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New Europe Review
www.NewEuropeReview.com
A Monthly Publication of the United States Broadcasting Board of Governors and the Voice of America
Generations of Hope
Interview with James H. Billington

In many areas Ukraine was behind Russia, yet it is quickly moving forward, says the Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. It proves Russia can make a similar leap.

James H. Billington is the Librarian of Congress and a prominent expert on Russian history, culture and politics. The following remarks are excerpts from an interview conducted by Setareh Sieg from the Voice of America's Persian Service.

SETAREH SIEG: What is your assessment of the process of democratization in Russia?

JAMES H. BILLINGTON: I think the process of democratization has been suffering for over a year now in Russia. I believe the leadership there still has a basic image of continuing the democratization process. But they are using so many authoritarian means that there is a great risk the means will become the ends. I think this would be a disaster. It would be disastrous even for President Putin because there is a danger that he could become to the democratization experiment what Gorbachev was to Communism: unintended purveyor of the destruction of the very system he is trying to save. Gorbachev did not want to get rid of communism, but he introduced so many democratic and open methods that it became almost inevitable that the system would change fundamentally. That is the danger. I do not think President Putin intends this, but by restricting the press, by intervening in the Ukrainian elections, by the way the whole Yukos affair has been handled there is a risk not so much that he will become a dictator but that he may give way to the people that he has empowered with these authoritarian means to introduce a fundamental change. I do not think it has happened yet and I think there is great cause for hope in Russia because of the new generation there.

We have had a program at the Library of Congress called Open World. We have had 8,000 emerging young Russian political leaders coming here. I see great signs of hope. Not one of them has stayed in America. They believe in the future of their own country. More than 40% of them are women ­ that’s something totally new. I believe that the young generation in Russia is very pragmatic, very realistic. They, too, are both recovering their own lost heritage that was suppressed under communism by their own regime and at the same time discovering what has been going on in the post-WWII democratic advanced world. I think they see themselves as part of European culture.

I think the world has a tremendous stake in the success and the recovery of the democratic momentum in Russia because as a student of their culture, I think there is a great cultural flowering there and there is great hope for this younger generation. I am still hopeful but it is a dangerous time and there is a definite need to reestablish and revalidate the rule of law and not have governors appointed by the central president, because elections at the local level have been involving more and more people in the process. It is very important for world peace because accountable, participatory governments do not fight each other. And it’s very important since Russia still has vast weapons and a vast potential for trouble in all kinds of ways in Eurasia. It is also bordering on radical Islamic states, bordering on China, and there are all kinds of possible threats. So a stable democratic Russia could be a powerful force.

I think it is touch-and-go right now. On balance, I am optimistic but the rest of the world has got to be more interested and more supportive of Russia’s momentum towards openness and democracy so these authoritarian steps do not become the last word in their development.

SETAREH SIEG: What do you think of Ukraine? Will the developments there have any influence on Russian politics?

JAMES H. BILLINGTON: I think what is happening in Ukraine has been an enormous validation of the proposition that countries that do not have that much experience even as a country, let alone as a democracy, can be very fast learners and can develop a force is that not only pushes towards real democracy but is also non-violent, disciplined. It is really one of the most exciting developments of recent times. There is a slight danger that people will see this and draw a line between the democratic European world and the authoritarian Eurasian world. That would be tragic, because I think successful democracy in Russia is just as important as in Ukraine. It is likely there will be even more authoritarian pressure in Russia because some people there feel embarrassed, humiliated and annoyed that their own leader did not go in with troops or stir something up or do something. There could even be provocations ­ not so much by President Putin himself but by these siloviki or power people, military people.

It is a very dangerous situation. We have to reassure the Russians. I think there is a tendency in the West to think the Russians are authoritarian anyhow. I do not think that is the case. I think that it is important that we see what is happening in Ukraine as something positive and not threatening to Russia. I think there is going to be a tendency to draw a line between East and West, between the border between Ukraine and Russia. I don’t think it should be that way. I think those are open borders and we should continue to be concerned about and supportive of the fundamental thrust of change being applicable to Russia as well as Ukraine. We should not say: "Ukraine is part of Europe. We have finally detached them from Russia." They have been detached anyhow. They just want to have their own independent development.

Russia also needs an independent development. But for their own sake they also need the openness and democracy. Ukraine was actually behind Russia under the corrupt regime that they had and now they are moving forward and we have to hope that Russia moves forward in a similar way. We have to do everything we can to encourage it and welcome them as part of what they themselves call the normal world, the civilized world. They are a part of it, they have a great culture, and we have got to help them and be sympathetic with their own efforts to sustain a civil society and a democratic experiment that is worthy of their culture and that is really part of the growing world community of democracy.