Daniel Aaron Lazar

Dispatches from Russia

Slate correspondent Masha Green offers her reflections from traveling through the parts of Russia that we conveniently overlook.

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Dmitry Medvedev’s Article, Go Russia!

In a few months Russia will enter a new decade of the twenty-first century. Of course, important junctures and significant dates are more symbolic than practical. But they give us a reason to reflect on the past, evaluate the present, and think about the future. Think about what awaits each of us, our children, our country.

First, let’s answer a simple but very serious question. Should a primitive economy based on raw materials and endemic corruption accompany us into the future? And should the inveterate habit of relying on the government, foreign countries, on some kind of comprehensive doctrine, on anything or anyone – as long as it’s not ourselves – to solve our problems do so as well? And if Russia can not relieve itself from these burdens, can it really find its own path for the future?

Read on from Medvedev’s Blog

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Vladimir Putin signals plan to reclaim old job as Russian president

Russia PM says he and Dmitry Medvedev would take joint decision over roles, raising prospect of Putin era continuing…

from the Guardian…

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Protests against Putin sweep Russia as factories go broke

From Vladivostok to St Petersburg, Russians are taking to the streets in anger over job losses, unpaid wages and controls on imported cars…

Russia’s prime minister, Vladimir Putin, is facing the most sustained and serious grassroots protests against his leadership for almost a decade, with demonstrations that began in the far east now spreading rapidly across provincial Russia.

More from The Guardian

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Re-Stalinisation of Russia

Laurie Taylor discusses what is being called the re-Stalinisation of Russia on today’s Thinking Allowed. According to exiled Russian academic Michail Ryklin, Putin’s Russia is turning the clock back and rehabilitating the most famous demon of the Soviet Union.

In a new book, he claims that although the Soviet Union proclaimed itself an aethist state, communism functioned as its religion, and when faith faded it was replaced by mass terror. But now memories of the terror and bloodshed have receded and Stalin is being reclaimed.

Listen to this 10 minute interview with Ryklin

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Russia approves presidency bill

A bill to extend the presidential term from four to six years has been backed by Russia’s upper house of parliament after regional assemblies endorsed it.

All the Federation Council senators present backed the assemblies’ decision to lengthen the term, the last step in the legislative approval process.

Last month, both the lower house and upper house approved the bill.

The bill’s rapid progression is being seen as a sign Vladimir Putin may return to the presidency soon.

The changes needed the backing of at least two-thirds of the country’s regional legislatures but were approved unanimously, according to Russian news agencies.

Read on from the BBC

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Governor in Russia Is Ousted by Kremlin

MOSCOW — President Dmitri A. Medvedev replaced the governor of a northwest region on Saturday, apparently seeking to ensure that the ruling party remained in control there after it suffered a surprising defeat in local elections.

Mr. Medvedev’s move in the region, Murmansk, suggested that the Kremlin wanted to clamp down quickly on hints of disloyalty among its cadre of governors as it faces possible discontent at the regional level over the financial crisis.

The dismissed governor, Yuri A. Yevdokimov, is a member of the ruling party, United Russia, but he had been feuding with party leaders lately. And in the mayoral election this month in the city of Murmansk, Mr. Yevdokimov supported an independent candidate, who triumphed easily over United Russia’s nominee.

The loss in the city, which is the region’s capital and has about 320,000 people, was a rebuke to United Russia. It led to a round of recriminations that reached all the way from the Murmansk region, which borders Finland and Norway, to party headquarters in Moscow.

Governors in Russia used to be elected, but are now appointed by the president, under a system that was put in place by Russia’s paramount leader, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, when he was president in 2004. The change was widely seen as an effort by Mr. Putin to centralize power in the Kremlin.

But many mayors continue to be elected, and these elections have become a test of the ruling party’s strength.

At least three well-known candidates, for example, are expected to vie next month to become mayor of the southern city of Sochi, which is to host the Winter Olympics in 2014.

The Kremlin announced Mr. Yevdokimov’s replacement on its Web site on Saturday and, as is typically the case, the statement said he had voluntarily resigned. It seemed clear, though, that if he had not done so, he would have been dismissed.

The statement also said Mr. Medvedev had nominated Dmitri Dmitrienko, a senior federal fisheries official, to serve as governor.

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Bill Bradley–Russia: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Opening with a personal anecdote from his experience on the USA Olympic basketball team playing against the Soviet Union, former Senator Bill Bradley provides his thoughts on the past, present, and future of Russia.

Watch Bill Bradley’s assessment of U.S. – Russian relations

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Russia: The Trouble with Putinomics

If you want to take the pulse of Russia as its oil and gas boom of the past few years comes to a sudden and wrenching stop, leave behind the garish consumerism of Moscow and drive 220 miles (355 km) southwest to the small Russian town of Lyudinovo. For the first part of the five-hour trip, the road is a smooth four-lane highway that whisks you past gleaming gas stations and a brand-new Samsung TV factory. Then everything slows down. The highway turns single-track and becomes progressively rougher. For the last 20 miles (32 km), you bump along the ruts, distracted only by the swaying rows of silver birch trees that flank the road.

Read on from Time Mag

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Putin’s Russia: Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain

This thoroughly revised and updated edition of the classic text provides the most current and authoritative assessment of Russia available. Distinguished scholars offer a full-scale assessment of Putin’s leadership, exploring the daunting domestic and international implications of Putin”s reign.

Read selected essays (on topics of domestic policy, the economy and foreign policy) from this books for free at Google Books. I particularly  impressed by Petrov and Slider’s essay, “Putin and the Regions”.

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