Nemsov - One Year After His Brutal Murder: Russia Continues To Suffer

[gl556tr]

One year after his brutal murder, thousands of opposition supporters of Boris Nemsov's cause took to the streets of Moscow. Brave people in country where "awkward" opponents of the Kremlin are summarily despatched.

Russia continues to suffer. I do wonder how this proud nation can ever rid itself of the current political status quo.

[ichkeria]

Two years actually but yes, I agree.
Sadly Russia's history is littered with 'false starts' where hopes of freedom and democracy were scuppered by authoritarianism. One has to say that that is partly due to the country itself. Russians have a curious mix of paranoia and messianism in their mentality. Which means they are easy meat for dictators who tell them the outside world is out to get them and they deserve better.
Ironically in most recent history part of the reason Russia is in the state it is in now politically is because of the drastic efforts of liberals in the 1990s who feared the return of Communism in the face of Yeltsin's drunken incompetence. They bought the media to ensure Yeltsin's survival, setting the tone for the future. Sadly I dare say tho tbings would have probably evolved that way anyway

[Jackdaw33]

It was always so. In the early 19 C intellectual Russia was divided into two camps; Славянофилы (Slavophiles) and Западники (Westernisers). Each had contrary views as to the development of Russia.

[youngmafbog]

//Russia Continues To Suffer//

Well that depends on which side of the fence you fall on. Many in Russia (not just the political classes) are more than happy with Mr Putin.

[ichkeria]

That's because Russians have an entirely different mentality to us: they'll put up with a lot more. And a diet of managed tabloid-style pro government to does no harm either. Ironically it's the better off ones who complain more as a rule.
It turns out a friend of mine was on that demo: I should check she's still answering her messages :-)

[Kromovaracun]

In my experience from living in Russia (and doing research in the archives there), Russian support for Putin tends to be - understandably - based on how unstable people think the country would be without him, and as ich says, this means they are willing to tolerate a lot more than the average person over here would.

Personally, I'm not sure I agree with that sentiment - Putin began his tenure as president as essentially a puppet of interest groups interested in generating a less chaotic environment to enrich themselves than that which prevailed in the '90s (Vladimir Gel'man calls this "the barbecue agreement", struck in summer of 2001). Putin's personal power and image has grown considerably since then, but this bargain is still the core of his presidency.

Consequently, yes, the country is probably a better place to live than it was in the hellish 1990s - but it loses eye-watering sums of money to corruption, political opponents are roughed up at best or murdered at worst (last year alone was one of the worst years since the fall of the USSR for political violence in Russia - all directed at the opposition), and the constitution is all but a dead letter. Furthermore, nobody knows what is going to happen when Putin leaves office - a question which everybody seems to prefer to ignore.

I too would prefer Russia to be governed according to its constitution and by the rule of law rather than by personal networks of corruption. I think that would be much better for Russians, who richly deserve a well-governed country. Maybe someday it will.

[ichkeria]

This has been said before but it is worth repeating:
The key phrase to describe how Russia is now governed is as follows:
"For my friends, everything. For my enemies: the law"