Medvedev Letter in the Washington Post

Yes, there are curious happenings in the world these days (apart from the economic catastrophe). Russian President Dmitrii Medvedev published a letter (Building Russian-US Bonds) on the Washington Post op-ed page, yesterday, 31 March, a day before the G-20 summit was set to open in London. Maybe this (after President Obama's letter earlier this year) could be the start of a process that might see an end to the baiting and bad relations between the US and Russia. There is too much in the world that the two countries could be cooperaating on.

Russia's Economic Crisis

Unfolding in Russia is a similarly damaging economic crisis such as that sweeping through most other countries in the world. It has been especially problematic in Russia because of the economy's reliance on the export of oil to generate rubles. Still, Russia had manged to accumulate a large horde of monetary reserves over the last few years, and that should help. There was an article this week in USA Today that reported on a government program that would aid the many craftsmen who make Matryoshka (nesting) dolls, since no one seems to be buying the crafty little wodden dolls these days. Well, the government will and then stockpile them. The aid program is very similar, in a way, to what the US government is aiming to do with its stimulus package.

Russia v. Ukraine

Playing out the rivalry on the natural gas front, another round in the dispute between Russia and Ukraine has turned particularly nasty this January and ended up affecting millions of people in Europe. In a nutshell, Ukraine owes Russia a lot of money for natural gas; Russia earns a lot of money selling natural gas in Europe; for Russia to make that money the gas that it is selling has to transit Ukraine through the Ukrainian pipeline system. Now there are historical and cultural factors complicating this dispute, and there is no doubt some hardball politics being played by Russian leaders to demonstrate to Ukraine that Ukraine does not belong in a relationship with NATO and Western Europe but that Ukraine rightly belongs in a relationship with Russia (back to the good old Soviet Union days). So, why not split the difference, Ukraine raised its transit fees; Russia lowers prices to Ukraine, and it all balances out

Russia's Economic Crisis

Just a quick note.
Read today in the news about the continuing devaluation of the Russian ruble and had read also recently about how the world economic crisis was going to end up affecting Russia. Since the country depends so much on the export of natural resources (oil and gas) for its foreign exchange balance, and with the collapse of prices for those commodities in the past six months as the world passes into a global recession, Russia is not going to be immune from the troubles, despite its huge cash reserves amassed over the past few years.

Russian Orthodox Chrismas

Now that we are in a new century, the celebration is on January 7th. When I was much younger, and my family celebrated the holiday (My grandparents emigrated from Russia in 1912), it was always January 6th; it simply is a matter of different calendars in use by the orthodox and western churches. Anyway, the rule of thumb was that it always snowed on Russian Christmas, but the last few years that has not been the case--it's been more like a tropical day in the Eastern US.

Pet Shop Boys and Live 8

Just happened to recently see the clip of the Pet Shop Boys singing Go West as part of the Live 8 concerts (July 2005) on a stage set up right on Red Square in Moscow, with St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin Wall in the backdrop. It was truly an amazing sight! What immeidately came to mind was the deteriorating state of relations between Russia and western countries such as the United States and Great Britain, culminating in the current stalemate over the Russian occupation in Georgia. I don't think that another concert could be staged in Moscow such as was done just three years ago. Seems kind of weird how quickly things can change on the international playing field.

Conflict in the Caucasus

In the news this week, during the so-called Olympic truce," fighting has broken out in the Caucasus between Russia and Georgia over control of South Ossetia, a region whose control has been in dispute for some time now.

Back to Putin Again

Just finished reading a column by Roy Medvedev entitled "The New Czar." In the short piece, Medvedev, Russian historian and noted author of Let History Judge, reviews approvingly the accomplishments of Putin's eight years as prime minster and terms him the "one Czar in Russia today," and someone who "looks at Peter [the Great] as a role model. The czar analogy must be in vogue in the US and West European press these days, as when I googled the phrase "the new czar," quite a few references to Putin returned. While he may be powerful, and while he may have some authoritarian (although that is not quite the adjective that I was looking for), Putin still operates within the framework of a political democracy (although the exact nature of that democracy may be debated) and of a capitalist economy, unlike any past "czar." Indeed, since most do not even use the "czar" spelling, which has long been considered antiquated, anymore, one wonders about the message being sent by commentators who persist in applying it to Putin's Russia.

Burnt by the Sun Again

A front page article in the Washington Post yesterday noted that director Nikita Mikhailov, whose 1994 film Burnt by the Sun won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, is working on the film's sequel (a two-part Burnt by the Sun II), which will deal with the Russian experience in World War II, on a scale hither-to-unseen in the Russian cinema. To do that he will bring back characters who supposedly died at the end of the first film. Although I did not particularly enjoy the original movie, most of my friends did. Take a moment and read the article, which also notes the role that Mikhailov's father played in the writing of the Russian national anthem.

Putin as Prime Minister

Vladimir Putin, formerly Russia's president, became Russia's new prime minister on May 8th, just hours after stepping down from his presidential post. He then proceeded to set up his own "presidium" of important government ministers that will directly meet with/report to Putin himself. There will still be a cabinet of ministers that formally are responsible to the president Dmitrii Medvedev. The similarities to the political structure of the Soviet Union in the 1970s are eerie (See, for example, Jerry Hough et al, How the Soviet Union Is Governed).