I think this system is universal since the time of pyramids…

The link did not work but nowhere did I say it was an exclusively Russian system. There isn’t much that would be exclusively Russian, except Putin’s favorite cabbage soup.

The system is universal. Mexico under PRI looked exactly the same.

Do you mean this
“system”?

I doubt this is exclusively Russian “”system”

Or followed as local officials see fit. Plus there is old true practice of Potemkinism. I sometimes wonder about how Putin is said to have reestablished “vertical power”. Yeah he is said to have rebuilt the structure, but what about the content?

The structure is the content.

The main feature of the vertical of power is its resemblance of the feudal vassal-sovereign pyramid. People at the lower steps of the ladder directly depend on the higher ups for their livelihood. They are appointed to lucrative positions and serve there at the will of appointers. The higher ups do not need to tell them exactly what to do. They percieve what needs to be done and act. Sometimes this perception misfires. (which I suspect happened in the Litvinenko case)

Look at the chart somebody from ЖЖ compiled based on official Duma election turnout reports. Round numbers are reported significantly more often creating a shark tooth instead of a natural bell curve. The drawback of this feudalistic system is reliance on low lever bureaucrats with poor imagination for lies. Or so sloppy in their cynicism that they reveal the election process for the sham it was.

The sad thing is that Medvedev (or UR in case of Duma elections) would have had no problems winning. Why is it so damn important to hit the magic 70% threshold?

Also, apparently the number of eligible voters have increased by 2 million between June and December only to decrease by the same amount by March.

But do you expect? To re-built the whole country from top to bottom in 8 years? Скоро только сказка сказывается…

It was second time in last 100 years when Russia has person in charge who is willing and capable to change something and has time for this (first one was Stalin – but his “style” was …. you know).

It’s a question of a degree, but I would guess yes. Robert is right that bureaucratic chaos is international, as politicians of any nationality or stripe are mostly incompetent. But Russian bureaucratic chaos is particularly bad, especially in the provinces.

This is a no-brainer. If the peasants’ problem is the local Baron, they want the power of the King to be strengthened, not weakened, because he’s the only one who can keep the Baron in line.

When I was 11 years old I was given some private tuition by the head teacher of a local state primary school (obviousy not enough). She told me that circulars from the Minister of Education regularly arrived on her desk telling her the latest policy she should adopt. She then put them in her desk drawer and forgot about them because, she said, before too long, another one came along contradicting it and going back to square one. She was a very good teacher and neither she not I were Russian. Nor is New Orleans. Bureaucratic chaos is international. Some administrations appear more organised than others and sometimes they are more organised but not often.

Hmm, you’re right. It’s something I haven’t actually thought about much lately, in large part because (I think) both Putin and his critics have a stake in the image of complete control.

For me, the leitmotif of 1990s Russia was chaos and incompetence. Nothing worked. For many Russians, to be regarded that way in the eye’s of the world was way more humiliating than loss of empire or geopolitical power.

Then along comes Putin to get the trains running on time (as someone here said recently), and the image changes. Ordinary Russians cheer, and the critics charge “fascist!”.

But what’s behind the image? Tim – you say the administration where you are is shambolic. Is that still true elsewhere?

I would definitely say that they follow them enthusiastically, but usually incompetently. As you say, most of the instructions coming from Moscow to the provinces are hopelessly unclear and contradictory.

Tim, who’s the political boss in Sakhalin?

For a long time it was the Regional Governor, Ivan Malakhov, but he was never a Kremlin favourite and got removed from his post because he failed to prevent the Nevel’sk earthquake. Or something. In reality, it appears that he was put in power by Rosneft head-honchos, but fell out of favour with them for forging ties with foreign oil companies instead of working solely in Rosneft’s interests.

The new chief is his replacement, formerly mayor of Okha, Alexander Khoroshavin, who is a Rosneft man through and through. Sakhalin actually gets more attention than most provinces because of the strategic location and the oil and gas reserves. But the local administration is shambolic at best, not least because it is trying to implement ever-changing directions from Moscow, or ignoring them as they see fit.