Even Putin’s Friends are Starting to Hate Him

When you know there aren’t any opposition parties in the Russian Duma, it’s somewhat disconcerting to read a headling saying they’ve walked out of the Duma in protest against the Kremlin’s outrageous rigging of Russia’s most recent elections. That that’s just what we recently got from Reuters:

Russian opposition parties walked out of parliament in a rare act of protest on Wednesday against Sunday’s disputed elections, with the Communist Party blaming Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for an unworkable system. Opposition leaders and independent observers said the vote was rigged and turnout was much lower than reported.

Sunday’s win means the United Russia party — backed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and nominally led by Putin — retains power in key locations, including Moscow city, the most populous and affluent region. None of the three protesting parties, the Nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), Fair Russia and the Communist Party, are usually critical of the Kremlin. Liberal opposition parties are not represented in parliament and are marginalised in state media.

America, Saving more Russians from Misery

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

For Sasha Doran, the transition this football season has been smooth. The junior at Wayzata High School took over as the starting quarterback for the defending big-school state champions and has helped the Trojans remain undefeated through the first three games.

Doran was a defensive back two years ago, so in a football sense he’s come a long way. But go back seven years – to when Sasha and his two older sisters were wards of a Russian orphanage – and the story seems too unbelievable to be true.

October 14, 2009 — Contents

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 14 CONTENTS

(1)  EDITORIAL:  Alcoholic Russia

(2) EDITORIAL:  Russia’s Internet is DOA

(3)  More on Russia and the Iranian Bomb

(4)  Russia:  Hater Nation

(5)  PHOTO ESSAY:  Remembering Politkovskaya

NOTE:  LR publisher/founder Kim Zigfeld’s latest installment of her Russia column on the mighty Pajamas Media mega blog is up and running. It scathingly condemns Barack Obama for his failure to address the issue of lynchings in Putin’s Russia.

EDITORIAL: Alcoholic Russia

EDITORIAL

Alcoholic Russia

What girl doesn't love a Russian man loaded down with vodka?

As with most things where Russia, one of the most dishonest and dissembling nations on the face of the Earth, is concerned, it’s hard to get reliable information about the extent of the country’s epidemic of alcoholism.

But here’s a truly staggering factoid:  Even though 70% of Russia’s alcohol consumption comes in the form of vodka, Russians drink so much that their 30% residual consumption is still enough to make Russia the third-largest beer market on the planet.

Dig a little deeper, and you unearth facts that are truly breathtaking both in their implications and their contradictions.

EDITORIAL: Russia’s Internet, Officially Dead

EDITORIAL

Russia’s Internet, Officially Dead

It doesn’t get much more official than this:  Sergei Mironov, speaker of the Council of the Federation (Russia’s version of the U.S. Senate or British House of Lords) openly declares (Russian language link), contradicting both Dima Medvedev and the Russophile hoards:  “RuNet doesn’t perform the civic and social functions that it does in other countries.” (In Russian:  “Хуже то, что Рунет варится в собственном соку и не выполняет тех гражданских и социальных функций, которые являются общепринятыми в других странаx.”) He continues:

It was expected that the Internet would help crystallize and mobilize parts of the civil society that are interested in a broad sweep of constructive reforms. Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened yet. Sites of NGOs – including those of human rights organizations that defend the interests of the population – recieve less than 1% of the Russian Internet traffic.

Well, that’s it then. 

More on Russia and the Iranian Bomb

Ariel Cohen, writing for the National Review:

Last weekend, Israel leaked to the Sunday Times of London that Russian scientists are developing nuclear warheads for Iran. According to the leakers, that’s why Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Moscow for a “secret” visit September 7.

If true, this information may accelerate sanctions against Iran, or even precipitate military action to destroy the Iranian nuclear-weapons program. It may also blow President Obama’s Russia “reset” policy to smithereens.

Russia: Hater Nation

Vladimir Shlapentokh, a professor of sociology at Michigan State University, writing in the New York Times:

Xenophobia exists in all societies, past and present. It goes back to the socio-biological nature of human beings and the distinction of “ours” and “others” in the human psyche.

Aggressive xenophobia, however, with its open declaration of hatred, discrimination against and physical persecution of “others,” is a purely social phenomenon. It is almost always, in my opinion, a product of policies shaped by a ruling elite in order to acquire and preserve political and economic power.

The case of anti-Americanism in contemporary Russia is a perfect illustration.

Photo Essay: Remembering Politkovskaya

The sign reads: “Putin can’t solve the problem, he is the problem.”

Following are more photos taken by Russian bloggers on the scene at the observation of the third anniversary of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow.

October 12, 2009 — Contents

MONDAY OCTOBER 12 CONTENTS

(1)  EDITORIAL:  Russia is a Nation of Murdering Bastards

(2)  Remembering Politkovskaya

(3)  The Great Russian Selloff

(4)  Cartoon:  Putin makes another “Offer”

(5)  Annals of Shamapova

NOTE: William Browder’s Hermitage Capital Management firm, oft-persecuted by the Kremlin, has started blogging right here on WordPress about their abusive treatment.   Their latest installment is a video which exposes corruption in the ranks of the Russian police.  Meanwhile, Kommersant reports that Browder is about to face the same kind of tax evasion charges that got Mikhail Khodorkovsky sent to Siberia.

EDITORIAL: Russia, Nation of Murdering Bastards

EDITORIAL

Russia, Nation of Murdering Bastards

Last week was the third anniversary of the assassination of hero reporter Anna Politkovskaya.  The Kremlin commemorated the event in its usual bloodthirsty fashion.

First, it handed victory to the crazed mass-murdering dictator of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, in his libel suit against the Memorial human rights organization over Memorial’s demands for justice in the killing of Politkovskaya’s successor, Natalia Estemirova.  Politkovskaya worked closely with Memorial in reporting on human rights issues in Chechnya, and Kadyrov hated them equally.

Then, it booted Reporters without Borders out of the country.  Last year it was Human rights Watch, this year RWB.  RWB has been tireless in standing up for justice in the Politkovskaya murder case, which has gotten exactly nowhere in the three years since her brutal, barbaric killing.

And for the capper, it toasted Vladimir Putins’ 57th birthday. 

Remembering Anna Politkovskaya, Russian Super Patriot

K. Anthony Appiah, a philosophy professor at Princeton University and president of the board of trustees of the PEN American Center, the U.S. branch of the world’s oldest international literary and human rights organization, writing in the Washington Post on October 7th:

Three years ago today Anna Politkovskaya, a courageous journalist who exposed appalling human rights offenses in Chechnya, was shot five times as she entered her Moscow apartment building. She was not the first Russian journalist to be slain for performing the invaluable function of bringing buried truths to light. Sadly, there have been, and will be, more murders. And we all pay the price.

Westerners were inclined to think during the Cold War that a democratic Russia would be better for Russians and for us. Yet 20 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, hopes for genuine democracy in Russia remain unrealized. A major reason is the parlous condition of the Russian media.

The Great Russian Selloff

Daddy Putin is selling off the furniture to keep the family out of the poorhouse. The Moscow Times reports:

The government plans to raise 70 billion rubles ($2.34 billion) next year by selling stakes in more than 450 companies, Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reiterated his support for the major sell-off of government property, saying the efforts would help fill the federal budget.

Putin makes another one of his “offers”

Putin says: "You must embrace your comrades!" On the middle shirt is written: "Avto Vaz."

Source: Ellustrator.

Read more: Streetwise Professor.

Shamapova, Russians, Back in Form in Beijing

If you’ve never heard of Shuai Peng, don’t feel too bad.  She’s a Chinese journeywoman on the WTA circuit currently ranked #53 in the world.  “Russian” world #15 Maria Sharapova probably hadn’t heard of her either when the two met on the court in Beijing at the China Open last week .

But Sharapova may now be keeping herself more up to date. In Sharapova’s second match of the tournament the two players contested 18 games and Sharapova won only six of them.  Though tossing in roughly the same first-serve perecentage as her opponent, Sharapova was only able to win half her first serve points and was outplayed in every aspect of the game, getting blown off the court after, inexplicably, receiving one of only three first-round byes allocated among the 64 players in the draw, allowing her to avoid a first-round drainer.

World #1 Dinara Safina, for instance, didn’t receive one of those byes.  And she probably wished she had, since she too was blown of the court by an unknown Chinese player in her second match of the tournament.  Shuia Zhang, who destroyed Safina, came into the match ranked a shocking #226 in the world.  Zhang is so obscure that the WTA website doesn’t even have her photograph. Ouch.  Zhang was then promptly crushed in her next match by the #14 seed Marian Bartoli in easy straight sets.

And, believe it or not, the news got still worse for Safina. 

October 9, 2009 — Contents

FRIDAY OCTOBER 9 CONTENTS

(1)  EDITORIAL:  Johns Hopkins Agrees with La Russophobe

(2)  HRW Condemns Russia’s Chechnya Barbarism

(3)  Podrabinek in English

(4)  On the Trail of Paul Joyal’s Attackers

(5)  Blame Chubais!

NOTE:  Some Russophiles attack us for allowing anonymity on this blog. We carry a major item (#4)  in today’s issue from the LA Times, asking hard questions about the murderous attack on Kremlin critic Paul Joyal. In a real frenzy even by its own standards, Russia Today (the Kremlin’s wholly-owned propaganda network) responds with not one but two diatribes, one laced with censored profanity.

Both are anonymous.  In other words, for all we know, they were written by the KGB, perhaps even by the very KGB agents who attacked Joyal.  So you Russophiles who struggle valiantly against anonymity will surely want to complain to RT. Won’t you?

Oh and, by the way RT . . . your hysterical reaction is what they call in poker a “tell.” Just FYI.

EDITORIAL: Johns Hopkins Agrees with La Russophobe

EDITORIAL

Johns Hopkins Agrees withLa Russophobe

One of our esteemed commenters points us to the following statement on the Council of Europe report on the Russo-Georgian war of 2008, about which we editorialized last week.  It comes from the lofty towers of Johns Hopkins University’s Central Asia Caucasus Institute, one of the world’s leading authorities on Caucasus politics. Here’s what they say about the COE report:

It is . . . apparent that its most scathing criticism is reserved for Russia’s role in the conflict. Significantly, the report found that Russia had long been purposefully engaging in provocations against Georgia and unlawful intervention in its internal affairs, and that none of Moscow’s various justifications for its invasion of Georgia hold water. Moreover, the report goes on to fault Russia’s behavior following the conflict, as it continues to be in material breach of the EU-negotiated cease-fire agreement.

In other words, they say just what we said about the COE report. The Wall Street Journal carries the same view.

To cover its Human Rights Atrocities, Russia Flouts International Law

Human Rights Watch reports:

Russia has ignored a series of judgments by the European Court of Human Rights on Chechnya, fueling unchecked violence in the North Caucasus, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Following the recent murders of human rights defenders there, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly will decide on September 28, 2009 whether to schedule a debate to focus on the dangerous conditions for human rights defenders in the North Caucasus.

The 38-page report, “‘Who Will Tell Me What Happened to My Son?’: Russia’s Implementation of European Court of Human Rights Judgments on Chechnya,” examines Russia’s response to European Court judgments on cases from Chechnya. In almost all of the 115 rulings, the court concluded that Russia was responsible for extrajudicial executions, torture, and enforced disappearances, and that it had failed to investigate these crimes. In the 33 cases researched by Human Rights Watch, Russia has still not brought a single perpetrator to justice, even in cases in which those who participated in or commanded the operations that led to violations are named in the European Court judgments.

Podrabinek in English

Alexander Podrabinek

FinRosForum translates the essay from Yezhedevny Zhurnal that drove the writer into hiding in fear of his life from Kremlin assassination:

It is a great pity that the owners of the “Anti-Soviet” Kebab House [in Moscow] caved in to pressure from the head of the municipal council [Vladimir] Shtukaturov and prefect [Oleg] Mitvol, and took down the café’s sign.

It is a pity because the demand of the authorities was against the law. It is a pity because this was an attack on the freedom of enterprise — specifically, blackmail on the part of the fire department and the health inspectorate. It is a pity because the complaints of the veterans are idiotic, base, and stupid. It is a pity because a name like “Anti-Soviet” calls for standing firm, not for caving in.

Who tried to Kill Kremlin Critic Paul Joyal?

Slowly but surely, mainstream Western media are getting wise to Vladimir Putin.  First GQ carried the story of the Moscow apartment bombing coverup, and now the LA Times reports on the mystery and possible coverup of the attempted murder of Kremlin critic Paul Joyal:

That night, he was returning home from the International Spy Museum, of all places. He had been meeting with, of all people, an old friend who once was a top officer in the KGB.

It was raining when Paul Joyal pulled into his driveway in this suburb 10 miles from the White House. As he stepped out of his car, nothing seemed amiss. He did not see two men lurking in the darkness. But suddenly, he was under attack, cold-cocked on the side of his head. The 55-year-old Joyal fought back. He elbowed one of the attackers in the gut and bowled into him. He and the assailant tumbled to the ground.

“Shoot him!” barked the man he struggled with — and Joyal instinctively folded his arms across his chest and rolled to the side as the other attacker fired.

Blame Chubais!

There’s a funny episode of the TV show South Park in which the townsfolk sing a song entitled “Blame Canada” and seek to explain all their troubles by reference to our funny-talking neighbor to the north.  In Russia, they often blame South Park itself, rather than Canada, and ban the programs.  But far more common practice is to blame Anatoly Chubais.  In Georgia Bovt’s latest Moscow Times column, he explores the phenomenon.

On Saturday, the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Atomic Inspection released its report on the causes of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric plant accident that occurred on Aug. 17. Former Unified Energy System CEO Anatoly Chubais was the most recognizable name in the “most-guilty” list.

Chubais’ presence on the list is not surprising when you consider that the Sayano-Shushenskaya investigation efforts are headed by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who also oversees the government’s energy sector. Sechin, who served as former President Vladimir Putin’s deputy chief of staff, was one of the strongest opponents of Chubais’ energy reforms when Chubais headed UES. Thus, it is impossible not to see in the report’s findings evidence of a serious political game among Russia’s bureaucratic elite.

October 7, 2009 — Contents

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 7 CONTENTS

(1)  EDITORIAL:  Russian Racism and Obama

(2)  EDITORIAL:  “Life” in Russia

(3)  Another Original LR Translation: Kasyanov vs. Putin

(4)  More Outrage:  Russia and the Iranian Bomb

(5)  Annals of Shamapova

NOTE:  Kim Zigfeld’s latest installment of her Russia column is up and running on Pajamas Media. It deals with the neo-Soviet persecution of Soviet dissident Alexander Podrabinek over one of his columns in Yezhedevny Zhurnal.

NOTE:  This issue is a real eye-opener on Russia.  Racism. Disease. Deep political corruption.  And, of course, the little matter of giving the A-bomb to Iran.  No reasonable person can peruse items 1-4 and not realize that Russia is a nation run amok.

EDITORIAL: The Scourge of Pandemic Russian Racism and the Cowardly Treachery of Barack Obama

EDITORIAL

The Scourge of Pandemic Russian Racism
(and the Cowardly Treachery of Barack Obama)

According to a recent report by the BBC, nearly 60% of black people living in Russia have been physically assaulted in a racially motivated attack, and live in constant fear of such incidents.  A quarter of those surveyed by the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy had been attacked more than once and four out of five had been verbally assaulted.

These besieged people are terrified to ride the metro, cower in their homes like prisoners on any nationalist holiday, and avoid all crowds in general. 

Commenters on the BBC story told the tale:

EDITORIAL: “Living” in Russia

EDITORIAL

“Living” in Russia

The image above, courtesy of the Moscow Times, is a photograph taken from the Moscow subway.  It shows two advertisements plastered on the wall next to each other.  The one on the left is an ad for “Domestos” cleaner, and boasts that it wipes out germs of every kind, including those that cause the dreaded Swine Flu.  It warns gravely: “Don’t economize on the health of your child!”  The one on the right comes from the Moscow City Council, and urges voters to turn out on election day, October 11th.  It advises voters that “City Council will decide how to guaranty health and safety” and that “Moscovites will decide who sits on the City Council.”

The juxtaposition is profound. 

Another Original LR Translation: Without Putin

Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has a new book out entitled  Without Putin (Bez Putina) in which he carries on an extended dialogue with former NTV pundit Yevgeny Kiselyov.  Novaya Gazeta, whose publishing house is issuing the volume, has published an extended excerpt, and what follows is our staff translation (Dave Essel played no part and is not to be blamed for our errors, of which we would be pleased to be advised). If you are in Russia and want to buy the book, click here for the information.  Note that we’ve added some explanatory material [in brackets] that is not in the original text.

I.  Russia in Default

[LR:  Mikhail M. Kasyanov was deputy minister of finance from 1995 until May 1999, when he became Finance Minister.  The Ministry of Finance is analagous to the U.S. Treasury Department.   A year later he became deputy prime minister, and from May 2000 to February 2004 he was the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation under the newly-elected "President" Vladimir Putin. He is now a leading figure in the "Solidarity" opposition movement that seeks to unseat Vladimir Putin and roll back Putin's anti-democratic crackdown.  When he sought to run for president against Dima Medvedev, his name was stricken from the ballot and he was placed under investigation for alleged electoral fraud.]

Mikhail Kasyanov

The situation at the beginning of 1998 was unusually tense.  The price of oil had dropped to 12 dollars, but the ruble was not moving down as it should have done.  In May, commenting on a report on the macroeconomic situation by the Board of the Ministry of Finance, I said what I thought was obvious:   ”Listen, this means we have no choice but to urgently to devalue the ruble.”  [LR:  Kasyanov's goal was to avoid default on Russia's sovereign debt by increasing foreign financial flows with a discounted domestic currency.  This would, of course, heavily burden the pocketbooks of the people of the country.]  They fell on me like a pack of wolves. ”How dare you make such a suggestion in the middle of a crisis!?” they shrieked.  But Oleg Vyugin, a fellow deputy finance minister, and I both insisted that an anti-crisis program be implemented immediately.  In particular, we needed a large infusion of cash from the IMF so as to buy time to implement reforms across the board in the public sector.

Yevgeny Kiselyov

Why was so much precious time lost?

Russia and the Iranian Bomb

The Times of London reports:

Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has handed the Kremlin a list of Russian scientists believed by the Israelis to be helping Iran to develop a nuclear warhead. He is said to have delivered the list during a mysterious visit to Moscow.

Netanyahu flew to the Russian capital with Uzi Arad, his national security adviser, last month in a private jet.  His office claimed he was in Israel, visiting a secret military establishment at the time. It later emerged that he was holding talks with Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, and President Dmitry Medvedev.  “We have heard that Netanyahu came with a list and concrete evidence showing that Russians are helping the Iranians to develop a bomb,” said a source close to the Russian defence minister last week.

“That is why it was kept secret. The point is not to embarrass Moscow, rather to spur it into action.”