Russia

The recent spat with America and Britain over Zimbabwe and Russia’s continued intransigence over the US AMB shield in the Czech republic have dashed the hopes of many in the West that Medvedev would make a qualitative departure from Putin.

The Guardian’s Luke Harding put it just so:

Medvedev’s hardline comments in one of his first major speeches on foreign policy since his inauguration in May are likely to disappoint western observers. They had hoped that his presidency might usher in a more conciliatory era in relations with the west.

However, whether one defines Russia’s position on these issues as anti-Western grandstanding or pragmatic self-interest, one thing is clear: the Russian press has been covering many sides of the story.

In the immediate wake of the Zimbabwe brouhaha, much of the reaction in the Russian mainstream news was refreshingly critical of the government’s policies.

For example, Vremya Novostei, a liberal but pro-government paper, contextualised the veto with a recap of recent moves by Russia to protect Burma and Sudan against Western reprisals. Then, it quoted Sergei Oznobischev, head of the Institute of Strategic Studies as saying that appeasing pariah states is a sure recipe for conflict with the West, and that the key to Russian great power status lies not in Burma, Zimbabwe or even China, but in partnership with Europe and the US.

Naturally, the government has not loosened its grip on the media, and that fact alone makes the appearance of such articles all the more interesting.

In a recent interview, former White House rebel Vladimir Ryzhkov drew a tentative parallel between Medvedev and Gorbachev. Gorbachev started out as a liberal, not a democrat. He wanted to democratise institutions in order to promote his vision of liberal humanism, not to have a free for all. Similarly, he started off with very cautious economic reforms, that began with a tinkering around the edges and concentrated on efficiency and market accounting mechanisms.

Medvedev has certainly started to tinker. Earlier this month, he announced that Gazprom, Putin’s Koh-i-Noor, would have to start sharing its pipelines with other companies. This was a pretty important announcement, as one of the things that made Gazprom such a threat to Europe was its ownership of both gas and pipelines: EU monopoly regulations forbade such things for its own companies, who ended up outflanked. Today came the news that Gazprom would lay off 500 executives, or 10% of the staff, at its head office.

It is too early to say whether Medvedev has any plans for a full fledged Perestroika. As the closure of the Exile has revealed, he’s not one for free for alls. Yet the critical press line and gentle economic restructuring may point to a liberal impulse that, like with Gorbachev, not only may come to fruition with time, but also be eventually overtaken by events.

“Russia Silences Tabloid”

By Carl Schreck

The National (UAE)

“The fall of The eXile, which launched the career of Matt Taibbi, a political correspondent for Rolling Stone magazine, marks the end of perhaps the world’s most unique publishing project.”

“Irreverent mix of vicious humour, sharp political analysis and shameless hedonism”

“11 years of scorched-earth Gonzo journalism and taking down every sacred cow in sight”

“Sophomoric pranks on Russian government officials and western businessmen, savage criticism of western journalists covering Russia, and misogynistic club reviews informing male readers which clubs were optimal for finding overnight female companionship”

“The eXile once paid the handlers of Mikhail Gorbachev to convince the former Soviet leader to act as “Perestroika Co-ordinator” for the then-struggling New York Jets and give pep talks to the American football team”.

Moscow newspaper which mocked the powerful closes

Reuters

The Exile’s style of reporting blurred the line between comic and mainstream by tackling serious issues — crime, corruption, poverty and politics — with a harsh, jabbing humor. It also targeted Moscow’s foreign community and Russians with practical jokes and stunts.

“Raucous Russian Paper Closes Amid Kremlin Scrutiny”

By Alan Cullison

Wall Street Journal

Ribald pranksters

The paper’s club reviews advised which bars were frequented by violent thugs and which were popular with adventurous Russian women.

Michael McFaul, professor of political science and director of the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, and a frequent target of attacks from the Exile, said he was “sorry to see the paper go” though he didn’t always agree with its politics. The Exile frequently assailed Mr. McFaul for his 1970s-style haircut.

The Exile assailed Western academics and journalists, whom it accused in the 1990s of understating the misery caused by the free-market reforms of President Boris Yeltsin.

Russian Bureaucrats Smother the World’s Best Alt-Weekly

Mother Jones

“Stormed into the Moscow bureau of The New York Times and threw a pie filled with equine sperm into the face of the bureau chief after accusing him of soft coverage of Russia’s political elite.”

“They very rarely looked like endangering the Russian goal, Greece. There’s no doubt the better team won today, Russia showed good pace and got forward well and they are a young, quick team who are only going to get better and better.”
BBC Radio 5 Live pundit Pat Nevin

Hey, America! Think your Obama is so special??

A young charismatic man of African descent becomes a national icon, whose eloquence inspires a generation, whose dashing looks send girls fainting and whose liberal politics threaten to derail the establishment?

That sort of thing might still be hot over here, but it is OLD NEWS in Mother Russia.

199 year old news, to be precise.

That’s right, today Russia celebrated the 199th anniversary of the birth of its national poet Alexandr Pushkin, whose life I summarised in the first paragraph.

Pushkin, whose great grandfather was was a freed African slave, was not merely the founding father of indigenous Russian literature. He was Shakespeare, James Dean and Che Guevara rolled into one. (Well, maybe Che Guevara is going a bit far…but he did stand up for liberalism in solidarity with the Decembrists).

He even sported an afro! And died in a duel!!
Go Pushkin!

6 June 1799-10 February 1837

(Thanks to the decidedly cultured Cailtlin Miner LeGrand for reminding me of this splendid occasion!)

PS. Here is an interesting article about Obama, Pushkin and MLK.

So now we know the real reason behind the Federal hounding of the Exile, courtesy of good reporting by the Moscow Times: its associations with dissident leader Eduard Limonov.

In my earlier post, I noted that Limonov was a columnist for the paper and that his radical opposition movement had had scores of its members arrested and detained as political prisoners. The latest probe is the latest chapter in the story.

“Federal officials visited the offices of The eXile on Thursday and asked about the newspaper’s relationship with Eduard Limonov, a Kremlin critic who writes a column for the notorious English-language tabloid.”

Read the whole article by Alexander Osipovich here.

And it was good to hear Editor Mark Ames in characteristic fighting spirit:

“Despite his pessimism about The eXile’s future, Ames said he will not tone it down or stop publishing Limonov.

“Hell no,” Ames said when asked whether the column would be canceled. “Limonov was one of the inspirations for this paper.”

Earlier I had written about the Russian aversion to seriousness, and now there is a pertinent article in the FT about the fine time-honoured tradition of Soviet gallows humour and its apogee, the Political Anekdot.

Have a read…

(Courtesy of the ever-intrepid Bradley Hope, founder-editor of the New York Moon)

Being accused of excessive seriousness is not something Russians expect or covet. We pride ourselves on a sense of irreverent humour, irony and ability to exist in often self-destructive fantasy worlds. In fact, part of what saved the country’s ’soul’ during Communism was the widespread popular subversion of that ideology’s central tenants of seriousness and hard work into a drink fuelled daily theatre of the absurd. From Oblomov to the surrealist poetry of Daniil Kharms to the magical-realist vignettes of everyday Soviet life in the 1970s and 80s by Tokareva, to the current writings of Nina Khrushcheva or editions of the Exile, learning about Russian culture is a lesson in playful, often exasperating, dissent.

So what is noted social theorist and activist Boris Kagalitsky talking about in today’s Op-Ed in the Moscow Times when he cries that “Russians Take Themselves Too Seriously”?

Kagarlitsky is worried that Russians are losing their sense of anti-establishment sarcasm amidst a new wave of nationalism directed at the neighbouring states. He notes that Ukrainians, who have better retained the pinch of salt cynicism regarding their leaders, are less susceptible to anti-Russian propaganda than Russians are to Kremlin-fomented anti-Ukrainianism, and urges us to get back to our anarchical ways.

A welcome reality check!

Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, has called McCain’s proposals to resume nuclear weapons reductions talks with Russia “fully realistic”. Kosachev was quoted in the May 29th issue of the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestiya employing a sports metaphor: “Mr McCain can completely count on the fact that Russia will be ready to engage him in this match, if he assumes the US presidency”. He then mentions that it was during Republican administrations that some of the biggest diplomatic breakthroughs between Russia and America occured. Kosachev said that McCain’s statement “has a realistic chance to be more than campaign rhetoric” and added that “the latest statement is in evident contrast” to McCain’s “previous escapades” regarding throwing Russia out of the G8.

Writing from this month’s annual conference of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, Foreign Policy Blogger Mark Dillen examines, through the comments of conference participants, Russia’s political transition, European energy security, and US-European relations.  Part II examines the transition of power from President Vladimir Putin to his successor, Dimitri Medvedev.  Read the article here.