A Duma without one Westerniser

A Duma without one Westerniser

news.bbc.co.uk

Out of 11 parties endorsed by the authorities, only two - the Union of Right Forces and Yabloko - advocated liberal values and partnership with the West. But neither of them could cross the 7% threshold for representation in the chamber.

Interestingly, the common denominator for all four parties that will be sitting in the legislature is their open dislike of the West and everything it stands for.

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My first thought is this does not sound good for freedom in the Russian Federation. I do not know what this might mean for the future and don't want to make a guess. Please post any thoughts or references for what you think.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Cold War 2:

The Search For More Potatoes.

MonKey

This anti-West motif is simply a cycle Russia is going through right now. Similar to Iran, and many latin American countries like Venezuela. After the fall of USSR Russian politics tend to be very non-rigid and changing. In almost every election some new and radically different group takes charge, and than gradually losses the support untill another group takes charge. The only peculiar thing about Putin and United Russia is that the cycle extend for over 6 years now. But I still wouldn't judge it as "Russia moving towards anti-West agenda". If anything I think Putin or his successor will start to gradually reconcile with the West. Maybe I am wrong.

But the anti-Western sentiments are mostly for interior propaganda's sakes, and should not be judged too seriously - as in "Oh my God its a Cold War we are all gonna die". The main concern for politicians is not relations with the West - it's the situation in Russia (which the West happens to be involved in since early 90's), which is still far from good. Right now, as soon as United Russia got the majority, Putin is already busy pushing a new agenda as soon as possible. This agenda is not about the West, or Iran, or Cold War - its about economy of Russia. And this underlines what Putin's real focus is - economy. Everything else is just a propaganda game.

And the whole thing about "Czar Putin" and one party controlling Russia - that is once again done to further the economy. The economic agenda that he and his economists started to push through in the early 2000's, is still far from complete and secure. If a pro-Western party gains power, they could undo everything he has done to further the economy (like nationalizing energy and resources). it seems like Putin and United Russia feel they need more time, and this is what you see happening. Of course a negative side effect that this increased power can "corrupt" them, but then this is Russia we are dealing with - corruption is synonymous with power.



By the way I love the BBC special report on "Czar Putin". Real cute. It's like somebody is feeding them this bull*, so they can in turn feed it to others. Yeah they are analyzing Putin - but they are analyzing him from one side. This creates a distorted picture that breeds this Cold War and Communism paranoia among Westerners.