#7
Vremya MN
December 28, 2001
THANKS, EVERYONE
Results of 2001: a brief review
Author: Dmitry Shusharin
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
EVERYONE IS SATISFIED WITH RESULTS FOR 2001. BUT EVERYTHING PEOPLE EXPECTED A YEAR OR TWO YEARS AGO IS SAFELY FORGOTTEN. VARIOUS REFORMS, ONCE DISCUSSED AND THEN FORGOTTEN, ARE RECALLED EVERY NOW AND THEN - DISCUSSED AGAIN, AND POSTPONED AGAIN.
EVERYONE IS SATISFIED WITH RESULTS FOR 2001. THE UNION OF RIGHT FORCES HONESTLY BELIEVES THAT THE PRESIDENT IS IMPLEMENTING THEIR PROGRAM. THE LEFTISTS ARE HAPPY WITH SOCIAL PROMISES. THE SECRET SERVICES LIKE THE OUTCOME OF THE PASKO TRIAL, AND JOURNALISTS ARE HAPPY THAT THEY ARE STILL PERMITTED TO VOICE THEIR OPINION ABOUT THE TRIAL. THE GENERALS LIKE IT THAT THEY HAVE DEFEATED ADVOCATES OF THE MILITARY REFORMS, AND CONSCRIPTS ARE HAPPY THAT THEY CAN SLIP A BRIBE TO MILITARY COMMISSARS AND DODGE THE DRAFT.
Everything is fine, in other words. This is a situation when the regime can forget about strategies and concepts, and concentrate on internal conflicts. The economy is still better than that of Argentina, and may also be disregarded for the time being. There hasn't actually been much news this year - unless it's something like a change in the third-highest state official. The newly-elected Federation Council speaker immediately made the headlines. Now he is proposing to extend the president's term in office to "100 years" (according to "Zavtra"), or speaking out on the Pasko case.
All the rest, everything people expected a year or two years ago is safely forgotten. Various reforms, once discussed and then forgotten, are recalled every now and then - discussed again, and postponed again. The only exception confirms the rule. Reorganization of the court system ran into the first spirited resistance in post- Soviet history from the institution whose interests are at stake. Dmitry Kozak persisted, and the president signed the new laws. Immediately afterwards, the Pacific Fleet's military court showed the whole world what a "new and independent" Russian court really meant.
After September 11, observers and commentators began comparing President Putin with the last general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Mikhail Gorbachev assumed that in return for the Berlin Wall he would get carte blanche from the West for actions in the domestic arena. That was probably why he sent troops into the Baltic states. He utterly disregarded demonstrations in Moscow, and the West as such did not really care. The situation we have now does resemble the one we had in the early 1990s, but differs from it in some aspects as well. The war in Chechnya, condemned by Western politicians, differs from the frantic attempts to preserve the Soviet Union. This is truly a war on terrorism. Russia's new allies may disregard the redistribution of assets in Russia, probable restrictions on freedom of the press, and court reforms...
There is another difference as well. Gorbachev and all his predecessors were absolutely illegitimate, but Putin's power is of a different nature. Putin's approval rating has been rising, even after unpopular pro-Western political moves. At the same time, observers are left with the impression that the support of the West is of paramount importance for the regime, while the support of Russian citizens is not viewed as a political factor at all. And the legitimate regime doesn't know how to use its popularity.
This is also explicable. The regime has nothing of national and social importance to offer, and doesn't know how to make use of Putin's approval rating in the current political wars.
(Translated by A. Ignatkin)
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