themodernhistory:

Stop the pointless demonization of Putin | The Great Debate

by Stephen F. Cohen 

Stephen F. Cohen is Professor Emeritus of Politics and Russian Studies at Princeton University and New York University. His book “Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War” has recently been published in an expanded paperback edition.

American media coverage of Vladimir Putin, who today began his third term as Russia’s president and 13th year as its leader, has so demonized him that the result may be to endanger U.S. national security.

For nearly 10 years, mainstream press reporting, editorials and op-ed articles have increasingly portrayed Putin as a czar-like “autocrat,” or alternatively a “KGB thug,” who imposed a “rollback of democratic reforms” under way in Russia when he succeeded Boris Yeltsin as president in 2000. He installed instead a “venal regime” that has permitted “corruptionism,” encouraged the assassination of a “growing number” of journalists and carried out the “killing of political opponents.” Not infrequently, Putin is compared to Saddam Hussein and even Stalin.

Well-informed opinions, in the West and in Russia, differ considerably as to the pluses and minuses of Putin’s leadership over the years – my own evaluation is somewhere in the middle – but there is no evidence that any of these allegations against him are true, or at least entirely true. Most seem to have originated with Putin’s personal enemies, particularly Yeltsin-era oligarchs who found themselves in foreign exile as a result of his policies – or, in the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in prison. Nonetheless, U.S. media, with little investigation of their own, have woven the allegations into a near-consensus narrative of “Putin’s Russia.”

Cohen is a thoughtful analyst. Once, back in the early 90’s on a McNeil/Lehrer News Hour, he eviscerated Jeffery Sachs’ notions about post-USSR Russia with such brute elan that one wishes it were on Youtube, if only because it turned out to be so prescient ;/

Vote on Sunday…  Russians Fed Up With Putin’s Manipulations

…Putin’s campaign staff is vilifying the opposition. Although its leaders are invited to meet with the president, blogger Navalny, for example, the most popular resistance figure among young Russians, was depicted in a photo montage looking chummy with Boris Berezovsky, the Jewish oligarch who has fled to London. The intended message is that sinister characters control the opposition… >continue<

see also: Protest Archipelago

Russia’s It Girl becomes high-profile campaigner against Vladimir Putin
Guardian »

She is an unlikely figurehead for the political protests that have rocked Russia over the last few months. Ksenia Sobchak, 30, is a family friend of Vladimir Putin and the host of a reality TV programme known for its scandalous scenes. But it is her new political talkshow that has caused a real stir – and that has just been ordered off Russian television.

Sobchak was once dubbed the Paris Hilton of Russia because of her similarity to the American hotel heiress. She used to be just a rich society girl: thin, blonde, with a sharp tongue and a reputation for being spoilt.

She has written books on how to be a success and hosts Dom-2, the longest-running reality show in the world, which has been memorably described as the worst thing to hit Russian culture since the Mongols.

… “It has been interesting to watch her change. When she came to the first meeting, she said we need to talk [with the government]. Now she is radicalising in front of our eyes.”  >continue<

thepoliticalnotebook:

The Problem of the Russia-Syria Relationship. Russia’s been rightly getting a lot of international fingers pointed at it for its ongoing, supportive relationship with Syria, which is an obstacle to international action to stop the Assad’s regime’s crackdown on opposition. Currently Russia and China are positioning themselves to block UN action on Syria in the Security Council and face heavy international pressures over their commitment to this position. So why are they working against international action? Here’s a little bit of unpacking of Russia’s connections with, and their particular interest in, Syria.

Of course, look first to the money. Particularly the money that’s connected to arms deals. Russia is a major trading partner (#3 after the US and China) and the majority of Syria’s imported arms come from Russia (largely in the area of air defense), a relationship first established during the USSR days. (The two just signed a $550m deal for Russia to transfer 36 Yak-130 combat jets to Syria.) After the Cold War, Russia forgave 73% of Syrian debt to the former Soviet Union (much of that debt was accrued as a result of arms deals) and upped cooperation on energy-related and industrial projects. 

However, Russia’s regional influence and its worries about maintaining Mediterranean power are significant factors in this situation. As Lebanon’s Daily Star puts it: the last decade has been hard on Russia’s power in the Middle East. With the loss of the Hussein regime in Iraq and 2011’s toppling of Gaddhafi, Syria is now Russia’s “last real bastion of influence in the Arab World.”  At major play here is the Syrian port city of Tartous (and also, although less frequently mentioned, the port city of Latakia), where for the past couple of years Russia has been modernizing the Soviet-era naval base for renewed use, and strategically positioning itself on the Mediterranean and in the Arab world. The NYT writes:

Moscow finds itself on the defensive in a frequently disorderly new world order in which Washington appears to call the shots.

The Russian relationship with Bashar al-Assad, and the Russian-Syrian security-based/arms deal relationship, have kept Russia’s hopes for some power plays alive. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov may have recently asserted that “We are not a friend, we are not an ally of President Assad,” but that sounds pretty hollow in the face of their obstructions.

For some fuller reading on Russian strategic interests in the Middle East, check out this book. And this informative recent blog post on the NYT. And for all Syria-related blogging, check out That Sassy Arab on Tumblr. She’s definitely worth a follow.

Photo: Dmitry Medvedev and Bashar al-Assad in Damascus in May of 2010, meeting to discuss energy cooperation. Sasha Mordovets/Getty.

Protest Archipelago ~ Russian Election Protests Escalate

‘No Single Programme’  |  The Navalny Factor

‘Violations must be documented’  |  Protest Fever Hits Russia

photo: Ридус & AP interpolated

__________________

update: 21st Century Samizdat  |  New Year’s Arrests  | Could Elite Turn?

Navalny Smear Backfires  |  Russia’s “Paris Hilton” joins