No Putin No Cry

(article written for school blog 4th March 2012)

It’s 19:50 and outside the Hampshire countryside is quiet, dark skies revealing the twinkle of the odd star. Tomorrow, I will get up and go to lessons - follow the daily routine. Who knows – maybe I’ll rebel against the norm and decide to cross to the ‘cold’ side at lunch, despite the allure of the beef Lasagne… That’ll be the extent of my insurgency. Meanwhile, it’s 23:50 in Moscow. The snow continues to fall mutely on an animated Red Square. The exit-polls of today’s presidential election are currently signalling the lead of Vladimir Putin, who’s gained a majority of 63.3%. Putin didn’t even bother campaigning he was so sure of his inevitable return to the Kremlin. Infact, as I write this, not all the ballots have been tallied – yet he stands on a pre-built stage victoriously addressing a crowd of his supporters… wait for it… CRYING at the words “Glory to Russia!”. This ex-KGB officer, with his black-belt in Judo and impeccably smooth pectoral muscles, actually shed a tear. He’s human?! The Russian twitterati for one are in shock: “I. Can’t. Believe. Putin. “Cried”” (@MiriamElder); “No Putin No Cry” (@JuliaIoffe); “Teary-eyed #Putin addressing 110,000 crowd in central Moscow” (@RT_com).  When the Muscovites wake up tomorrow to start their daily business, it will not be a typical day. It will be the first day of the second (and even longer) era of Putinism. But this one looks as if it’s going to be fundamentally different. The European editor of The Economist, John Peet, has pointed to the importance of the growing white ribbon protest movement: it will be interesting to see how the Russian authorities choose to counter-act this wave of disturbances and to what extent they might loosen Putin’s grasp on Russia. Unlike, the Ukrainian Orange Revolution of 2004 these demonstrations do not (yet) follow a single leader – their aim is not to usurp but to reform. Already the protesters and pioneers of the Russian blogosphere have announced their intention to take to the streets tomorrow to condemn the “fraud and corruption” of today’s elections. Indeed, there were many reports of “carousel voting” – buses allegedly transported pro-Putin punters from one polling station to another in order to register multiple votes. I spent today watching the progress of the election (yes, I have a life) through the system of webcams that had been set up to prove to the world and “those who wanted Russia destroyed” (according to Putin) just how ‘free and fair’ the elections were. This is one of the images I stumbled upon…

Casual electoral behaviour? Even more amusing was the image of Chechnyan soldiers (or was it rebels?) turning up at the booths, machine guns slung over the shoulders. I am by no means suggesting that Britain is politically superior: whilst Russia is almost shamelessly corrupt, we can’t claim to know half of what goes on behind the closed doors of Downing Street and – to be honest – I’d rather we were more blatantly undemocratic instead of being continually fed this ‘fig-leaf democracy’ claptrap. It will be interesting to watch Russia’s political landscape under Putin… Reporters are already questioning whether Moscow will witness its own Russian Spring…

(photos: via @MiriamElder)

© Francesca Ebel D-504 blog

Has the Russian Winter met the Arab Spring?

Although they are on opposite sides of the globe, are the uprisings of 2011 within these oil-rich nations part of the same movement? I have concluded that they do infact share parts of same cause – to rid their countries of the inner corruption which controls them and enhance/establish their own democratic status. This post will examine some of the current results from the events of February and December.

Last month, I attended a lecture given by a previous ambassador for the Middle East. He explained that the progress made in Arabia was extremely volatile and wrapped up in bureaucratic and military corruption – therefore a regime resembling anything remotely democratic would be a gradual and sensitive process. In Egypt for example, it is the army which holds the real balance of power. They will do anything to protect their own luxurious lifestyles which are, it must be noted, currently being funded by the US government itself (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/02/10/10_reasons_americans_should_care_about_the_egyptian_revolution) in US$2billion in “aid”. Hence, they have violently opposed a new constitution, one clause of which implies that all military spending should be transparent and controlled. Needless to say, the Libyans, Tunisians and Egyptians have been comparatively successful in removing their former tyrants and establishing some kind of democratic order, with elections being held and constitutions being codified. Syria is another matter entirely (partly because neither British or American interests are at risk)…

In Russia, the situation is utterly different. Although the Russian government has claimed to be democratic since 1991, with its proportional electoral systems and State Duma, it remains psychologically soviet (a recent article in The Economist ‘Homo-Sovieticus’ examined this phenomenon): riddled with blatant censorship, the domination of the FSB (the new KGB) who hold over 70% of governmental offices, and the extravagant power of the Russian oligarchy. Then there’s Putin himself whose unofficial dictatorship has become somewhat of a joke with the release of propaganda-type photographs two months ago.  The recent protests, although subversive by nature and symbolic of a new-born attitude towards Putin, will achieve very little in the short-term and are by no means a revolution. They may rock the boat but it seems Putin will return to the Presidency for at least another term.

On a separate but perhaps relevant note, I have come to the conclusion that Democracy is a waste of time and resources: it’s a manipulative governmental control mechanism to make the popular masses think they have power and influence and therefore maintain a relative degree of general contentment. There is no ‘democratic’ state on this earth that can claim they have the perfect democracy. In Britain our democracy is deeply flawed, not least through the use of a biased and majoritarian First-Past-The-Post voting system which – by the way – doesn’t work: we last had a true parliamentary majority in 1935. It would be great if we had a strong and stable single-party government with decisive executive powers but, excuse me, WE’RE IN A FLIDGING COALITION GOVERNMENT DURING A WORSENING ECONOMIC CRISIS. All we need is a British dictatorship (benevolent or oppressive – whatever gets the results) during times of crisis, and a proportional, direct democracy during times of prosperity. Only in heaven would it be that easy.