Category Archives: Medvedev

If history is any indication, a gerontocracy can kill a political system.  The Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc states suffered from it.  It currently plagues China.  And the recent protests in Iran certainly point to some kind of generational conflict is coming to a boil.  The failure to ensure the mobility of young people into a government’s power structures only brews disillusionment, frustration, and anger among the next generation.

Soviet Russia understood this well, that is until the bureaucracy ousted Khrushchev and entrenched itself to the point the system went into suspension.  Before the 1960s, Soviet Russia was an archetype of social mobility.  Youth–through institutions like the Komsomol–were the “helper” and “reserve” of the Party. Part of Stalin’s “New Soviet Person” was not just about promoting peasants and workers into positions of power.  Youth also greatly benefited by Stalin’s efforts to rip Russia out of its historical backwardness.  And if ..read more

A few weeks ago, Dmitry Medvedev announced that Russia’s top officials would reveal their incomes as part of an anti-corruption campaign.  When I heard this I wondered whether that disclosure would include any of the money they’ve most likely picked up over the last eight years.  After all, Medvedev was the chair of Gazprom’s board of directors, and one would suspect he was compensated heavily for his service. However, when he stated his finances for the presidential election, Dima was pretty much broke by American power player standards. Since 2007, Putin has been rumored to have a hefty $40 billion squirreled away in some unknown bank account.

The tandem released their incomes today, and one can only assume that while Medvedev and Putin might have earned $124,000 and $137,000 respectively, I seriously doubt this is the full number and certainly not full disclosure of their wealth.

Both men earn over 18 times ..read more

There has been alot of criticism of President Medvedev’s and Prime Minister Putin’s silence  in regard to the murder of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova.  Dimitri Medvedev has finally responded.  But not in a overtly public manner but via a meeting with Novaya gazeta Editor-in-Chief Dmitri Muratov and former Soviet President and Novaya shareholder Mikhail Gorbachev.  According to an interview Muratov gave to RFE/RL about the meeting, Medvedev appeared to be monitoring the situation and was concerned about the murders.  As to why he didn’t make a statement about the killings earlier as some, including myself, hoped, Muratov said the following:

Mr. Medvedev said he absolutely did not want to make any statements [on the killing of Markelov and Baburova] because he knew very well how things work in the administration — he worked as chief of the presidential administration for many years. And he said he understood perfectly well that ..read more

The first thing on order is to wish everyone a happy New Year! I sincerely thank all of you for reading SRB over the last year and I hope you continue into the next.  The news about Russia certainly promises to heat up in 2009 as the economy, by all predictions, continues its nosedive, a new president takes office in the United States, and whatever other unpredictable events crop up in our favorite Slavic nation.

In the meantime, I have been silent about some of the recent news stories coming out of Russia.  I have another dissertation deadline and I’m trying to finish a chapter on masculinity in the Komsomol in earnest.

However, there have been a few news stories that have caught my eye over the last week.  First, of course, is the announcement that Aleksandr Nevskii won the Name of Russia contest. An interesting choice for sure.  Most reports have ..read more

“I’m out of it for a little while and everybody gets delusions of grandeur.” Now I understand how Han Solo felt after being defrosted from carbonite. I go into the basement for two weeks and there are rumors of me being in a post-election hangover, or worse, murdered.  Well, I assure you dear readers that I’m alive and well.  Los Angeles may be ablaze (again) but I’m safe from the rings of fire, that is until I kick the bucket and meet the dark lord.

For the past few weeks I’ve been devoting my Bolshevik will and strength to finishing a dissertation chapter.  “Bolsheviks can storm any fortress” read the Stalinist slogan, and I did. I do have to finish this damn dissertation at some point. And well if I have to pick between you my dear reader and my career, well my petite-bourgeois sensibilities win out every time.  Just don’t ..read more

The Kremlin is getting more media conscious.  Now Dmitri Medvedev is not just President of Russia. He’s also budding vblogger.  Here’s Dima’s first web address complete with English subtitles for all you non-Russian speakers. Ya gotta keep up with those techno savvy kids!

Now if Medvedev could only do something to satiate Russian banks’ and companies’ thirst for liquidity and end those daily stock market closures. Unfortunately, delving into the virtual is not going to pull Russia out of this morass.

Now, you can’t completely blame Dima for his inability to reign in the Russian economy. After all, he just came on the presidential scene a mere seven months ago. Also he’s not alone in the economic woes department. Such is the dark side of globalization. Capital may think globally but it acts locally.

Hello and welcome my dear Dmitri Anatolyevich! Welcome to the desert ..read more