Re: Russia "no longer free"

In article <1135771878.853587.173550@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
idoc2_2004@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

> lorad474@xxxxxx wrote:
>
> > For educational purposes:
> > " Putin's chief economic adviser quits By Neil Buckley in Moscow
> > Published: December 27 2005 17:04
> >
> > Andrei Illarionov, President Vladimir Putin's chief economic adviser
> > but also an acerbic critic of the Kremlin's grab for economic power,
> > offered his resignation on Tuesday, saying Russia was "no longer
> > free".
>
> It is sort of a puzzle -- how come this guy held on and stayed an
> advisor to Putin for so long.

Some say he was a "court jester", allowed to stay on to give the semblance
of a dissenting voice. Another possibility is that he had genuine
influence within a government that allowed a wide spectrum of opinion
within its inner circle, but lost out in a power struggle between those
who think, like Mr. Illarionov, that a liberal economy is the best way to
ensure Russia's future development, and those who want to ensure that the
government retains control over the strategically increasingly important
energy sector. Although I would tend to side with Mr. Illarionov, high oil
prices and the opportunity to play the "energy card" are tempting
shortcuts to giving Russia the status of a regional power. Unfortunately,
Russian history is full of the wrecks and tragedies that have resulted
from past shortcuts.

> Btw, you can give up trying to convince people like Mr. Holman to
> notice what they -- for whatever reasons -- simply refuse to see.

I willingly concede that Russia is regressing from partially free to less
free. Nevertheless, the country is far from the dungeon it was twenty
years ago, and such factors as increased interdependency, the ubiquity of
IT, and Russia's understanding that the only chance that it has to be
country of any real influence or importance on the world stage is to have
an economy that generates sustainable prosperity for its population as
well as foreign policies that project an image of it being a reponsible
and constructive member of the international community.

<deletions
>
> Status: Not Free
>
>
> In 2004, press freedom in Russia remained restricted as the government
> continued to control mass media and to obstruct the reporting of
> independent journalists. Although the constitution provides for freedom
> of speech and of the press, the Kremlin, having secured the country's
> main national television networks-Channel One, RTR, and NTV-and most
> radio stations, limits these rights in practice. Authorities abuse a
> weak judicial system and use it for arbitrary arrests and lawsuits."
>
>
http://65.110.85.181/inc/content/pubs/pfs/inc_country_detail.cfm?country=6818&pf

Sad, but not hopeless. Russians still have the internet and other access
to both dissenting opinion and the foreign media. Some of these changes,
like their analogues in the United States, have been made in the name of
the "War on terrorism".

The acid test will come when and if Russia invades some country either
half way around the world or within what it regards as its legitimate
sphere of interests to implement a regime change.

Regards,
Eugene Holman
.

Relevant Pages

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