusions have already been drawn. It’s another matter that the conclusions differ from the decisions that are being made. Meanwhile, Russian officials as well as ordinary people would like to hear good news. It would be so nice to arrange a little holiday against the background of the crisis.


POLICE MAJOR YEVSYUKOV AND OTHERS

14 September 2009


The case against police major Denis Yevsyukov is ready to be taken to court. Former head of the Moscow Police Department “Tsaritsyno”, who shot down people in “Ostrov” supermarket in April 2009, is charged with murder of two people and attempted murder of 21 people. The final version of the indictment stresses the fact that Denis Yevsyukov attempted to kill policemen seeking to arrest him.


PERSONNEL SHORTAGE

27 August 2009


While the world leaders are slightly optimistic about the economic recovery in the Western countries, Eastern Europe prepares for the next wave of the crisis. The states are short of money to indemnify for their budgets and to support businessmen, a lot of companies stand on the verge of bankruptcy, the population’s employment and incomes continue to fall, and the demand slackens.


THE GHOST OF NATIONALIZATION

14 August 2009


For the time being Russia is not haunted by the ghost of Communism, but there is a more modest and pragmatic ghost of Nationalization. Those talks started at the beginning of the summer 2009 when some enterprises forming company towns were closed down, and in August when the main assembly line of the AvtoVAZ automobile plant stopped working, the issue of nationalization of this former Soviet industry giant was raised at the trade union protest rally.


CONTROL OF JUSTICE

30 July 2009


Nobody knows how many there are political prisoners in Russia. Most likely, the figure is lower than the opposition commentators say it is, but, of course, higher than the officials think, as the latter are sure that there are no political prisoners in Russia at all. However, it looks like, besides political prisoners, a new kind of prisoner appears in Russia – the social one.


CONFESSIONS OF CASSANDRA

20 July 2009


A year ago, while we were warning about oil price downturn to 40$ per barrel, the price toped out by reaching 147$ per barrel, and high-paid experts on the ground of immense information content, processing by highly professional employees, were foretelling with confidence the increase of oil prices up to 200$ per barrel.


ADULT FAIRYTALES

03 July 2009


Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Africa. Speaking to the local audience, he said that Europe was indebted to the black continent, which had been colonized in the XIX century. At the same time Dmitry Medvedev noted that Russia itself wouldn’t pay a debt, because it had never been a colonial power.


PECULIARITIES OF THE NATIONAL MENTALITY

19 June 2009


Over the past twenty years the liberal social and political essays have written that under capitalism the economy must have nothing to do with the activities of the state that can damage the economic development by interfering in the economy. One can come to the conclusion that the Russian government is not responsible for the crisis at all, in particular since the crisis is global.


STABILIZATION IS WORSE THAN DEPRESSION

04 June 2009


Russian officials have become optimistic again. Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev criticizes his Minister of Finances Alexey Kudrin in public because he said that Russia’s favorable economic trends had become a thing of the past, and the Central Bank representatives joyfully speak about the growth of gold and currency reserves. Everybody is inclined to believe that the crisis will not get deeper any more and that long-awaited economic recovery is just on the point of starting.


GOOD COP, BAD COP AND UNREMARKABLE ONE

25 May 2009


The diarchy in the Russian politics is a permanent problem for analysts, propagandists and moralists. Who is the head of state? The President or the Prime Minister? And what kind of our system is? The superpresidential republic or the moderate constitutional monarchy? In fact, these questions are not the most unpleasant.


CASE ON KILLED WILD RAMS: CONTINUATION

14 May 2009


It seems that in this spring not only weather but also the political climate in Russia is getting warm. Although those symptoms are unconvincing, they continue to multiply turning particular cases into a tendency. The crime committed by police major Denis Yevsyukov, who has shot down innocent people in a Moscow supermarket, led to a dismissal of Vladimir Pronin, head of the Moscow police.


WHAT ARE BUREAUCRATS AFRAID OF?

23 April 2009


The economic crisis makes the social movements more efficient, but the same is not true for the Russian local authorities. The functionaries’ fear of losing their jobs or of being reprimanded reaches the point of hysteria during the crisis.


SOCIALISM FOR BOURGEOISIE

09 April 2009


The Yiddish language has the word “hutspah” that means a person who killed his parents and, during the trial, he asks the judge to make allowance for him as he is an orphan. I believe that this word is the best to depict the morality of Russian big businessmen and most officials.


THE SEAL PROTECTION THE RUSSIAN WAY

25 March 2009


The main decision, which the Russian government made last week, concerned protection of seals. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin decided to ban the hunting of the Greenlandic seal cubs which are mercilessly killed for their fur when they are one year old. However, the Russian officials are used to applying a double standard to the protection of environment.


POSSIBLE BREAK-UP OF THE EURO AREA

20 March 2009


Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, said on March 6, 2009, that a default couldn’t take place in a euro area country and the assumption that the euro area could break up was “nonsense”. The statement is strange if to take into account that mass media said neither about the euro area break-up nor about the default.


EXAMINATION IS TANTAMOUNT TO A NIGHTMARE

27 February 2009


As the spring approaches, thousands of people, who have not so far been concerned about the economic crisis, political problems and global depression, are getting seized with horror. Those are senior pupils who will have to take the Single State Examination. This examination itself is a bad piece of news.  But the way Andrei Fursenko, Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, is introducing the exam makes this piece of news still worse.


PERMANENT DEVALUATION

12 February 2009


The Russian government has a reason to be quite happy. The oil price has reached this winter $41-42 for a barrel, which is half the price written in Russia’s 2009 budget, but which is better than $25-30 for a barrel that the oil market sought to fix in the autumn. It is not a surprise: oil prices have a tendency to come up in winter since it is cold in the northern hemisphere and the fuel demand is growing.


DEVALUATION RACE

29 January 2009


During the economic crisis all states try to protect their domestic markets. But they are not bold enough to impose administrative measures for this, and a sharp rise of import tariffs is against the WTO rules. Moreover, the liberal ideology blames such actions. The only simple decision is to devalue national currency. Many governments resort to this measure simultaneously and even try to outdo each other.


BEGINNING OF THE DIFFICULT YEAR

16 January 2009


For the Russian economy good and bad events took place at the beginning of the year 2009. The good events are the gas dispute with Ukraine and the Gaza Strip war. Many people have been killed, many buildings have been destroyed, which is good for the Russian economy. The situation in the entire Middle East can be destabilized, and then the oil prices will grow again making the Russian government breathe with relief.


UNFORTUNATE CONSEQUENCES OF THE GOVERNMENT VICTORY

24 December 2008


It looks like the government officials fail to realize that their actions are conductive to the politicization of the protests. What is more, they have bolstered the liberal opposition that had nearly ceased to exist and that now supports the demonstrating motorists.


GUIDED DISASTER

12 December 2008


The question “should Russia join the WTO?” has recently given place to the question “why should Russia do that now?” During the economic upsurge it is possible to speak about advantages and disadvantages of joining the WTO, but during the economic crisis we can raise this question only if we try to aggravate the situation deliberately.


CONVERSATION WITH A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL

26 November 2008


It is clear that the current authorities are maneuvering but they are doing that unsuccessfully, inconsistently and unreasonably. Such maneuvers would break up the ranks even of the famous grenadiers of Friedrich the Great, the Prussian king. The Russian officials do not resemble the Prussian infantry battalion.


VICTIMS OF THE CRISIS

07 November 2008


Today the list of victims of the economic crisis in Russia is not long but is extremely revealing. It starts with “Moskovsky Korrespondent” weekly that appeared at the end of September and was closed in October. The fact that the newspaper, which is independent of the Kremlin, was the first to be closed, is very significant.


THERE WILL BE NO WAR

24 October 2008


It looks like there will be no war between Russia and Ukraine. It is clear that this fact will upset many in Moscow and Kyiv, but, unfortunately, there is a need to face realities. The efforts made by militarism heralds, admirers of Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa and defenders of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet proved to be futile.


AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CRISIS

13 October 2008


The Russian society is vaguely alarmed by the world economic crisis. I say “vaguely” because the people cannot realize how the events in the distant USA are connected with the Russian reality and how the stock market crash will tell on their wellbeing. The oil is being produced, the factories continue operating and the public transport works properly.


MEDVEDEV-2

25 September 2008


Russia’s victory over Georgia in the armed conflict in South Ossetia, the diplomatic maneuvers which followed the conflict and showed that the Western community cannot (and does not want to) oppose Russia in a serious way, and Dmitry Medvedev’s bold statements at the Valdai International Discussion Club make the President of Russia ‘a hero of the day’.


HOW TO QUARREL WITH A NEIGHBOUR

11 September 2008


It seems that after the conflict with Georgia all we need is to clash with Ukraine. A lot of politicians both in Russia and Ukraine would definitely like it to happen. Caucasian crisis resulted in a new quarrel over Sevastopol, this time provoked by the Ukrainian side.


A PAROLE THAT WAS NOT GIVEN

28 August 2008


Mikhail Khodorkovsky is out of luck again. This time he was refused parole despite he had seemed to have good chances for it.  The authorities made it clear that there was every reason for hoping… Being a state’s prisoner, the disgraced tycoon hoped that the new president of Russia would release him.


BAD HABITS ARE CONTAGIOUS

14 August 2008


Georgia has resolutely condemned Russia’s actions in Chechnya. Russia has severely criticized NATO actions towards Serbia. Later on the Georgian authorities tried to do the same thing in South Ossetia as the Russian authorities had done in Chechnya. Moscow decided to treat Georgia in the same way as NATO had treated Serbia.


RADOVAN KARADZIC FACES TRIAL. BUT WHO CAN JUDGE?

04 August 2008


According to the generally accepted political logic, the arrest of Radovan Karadzic and his bringing to Hague Tribunal are expected to put an end to the Balkan drama of 1990s. But what’s actually happening seems to be quite the reverse. The Serbian society suffered another indignity as Kosovo had declared independence in February of 2008.


VICIOUS CIRCLE

17 July 2008


The Russian foreign policy boringly runs around in circles: the row with Estonia on the historic past, the squabbles between Moscow and Kyiv over the Crimea and Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the confrontation with Georgia because of its breakaway republics etc. After having made a full circle we are back to square one - another conflict with Georgia.


WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY AND JOHN TALBOT?

04 July 2008


The English military leader John Talbot died at the Battle of Castillon, because he had entered the battlefield wearing no armor. Sir John understood quite well, what could be caused by such a neglect of own safety, but he had no choice. Shortly before that, when he was released from captivity, he promised “never to wear armor against the French King again.”


NATIONAL PROJECT WITH A STRADIVARIUS

10 June 2008


Who would think that a banal song contest like Eurovision can trigger new round of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. When Kyiv won the right to host the finals of the 50th Eurovision contest, Moscow was sick with envy and spent millions to catch up with the Western neighbor. It cost Russia several expensive but futile attempts. And finally at Eurovision 2008 Russian pop singer Dima Bilan won the contest.


EMBARRASSMENT IN THE KREMLIN

03 June 2008


Despite the propaganda declarations that Russia has finally “risen from the knees” and “returned its status of a superpower”, the Kremlin’s foreign policy is still characterized by inconsistency and complete absence of strategic planning. True, there has been perceptible change since the 1990s – the Kremlin has become more independent in decision-making, the Russian elite are aware of the state interests.


WORST CASE SCENARIO

19 May 2008


Once I used to think that the Russian authorities possessed an exclusive talent to choose the worst solutions of all possible. I later realized that the decisions they had made were the best of all possible, while I simply couldn’t grasp the root of the matter. The point is that the Russian authorities are motivated not by the abstract ideas. They are governed by their own interests and those of the ruling class.


LABOR CODE AS AN INSTRUMENT OF SOCIAL REVOLUTION

15 May 2008


Recently Russian mass media have focused on labor movement. For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union the Russian journalists are writing about strikes and workers’ protests on May 1, 2008. Strike movement has been on the rise in Russia during the last ten months. It was started by the workers of the transnational companies and was assumed by the employees of the Russian corporations.


TO STAY OR NOT TO STAY?

30 April 2008


The last two weeks Russia’s mass media have been chewing over the information about president Putin’s divorce and further inevitable marriage with the Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva. Strictly speaking the rumor is not new, it has been circulating for over six months. What was new is the unexpected and massive interest of the media to the old odd noise.


THREE LITTLE PIGS FROM THE ECONOMY AND FINANCE MINISTRIES

11 April 2008


In January the Russian government’s liberals were enjoying their holidays and the last year’s summary reports – they didn’t see anything to worry about. In February they kept on denying any possibility of the world economic crisis, making allowance for slight drop in market rates. In March they finally avowed the existence of the world crisis.


WHY FASCISM WON’T PASS

28 March 2008


The murder of an anti-fascist activist Aleksey Krylov has made a stir in Moscow and hopefully will reverberate all over the country. The public has endured assaults of the Nazis on Kyrgyz and Tajik nationals or the Black. This time it is another case – in the center of Moscow they killed an ethnic Russian.


MAD AS A MARCH ELECTION

12 March 2008


Did the presidential election in Russia reveal anything about the country? Well in some way… Valentina Matviyenko, governor of Saint Petersburg, revealed her feminine clairvoyance – her first revelation after the election results had been made public was that she had had an intuitive awareness of who would become Russia’s new President. What a surprise!


LABOR MOVEMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY

19 February 2008


The confrontation between employees and administration of the “Ford” plant in Vsevolozhsk ended in compromise. The salary was raised by 16-20% depending on the category of employee, rather than by one third, as the trade union demanded. Using the boxing terminology, one may say that for strikers it was the “victory on points”.


THE DAY OF PROTEST

05 February 2008


I was skeptic about the last year’s decision of the International Committee of the World Social Forum (WSF) to hold a worldwide day of protest on January 26. And I was not the only one – my colleague from Latin America commented that “it will be too cold in Russia, and in Brazil there will be a carnival”.


WHAT’S ON THE AGENDA FOR 2008?

18 January 2008


Welcome to 2008! This year we are to get a new president, further pension and housing and public utilities reforms in Russia; new administration in the USA... Perish the thought, but apart from that we might also get world economic crisis. Really, perish this thought, because forecasting economic recession is not an easy task.


THE PRESIDENT’S BLUNDER

29 December 2007


And so we are told that the Russian President Vladimir Putin stays in power. But if he becomes Prime Minister, what will Dmitry Medvedev do? Will he indeed become President?! Such reshuffles normally end in political instability and social woes. I can only hope that the both don’t mean what they’ve claimed.
The Putin-Medvedev tandem is not a bad strategic alliance in terms of the forthcoming presidential election.


THE VOTE IS OVER, FORGET ABOUT IT!

17 December 2007


The Central Election Commission has counted the vote returns – the parties that were meant to make it into the State Duma are already there occupying their places. Accuracy of the forecast given before the election by the Kremlin-friendly experts, keeps one guessing if the whole costly procedure was aimed at implementing into life a cooked-up scheme.


THE LAST SUNDAY BEFORE THE ELECTIONS

30 November 2007


The trick is, whatever you do, it won’t affect Russia’s present political system. It reminds me of a machine to play coin flipping thought out by a Polish philosopher Jan Kott. The machine counts your answers and always wins. The only way for a human being to make the chances equal is to give random answers. Still, you can only end in a draw.


90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION

19 November 2007


A left-winger, I am supposed to venerate the day of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution. But no, I have never felt like celebrating on November 7. And yes, despite all the atrocities and blunders and the totalitarian outcome of the October Revolution, the Russian people have all the reasons to commemorate the storming of the Winter Palace.


THE LAST TRIUMPH OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY

08 November 2007


Since no puppet opposition has been created, the bureaucrats will work with CPRF. With Communists as the only opposition force, the new Russian Duma will be an apolitical institution without ideology. This invalid apolitical body will lay basis of the new parliamentary system in Russia…a system with minimum political substance. Well, this time form will prevail over substance.


ODD QUESTIONS

19 October 2007


The American society wants changes and is afraid of changes. Americans want the politicians to rise to a challenge. The Russian society is also afraid of changes, but doesn’t want to change at all. Russians don’t demand their politicians to do anything about it – people are afraid of the authorities’ reaction.


ARE YOU HIM?

05 October 2007


Don’t you fancy that the new Cabinet will bring about new policy. What can be revised is the status quo in the Russian high-rank bureaucracy. In the days of Fradkov’s premiership the Cabinet fell far from the ideal of a close-knit team or top-down management system. Each ministry had its own priorities and goals, with Premier Fradkov being only a coordinator.


LIKE A CRIME STORY

25 September 2007


Under the circumstances, telling stories about five mysterious candidates and keeping the nation and the bureaucrats themselves in the dark is irresponsible and testifies the Kremlin’s inability to control the situation. From the political point of view the situation is critical.


THE MITROFANOV ARGUMENT

12 September 2007


Why would the State Duma deputy Aleksey Mitrofanov change sides leaving Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) for Sergey Mironov’s “Fair Russia”? Given Mitrofanov’s public image that can only deter voters, it is very doubtful that “Fair Russia” will manage to capitalize on this acquisition. Mitrofanov was fine as Zhirinovsky’s right hand warming up the public every time before the great clown took the lead himself.


IS ANOTHER DEPRESSION LOOMING?

31 August 2007


Western leftist economists are known for having predicted eight crises out of five that erupted. Well, critically thinking people like to predict different crashes, collapses and depressions. The existing system turns out to be irrational so often and in such a large measure, it has so many discrepancies and conflicts, that it is hard to resist the temptation: it seems natural to suspect that something will certainly collapse or break down.


AN OFFENSIVE AGAINST DOLLAR

10 August 2007


Dollar continues its way down, and we all have got used to it. All the medium- and part of the long-term economic forecasts incorporate this trend. Oil prices are on the contrary skyrocketing. These two trends are complementary. For surge of the oil price leaves the demand far behind (despite all the speculations about vast markets in India and China).


SOCHI SQUARE HORROR

12 July 2007


To be honest, I am not too much into sport, with a particular dislike pointed towards professional sporting activities. Especially when these activities suggest attracting excessive funding. But things become worse once presented as a political issue. Last week we were blessed with an unfathomed grace. Sochi is named the 2014 Olympic Games capital.


LIFE AFTER PUTIN

05 July 2007


The problem is that Vladimir Putin is the only official in Russia who has real authority or at least popularity at the level of the whole nation. No other bureaucrat can pretend to grade up to the incumbent president in popular support ratings. Resentment against the bureaucrats is the dominant social feeling. 


THE HEILIGENDAMM LESSON

15 June 2007


On my airplane journey from Berlin back to Moscow I was looking through the Russian press. The front page stories were devoted to the G8 meeting and the counter-summit held in Heiligendamm and Rostock, respectively. I was really astounded with what I read there. I had a strong impression that all the Russian journalists had participated in some different Summit, somewhere in a different country.


SKELETONS IN THE CUPBOARD

01 June 2007


It is hard to believe but in the beginning of the XXI century the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact has come to the forefront of the political agenda. It is no longer only the historians but journalists and statesmen in Russia, Baltic and Western states who allude to the Pact. Russia’s president Putin is at loggerheads with the Estonian journalists, Estonian MPs appeal to the EU...


ABOUT LIES, VICTORY AND A FOLLOWER BED ON THE RED SQUARE

28 May 2007


This year celebrations of the Victory Day had particular political underpinning for the Russian authorities. After the Bronze Soldier brawl and Poland and Ukraine joining the initiative to remove Soviet war memorials the authorities had no other option but to make celebrations in Moscow a really Big Deal.  

BRONZE SOLDIER TAKES A SHOT

10 May 2007


Social mobilization in Europe always takes place around a concrete issue, with clear and realistic demands being formulated: to abolish the “First Employment Contract” in France, to return the Ungdomshuset (literally «the Youth House») in Copenhagen to the people, to leave the bronze soldier in Tallinn at its place. These demands are clear, concrete and quite satisfiable.


ABOUT THE FASCISTS AROUND US

19 April 2007


The postwar Soviet propaganda represented the fascists as fat Boshes in steel pots and uniform jackets with automatic rifles shouting “Schnell!” and “Verbotten!”. Sometimes they ware lather coats and high crowned caps (like in the epoch-making Soviet TV series “Seventeen Moments of Spring”). Another feature – fascist salutes his fellows in arms with the right arm raised and the “Heil Hitler!” exclamation.


ALIENS VS. CAPITALIST PREDATORS

13 April 2007


It is a good tradition to celebrate the April Fool’s Day by playing people up. But the Russian authorities were far from joking on April 1st, when launching the campaign “to clean” the retail markets from the vendors holding foreign passports. As a result a number of markets were closed, the prices leaped up, while some patriotically minded commentators called people to tide over temporary difficulties.


A FEAST OF FOOLS

23 March 2007


Three opposition parties have contested results of the Russia’s March 11 regional elections pleading numerous violations. The liberal Union of Right Forces questions the results of the elections to the Moscow legislature. The Communists are discontent with the results of the elections to the Dagestan Parliament scoring barely above the minimum threshold of 7%. LDPR insists that the results were fabricated all in regions.


MARCH 2007 VS. MARCH 1917. HISTORICAL PARALLELS

13 March 2007


On March 3, Russia’s liberal and leftist groups held the Dissenters’ March in St. Petersburg. The rally seems to be the first successful social event of the liberal opposition so far. It gathered over 3000 people; but more importantly it revealed that the ethos of the social protest has changed.


THE CHECHEN DARK AGES

22 February 2007


It is not a secret that Ramzan Kadyrov wants to become president of Chechnya. But till recently he couldn’t – he was too young. And in the Kremlin, they simply didn’t want to put all their eggs in one basket. When back in 2004 Akhmad Kadyrov, Ramzan’s father, was assassinated in a bomb attack and the presidential post became vacant, the federal authorities preferred to promote to the post a dark horse Alu Alkhanov.

UNCONTESTED ELECTIONS

15 February 2007


Being more or less corrupt is not the main problem of the Russian politicians – their main problem is that they all are cast in the same mould. What’s the point in coming to polls if the only difference among the candidates is in the incomprehensible and not very attractive labels? Party leaders have nothing substantial to offer to their electorate. In the essence, they even have nothing to debate over.


AFTER THE FAT COWS HAVE ALREADY BEEN EATEN

15 January 2007


While the Russians enjoyed themselves during the New Year and Christmas holidays, the world economy was developing in its own quite unexpected way. The oil prices dropped and the Moscow housing market stabilized. The first piece of news must cause anxiety within the nation whose prosperity depends on oil exports. The second was greeted with a sigh of relief.


THE BROKEN AXIS

21 December 2006


The gas ultimatum issued by Moscow to Kyiv on the eve of the New Year 2006 signaled that the Kremlin decided to use its energy resources as a weapon in the looming geopolitical conflict. Then nobody believed in Russia’s speculations about the new market pricing policy. Ukraine had turned to the West and was to be punished for that – both the Russian political commentators and ordinary people saw it that way.


THE NEW BOLIVARIANS IN POWER

11 December 2006


Few took it seriously when almost ten years ago the Venezuelan Colonel Hugo Chaves set forth his Bolivarian project. Some people perceived Comandante Hugo as an eccentric populist leader and a master of demagogy. Left intellectuals presumed that Marxism and Socialism had been discredited and that was why such euphemisms as “Bolivarianism” were reintroduced into political language.


A MURDER FOR EXPORT

24 November 2006


After the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya I predicted that there would be a following up to this story. Unfortunately, I was right. Alexander Litvinenko’s suspected poisoning has become a headliner this week, but rather in Britain than in Russia. Which is quite logical – the English people won’t just stand and watch a political exile living in England under British asylum being dispatched.


COLONEL’S DREAM

13 November 2006


The Colonel had a dream. He wasn’t even a colonel yet when a Dream appeared in his life. Back then it was hardly the Dream – it was rather an uncertain sensation growing stronger day by day. The Colonel’s first aspirations might seem inconsistent. He sought peaceful life, simple solutions, predictability. He needed no drama in his life.


PUTIN’S CORPORATE UTOPIA

02 November 2006


Russian corporate enterprises are on the rise: share prices are growing, profits are excessive and foreign investors are eager to put money into the Russian assets. But strangely, the share price explosion has nothing to do with efficiency improvement.


THE UKRAINIAN FRONTIER GUARD SYNDROME

12 October 2006


There is one good joke I want to tell you. Two Ukrainian frontier guards are keeping awake at the observation post. “Look Mykhailo, the Muscovites are coming!” – exclaims the first. “Indeed they are!” – reacts the second. “Let’s shoot at them”, – proposes the first. “We better not, or they’ll return fire”, – answers the second. “But why on earth should they fire at us?!” – resents the first.


THE PHANTOM OF THE ORANGE REVOLUTION AND BUREAUCRATIC IGNORANCE

05 October 2006


Two weeks ago the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament State Duma was preoccupied with two very important issues: it adopted the law on autonomous institutions and deliberated on the “orange revolution” threat. The Russian MPs were presented a report under sinister heading “On Presumable Scenario of the US Actions Towards Russia in 2006-2008”.


THE PROBLEM OF 2008

14 September 2006


The 2008 presidential election poses for the Kremlin a problem with an unambiguous solution. It’s high time to look around for Vladimir Putin’s successor. At the same time there is nobody to succeed to Putin.


PLURALISM A LA KREMLIN

01 September 2006


Russian political authorities, as we are told, are heartily devoted to ideals of pluralism.  Manufacturing contested elections, engineering public debate and so to say ‘letting a hundred flowers blossom’ or rather making them blossom, is their primary concern. They are counting flowers on the daily basis and get really upset when their number goes below one hundred.


PEACE AS MENACE

18 August 2006


In the Arabic world Lebanon was the only true democratic country. During 34 days it was being systematically destroyed. And it is worth realizing that Israeli bombers did not only mould Lebanon’s roads and bridges into ruins, they also devastated the Lebanese democracy. More than that, they minimized chances for any attempt of democratic development in elsewhere the Arabic world.


TWO MOON JUNCTION

03 August 2006


The breaking political news of the last week: the Party of Life uniting with the Rodina (Motherland) party. Though, why is it political? It would be only logical to put it as business news, in the “Mergers & Acquisitions” section.


RISE AND FALL IN ST PETERSBURG

20 July 2006


Finally, we are through with it. The leaders of G8 have gone home. The Russian Social forum and the conference of Drugaya Rossiya (“A Different Russia”) have become the events of the past, all those arrested are being released. The nightmare is over.


THE MYSTERIOUS “AU”

06 July 2006


There is nothing as unrewarding as a job of a political observer in mid-July. All troubles, as is widely- known, dawn on us in August. In July, submarines don’t sink, the TV towers don’t get burnt, and the governments don’t get overthrown. The evil is taking a vacation.


SOMETHING MISSING…

26 June 2006


Russia’s political landscape is now having a blind-spot. Social democracy is missing. That’s at least what Russian journalists and political analysts are thinking, as it’s been a decade and a half so far of them, waiting for someone to fill this blind-spot. In the run-up to the 2007 elections the issue of the Russian social democratic force is once again being tossed about by experts and spin doctors. 


VODKA, BEARS, AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH

08 June 2006


This week Moscow hosted the World Editors Forum. Predictably, the prudish editors-in-chief of the world’s leading periodicals criticized the Russian authorities for violating freedom of speech. And, predictably, Vladimir Putin objected.


RUSSIANS GO GLOBAL

27 May 2006


Recently one of my friends came back from Africa. He was not in that part of Africa, where tourists spend big money for taking refuge in the indigenous resorts and exotic tropics, but in that part, which long had no experience of welcoming a white person. And it wasn’t the thirst for adventures that beckoned him there: several Russian businessmen have decided to start mining operations somewhere in Congo.


TROPICS IN AUSTRIA

11 May 2006


An EU – Latin America summit is taking place in Vienna May 10 – 13. The European leaders are meeting their counterparts from the Latin American states. Along, traditionally, an alternative summit is being held. 


IT’S NOT ABOUT OIL

27 April 2006


The oil prices have once again gone up, exceeding the $70 per barrel margin. In the earlier years analysts would have talked about “another psychologically important barrier”. Now this is no longer the case, as price increase is of no surprise for anyone. However, in Russia, the petrodollar flow produces controversial and neurotic reaction.


THE SHAH’S IRAN & PUTIN’S RUSSIA

12 April 2006


Our analysts like to speculate over the “2008 problem”. Really, who is to be elected President of Russia in a few years, whether Vladimir Putin is going to head for the third term of office, and if yes, then how the Constitution will be changed?


NINE LIVES OF THE BELARUSIAN CAT

29 March 2006


Last week Belarus held presidential elections. No sensation occurred, everything was predictable: the results, the authorities’ behavior, the opposition’s reaction, and estimations made by the Russian officials and Western bureaucrats...


1968 VICE VERSA

16 March 2006


France has once again become the center of attention. First of all, the European Constitution was snowed under by the French people, then immigrant youngsters were rioting in the suburbs, now the students of Sorbonne, who are way more well-off, have sparked a rebellion, altogether inviting the afore-mentioned youngsters from the suburbs, which were referred to by our press solely as Islamic extremists.


THE MOMENT OF TRUTH IN THE UKRAINIAN HISTORY

03 March 2006


The electoral campaign in Ukraine has come to its homestretch. To predict the results of the election in a foreign country is a mug’s game, especially if this foreign country is Ukraine with its unstable political situation, and its struggles between numerous regional groups of influence and clans.


THE ENIGMA OF G8

15 February 2006


Russia is presiding G8 in the year 2006.  That’s what all the dreams and aspirations were about. Gerhard Schroeder even yielded in favor of his friend Vladimir Putin (in the Soviet era this would have been a particularly valued deed).


PROTEST OF 2006

02 February 2006


There was a popular joke in the Soviet times. A man is sitting in front of the TV set listening to news: “Prices on vodka have gone up”, says the television announcer. “Whatever! We were fine with it and will be fine”, the man makes a phlegmatic comment.


UKRAINE — OUR CLOSEST ENEMY

18 January 2006


Ten days have not yet passed since Kyiv and Moscow had finally come to an agreement regarding natural gas prices, when a subject to a new controversy emerged—a lighthouse in the Crimea. Actually there is nothing special about the lighthouse itself. It shines the same way both for Russian and Ukrainian ships. From Russia’s Black Sea Fleet functionaries’ point of view however it constitutes an integral part of the Fleet’s cartography service, while for the Ukrainian authorities it is a state property, which had illegally been taken away from them by foreigners.


RUSSIA TODAY WILL NOT BECOME RUSSIAN AL-JAZEERA

19 December 2005


Rejoice, all true patriots of our Motherland! Our country has acquired the first 24-hour English-speaking news TV channel! Russia Today is our Russian CNN, our Slavonic Orthodox Christian Al-Jazeera!


AN UNFORTUNATE EVENT MAY BECOME A GODSEND

02 December 2005


Like the majority of the Russian second-grade politicians, Dmitry Rogozin, leader of the Rodina (Homeland) party, was invented by the President’s administration for accomplishing a tactical scheme. The political force ratio in the State Duma required adjustments, as well as it was necessary to explain the Communists that the price for cooperation they demanded was too high: in the end, it was just easier to do without them.


KHODORKOVSKY’S «LEFT TURN 2»

18 November 2005


Mikhail Khodorkovsky truly wants people consider him left. Reputation of a hero suffering for the toiling masses is the only thing the disgraced oligarch lacks to become a 100 percent political prisoner. It is one thing if a person has gone through a lot while fighting for power within political elite. There are also many passions and sacrifices in this fight. We can take pity on the Shakespearian characters cast into prison cells of the Tower, but they are not political prisoners. Their struggles had nothing to do with the politics which reflects concerns of masses.


NOVEMBER 4, A NEW NATIONAL HOLIDAY

03 November 2005


How do you like Jacobin Terror? This period in the history of France is unlikely to delight you. And what is your opinion about the Great French Revolution? This event had predetermined European history for over a century ahead, having given birth to a heroic myth which is a hallmark for France of today. Moreover, the French Revolution influenced not only France, but Italy, Latin America, Russia – the countries which absorbed the myth of the French Revolution in their history, culture and perceptions of the republican institutions.


THE MOMENT OF JOY FOR A POLITICAL SCIENTIST

24 October 2005


The political toss is excited over a new novel “Political Scientist” written by Alexander Prokhanov, chief editor of the Russian nationalist-patriotic newspaper Zavtra. This piece of literature is really shocking. Prokhanov reveals to his readers a bunch of scandalous details, furiously attacks the opposition, which on the pages of his book looks no better than the ruling elite. He jeers at his friends’ anti-Semitic views and literally throws dirt at the leaders of the Russian Communist Party.


BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

07 October 2005


Evgenia Tymoshenko’s wedding was the major event of the past week in Ukraine, at the same time it was undoubtedly having a strong political flavor. Pictures of the newly-wed couple accompanied by their happy mother-in-law, Yuliya Tymoshenko, were posted in the Internet.


THE GERMAN STALEMATE

26 September 2005


Relationships between Social Democrats and their electorate in Germany remind me of the families where husbands have a habit of occasional going on the spree. Every time, coming home from carousal, they apologize and pledge that it will never happen again, and get forgiveness. After a while the story repeats.


THE TEMPEST OVER AMERICA

09 September 2005


The Tambov students have twice won in the lottery. The first time happened when they got a chance to leave their godforsaken provincial town for New Orleans to have a training session there. The second one occurred when they managed to survive in that very New Orleans. As a result, they brought home a clear understanding of “how perfect their life in peaceful Tambov was”.


WILL THIS AUTUMN BE HOT IN RUSSIA?

16 August 2005


The Kremlin seems to believe that the “Orange Revolution” may take place in Russia. Or, at any rate, the political establishment is very successful in pretending to believe so. One can understand political strategists and paid journalists close to the Kremlin who hope to earn a fortune on this project.


KHODORKOVSKY HAS A NEW RECIPE TO “COOK” THE LEFTISTS…

05 August 2005


I can’t help admitting that when Mikhail Khodorkovsky was a model liberal oligarch, I fancied him more. What can one expect from an upright liberal? First of all, he should be tolerant towards others’ views. He may (even has to) feel strongly about the left-wing, but, being an adherent of the pluralism, he also has to accept the fact, that left ideology is as necessary for a healthy democratic society, as his own.


TERRORISTS WANTED

29 July 2005


A Muslim terrorist was shot dead on the Tube in London. The secret services were quick and efficient to act: they had knocked the villain off with eight shots in the head. That very moment witnesses, ready to prove that the victim had a “shahid belt” which he was about to put into operation, had emerged from nowhere.


AFRICA FIRST

14 July 2005


The terrorist attacks in London have given the Russian press more food for thought and discussion. Had it not been for the explosions, death of people, search for the malefactors, the journalists wouldn’t have had the slightest clue of what to write about the “Big Eight” Summit in Scotland.


KREMLIN-STYLE PLURALISM

01 July 2005


The clashes within the ruling bureaucracy are no longer a subject for gossiping. They now fit in the official news reports. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov is openly scolding with his colleagues during the sittings of the government. The members of the Cabinet are simply debating whether it is possible to carry out the task of doubling the GDP, the objective proposed for them by the President.


KASYANOV’S SHADOW

10 June 2005


Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov is hinting about his intentions to participate in a presidential election of 2008.


JUBILEE SCHIZOPHRENIA

12 May 2005


It appears that nothing is as urgent in our country as evaluation of Joseph Stalin’s role in history. Whereas some are going to erect monuments to him, others are going into hysteria about it. As a matter of fact it is historians who are supposed to evaluate the deeds of historical figures. However today in Russia history is considered to be way too important to trust the professionals with it.

Our authors
  Ivan  Gayvanovych, Kiev

THE EXCHANGE

27 April 2010


Geopolitical influence is an expensive thing. The Soviet Union realized that well supporting the Communist regimes and movements all over the world including Cuba and North Korea. The current Russian authorities also understood that when they agreed that Ukraine would not pay Russia $40 billion for the gas in return for extension of the lease allowing Russia's Black Sea Fleet to be stationed in the Crimea.



  Aleh  Novikau, Minsk

KYRGYZ SYNDROME

20 April 2010


The case of Kurmanbek Bakiyev is consistent with the logic of the Belarusian authorities’ actions towards the plane crash near Smolensk. The decisions not to demonstrate the “Katyn” film and not to announce the mourning were made emotionally, to spite Moscow and Warsaw, without thinking about their consequences and about reaction of the society and the neighbouring countries.



  Akram  Murtazaev, Moscow

EXPLOSIONS IN RUSSIA

16 April 2010


Explosions take place in Russia again. The last week of March started with terrorist acts at the Moscow metro stations which were followed by blasts in the Dagestani city of Kizlar. The horror spread from the metro to the whole city.



  John  Marone, Kyiv

POOR RELATIONS – THE UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT GOES TO MOSCOW

29 March 2010


Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych symbolically selected Brussels as his first foreign visit upon taking the oath of office in what can only be seen as an exercise in public relations. The new government of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov headed straight for Moscow shortly thereafter with the sole intention of cutting a deal.



  Boris  Kagarlitsky, Moscow

THE WRATH DAY LIKE A GROUNDHOG DAY

25 March 2010


The protest actions, which the Russian extraparliamentary opposition had scheduled for March 20, were held as planned, they surprised or frightened nobody. Just as it had been expected, the activists of many organizations supporting the Wrath Day took to the streets… but saw there only the policemen, journalists and each other.



  Jules  Evans, London

COLD SNAP AFTER SPRING IN THE MIDDLE EAST

17 June 2009


As I write, angry demonstrations continue in Tehran and elsewhere in the Islamic Republic of Iran, over what the young demonstrators perceive as the blatant rigging of the presidential election to keep Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power for another five years. Reports suggest at least eight protestors have been killed by police.



  Kevin  O'Flynn, Moscow

THE TERRIBLE C-WORD

08 December 2008


The cri… no the word will not be uttered. Now that President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin have finally allowed themselves to belatedly use the word, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to spit it out of these lips. It’s c-this and c-that. If there was C-Span in Russia then it would be c-ing all day and all night long.



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