Paul Goble
Staunton, October 2 -- The flood of news
stories from a country as large, diverse and often 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 will present a selection of 13 of these other
and typically neglected stories at the end of each week. This is the fourth
such weekly compilation. It is only suggestive and far from complete, but
perhaps one or more of these stories will prove of broader interest.
1. NASA Planned Announcement about Water on Mars to
Upstage Putin, Duma Deputy Says. A Putin loyalist in the Russian
parliament said that the US space program decided to announce that it had found
evidence of water on mars on the same day that Putin was giving his address at the
UN in order to distract attention from the Russian leader (rferl.org/content/russia-nasa-mars-announcement-upstaged-putin--un/27275898.html).
2.
Will Putin Really Stay
Away from the US Forever? After Vladimir Putin’s meeting with President Barack
Obama and speech to the UN General Assembly, some in his entourage indicated
that the Kremlin leader never wants to come back to the United States (rusjev.net/2015/09/29/putin-posle-vstrechi-s-obamoy-pokinul-ssha-navsegda/).
3.
Putin is Changing
Russian the Way Hitler Changed German. A Russian linguist says that Vladimir Putin
is changing the definitions of key words in much the same way as Hitler did,
draining familiar ones of meaning and giving new definitions to others (dp.ru/a/2015/09/24/Prostranstvo_suzilos_a/).
4.
Moscow TV Obscures
Photos of Putin and Medvedev in Story about Corruption. Photographs of leaders are something found on
the walls of officials in almost all countries, Russia in particular. But when
state-controlled Russian television featured a story about the arrest of a
corrupt official, it felt the need to obscure pictures of Putin and Medvedev
lest Russians draw all too obvious connections (vestnikcivitas.ru/pbls/3873).
5.
Russian Incomes
Can Rise Only if Oil is Above 65 US Dollars a Barrel. A Moscow
economist says that Russian incomes can go up only if oil rises above 65 US
dollars a barrel. It is now at 40, suggesting why Putin may be intervening in
Syria and also why Russians can expect more hardship ahead (ng.ru/economics/2015-09-29/1_poor.html).
6.
Pawn Shops
Becoming Life Savers for Hard-Pressed Russians. Ever more
Russians faced with falling incomes and rising prices are pawning their
valuables in order to raise money to prevent their standards of living from
falling any further (ng.ru/economics/2015-10-01/4_lombardy.html).
7.
80 Percent of
Cheese in Russian Stores Adulterated.
One of the consequences of
Western sanctions and Moscow’s counter-sanctions and destruction of
foods the center has prohibited the importation of is that the shelves of many
stores in Russia are increasingly bare and what is there is of low quality or
even adulterated as is the case with most cheese at present (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=560D411C0E69B).
8.
Russians Who Can
Afford It Increasingly Seek Medical Treatment Abroad. Faced with Putin’s “optimization” of the
health care system, a euphemism for serious cutbacks, those Russians who can
afford it are engaging in what Russian outlets call “medical tourism” and going
abroad for treatment. The overwhelming majority who can’t afford to do so are
increasingly doing without (newizv.ru/society/2015-09-29/228035-bol-bez-granic.html).
9.
Replacement of
Komi Head Shows This Case Wasn’t about Corruption. Vladimir Putin has named the former head of
construction projects for the Sochi Olympiad to replace the ousted leader of
the Komi Republic who is accused of leading a criminal group. Given the new man’s
history in Sochi, one of the most corrupt enterprises in Russian history, the
Komi case clearly was not about fighting corruption, however much the Kremlin
has tried to suggest otherwise (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=560CEB2A9357F).
10.
Russia Passing
More Laws and Arresting More People But Crime Continues to Rise. Over the past several years, the Duma has
passed ever more laws (mk.ru/politics/2015/09/28/beshenstvo-printera-gosduma-stala-prinimat-v-tri-raza-bolshe-zakonov.html)
and prosecutors have demanded that ever more of those charged with crime be
arrested, but this has not slowed the growth of crime in Russia (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=560E21EAD18FF).
11. Crimean Occupation Official Goes to Warsaw as ‘NGO’
Leader. Last year, Russians demonstrated that they
have problems with geography as Russian soldiers supposedly wandered into
Ukraine because they did not know where the border is. Now, a senior official
in the Crimean occupation has demonstrated he doesn’t know what an NGO is,
having portrayed himself as the leader of one in order to attend a Warsaw
conference (salzburg24.at/krim-vizeregierungschef-als-ngo-vertreter-bei-konferenz/apa-s24_1425805788).
12.
Russian
Courts Extend Extremism Charges to Gay Rights and Ecological Activism. Russian courts are now accusing an LGBT
activist in Khabarovsk and an ecological one in the North Caucasus of “extremism,”
another example of the elasticity of Russian legislation (zona.media/news/khabarovsk-lgbt/
and kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/269846/).
Meanwhile, Yevgeny Vitishko, another ecological activist, continues to languish
in prison after another Russian court rejected his most recent appeal (yugopolis.ru/news/politics/2015/09/29/86452/grajdanskoe-obshestvo-akologiya-evgenii-vitishko
and ewnc.org/node/19609).
13.
Russian Court Says
No One Can Make Fun of Nazi Symbols. Meanwhile, however, a Krasnodar court
has fined a man who caricatured the swastika saying that such actions are impermissible,
an indication that no one should ever assume that Russian jurisprudence doesn’t
have room to become ever more perverse and absurd (oleg-leusenko.livejournal.com/3129606.html).
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