Category Archives: Medvedev

Another day, more news.

But for some the news is the news itself.  As I suggested on Monday, it was only a matter a time, like seconds, that much of the Western media would be blaming Russia–which really is a metonym for Putin, Putinism or what have you–for the attacks.  I won’t spend so much time on identifying the metanarrative or metacommentary on all of this.  Others have been this already: Mark Adomanis, A Good Treaty, and Peter Lavelle.  I don’t agree with every bit of the metacommentary, but I do support the general thrust of their arguments.

One comment I will make is the controversy over what, how much, and when Russian federal television broadcast news of the attacks.  This is one angle many in the English language media have sunk their teeth in.  Frankly, I think this issue ..read more

What follows is basically an incomplete rundown of some of the commentary coming out of Russia.  It’s mostly based on the Russian language media since, frankly, much of the English language media is worthless with some exceptions.

The Western Party line, as gleaned from Owen Mathews’ piece in Newsweek, seems to be a simple, yet predictable one:

Unlike Israel, though, Putin does not have the option of building a wall across the North Caucasus to keep out bombers. The likely reaction will expanded surveillance powers for the FSB and stop-and-search powers for the police—thereby cutting off a fledgling civil-society movement to crack down on corruption and institute wholesale reforms of both those institutions. Most worryingly of all for the Kremlin, if the state continues to fail to provide security to its citizens, popular protests will only grow—putting opposition groups on ..read more

Time for everyone to put on their Kremlinologist thinking cap again!  Get ready to roll those chicken bones and peer deeply into the tea leaves!  The boys in the Kremlin are up to their tricks again.

According to Trud, and reported by Bloomberg, Medvedev has dispatched a “working group” of “experts from Moscow and St. Petersburg” to test the political waters among regional politicos about forming a new party. “We had discussions with local leaders and asked them to enter into a new political formation,” the unnamed source told Trud.  The so-called “local leaders” include members of United Russia, Just Russia, and the LDPR.  What would the purpose of the supposed “new” party be?  To gather together people “who could be helpful in business and the innovation of law making” and participate in Duma elections in 2011. The initiative is ..read more

As many know, talk of modernization is once again all the rage in Russia.  But what is it and to what end?  Is it merely another example of “eternal Russian question” of historical backwardness?  Is Medvedev’s overtures merely a replay of every Tsar and Commissar before him?  Or does Russia’s current backwardness have more immediate roots in the liberal capitalism of the post-Soviet era?  Can “modernization” really be achieved with a Russian Silicon Valley, fiber optic lines, nanotechnology, the political decentralization of the political system, and the increased privatization of its economy as many partisans across Russia’s liberal political spectrum advocate?  Is innovation enough, especially in a globalized economy that is predicated on increasing redundancy of labor, de-industrialization, and financial casino capitalism?

Some of these questions are posed in “ Their Modernization and Ours” by the editors of ..read more

Russian chinovniki are known for a lot of things–graft, ineptitude, oblomovism, and when necessary, zealous obsequiousness.  The latter is usually the only thing that seems to spur him off his perch, which is usually behind a desk, into some kind of action.  As any student of Russian history knows, the dynamic between the chinovnik and his superiors is usually one where the latter reigns down on the head of the former, often with a measure of force since this is really the only way to pull the bureaucrat out of lethargy.  Sadly, for the chinovnik this dynamic also entails that when he follows the often inept orders of his bosses, he, not the leader, gets blamed when everything goes to hell.

Being a Russian bureaucrat can be a precarious as much as it is a rewarding position.

Sometimes, the chinovnik takes preemptive action ..read more

увеличить фото …

Dimitri Medvedev’s effort to court youth into politics continues on Thursday when he meets with young members of United Russia.  According to Kommersant, the meeting will be attended by party leaders Mintemer Shaimiev and Yuri Luzhkov, General Council secretary Vyacheslav Volodin and young United Russia representatives from the provinces.

The meeting appears to have been thrown together at the spur of the moment, right before Medvedev’s comments on youth policy last week.  Little has been said about the actual content of the meeting. According to Alexander Tretyakov, the head of the Perm’s United Russia office, “the delegation has been formed, but still not the full information about the event.”  Aleksei Volotskov, a member of Volgograd’s youth council and UR member, said that he only got a request to submit his information for a background check two weeks ago.

As to what the President’s urgency to meet with young URs might ..read more