back to the USSR

today Dmitry Medvedev takes office as president of Russia. a Russia that has taken on more and more appearances that hearken back to the USSR. relations have bee strained lately as Moscow demands respect from the west and backs more oppressive regimes. but its not all that simple.

Russia's elections were widely viewed as fixed. Medvedev won by a large margin as Putin's hand picked successor and running on the widely popular United Russia Party, which also controls both houses of the parliament. further consolidating power under Putin's party, Medvedev's first official act was to name Putin his Prime Minister, a formerly weak and mostly ceremonial position that Putin himself helped to strengthen in his last months in office.

the fear is that with so much power concentrated within one party under Putin, and his protege in the Kremlin that the ways of the old USSR will be back. Medvedev has a marked populist twist to his speeches, and that is encouraging to a Russia that lacks much of a middle class. so many struggle and the few that make it tend to become millionaires.

i heard a story on this on NPR this morning in which a Russian analyst said that the Kremlin is demanding to be heard out as a world power while their soviet era infrastructure crumbles and the bureaucracy stymies efforts to use Russia's vast oil and gas wealth to benefit the people. he even went so far as to call Russia a third world country. his words, not mine.

having been there, i am fascinated even more so. i wouldnt call it third world, but there is a definite stratification of their society and most small towns we passed through could be so classified. the cities didnt seem third world, but in comparison to what i know, there is some improvement to be made. Russia is still going through growing pains. its still trying to figure out how to operate. my fear is that the United Russia Party will end up with a strangle hold on the state and youll see the people suffer, the borders close, and a few elite rise to enormous wealth and keep the whole thing going.

i hope that Medvedev's more populist rhetoric comes to pass. i hope that the people who have suffered can truly become middle class and not have so much hardship. i hope that Russia becomes a truly great nation, not through bullying or cold war style posturing, but through progressive policies and real leadership by example that the rest of the developing world can follow. time will tell.

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