Congratulations Mr. McChesney

La Russophobe extends a warm welcome and congratulations to former MT staffer Andrew McChesney, who has just become the new editor of the Moscow Times. Hopefully, one of Mr. McChesney’s first offical acts will be to reinstitute the brilliant column Defense Dossier by Pavel Felgenhaur, a heroic and courageous champion of the battle against the rise of the Neo-Soviet Union, who was fired by McChesney’s predecessor, the insane (on this count at least) Lynn Berry. After that, perhaps he will see fit to investigate the denial of asylum by the British Home Office to those fearing racial persecution in Russia on the even more insane grounds that there is no such risk in Russia.

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Kommersant Records Russia’s Slide into the Abyss: Are its Days Numbered?

As La Russophobe has already reported, Freedom House has downgraded Russia’s democratization score. Now, Kommersant points out that last December Freedom House had already downgraded Russia to the point where it was removed from the list of “partially free” countries to the FH’s “not free” column, and Russia has managed to deterioriate even further after that, clearly indicating that it is on a path to dictatorship.

Kommersant reports:

The international human rights research organization Freedom House has published its report on human rights for the first half of the year. Russia was moved from the list of “partially free” countries to that of “not free” countries last December. Since then, the report says, the situation has only worsened, with Russia receiving worse marks for national democratic governance (6.25 points out of 7, where 7 is the worst), the electoral process (6.25 points), civil society (5 points) and corruption (6 points). Russia’s overall (averaged) score rose from 5.61 to 5.75 points. Freedom House added that those indicators are inappropriate for a member of the G8.The report was presented in Moscow. Freedom House is a nongovernmental organization founded in 1941 with the support of Eleanor Roosevelt. It is financed by international philanthropic organizations such as the National Endowment for Democracy, Soros Foundation, as well as by the U.S. Information Agency.Russia is considered to have lost its freedom of the press in 2002. Freedom House research director Daniel Kimmage noted that “The average citizen cannot find out the truth about what is happening in the country,” and predicted that the situation would deteriorate further as the presidential election in 2008 approaches. The authors of the report write that “The major theme was the state’s crackdown on all aspects of political life in Russia, demonstrating that Russia is moving further from the ideals of democracy. The Kremlin continued to separate Russia from Western democracies by tightening control over the media, harassing the already weak opposition and seeking to put tighter controls on nongovernmental organizations.”President of the Fund for the Protection of Glasnost Alexey Simonov said that the report “faithfully reflects reality. Head of the human rights Memorial Society Oleg Orlov agreed. “All those factors in which Russia was assessed that way correspond to reality,” he said.Kremlin-linked political scientists and Public Chamber member Sergey Markov dissented, however. “There is great exaggeration,” he said, “associated with several factors. In the West, there is general concern and misunderstanding about what is really happening in this country, and the assessment of the events of the 1990s as democracy is completely erroneous.”

It’s worth noting that the Carnegie Center’s Masha Lipman has warne d in the Washington Post: “Lately there are persistent rumors that the next target may be the publishing house Kommersant and its crown jewel, the newspaper of the same name. This is Russia’s most professional and high-quality mainstream daily. If the rumors are true, Kommersant will likely be handled as other media have been: The state will “appoint” a loyal buyer whose editorial line will no longer be a source of concern to the Kremlin.” If/when Masha’s prediction is realized, this will truly spell the beginning of the end for Russian civilization.

By contrast, as the Moscow Times reports, Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova are all making progress in democratization, as their Freedom House scores show. The MT reports: “By comparison, the Western-leaning countries of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova have improved their ratings marginally; all three scored in the 4 range. Belarus, with 6.71, and Turkmenistan, with 6.96, lost a little ground in the past year.”

The MT also notes that Freedom House has exposed Russia’s Neo-Soviet violation of international treaties it has signed: “The report also accused Russia of violating the Helsinki Accords by permitting only specially selected international observers to monitor elections. The report said Russian authorities ‘fine tune’ the electoral system after each voting cycle to ensure their grip on power.”

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Here Comes Cold War II: Putin Lashes Out in Anti-U.S. Tirade Full of Insane Arrogance

Some Russians like to get wasted on vodka, others prefer oil revenues and nationalism. Russia is back on the Cold War path which destroyed the USSR, and Russia is no USSR. It just doesn’t get it. No wonder Putin is tightening up military conscription — he’ll sure never get Russians to fight for this kind of insane, self-destructive Neo-Soviet dogma voluntarily, that’s for sure. La Russophobe can’t help noticing how breathtaking it is that the Kremlin can still be so out of touch with reality; it now looks just like Don Quixote tilting and windmills, genuinely doesn’t seem to realize the vast difference in size and power betwen itself the the U.S., seems to genuinely belive the world is on its since when in fact it stands utterly without allies (save Iran, Hamas and Venezuala of course) and sure is in for a rude awakening. As that great Russia scholar Mr. T used to say: “Pity the fool.”

The Associated Press reports:

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Thursday of throwing its weight around and defended the growing clout of an Asian security group dominated by Russia and China.

Putin, speaking after a summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization denied the organization is a military-political bloc aimed at countering U.S. interests.

But in a nearly two-hour meeting in his Shanghai hotel suite, he reeled off a list of complaints about what he described as overbearing behaviour by the United States.

Washington, Putin said, had brought upon itself the eviction of a U.S. military base in Uzbekistan by acting “like a bull in a china shop” and seeking to impose its standards on a volatile region plagued by Islamic radicalism.

The United States fell out with Uzbek President Islam Karimov after criticizing the violent suppression of a revolt in May 2005.

Uzbekistan is one of the members of the SCO, which groups China, Russia and four Central Asian countries and counts Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia as observers.

Putin suggested Washington is displeased at the emergence of a newly influential organization such as the SCO.

“They don’t like the fact that countries like China and Russia have joined efforts in solving common problems, that India and Pakistan are taking part and that it has attracted Iran,” he said. “Their worry is that they can’t influence it.”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who took part in the summit, urged China, Russia and other Asian countries Thursday to combine their economic and diplomatic clout to bolster the region’s resistance to the United States.

Putin also criticized U.S. demands in negotiations of Russia’s bid to join the World Trade Organization, including its insistence on compliance with U.S. legislation in certain sectors such as agriculture. The United States is the last country with which Russia needs to strike a bilateral accord to join the global trade body.

“We’re not joining the United States, we’re joining the WTO,” Putin remarked acidly.

He added, however, the WTO accession deal with the United States still could be finalized before the Group of Eight leading industrialized countries meet in St. Petersburg, Russia, in mid-July.

The Russian leader also spoke out strongly against U.S. efforts to mount a financial blockade of the Hamas-led government in the Palestinian territories.

The radical group has refused to renounce the use of violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist and the United States and the European Union cut off hundreds of millions of dollars worth of aid.

“This only exacerbates the situation,” Putin said of the financial crunch, which has caused growing unrest with Palestinian civil servants going unpaid for weeks.

Putin also laid the blame for the current political crisis in Ukraine – where coalition talks on forming a new cabinet have remained stalled since March’s parliamentary elections – on western countries that supported Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution protests against election fraud that helped pro-western Viktor Yushchenko win Ukraine’s presidency.

The Russian president said he had warned the United States and European states of the likely consequences of the Orange Revolution, which he said had split Ukraine between the largely Russian-speaking east and Ukrainian-speaking west.

“They pushed these people into mass disturbances, it’s very dangerous. They pushed Ukraine into a confrontation between different regions, between east and west,” he said.

Speaking on other subjects, Putin reaffirmed he wouldn’t seek a third term in 2008 – which would require overturning the constitutional bar on a third consecutive term – saying he wouldn’t have the moral right to govern if he does.

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Kudrin: Economic Innovation Doomed in Russia

RosBusinessConsulting reports:

Establishing the innovation economy type in Russia is possible only if the annual inflation rate is kept under 3 percent and loan rates are lower than 5 percent, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told a government meeting today. He added that the Finance Ministry was ready to discuss and help to develop measures to provide state support to the innovation business. Kudrin also said that the finance Ministry was working on a draft law for the improvement of Russia’s tax system for innovation activities. The Russian Finance Minister criticized the suggestion of Russia’s Education Ministry for solving the problems of the country’s technological development. He said that his ministry would support many approaches suggested today by Russian Education Minister Dmitry Livanov, but noted that more detailed mechanisms for the innovation breakthrough had to be developed. Also, Kudrin supported the idea of establishing a government committee for carrying out science and technology policy. In that way the government will show its interest in Russia’s innovation development, he concluded.

So, since Russia’s current inflation rate is 9-10%, that means economic innovation will not be occurring in Russia any time soon.

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Russian Cell Phone Industry Crashes, Exposing Russia’s 80% poverty

RIA Novosti reports:

MOSCOW, June 15 (RIA Novosti) – MTS [RTS: MTSS], Russia’s largest mobile phone operator, said Thursday its net profit for January-March 2006 had declined 20.7% year on year, to $184.4 million. Revenue during the first quarter totaled $1.289 bln, up 21.9% on the same period of 2005. Operating income slipped 1.3% to $334.2 mln, while EBITDA grew 11.5% to $598.6 mln. The company’s consolidated subscriber base rose by 2.86 million during the first quarter. “MTS has gained a leading position in Russia, with a market share of around 35%,” the company said. MTS said its market share in Ukraine rose to 44% during the period, 57% in Uzbekistan, 75% in Turkmenistan, but edged down in Belarus, from 52% to 51%. MTS posted a U.S. GAAP net profit of $1.13 billion in 2005, a 14% increase on 2004.

It’s tough to maintain growth in a business like cell phones when, by world standards, 80% of your market is living in conditions of poverty.

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CNN Video on Russian Racism

CNN has an online video special available highlighting Russian racism and xenophobia. Click here then find the video link under “News Audio Video” in the sidebar.

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The Continuing Saga of Maria Fraudapova

The WTA website today is touting Maria Sharapova’s 200th career match win. It comes at the lowly Tier III event in Birmingham where Maria can face no player ranked in the world’s top 10. It came in the third round of the tournament where, to enter the quarter-finals, Maria did not even need to face a player ranked in the world’s top 35, nor will she need to do so in her quarter-finals match against the unheard-of Mara Santagelo of Italy. In other words, like so much connected with Russia, it’s devoid of any real substance.

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