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And there are no other leader to carry it forward?? None even emerging.... second line or third line??Jeff Lira wrote:Vladimir Putin Back as Russian President Most Probably; The Good and The Bad
Why Some Russians don't like him and why some are willing to welcome him again. Vladimir Putin is the man who has brought back the lost glory back in Russia. But he has his strengths and weakness. The author even compared Medvedev and Putin and their way of working.
Young Russians, like many of their peers around the world, are more plugged in to global trends, more interconnected within and between their local communities, and more vulnerable to negative events abroad than any previous generation. They use the Internet nearly as frequently as their American counterparts, often over the fastest networks with the latest mobile devices. As a result, the pace of change in how young Russians see the world, including the United States, is constantly accelerating.
Unlike their parents and grandparents, young Russians have not been brought up on a diet of official ideology. They are not eager to prove the inferiority of American-style free-market capitalism—in fact few of them even question it. Most are comfortably certain that Russia is and should always be a part of the global market economy.
To help sustain that interest, Washington should refrain from unfairly attacking Russia. Criticism of the government's mixed record on human rights and rule of law is legitimate, but when the loudest voices from Washington are consistently those attacking Russia for everything from jailing dissidents to coddling Iran, it is too easy for young Russians to write off the American government as out of touch or blinded by ideology.
Additionally, Russia's newest workers, entrepreneurs and professionals place a unique emphasis on the importance of stability. After all, they and their families suffered through an economic contraction in the 1990s more devastating than the Great Depression, and they have witnessed the powerlessness of ordinary citizens and state institutions to stop corruption and plundering.
To most young Russians, America is still a model of personal, political and economic freedom. But as the foundations of a U.S. economic model built on borrowing and spending become increasingly vulnerable, young Russians have started to question whether American-style freedoms inevitably bring instability and suffering. They are similarly concerned by the extremes of the American political process. The United States must solve these problems not only because they are damaging to its own prosperity and security but also because doing so will help restore confidence among those in Russia and throughout the world who still look for American leadership.
Finally, young Russians do not crave Russian power for its own sake, to spread world revolution, or to expand the frontiers of empire, but they do aspire to live in a strong country that can protect their interests in the world. For this reason, they are uncomfortable with American power, especially the kind that seeks to negate the influence and interests of others.
Still, America has wide appeal among young Russians, as a destination for vacation, study abroad or business opportunity. And American products—from iPhones to Ford cars—are as popular as blue jeans once were on the streets of Moscow. Washington can build on this "soft power" by making sure to use all kinds of American power more responsibly across the board.
As an insurance policy for better ties with today's young Russians, Washington should invest in institutions, including online social networks, to promote engagement across a wide swath of the societies—between state and local governments, religious groups, students and professionals. The two governments have made notable progress recently in lowering barriers to travel and investment, but the process for obtaining a visa is still onerous. With thousands of young Russians eager to visit, study and do business in America, there should be an agreement on visa-free travel as soon as possible.
Americans are not alone in failing to understand and embrace the first fully post-Soviet generation of Russians. Russia's own government and big businesses are obviously still dominated by a single cohort that came to power with Putin, and the ruling party still seeks to control youth political activism through ham-fisted tactics reminiscent of the Communist Union of Youth and Soviet-era "international festivals of youth."
Notwithstanding their present political disenfranchisement, post-Soviet Russians will not be a "lost generation." They are well equipped to succeed in today's global economy and to navigate the complexities of Russian society as they themselves continue to change and redefine it. Washington needs to better understand and more effectively engage this new generation if it is to secure a mutually beneficial relationship with Russia, not only under a new Putin presidency but also in the uncertain future beyond.
chaanakya wrote:And there are no other leader to carry it forward?? None even emerging.... second line or third line??Jeff Lira wrote:Vladimir Putin Back as Russian President Most Probably; The Good and The Bad
Why Some Russians don't like him and why some are willing to welcome him again. Vladimir Putin is the man who has brought back the lost glory back in Russia. But he has his strengths and weakness. The author even compared Medvedev and Putin and their way of working.
This , by itself , would be a great weakness of a strong duopoly.
By Andrew Osborn, Moscow and Agencies
07 Nov 2011
Dressed in period Red Army uniforms and accompanied by immaculately restored T-34 tanks and truck-mounted Katyusha rocket launchers, five and a half thousand men and boys recreated the historic parade as surviving war veterans who took part in the real thing looked on in sub-zero temperatures.
President Dmitry Medvedev said the display looked exactly like cinema reels from 1941, while Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow's mayor, stressed the parade's patriotic nature, a quality the Kremlin is keen to instill in young Russians today.
"The parade of November 7, 1941 was a lesson in patriotism and courage," he told veterans.
"Glory to the participants in the parade! Glory to the victors! Glory to the city and the heroes of Moscow!"
Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party has consistently touted the Soviet Union's victory over the Nazis as post-Soviet Russia's most important unifying historical event. The original 1941 parade was held under the watchful gaze of Josef Stalin to mark the anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution but took place with the Germans just forty miles outside the Soviet capital.
"Of course the victory (in World War II) was not the result of parades but the importance of that parade was enormous," President Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting after commemorations with the veterans.
"It was at that moment that the country understood that it was capable of overcoming the worst troubles and the most impudent enemy which had planned to hold its own parade in Red Square," said Medvedev.
Post-Soviet Russia no longer celebrates the November 7 anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution as a national holiday and instead has a November 4 Day of National Unity that remains little understood in the country.
But a top official from the ruling United Russia party, Andrei Isayev told Moscow Echo radio that while November 7 was a "day of memory" it would never again be a national holiday.
"You cannot call it a holiday because for millions of people living in our country it is not a holiday but the anniversary of the creation of a regime that would kill their relatives."
FM Lavrov condemns NATO air attack on Pakistan checkpoints
Nov 29, 2011 00:19 Moscow Time
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called for an investigation into the NATO cross-border attack on Pakistan’s checkpoints. In a telephone conversation with Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar, he emphasized the inadmissibility of violating sovereignty of states, including when planning and conducting counterterrorism operations, says a Foreign Ministry statement………………..
The Voice of Russia
The only daughter of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has died in the US, aged 85. In 1967 she travelled to India to scatter the ashes of her Indian Communist lover in the river Ganges. During that visit she defected to the US causing a political sensation. Indian journalist Inder Malhotra recalls the scandal.
In early 1967 Mr Singh died. Svetlana saw to it that he was cremated according to Hindu rites and then decided to bring his ashes to India to consign them to the Ganges river, held sacred by Hindus.
This took time because Soviet leaders tried hard to dissuade her from making that journey.
(And these were all weather friends at the timeEnough evidence emerged later to show that Alexi Kosygin, then prime minister, had personally told her that she was taking a grave risk as orthodox Hindus sometimes burned the widow along with her husband.
)He was trying to desuade her from taking the trip and defect, but what was more worrying wasanishns wrote:Interesting story published at BEEBS!
How Stalin's daughter defected in India
The only daughter of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has died in the US, aged 85. In 1967 she travelled to India to scatter the ashes of her Indian Communist lover in the river Ganges. During that visit she defected to the US causing a political sensation. Indian journalist Inder Malhotra recalls the scandal.In early 1967 Mr Singh died. Svetlana saw to it that he was cremated according to Hindu rites and then decided to bring his ashes to India to consign them to the Ganges river, held sacred by Hindus.
This took time because Soviet leaders tried hard to dissuade her from making that journey.(And these were all weather friends at the timeEnough evidence emerged later to show that Alexi Kosygin, then prime minister, had personally told her that she was taking a grave risk as orthodox Hindus sometimes burned the widow along with her husband.
Communism seems to well entrenched in our establishmentAn Indian visa was no problem because, apart from other reasons, Brajesh's nephew, Dinesh Singh, was a confidant of then prime minister Indira Gandhi and a member of her council of ministers.
PS:This is a familiar story worldwide.A popular leader is found wanting because the lower minions who run the state begin to get greedy and ordinary people who have to interact with the "B and C" babus,as we do in India,have to put up with the corruption.Getting one's intentions followed through to the letter to benefit people at the lowet level is the hardest task of government and requires accountability and punishment for the corrupt,as AH has ben asking for in the Lok Pal bill.The result is unlikely to stop Mr Putin, who is currently prime minister, from returning to the presidency next year but it will cause unease in the Kremlin which has worked hard to prop up his personal ratings which remain above 50 per cent.
"His ratings have fallen," admitted Yelena Orlova, a pensioner who voted for his party on Sunday. She said corruption scandals had damaged his party's image but that he still remained the most capable politician.
"In the 1990s people were pretty much on the same level (when it came to living standards) but now any local official quickly acquires houses, flats and cars," she told The Daily Telegraph. "People see this and they are not happy," she said.
May be its other way. Iran also has some areas of Baluchistan and US can take this as advantage, making claims of Greater Baluchistan and can browbeat Iran with it. Population of Baluchistan is very small and sparse, so 1-2 billions a year (less than what Baki Dracula demands), would enough to feed them.Christopher Sidor wrote:Further with a breakup of Pakistan, Baluchistan would go free, but it would forever be at the mercy of its larger neighbors Iran and the Gulf countries. This is provided Afghanistan did not have its eyes on an independent Baluchistan in the first place. Add to this the fact that the Baluch Society is generally a feudal one.
I go with Dean's (thank you) analysis above. It is just a wishful thinking to think that some massive anti-Putin protests can occur in Russia. Putin's Russia has changed the country and the nationalist forces are firmly with him. West minus Germany can cook whatever the logic they want but Russia is not some Ukraine or Georgia to think they can pull something off. Germany is in a way a Russian block (might find it funnySuppiah wrote:Gorby now calls for new election in Russia. This may get big..or it may quieten down since winter time in Russia will act as natural barrier against staying out and protesting...but whichever way it goes, Putin is in deep sh.t. It is easy to blame the 'west' but I doubt if they can bring masses to the streets in Moscow and St. Petersberg.
Putin has been picking unnecessary quarrels with the west over thugs like Assad which offers no strategic value to Russia, and now started flirting with Pakbarians, annoying both Unkil and many in India. This too has little strategic value since Pakis will surely repay such kindness by helping to reviving terrorism in Chechnya. Putin's personal obsession with giving Unkil a black eye may cost him both eyes.
How he managed to annoy Ombaba who started off with a complete U-turn over Bush's policies is worth analysing. That is why Hillary is throwing stones at the election process too.
but Germany has sources most of its oil from Russia and not from arabian gulf and hence it was with Russia during the west Vs Russia conflict over Georgia.2000 people protesting in Moscow does not constitute a mass protest. It is also unusually mild weather in MoscowSuppiah wrote:Gorby now calls for new election in Russia. This may get big..or it may quieten down since winter time in Russia will act as natural barrier against staying out and protesting...but whichever way it goes, Putin is in deep sh.t. It is easy to blame the 'west' but I doubt if they can bring masses to the streets in Moscow and St. Petersberg.
We need Putin to act in Russian interests. As you said, the Paks will repay any kindness by stirring up the Chechen Jihadists.Suppiah wrote: Putin's aggressive anti-western stance has created headaches for India
recognise S.Ossetia, whose birth he mid-wifed. Even Taiwan is recognised by more!A large number of military officials from Myanmar have received training at Russian universities in atomic science and missile design, Time magazine reported on Wednesday.Under a 2001 deal, Russia agreed to construct a small atomic reactor for the Southeast Asian nation. The agreement also called for Moscow to provide training for "300-350 nuclear-energy specialists." The $150 million contract, finalized in 2007, required that the reactor be used only for medical and scientific purposes, but the deal was cause for concern, given that the Burmese junta spends far more money on military operations than on public health.A report by a dissident group, the Democratic Voice of Burma, accused the junta of covertly researching nuclear weapons, with technical assistance from North Korea. The Burmese government rejected the claim, and later declared that it would not pursue an atomic program because of lack of funding; it seemed that the issue had been resolved. Russia also backed off the reactor deal.A Time investigation, however, revealed that a significant number of Burmese military officials are still receiving atomic and missile education at Bauman University in Moscow. The school and other Russian institutions first began admitting large groups of Burmese military students in 2001.Burmese army defector Sai Thein Win, who provided the stolen documents and photographs that formed the basis of the Democratic Voice of Burma's report, told Time he believed approximately 10,000 Burmese citizens have taken classes at technical colleges in Russia. The majority of the students come from the armed forces and many focus on nuclear science, he said.Sai Thein Win, who is in hiding, said in 2001 he was in a doctorate program in Bauman University's missile-engines department. "There was one guy from North Korea, one guy from Iran, and me," the defector said. "The only guy who completed the degree in the end was the North Korean, so his rockets would be the ones flying tests over Japanese islands by now." When he left Moscow, Sai Thein Win said, he began working at a military plant in Myanmar that focused on building components for a nuclear-arms effort. While many machines were acquired from German firms, the majority of the workshop's sensitive equipment was purchased from Pyongyang.Bauman University missile-design lecturer Valery Gostev told the magazine that he is teaching about 12 students from Myanmar this semester, which he said is a typical number. He confirmed that other departments are educating Burmese students in atomic science.Russia would not be in breach of any international pacts for providing schooling to Burmese students in missile design. "The Russians would just be showing pretty bad taste in what they are teaching people," said former International Atomic Energy Agency official Robert Kelley, who authored the Democratic Voice of Burma report.He noted that the type of missiles Burmese students are studying at Bauman University could be configured to carry biological and chemical warfare agents. "We do think Russia should be careful about providing a lot of this training to Burma," Institute for Science and International Security analyst Andrea Stricker said. "There are still a lot of suspicions about a possible [nuclear]-weapons program."Kelley and Stricker said they both leaned toward believing that Moscow would refuse if asked by Myanmar to educate students in nuclear-warhead design.
Vladimir Putin is the man the West loves to hate. There is such a huge industry of commentators, leaders and media people so completely obsessed with the return of the Russian leader as President that the gravity defying jobless rate in the West would jump a couple of percentage points if he suddenly retired.
Western commentators are gleefully pointing out that United Russia has suffered a “massive” fall of 14 percentage points in the December 4 parliamentary election. But the fact is Putin’s party still took home half the votes, and they are streets ahead of their closest opponents, the Communists, who got a fraction over 19 percent. Barring an unlikely upset, Putin will be back in the saddle in March, haunting the West, or more precisely the Anglo-American axis, for many more years.
The West's obsession with Putin is because of both personal and historical reasons
During the US presidential elections in late 2008, Hillary Clinton, while campaigning for the Democratic nomination, said, "He was a KGB agent, by definition he doesn't have a soul," to which Putin coolly replied, "I think that a head of state must have a head as a minimum." Devastating.
In October that year, after the war in the Caucasus, Putin famously described Western lackey Mikheil Sakashvilli of Georgia as “this corpse”.
Indeed, Putin’s steely gaze is truly presidential. For comparison, how about George W. Bush’s shifty, darting eyes, Tony Blair’s smarmy smile, or Barack Obama’s vacuous words?
Then there’s the strongman syndrome. Where the clumsy Dick Cheney shoots his hunting partner in the face, Putin uses a tranquilizer to snag a Siberian tiger.
These are not the images people in Washington and London want to see. Putin makes Western leaders look inadequate.
Sakashvilli and his Pentagon backers both know – with the benefit of hindsight – the Russian leader doesn’t bluff. The Americans lost face and Sakashvilli a good chunk of his country when he baited Putin in August 2008. And that is what irks the West most. Putin takes care of Russia’s interests the way they protect theirs.
The Economist earlier this month described Putin’s job swap with Dmitry Medvedev as making a mockery of Russian democracy. Really? How about George W. Bush’s stealing of the US Presidential election? Didn’t the US Supreme Court and the Governor of Florida (Jeb Bush, George W’s brother) collude to deny Al Gore of a win, in an election where Gore got more votes than Bush? In fact, if The Economist looks at its own backyard, it will find how Iraq sleaze was used by Gordon Brown’s backroom boys to oust Tony Blair as Prime Minister. But then that would be real journalism. It has no place in a country where investigative journalism means listening into ordinary people’s mobile phone conversations.
The Economist never inflicted such idealistic tripe on its readers when Boris Yeltsin was selling off Russia’s crown jewels to rapacious Western transnationals and plunging the country into third world status. This was the same Yeltsin who ordered tanks against the Russian parliament. As tank rounds thudded into the Russian ‘White House’, killing dozens of deputies inside, TIME magazine described him as “the handsome Yeltsin”. Handsome in the eyes of which species?
What Putin’s detractors fail to understand is that democracy is not an end in itself but rather a means to an end – which is economic prosperity and security for the people. Putin himself has said that he doesn’t want the kind of democracy we now see functioning in Iraq. Indeed, because of the rise of the Russian and Chinese economies, authoritarian prosperity is now a viable governing option to the crumbling democracies of the West. India, for instance, is an example of a country that is being held back from its great power destiny because democracy offers an excuse for non-governance for its ruling classes.
Forget the machismo; let’s judge the man by his record and governance.
More significant was the impact on morale. Russians could once again hold their head high and the Russian military was able to operate out of its bases. Russian strategic bombers were back over the Atlantic. On one notable occasion, two Blackjack bombers (armed with nuclear tipped cruise missiles) flew past the unprotected southern flanks of the US, causing panic in the Pentagon.
All this was too much for the West, which was used to seeing Russia stagnating and shrinking.
When Putin’s nationalist economic policies paid off (the Russian stock market jumped 17 per cent the day he got the job in 1999), the Western media rubbished his achievements, and said Russia’s resurgence was solely due to its oil and gas. Brilliant! What these keen observers don’t realise (or won't tell you) is that Russia has always had oil and gas. But oil revenues did not improve people's lives in the Yeltsin era when Western economists and 'experts' were running amok in the country. Then again, what do you expect from journalists told you Iraq had WMDs?
There is an underlying historical reason why the West caricatures Russia. Starting from the Crimean War—in which czarist Russia’s serf army exposed the military and logistical immaturity of ‘professional’ British troops—to the Great Game in Central Asia, it is true that Russia and Britain have had incompatible interests. The Americans, who are mostly of British origin, have inherited Britain's historical prejudices. The West would like to tell you that the clash is between democracy and dictatorship, but in reality the Anglo-Americans and the Slavs are bitter rivals.
Putin has signalled that US unilateralism is over. So in the months ahead, expect more decisive action in areas such as Syria, the last of Moscow’s two remaining allies in the Middle East; the other being Algeria. Ties with India and China will be strengthened, and Putin will be walking the red carpet in Germany (he speaks fluent German).
The Putin-Medvedev tandem has also signed major oil and gas pipeline deals with both Europe and China, effectively shutting out British and American oil majors. The success of Nord Stream (the Russian oil pipeline to Germany bypassing Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic republics) with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at its helm has been a body blow to Anglo-American hopes of clipping Russia’s oil hegemony in Europe.
It is precisely because of such problems that strong leaders are needed; a wishy washy Obama-like approach will ensure that nothing gets done. Russians have seen enough of the Yeltsin era chaos, and the last thing they want is a return to the days of lumpen democracy.
The Anglo-American axis and their hangers-on must realise that a foreign leader who protects his country’s interests is not a tyrant. Around 2300 years ago, Chanakya, the original master of statecraft and policy in India, said in the Arthashastra (Economics): “The foremost duty of a ruler is to keep his people happy and contented. The people are his biggest asset as well as the source of peril. They will not support a weak administration.”
Hijacked PCs may have helped drown out online chat about Russian election protests, say security experts.
The computers were used to disrupt Twitter as Russians chatted about ongoing protests in Moscow's Triumphal Square, said security firm Trend Micro.Analysis of the many pro-Kremlin messages posted to some discussions suggested they were sent by machines. Russian activists said thousands of Twitter accounts were being used to drown out genuine dissent.
Fake chatter
Maxim Goncharov, a senior researcher at security firm Trend Micro, said the attack on Twitter had all the hallmarks of being co-ordinated by a botnet.This is a network of PCs, usually running Windows, that have been infected by a virus putting them under the control of a cyber criminal.
Revelations about email transactions between the US State Department and the Russian election watchdog Golos prior to Russia's parliamentary elections threaten to bring the reset to a grinding halt.
Before a single vote was cast in the parliamentary elections, a string of incidents indicated that foreign governments were already exerting influence over the election process.
Golos, an independent watchdog that has been monitoring elections in Russia for 10 years, was fined 30,000 rubles ($1,000) last week by a Moscow court for publishing “election-related opinion polls and research” after a deadline for publishing such material had passed (it is illegal in Russia to publish such information five days or less before an election).
Duma officials who petitioned to start a probe with the prosecutor’s office argued that the NGO was funded by “foreign organizations” hoping to influence the results of the elections.
Watchdogs to guard the watchdogs?
The Russian news website Life News on Friday published emails it claims show correspondence between the US State Department and the Russian election watchdog Golos that detail payments for work done to discredit the results of Russia’s parliamentary vote.
Life News reported it has come into the possession of 60 megabytes of Golos' private online correspondence sent and received by Golos Executive Chief Lilya Shibanova and her deputy Grigory Melkonyants. Judging by the published documents, the Russian election watchdog, which claimed to be an independent entity, was actually funded by the US State Department to advance US foreign policy objectives.