Staunton, September 16 -- The flood of news stories from a country as large,
diverse and strange as the Russian Federation often appears to be is far too
large for anyone to keep up with. But there needs to be a way to mark those
which can’t be discussed in detail but which are too indicative of broader
developments to ignore.
Consequently, Windows on Eurasia presents a selection of 13 of these
other and typically neglected stories at the end of each week. This is the 49th
such compilation. It is only suggestive and far from complete – indeed, once
again, one could have put out such a listing every day -- but perhaps one or
more of these stories will prove of broader interest.
1.
Putin’s Poison
Pill for Russia’s Future. Ever more analysts are pointing to the ways in which
Vladimir Putin has hollowed out the institutions of the Russian state and
society in order to maintain himself in power (carnegie.ru/2016/09/01/all-president-s-little-men/j4wr). But few have pointed out that the Kremlin
leader’s actions represent a poison pill for Russia’s future, something that
will make it far more difficult for Russia to recover after he goes. Meanwhile, a Russian historian discussing the
origins of the state suggests that too much emphasis has been placed on the
role of the Mongol horde. According to his research, Moscow rulers also focused
on the “effective management” styles of Vlad the Impaler (more commonly known
as Dracula) and the Ottoman Porte (ttolk.ru/2016/09/14/московия-переняла-систему-управлени/).
2.
Medvedev Keeps
Getting in Trouble.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, around whom a new scandal about a dacha
he is building is now swirling (polit.ru/news/2016/09/15/cottage/), continues
to get in trouble for his remarks. He tweeted that the Kerch bridge would
finally mean that Crimea would be part of Russia, a position that contradicts
Moscow’s insistence that it already is. Within a few hours, the premier’s tweet
was removed from Twitter (graniru.org/Politics/Russia/Cabinet/m.254589.html). Earlier in the week, Medvedev sparked bitter
laughter by his insistence that all Russians now have cars. Among the nastiest
remarks were that his words recalled the Soviet joke about ownership of planes.
That anecdote held that in the future, all Russians would have planes, thus
allowing them to fly to wherever deficit goods were being sold (aboutru.com/2016/09/32605/). Meanwhile, an official in the Transbaikal won
plaudits at least in the local media for openly criticizing what he said was
Medvedev’s meaningless and even offensive visit to that hard-pressed region (zabmedia.ru/news/89015/glava_mogochinskogo_rajona_raskritikoval_vizit_medvedeva_v_chitu).
3.
Moscow Spending 25
Percent of Budget on Arms, Highest Since Andropov’s Time. Several analysts have concluded that Moscow
is now spending 25 percent of the federal budget on the military, an amount
that constitutes five percent of the country’s GDP and one that is the highest
since the time of Soviet leader Yury Andropov (newsland.com/community/88/content/25-rossiiskogo-biudzheta-raskhody-na-voinu/5438389 and rosbalt.ru/blogs/2016/09/14/1549827.html). The finance ministry has called for cutting
back on at least the public amount the Kremlin is spending, but Moscow
commentators suggest that is likely more for show than reality given that Putin
can and does hide defense spending in many ways (vedomosti.ru/economics/articles/2016/09/09/656321-minfin-voennie-rashodi
and svpressa.ru/economy/article/156209/). And many
say that spending may go up with the regime extracting even more from the
population (znak.com/2016-09-13/ekspert_chtoby_vyzhit_sistema_budet_grabit_rossiyan)
amid reports that a significant portion of Russia’s nuclear triade isn’t in
working order (obozrevatel.com/crime/58342-gorditsya-nechem-ekspert-rasskazal-o-sostoyanii-rossijskogo-yadernogo-oruzhiya.htm).
4.
The Russian
Economy Only Gets Still Worse for Most. Each day brings fresh evidence that the
Russian economy is in ever deeper recession. Among the stories this week: 7500
tons of counter-sanctioned products have now been destroyed (pravda.ru/news/districts/08-08-2016/1309240-sanctions-0/),
there isn’t enough milk in many parts of the country (ng.ru/economics/2016-09-14/4_cows.html),
capital flight has slowed but only because there is less of it around (ng.ru/news/555000.html), those
Russians who are lucky enough to have jobs are working longer hours and getting
sick more often (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=57D83118731B1),
bankruptcies and failures to pay salaries
are increasing (ng.ru/economics/2016-09-12/1_bankrotstvo.html),
Russian incomes have now fallen to where they were when Putin began his
rule and more are protesting that (ng.ru/economics/2016-09-13/1_income.html
incomes now back to early 2000s http://ttolk.ru/2016/09/15/чего-хотят-российские-рабочие-еды-и-жи/),
and scholars are protesting government cutbacks in support for education and
science (profile.ru/obsch/item/110406-uchenye-vyzyvayut-vlast-na-razgovor). But the children of the top elite are doing
very well, thank you. They live abroad. For a list, see imperialcommiss.livejournal.com/1449045.html).
5.
Putin ‘Solves’
Russia’s Economic Mess with Lies, False Statistics, and Ban on Bankers Going Abroad. Given Russia’s
economic problems, Vladimir Putin has adopted a three-pronged strategy to “solve”
them, including the issuance of false statistics (ng.ru/economics/2016-09-12/1_dolg.html),
lies about the situation combined with expressions of concern (regnum.ru/news/economy/2177330.html),
and calls to prevent bankers from leaving the country (rufabula.com/news/2016/09/13/bankers).
And his aides have been forced to concede that one bright spot no longer is
quite so bright: Russia may not be able to earn as much from the sales of grain
abroad because of falling prices and problems with the quality of Russian
grains (vedomosti.ru/business/articles/2016/09/12/656520-chast-urozhaya-propast).
6.
Moscow Destroying
the Environment but Working to Ensure No One will Know. Global warming is hitting Russia hard (thebarentsobserver.com/ecology-industry-and-energy/2016/09/climate-change-could-jeopardize-yamal-gas-development-government),
but the Russian government by its support for untrammeled actions by Russian
companies is doing even more at least in the short term (mk.ru/social/2016/09/14/baykal-kak-zerkalo-nashikh-bed.html). But the Kremlin is hoping no one will find
out or place the blame. Pro-regime commentators say the liberals are to blame
for the destruction of the environment (regnum.ru/news/polit/2179821.html)
and Russian officials are declaring environmental groups foreign agents and
even on occasion sending their allies to beat them up (vedomosti.ru/opinion/articles/2016/09/13/656823-ekolog-stanovitsya-vragom and vedomosti.ru/opinion/articles/2016/09/13/656823-ekolog-stanovitsya-vragom). The regime is also attacking groups like IRI
for their support of regional media outlets, many of which are the most
important monitors of what companies and the Russian state are doing in this
area (politikus.ru/v-rossii/print:page,1,84024-ssha-verbovali-rossiyskie-smi-v-regionah.html).
7.
Russians and
Probably the Kremlin Too Welcome End of Duma Election Campaign. Many Russians
are appalled at the way the election has been conducted, the obvious misuse of
power to determine its outcome, open bribery of voters, and obnoxious and
sometimes double entendre signs for various candidates (http://ww). w.novayagazeta.ru/politics/74476.html,
rufabula.com/photo/2014/09/14/vegetables,
facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=669544923192618&set=a.370482313098882.1073741827.100004113496588&type=3&theater, and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=57DA529723534). Many are likely not to vote at all, but that
may in fact please the Kremlin which, observers say, is less interested in high
participation rates than control (vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2016/09/13/656695-yavka-vibori),
especially as there is growing evidence that the regime’s crackdown on the
opposition may have had the unintended consequence of mobilizing more people to
vote for its opponents (club-rf.ru/10/detail/1696).
8.
Russians Assume
Places with Presidents are Countries. One reason Vladimir Putin has sought to
force all non-Russian republics within the Russian Federation to stop referring
to their top official as a president is that a survey has found that many
Russians assume that any place that has a president must be a country (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=57D296651D155). At
present, Tatarstan is fighting to retain that office. Another survey show that Russians express
radically different opinions of their political leaders in public and in
private, just as in Soviet times (ehorussia.com/new/node/12935).
9.
Is Moscow Going to
Launch Its Own Porno Site as Part of ‘Import Substitution’ Program? The decision of the Russian government to
block the Russian-language versions of Internet pornography sites (but not
those in other languages, at least not yet) has sparked widespread discussion
this week, with some complaining that Russia is ever more puritanical (meduza.io/feature/2016/09/14/pornhub-zablokirovali-v-rossii-chem-on-otlichaetsya-ot-drugih-pornosaytov),
and others suggesting that the powers that be may be ready to launch their own
pornography site, especially since they turned down an offer from Pornhub to
drop the ban in exchange for premium membership status (echo.msk.ru/blog/varfolomeev/1835956-echo/ and nr2.lt/News/Society/Socseti-aktivno-obsuzhdayut-blokirovku-pornosaytov-v-RF-123651.html). Whatever
the outcome, Moscow is profiting from the pornography industry: sales of
Russian sex toys are enjoying among the largest year-on-year growth abroad of
any Russian industry (secretmag.ru/longread/2016/09/09/russian-sex-toys/).
10.
Russia Threatened
by Epidemics as Result of Global Warming and Moscow’s Policies. Russia faces the
threat of dangerous epidemics in the north and in the North Caucasus because of
global warming. But these are intensified by cutbacks in medical care,
opposition by federal officials to vaccination programs, and by Russian plans
to slaughter some 250,000 reindeer unlikely to be disposed of properly (http://russian7.ru/post/kak-opoznat-korennogo-moskvicha/,
lezgi-yar.ru/news/sensacionnoe_intervju_maksima_shevchenko_v_dagestane_tuberkulez_xolera_video/2016-09-09-4746 and thebarentsobserver.com/arctic-ecology/2016/09/number-reindeer-must-down-250000).
11.
What is It about
Tuva? Now Bill Gates Wants to Go There Too. At the end of the Soviet period,
American physicist Richard Feynman attracted attention to Tuva when he said he
wanted to go there because he had long been fascinated by that republic’s
unusual stamps. Now, Microsoft’s Bill Gates has expressed the same desire. Feynman, whose interest was described in
Ralph Leyton’s “Tuva or Bust,” never made it, but Gates is likely to (tuvapravda.ru/?qn=content/fenomen-ne-razgadannyy-feynmanom).
If he goes, he will find a republic whose people are still fascinated by the
stamps Tuva issued while independent (tuva.asia/news/tuva/8776-filateliya.html)
but also one where many Tuvan national traditions are under pressure from
Russia and Russians (asiarussia.ru/news/7905/).
12.
Muscovites Watch ‘Stalinist
Arrests’ as Statues to Dictator Go Up Elsewhere. As part of the
celebration of the city’s day, Moscow organized a sketch showing actors dressed
as Stalin-era NKVD officers arresting people as they did massively in the 1930s
and 1940s (ixtc.org/2016/09/srochno-v-moskve-na-prazdnike-dnya-goroda-instsenirovali-stalinskie-aresty/). Meanwhile, Stalin is making a comeback in
Russia in other ways. Some parents have named their child “Stalin” (themoscowtimes.com/news/baby-named-stalin-boy-named-putin-55270),
and Stalin statues and squares are reappearing in many Russian cities. In one
case, the new statue to Stalin will be put in the place where there had been a
monument to his victims (http://ehorussia.com/new/node/12941,
club-rf.ru/86/news/43289 and http://www.svoboda.org/a/27990295.html).
13.
The Road to Hell
in Russia is ‘Being Paved with Good Intentions.’ A sign that says
more than its authors probably intended has gone up in a Russian city: It
declares that “this road is being paved” by a company known as and
presumablybfor its “good intentions” (facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10210278609023881&set=a.10200103606895187.198661.1300611702&type=3&theater).
And six more from countries near Russia:
14.
Kazakhstan’s Army
Trains to Fight in Cities. Astana has announced that the Kazakhstan army is
training to fight in cities, an indication that the top elite is worried either
about revolts in some of them or a possible hybrid war against that country (islamsng.com/kaz/news/11291).
15.
Kazakhstan Creates
Ministry for Religion and Civil Society. Astana has elevated from state committee
to ministerial status the officials responsible for overseeing relations with
religious groups and promoting civil society (islamsng.com/kaz/news/11273).
16. Russian Occupiers have Made Crimea ‘a Concentration
Camp,’ Poroshenko Says. The Ukrainian president says that the Russian
occupiers of Crimea have transformed what had been a vibrant civil society
there into “a concentration camp” in which the authorities trample on the
rights of its residents (qha.com.ua/ru/politika/poroshenko-rossiya-prevraschaet-krim-v-kontslager/165611/).
The occupiers are setting up special forces to fight what they say are Ukrainian
“diversionists” (lenta.ru/news/2016/09/15/divizia_krym_protyv_divers/) and have
called on residents to have more children to support the state (forum-msk.org/material/news/12241575.html). More significant as an indication of Moscow’s
intentions about Crimea is that the Russian government has declared that the
Black Sea aquifer around Crimea does not belong to Ukraine (qha.com.ua/ru/politika/rossiya-zayavlyaet-chto-akvatoriya-krima-ukraine-ne-prinadlejit/165574/).
17.
Despite De-Communization Effort, Ukraine Will
Allow Brezhnev Statue to Remain. Ukrainian
officials say that they will not require that a statue of Soviet leader Leonid
Brezhnev in the Ukrainian city where he was born be torn down (rosbalt.ru/world/2016/09/14/1550124.html).
18.
Transdniestr Vote
Intended to Ape Donbass and Pressure Kyiv. A referendum leaders of the breakaway
Transdniestria republic in Moldova have planned is all about copying what has
been taking place in Ukraine’s Donbass and putting new pressure on Kyiv from
another direction, observers say (lenta.ru/news/2016/09/09/tiraspol/,
charter97.org/ru/news/2016/9/9/221613/,
and inforesist.org/pridnestrove-hochet-prisoedinitsya-k-rossii/).
19.
Tashkent
Police Seeking Those Who Disputed Official Date of Karimov’s Death. Even after
his passing, Islam Karimov is a political issue in Uzbekistan, where the police
have announced that they are seeking to track down those who have suggested that
the Uzbek president did not die on the day that officials have suggested (fergananews.com/news/25310).
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