January 18, 2012 byNils van der Vegte

Putin is not the problem

We have a government that can’t explain why its is needed by the country. We have an oppposition that doesn’t understand what to do with power. Question: Does society need such a government and opposition?

Do we for example need a “national leader”, who is not able to answer questions of the people spontaneously and thus panics and refuses when called to participate in TV debates? Imagine that he would have to answer a question like ‘who are you’? The horror. Who needs a national leader, who in one newspaper article extensively discusses the terrorist Khattab, the economic performance in 1989 (good thing he did not discuss 1913), writes about ‘traditional religions’ and ‘upward social mobility’ as well as about the educational aspirations of the young and the bright prospects of the middle class. In other words – about almost everything, except the real political challenges faced by the Russian government since the results of the parliamentary elections (held on the 4th of December).

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December 28, 2011 byJoera Mulders

The protest movement and its political future

The placard reads ‘Don’t like this condom? Take another. You have a choice!” After the link: my thoughts on evolving protests and political developments. What constitutes real change? And what are the chances to make real change?

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December 11, 2011 byNils van der Vegte

Meanwhile, in South Ossetia…

The demonstrations as result of the recent Duma elections in Russia receive a lot of attention. This is, of course, a logical thing because we may see some interesting changes in Russia. However, just a few days before the Russian Duma elections, there were also presidential elections in the republic of South Ossetia.

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December 10, 2011 byadmin

People a column about the meeting at Bolotnaya

This column was written by Leonid Radzikhovsky for Ekho Moskvy, just hours after December 10th’s meeting on Bolotnaya square had ended. This column captures the spirit of the day very well. It is also very positive. A position I’d like to ascribe too. I normally translate the Russian word ‘vlasti’ in ‘the authorities’,  rather than ‘power’ or ‘the powers that be’, because I like to be pragmatic. This time however it seemed more appropriate to use the more abstract ‘power’, as today wasn’t only about protesting against the authorities, but also about overcoming fear in society and in people themselves.

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December 7, 2011 byJoera Mulders

Elections a shared experience of discontent

Let me try to write up some thoughts about the recent parliamentary elections. I am sitting in the restaurant of a hotel in Esto-Sadok, the village most close to the ski resorts that will host part of the competitions in the 2014 winter Olympics.  The protests in Moscow are far away. I can follow the events on twitter, but I have my sincere doubts the protests will lead to much. A few thousand is nothing. Arrests are usual business. Having spend some time in Russia over the past 9 days, I can say that there will be no revolution. Evolution on the other hand is clearly visible.

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November 4, 2011 byJoera Mulders

5 reasons to be [a] Russian [nationalist]

In a country that twice disintegrated along ethnic borders, the National Question, is like the rope, about which one does not speak in the house of the hanged man. We however do have to talk about it. If not in election time, than perhaps at high brow conferences, one of such which took place in Yaroslav last week.

At these conferences however we really hear but just one idea: the cultivation of an All-Russian civic nation as a counterbalance to ethnic radicalism. According to this idea ‘our task is to build an all inclusive Rossian nation, while preserving the identity of all peoples living in our country’. The president spoke these words at a meeting of the State Council in Ufa, thereby echoing the Soviet idea of ‘a new historical community’. ‘If we fail’ – I quote the president at a different meeting – ‘our nation awaits a sad fate’.

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