President Vladimir Putin and First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, March 7, 2006.[image source]
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, May 12, 2008.[image source - some of the comments there are laugh-out-loud funny]
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Stability
President Vladimir Putin and First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, March 7, 2006.[image source]
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, May 12, 2008.[image source - some of the comments there are laugh-out-loud funny]
Sunday, May 11, 2008
"Neutral peacekeepers"
One of my favorite topics has been very much in the news of late, and I wish I had more time to blog about it. I'm referring to Abkhazia, of course, the dispute over which even RIA Novosti now acknowledges, is a "Russian-Georgian dispute."*
This is something that a number of people have been saying for some time; perhaps the most forceful writings to that effect (and some of the most thorough English-language reporting on the "frozen conflicts" in general) can be found here. You can read a very articulate and current account from the Georgian point of view at cyxymu's blog (Civil Georgia is probably the best online source in English); the best place for the official Russian point of view is probably the RIA Novosti topical page (and Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs communiques available in English here and here). But my original point was that I don't, unfortunately, have time at the moment to write a lengthy post on this matter. Luckily, RIA Novosti's outstanding photo archive has a picture that is worth a thousand words:
Official caption: Dmitry Rogozin, leader of the Rodina faction in the State Duma, during his working trip to Abkhazia, where he visited a CIS United Forces' headquarter [sic]. June 14, 2004. Look over Rogozin's right shoulder - whose stern visage is that? The Гарант's, of course. It is interesting that a firebrand like Rogozin would be invited to visit the HQ of a "neutral peacekeeping operation" (though of course such an event is not news to anyone; Zhirik and others have paid visits to Abkhazia as well and no doubt also been well received by the "CIS" Peacekeeping Force), and even more interesting that such a supposedly multilateral "peacekeeping operation" would have a portrait of President Putin hanging on the wall.
*Certainly there remains a Georgian-Abkhazian element to the conflict, but if we imagine a "what-if" version of history where Russia played a genuinely neutral role in the settlement efforts over the past ten-plus years, it's difficult to imagine that some sort of resolution wouldn't have been reached.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Celebrating Victory Day - and (mis)appropriating it
Hopefully my last post didn't create the impression that I don't think May 9th should still be celebrated in Russia. Of course it should. As I mentioned before, I think the way it was celebrated back in 2005, with a retro-style parade, was perhaps more fitting, but if there's a consensus among the population or the elites that a display of missiles is the right way to honor veterans, then so be it (though I liked how Russian LJ blogger peresedov summed up his reaction - with the witty phrase "танки, гоу хоум!").
In any event, the state does not have a monopoly on Victory Day - people will find their own ways to celebrate this holiday (see pictures of such celebrations from last year in this great photoset from Darkness at Noon), which is so very personal for many Russians and people throughout the former Soviet Union.
Ilya Barabanov writes about not having anyone in his family tree who was taken away by the war, which is unusual in Russia, and concludes that the holiday is one of the top three holidays for anyone, along with one's birthday and the New Year. He also directs readers to livejournals apparently written by war veterans, who are of course being congratulated by many readers today. Barabanov's wife, Natalia Morar', marked the holiday in Berlin and noticed the Germans' "amazing ability to acknowledge their historical mistakes."
Georgian blogger cyxymu writes about how the war affected his family, posts a photo from last year's Victory Day celebrations in Tbilisi, and comments that "for me personally this is a big holiday, the last Soviet holiday that unites all of us." Some folks in the Baltic states might disagree, feeling that the greater evil of Nazi Germany was merely replaced by the lesser evil of Soviet power, but on the whole he's probably right.
Natalia Antonova writes:
My grandmother started crying on the phone:This multimedia project looks to be a great - if time-consuming - way to honor the past by brushing up on your knowledge of the history of the war, and the same can be said of this website which archives the reminiscences of war veterans.“I don’t want you to ever know what it’s like to hear the shelling and know that it’s coming for you.”
War is banal and blind and savage and ultimately meaningless. But there is still something to smile about today, at least for me. If only because its survivors had children, and those children had children, and one of them was me, and another one was my beautiful baby brother. And there’s a reason why we’re here, and we’ll spend the rest of our lives finding out what that reason may be.
All of the worthy reasons to celebrate Victory Day, and the many ways in which it's possible to celebrate with dignity and respect, make attempts by the government and various groups and individuals supported by it to use the holiday for their own PR purposes (чтобы пропиариться, in contemporary Russian terms) seem especially distasteful. Sometimes it's just a matter of degree, and of course your own distastefulness mileage may vary (на вкус и цвет товарища нет, after all).
The proliferation of the St. George's ribbon - a great and certainly potent symbol of victory - is rather amazing by any standards. The Russian government's website features it along with the Soviet "Patriotic War" medal (this imagery is common on many websites today, including Russian search engines), which is no doubt a fine way to mark the occasion:
But simply displaying the ribbon is not enough for some. There is a dedicated website (using the by-now-familiar layout from websites like zaputina.ru and chernymspiskam.net with tiles of userpics of supporters at the bottom) which seems to have the purpose of providing people with these striped ribbons. I remarked a couple of years ago on how taking such fetishization too far in fact cheapens the holiday - the occasion for that was this crazy visual:
July 28, 2005, 12:35pm, near the entrance to Red Square.The trivialization of the holiday and its symbols is not the worst thing, though - more disturbing is their instrumentalization for current policy purposes. One of the banners from RIA Novosti's tribute website 9may.ru appears to feature the controversial "Bronze Soldier" statue and is captioned, "Those who do not respect the past have no future!"
9may.ru also has a page dedicated to promoting and documenting the distribution of St. George's ribbons. I guess this - state-run organizations promoting an unrelentingly patriotic vision of history - is what passes for civil society in Russia today, and perhaps it's better than nothing.
As one might expect, the youngsters of Nashi are a bit more direct. Their banner shouts, "He's OUR SOLDIER! It's OUR war...and OUR history!"
This banner appears on Nashi's "Estonian State Fascism" page.
Without wanting to risk committing the same offense I just criticized in attempting to draw conclusions from the holiday which coincide with my worldview, I try to always remember the fact that victory was achieved not only by Russia - though Russia suffered more than any of the other Allies - but in a partnership with the West which unfortunately has yet to be repeated.
The anniversary was a couple of weeks ago (though I don't think it was celebrated this year as it was on the 60th anniversary), but there's no reason on Victory Day not to remember the famous meeting of US and Russian soldiers on the Elbe:
"Happy 2nd Lt. William Robertson and Lt. Alexander Sylvashko, Russian Army, shown in front of sign [East Meets West] symbolizing the historic meeting of the
Russian and American Armies, near Torgau, Germany on Elbe Day."
Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration,
Pictures of World War II, image #121.
At the risk of further politicizing history, I think it's worth remembering that the Allies' cooperation did not just consist of fighting the same foe on different fronts. US military aid to the Soviets under the Lend-Lease program ran the gamut from basic supplies (like the plastic Soviet uniform button with a hammer-and-sickle within a star on one side and "U.S.A. 1943" on the other side that I have lying about somewhere) to more advanced equipment.
A website that appears to be affiliated with the Russian Air Force (VVS) has an account of lend-lease here. Here, one Russian has posted restored photos chronicling his father's military service flying American airplanes. Here is some information about the ground vehicles supplied. And here is an article that looks like it might be interesting about how things changed at the end of the war.
An appropriate final word on Victory Day can be provided by Vladimir Vysotsky, whose songs over the decades allowed veterans to remember and provided to those too young to remember with some of the most evocative descriptions of the war available. A large part of Vysotsky's body of work is made up of songs about the war; here is how the bard once tried to explain this (my translation from a concert CD):
Although I don't think anyone would question Vysotsky's patriotism, only a couple of his war songs are unabashed flag-wavers: "We Turn the Earth" probably falls into that category, as does his song about the marines who stormed Evpatoriia. Vysotsky's war is a more personal and complex war than the official version summed up by the red flag waving over the Reichstag; Vysotsky managed to perceive the war from all sides. He has a song written from the perspective of a fighter plane as it is getting shot down; a couple of songs from the perspective of soldiers in penal battalions; and even one from the perspective of the German invaders.
Vysotsky never served in the military, but he played military men in
several roles on the big screen, including an American marine in the
movie "Flight 713 Requests to Land" [image source]
He sang about the loss of couples torn apart by the war; about the loss of one's buddy in battle; and about the collective loss of the country, in his famous song "Common Graves" (Here's a video of him singing it - "There are no tearful widows at the common graves / Tougher people come here. / They don't put crosses on the common graves / but does that really make it any easier?").
Some of his songs - like the one about a commander who made the correct tactical decision to retreat and was still ordered shot for it, but was not shot after all (see the story at the end of the song here) - are loosely based on true stories, and some no doubt on composite impressions he formed from talking to veterans. The songs about the many tragedies of war are some of Vysotsky's most moving, true tear-jerkers without being overly sentimental.
Vysotsky also wrote songs about the underreporting of Soviet casualties, about a hated but well-connected draft-dodger who ended up a Hero of the Soviet Union, and about the high price of glory and heroism. He wrote a song about the war's end (with the prescient final couplet, "А все же на Запад идут и идут эшелоны / А нам показалось, совсем не осталось врагов.") and about a misunderstood veteran drinking with an uncomprehending youngster twenty years after the war.
Here is how he described the post-war scene at the train station in Leningrad in his autobiographical "Ballad about Childhood":
A website that appears to be affiliated with the Russian Air Force (VVS) has an account of lend-lease here. Here, one Russian has posted restored photos chronicling his father's military service flying American airplanes. Here is some information about the ground vehicles supplied. And here is an article that looks like it might be interesting about how things changed at the end of the war.
An appropriate final word on Victory Day can be provided by Vladimir Vysotsky, whose songs over the decades allowed veterans to remember and provided to those too young to remember with some of the most evocative descriptions of the war available. A large part of Vysotsky's body of work is made up of songs about the war; here is how the bard once tried to explain this (my translation from a concert CD):
"I write a lot of songs about the war, the reason for that--and I even get letters where people ask, 'Hey, are you that same guy I broke out of siege with near Orsh?' But it was impossible for me to make it out of siege, because I was a little kid, but songs about the war are probably--you know, somehow, our generation which had their first childhood impressions of the war, we must be still fighting out the war or something…I don't know why, but in any case I know that quite a few relatively young people write songs about the war, I have a military family, and, well, anyhow, that's why."Vysotsky was able to convey a sense of the many forms of loss created by the war even though he was born in 1938 and was not old enough to be a participant in hostilities. His skill as an actor at taking on the roles of his song's narrators makes many of his songs on other topics more powerful as well, but it's especially apparent in his songs about WWII. It's hard to say what his most famous songs about the war are since there are so many. In fact, he wrote a whole play in verse about the war, which was the source of several of his better songs on the subject.
Although I don't think anyone would question Vysotsky's patriotism, only a couple of his war songs are unabashed flag-wavers: "We Turn the Earth" probably falls into that category, as does his song about the marines who stormed Evpatoriia. Vysotsky's war is a more personal and complex war than the official version summed up by the red flag waving over the Reichstag; Vysotsky managed to perceive the war from all sides. He has a song written from the perspective of a fighter plane as it is getting shot down; a couple of songs from the perspective of soldiers in penal battalions; and even one from the perspective of the German invaders.
Vysotsky never served in the military, but he played military men in several roles on the big screen, including an American marine in the
movie "Flight 713 Requests to Land" [image source]
He sang about the loss of couples torn apart by the war; about the loss of one's buddy in battle; and about the collective loss of the country, in his famous song "Common Graves" (Here's a video of him singing it - "There are no tearful widows at the common graves / Tougher people come here. / They don't put crosses on the common graves / but does that really make it any easier?").
Some of his songs - like the one about a commander who made the correct tactical decision to retreat and was still ordered shot for it, but was not shot after all (see the story at the end of the song here) - are loosely based on true stories, and some no doubt on composite impressions he formed from talking to veterans. The songs about the many tragedies of war are some of Vysotsky's most moving, true tear-jerkers without being overly sentimental.
Vysotsky also wrote songs about the underreporting of Soviet casualties, about a hated but well-connected draft-dodger who ended up a Hero of the Soviet Union, and about the high price of glory and heroism. He wrote a song about the war's end (with the prescient final couplet, "А все же на Запад идут и идут эшелоны / А нам показалось, совсем не осталось врагов.") and about a misunderstood veteran drinking with an uncomprehending youngster twenty years after the war.
Here is how he described the post-war scene at the train station in Leningrad in his autobiographical "Ballad about Childhood":
[...]А из эвакуации толпой валили штатские.And here is his song from the perspective of someone who grew up during the Siege of Leningrad:
Осмотрелись они, оклемались,
Похмелились, потом протрезвели.
И отплакали те, кто дождались,
Недождавшиеся отревели.
Я вырос в ленинградскую блокаду,
Но я тогда не пил и не гулял.
Я видел, как горят огнем Бадаевские склады,
В очередях за хлебушком стоял.
Граждане смелые!
А что ж тогда вы делали,
Когда наш город счет не вел смертям?-
Ели хлеб с икоркою,
А я считал махоркою
Окурок с-под платформы черт-те с чем напополам.
От стужи даже птицы не летали,
И вору было нечего украсть,
Родителей моих в ту зиму ангелы прибрали,
А я боялся - только б не упасть.
Было здесь до фига
Голодных и дистрофиков -
Все голодали, даже прокурор.
А вы в эвакуации
Читали информации
И слушали по радио "От Совинформбюро".
Блокада затянулась, даже слишком,
Но наш народ врагов своих разбил,-
И можно жить, как у Христа за пазухой, под мышкой,
Да только вот мешает бригадмил.
Я скажу вам ласково:
- Граждане с повязками!
В душу ко мне лапами не лезь!
Про жизнь вашу личную
И непатриотичную
Знают уже органы и ВЦСПС.День Победы...Путина?
An interesting thing about this era of "tandemocracy" that seems at least for the moment to be upon us - even more than usual, everything can be seen (at least) in two ways. Putin's policy-laden speech to the Duma could be (a) a way for him to show that, in contrast to Medvedev, whose inaugural speech seemed relatively empty (notwithstanding the banalities about human rights and freedoms and the law; mentioning these things is not necessarily indicative of a change or "thaw," after all the idea of "free people in a free society" was prominent in Putin's 2004 inaugural speech and "dictatorship of the law" was a theme dating back to early in Putin's first term), Putin will continue to be the policymaker-in-chief; or (b) a soon-to-be Prime Minister making a speech about domestic policy fully appropriate for someone in his position.
The proposal of an oil tax reduction could be (a) Putin's way of showing the oiligarchs that he is the one who can continue to provide them with goodies (and, again, a way of underscoring who calls the shots on the issues the elites are really concerned about - hint: those issues are not "freedom" and "law") or (b) a thoughtful way to help President Medvedev's first term get started off on a note of optimism. Putin's uncontrolled laughter at Zhirik's silliness in the Duma on May 8 (truly, the court jester amusing the sovereign(s)) could be either (a) the relieved laughter of a man who has had the weight of governing Russia lifted from his shoulders, or (b) the nefarious chortling of a man who finds himself amused by the high position occupied by such a clown within the system he has set up and intends to continue to control.
Allowing Zyuganov's critical speech to the Duma to appear on Channel 1 could be (a) a good way to demonstrate the existence of an opposition while not giving media time to anyone who could actually be a viable independent contender for the presidency in the future or (b) an actual indication of some sort of "thaw" with respect to criticism of the government appearing on the major TV channels. I could go on, but I've probably already lost even my 10 regular readers by this point.
Only time will tell if Medvedev turns out to be his own man as President or simply a "Prezik" to be used by Putin like a condom ("prezik" in Russian slang) to stay safely inside the Russian body politic and later disposed of. Please forgive the metaphor - I'm hardly the first to think of it, and doesn't it work, at least to a point?
It's possible that May 8, 2008, will come to be seen as the day Putin began to fade from the scene; at the moment, though, it seems more likely that we'll look back on it as the day VVP changed chairs but kept pulling most of the same strings. The focus of the endless Kremlinoputinology will now turn to the relationship between Vova and Dima and will no doubt include much speculation about when VVP might start thinking about returning to the Kremlin.
One bit of speculation so far has been that the calendar of elections might be changed so that the parliamentary and presidential elections don't fall in the same year, which could entail a new presidential election in 2010, by which time the Constitution could already have been amended to allow for 7-year presidential terms. Putin could serve two of those and be ready for a hard-earned retirement. It's all idle speculation at this point, though.
In any event, from outside Russia, there seems to be hope for a change, hope that the dyarchy will eventually reveal rifts within the ruling elite and the result will be some sort of pluralism - or at least a lurch in the direction of a more cooperative posture towards the West, one that recognizes that interests can coincide and that "defending Russia's national interests" does not always have to mean playing the spoiler to America or resisting what Western countries want. From inside Russia, this prediction seems as good as any other I've seen:
In the circus they only keep the little bears until they're three years old, after that they mature and are unmanageable and extremely aggressive.There's no doubt that "Operation Successor" has up to now been as successful as its authors could have hoped. If one takes the maximally cynical view of Putin, one must assume he'll be watching Dima like a hawk to make sure the latter doesn't "pull a Putin" and develop a mind of his own. If one believes that Putin is contemplating fading from the scene in a couple of years, well, his first appearance as PM doesn't really suggest a man who's thinking about hanging it up, but perhaps there will be a trend in that direction.
In any event, the country will have a chance to contemplate all of these things today while celebrating the victory over Germany 63 years ago. All seems set for Victory Day. By happy coincidence (actually, the date of Medvedev's inauguration is consistent with the past two inaugurations, so the timing wasn't specially arranged for this year), Putin's confirmation as PM came just in time for the country to celebrate with a long weekend.
It's a well-known fact that Moscow doesn't believe in tears. Apparently,though, Moscow does believe in gigantic, man-made phallic symbols.
[image source]
So, after convincing the nation to "slit'sia v ekstaze" and vote overwhelmingly for Medvedev, Russians will have the chance to "spit'sia v ekstaze" while enjoying what will no doubt be wall-to-wall TV coverage of the military parade in Moscow. One has to ask whose victory is really being celebrated, especially given the somewhat controversial decision to return this year to the Soviet practice of displaying missiles and other hardware in the Victory Day parade.
Photo from Nashi's 2007 summer camp at Lake Seliger.The banner says, "There will be sovereign democracy!"
[image source]
Adding to the impression that Putin & Co. are celebrating their victories in the 2007-08 elections is the fact that, just like after a military victory, various heroic veterans have recently been rewarded for their service to the fatherland (or, as Gazeta headlined its story on this, "For Servicing the Fatherland"):
KREMLIN AWARDS POLITICAL SUPPORTERS (RFE/RL, April 28, 2008)This should reinforce the conventional wisdom that VTsIOM polls on Russian domestic politics should be taken with a grain of salt. With respect to the executives from state-run TV channels, it simply underscores the obvious: they are the President's colleagues, his valued partners in the important task of keeping the masses properly mis- and underinformed; and they have been given a little pat on the head for smoothly managing the media environment during the recently concluded electoral cycle. Never mind that what Putin likely perceives as the main "victory" - the avoidance of a "colored revolution" - was, given his government's substantial genuine popularity, probably such a remote possibility as to really only exist as "cockroaches in his head," to use the Russian expression about personal hang-ups.
President Putin has signed a decree awarding state orders to a number of Kremlin-friendly analysts, political commentators, and media figures, "Kommersant" reported on April 26. According to the decree, which was reportedly signed earlier this month, the order For Service to the Fatherland, first degree, was given to IMA public-relations group head Andrei Gnatyuk.
The same award, second degree, was given to All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion Director Valery Fyodorov, former Nashi leader and current State Youth Affairs Committee Chairman Vasily Yakemenko, and Effective Politics Foundation head Gleb Pavlovsky. The same decree bestows honorary certificates on Channel One head Konstantin Ernst, All-Russia State Television and Radio Company (VGTRK) head Oleg Dobrodeyev, NTV head Vladimir Kulistikov, Center for Political Forecasting Deputy Director Vitaly Ivanov, and a number of activists in the pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi. According to "Kommersant," the awards are directly tied to the contributions the recipients made to the victory of Unified Russia in the December 2007 Duma elections and Medvedev's victory in the March presidential election. Gazeta.ru reported on April 25 that Gnatyuk's IMA group oversaw the implementation of both election campaigns.
Anyway, the Kommersant article cited by RFE/RL digs deeper and describes the Putin Administration's recent tradition of taking care of the friendly journalists at state-run TV channels by bestowing government awards upon them (my translation):
In November of 2006, for the first time in the history of television President Putin gave a large group of TV employees (more than 100 people) awards phrased "For making a large contribution to the development of Russian teleradiobroadcasting and for long-time fruitful work." The formal reason for the awards was the 75th anniversary of broadcasting in the country. Among those receiving awards were predominantly employees of the three federal TV channels - Channel One, Rossiia, and NTV.The tradition actually seems to go back at least three years now - back in March 2005, I posted about Sergei Ivanov giving awards to then-ORT reporter Margarita Simonyan and her colleague from RTR. Simonyan's real reward, of course, turned out to be her chance to head up the Russia Today project. After all, nothing says "thank you" - in any language! - like the chance to manage the cash flowing into a government project. Kommersant also notes that Yeltsin officially thanked several hundred people after the 1996 elections, including members of the media, but there was no "For Service to the Fatherland" award at that time (it was introduced in 1999).
"For Services to the Fatherland" orders of the fourth degree were awarded to six people, including Mr. Ernst and Mr. Dobrodeyev. Mr. Kulistikov also received an Order of Honor. Half a year later in June of 2007, almost as many employees of the federal TV channels, mostly from Rossiia, NTV and TV Center (TVTs) received orders and medals of various ranks with the same phrase as the one used the year before for their colleagues.
Regrettably, I haven't had much time in recent weeks to browse around and see what the Russian blogosphere is saying about all of this. Ilya Barabanov had a simple "no comment" about the awards story.
My photo, taken in late Dec. 2005 in Moscow.An explanation of the meaning for non-Russian-speakers is here.
The photo is part of a large set of my photos of Moscow stickers,
graffiti and other "street art" which can be viewed here.
Notwithstanding the criticism which must be present in the RuBlogosphere (though as I mentioned, I haven't had time to survey it recently as much as usual), I doubt too many Russians really feel as negatively about Putin's latest victory as the folks who made the sticker shown above; certainly opinion polls suggest the percentage of people who view the current state of affairs negatively is quite low indeed. For the time being, that's true even of polls conducted by pollsters who haven't received awards for services rendered to the fatherland.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
They want you!
A friend emailed me the following opportunity, in case any readers are interested:
Contact info is here, if you are interested. FPA definitely needs someone to cover Russia, as their Russia blog currently has only three posts since February, all by someone named "admin"! They are serious about Russia, though, as evidenced by their more complete topical page and by the prominent billing Russia receives as one of eight "Great Decisions Topics" in the organization's "Great Decisions Global Affairs Education Program" and on their 2008 "Opinion Ballot." So if you are looking to blog about Russia for a wider audience or provide structure to your posts, it might not be a bad opportunity.Description: The Foreign Policy Association seeks a volunteer blogger on Russia as part of its Great Decisions 2008 series. Bloggers are expected to post 5-7 times per week, and keep readers up to date on news and analysis related to Russia. Other writing opportunities are also available to bloggers, who receive all the benefits of national membership in the Foreign Policy Association.
Qualification[s]:
-Expert level knowledge of issues related to Russia
-First hand experience with issues related to Russia
-Strong writing skills for the web
-An understanding of blogging software or Web publishing tools
-A knowledge of online resources related to Russia, including other blogs, news sources, and streaming video
-A bachelor's degree (MA preferred)
-The ability to commit to the position for at least one year.
And while searching for a digital version of the famous "Ты записался добровольцем?" poster to adorn this post, I found the image above, illustrating an Izvestiia article about the US government's efforts to recruit Russian-speakers for something called the "National Language Service Corps." Strangely, that poster is nowhere to be found on the NLSC recruitment website, though it may have been part of a press package that was emailed out. Izvestiia's online poll has a plurality of respondents (44%) concluding that the explanation for this program is that the US is "preparing for war" with Russia, and only 5% concluding that the initiative is being undertaken in the event that the US & Russia "become allies again."
No doubt those 44% would also conclude that the US is also planning wars with Indonesia, Vietnam, India and West Africa, since some of the other languages being sought for the program are Indonesian, Vietnamese, Hindi and Hausa. In fact, while parts of the program's website emphasize its civilian nature, the press releases on its website describe the program as a DoD initiative being run under contract by General Dynamics. Nevertheless, the goals of the program as described seem fairly positive:
The NLSC is a public civilian organization made up of volunteers willing to serve as on-call Federal employees (when the NSLC becomes operational), using their diverse language skills across local, state and federal agencies. The opportunities for service include emergency relief as well as service in support of domestic and international crises—wherever language skills are needed. The NLSC strives to connect service-minded individuals who embrace the power of communication and ultimately, envision helping the greater human good.If you find this inspiring, you can apply here.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Victory Day Three Years Ago
Hard to believe it has been three years since Moscow marked the 60th anniversary of the victory in WWII with a parade of military equipment from wartime days. Somehow that seemed like a much more endearing and appropriate approach to the celebration than the display of modern military might that is planned for this year.
In 2005, I was out of town on Victory Day (following the authorities' recommendations!) and missed the parade, but I got some pictures (though not very good ones) of the preparations for the parade a couple of weeks before, on April 25, 2005:
The full photoset from the practice parade is here. The same set has some pictures of Victory Day posters and decorations (also all from 2005):
Monday, May 05, 2008
"Огоньки" Победы (Victory Day in Magazine Covers - part 2)
This post is a the second in a two-part series chronicling Soviet media coverage of WWII victory anniversaries. The first part includes covers from two magazines, Soviet Life and Советский Союз. This post includes covers and inside pages from issues of Огонёк (a.k.a. Ogonyok, Ogoniok, Ogonek) magazine, which has been in print since 1899 and is still going strong.
They recycled the famous image of the Soviet flag over the Reichstag (Siberian Light recently had an interesting post about the history of that photo) every five years from 1965 to 1975, but strangely they turned the flag around in 1965 (see the first picture below). Aside from that, I found the emphasis on the liberation of Czechoslovakia to be a bit unusual, but perhaps someone with a more in-depth knowledge of Ogonyok's publishing agenda during the Brezhnev years can enlighten me. Many of the magazines of earlier years were filled with beautiful (and some not so beautiful) paintings and photos; the Ioganson painting which I scanned in from one of the 1965 issues was repeated a number of times, as one might expect.
1965
Glory to the Victorious People!May 1965 Ogonyok
B. Ioganson, Victory CelebrationMay 1965 (and several other years) Ogonyok
1970
No. 19 (May 1970)
No. 19 (back cover)
No. 20 (May 1970), inside front cover.
If you enlarge this inside spread, you'll see the interesting notice laid
inside many Soviet publications distributed in the US at the time:
I believe this notice was required by the terms of the agreement
reached about cultural exchanges in the second half of the 1950s.
The absence of such an agreement explains why I don't have any
magazine covers from 1955 in this collection.
No. 19 (back cover)
If you enlarge this inside spread, you'll see the interesting notice laid
inside many Soviet publications distributed in the US at the time:
I believe this notice was required by the terms of the agreement
reached about cultural exchanges in the second half of the 1950s.
The absence of such an agreement explains why I don't have any
magazine covers from 1955 in this collection.
1975
No. 18 (May 1975)
"May 9th marks 30 years since the liberation
of Czechoslovakia from the fascist invaders"
No mention of the Prague Spring, obviously...
"May 9th marks 30 years since the liberation
of Czechoslovakia from the fascist invaders"
No mention of the Prague Spring, obviously...
No. 19 (May 1975)
No. 20 (May 1975)
No. 20 (back cover)
1980
No. 19 (May 1980)
No. 19 (back cover)
No. 20 (May 1980): "35 years since the liberation
of Czechoslovakia from the fascist invaders"
Just look at those happy children!
1990
No. 19 (May 1990)
The preceding issue (No. 18, May 1990) looks like
it was the first one to solicit for commercial ads in
the magazine (above is the back cover).
By 1995, ads have taken over the back cover for good...
And the 2000 V-day cover is available online.
PS - Sadly, the library doesn't have any covers from the 1985 40th
anniversary celebrations. I can assure you they were momentous -
one indicative, if odd, recollection I have is that the first Soviet sticker
(наклейка) I ever saw was with the orange 40 лет победы logo.
Victory Day in Magazine Covers - part 1
I've come to realize that trying to study for finals in a library with periodicals stacks and a scanner is a dangerous thing. A.U.'s library happens to be closer to my home than Georgetown's, though, so I've been spending a fair amount of time there in recent weeks.
As a diversion from the grind, I decided to scan covers from Soviet magazines celebrating the World War II victory. Of course, the selection available in a university library in the US was not exactly huge - Soviet Life, the USSR's propaganda mag for English-speakers; Советский Союз, which I believe was translated into a number of languages and served a similar function for "brotherly" socialist (i.e., the Warsaw Pact) countries; and Огонёк, the venerable weekly which is the only one of the three still publishing today.
The Огонёк covers will be posted shortly as a separate post; Blogger doesn't like such image-heavy posts, it seems. Clicking on the images should allow you to see a much larger version.
It may be a stretch, but I think something of an arc can be discerned in the covers below, from bombastic missile-waving; to recalling the American use of nuclear weapons at the end of WWII as a way to energize the European peace movement; to fondly recalling the alliance with the U.S.
As a diversion from the grind, I decided to scan covers from Soviet magazines celebrating the World War II victory. Of course, the selection available in a university library in the US was not exactly huge - Soviet Life, the USSR's propaganda mag for English-speakers; Советский Союз, which I believe was translated into a number of languages and served a similar function for "brotherly" socialist (i.e., the Warsaw Pact) countries; and Огонёк, the venerable weekly which is the only one of the three still publishing today.
The Огонёк covers will be posted shortly as a separate post; Blogger doesn't like such image-heavy posts, it seems. Clicking on the images should allow you to see a much larger version.
It may be a stretch, but I think something of an arc can be discerned in the covers below, from bombastic missile-waving; to recalling the American use of nuclear weapons at the end of WWII as a way to energize the European peace movement; to fondly recalling the alliance with the U.S.
1965
"Twenty years ago, the Soviet flag fluttered over the Reichstag,signaling the end of the most horrible world in history. In this
issue - the story of how the Soviet Army dealt the Wehrmacht
the deathblow on the Eastern front and saved mankind from
nazi enslavement."
"The Parade in Honor of Victory:
The Indestructible Shield of Liberty and Peace"
Yes, that's three covers in a row of the same
magazine devoted to victory.
1970
The Indestructible Shield of Liberty and Peace"
Yes, that's three covers in a row of the same
magazine devoted to victory.
1970
fold-out front cover...
...and the inside front cover.
1975
"The final battles of the Second World War in Europe.The Worldwide Congress of Peace-Loving Forces. 1973."
1985
1990
In 1990, Soviet Life gave V-Day cooperation with the US inside play,and the cover was sort of incongruous, though in line with the times:
And by 1995, of course, there was no more Soviet Life
or Советский Союз (the magazine or the country).
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Eight Years of "Putinisms" - from NPR
NPR had an interesting segment this morning covering some of Putin's more pithy statements from over the years. "Putinisms" of course don't necessarily have anything to do with "Putinism" (however one defines the term); in the American context, the idea is an adaptation of Slate Magazine's long-running "Bushisms" feature (which has turned into something of a franchise for its progenitor, Jacob Weisberg).
Perhaps to Putin's credit, his "isms" seem to all be badass, tough-guy statements (even if they are often in poor taste and may sometimes just be good character acting), while Bush's "isms" are mostly verbal flubs or statements suggesting outright idiocy. Collections of Putin aphorisms in Russian are available here and here, and you can read some of the better nuggets of his "First Person" book here.
I wonder if any of the "Putinisms" quoted by NPR made it onto the paper airplanes and balloons (inscribed with quotations from Putin and Medvedev) released by youth activists in Chelyabinsk last month. Probably not, as the selection of quotes used in that so-called "flash-mob" was apparently limited to the topic of education.
Last year, Kommersant published a guide to management based wisdom collected from various remarks by Putin. You can improve your managerial skills online here - they even give you the chance to test yourself to see whether the manual has helped you learn to respond to a Putin-style manager.
In any event, "Putinisms" are fun, but I'm sure Putin's supporters would say that the remarks collected by NPR do not accurately characterize their beloved president. On the other hand, if you string enough Putinisms together, I think it may be possible to get a fairly good sense of Putinism's essence. Here is a link to the NPR report (which includes sound bites), and here is their bonus list of "Putinisms" not mentioned in the report.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Who Lost Russia? A rogues' gallery from a decade ago
Last February, I was inspired to collect a bunch of references from the past 10 years to westerners asking "who lost Russia?"
At the time, I promised a follow-up post, which has now been over a year in coming (no doubt you've all been waiting...). But since my original post, there's been a new twist on the question - last March, a WaPo columnist asked, "Who's to Blame for Russia?" - modifying the old "who lost Russia?" question by stirring in one of Russian philosophy's "eternal questions."
And the question came up in an interesting interview with Mark Medish:(Konstandakopoulos) Who lost Russia?
Actually, another variant on the question was posed last year as well: "Who Lost Moldova?" But I digress. The first anniversary of Yeltsin's death (which was yesterday, if I'm not mistaken) seems like a good time to revisit the 1990s. And an excellent vehicle for a trip back in time is a 1999 NYT Magazine article on the era, and specifically the illustrations to the article. Presumably, they are intended to depict people who, one way or another, were involved in "losing" Russia. I've listed the individuals pictured, in case you can't read the captions, and I tried to provide some links to bios in case you hadn't heard about some of these folks in the past few years.
(Medish) Russia may not have been lost. If it was lost in any sense of the word, it was lost by the Russians. Not from outside. I do not believe that those outside have the gift of losing countries. And this is the wrong way to think of the world. It is up to the Russians what to do with their country. If they feel themselves to be losers, it is because of their policies.
(Konstandakopoulos) I phrased the question in this way because this is how you traditionally do.
(Medish) US tradition teaches us how Americans think of the world, not how the world is. We go through cycles of high expectations and disappointments from other countries.
(Konstandakopoulos) A new cold war?
(Medish) I don't think so. There is no ideological component. Russia went through a transitional phase, it was quite weak, it sought a new identity after the collapse of the empire.
(Konstandakopoulos) What do you mean by transition? A transition to what?
(Medish) Good question. To begin with, a transition from something, from empire, from a communist-controlled political system, to something that they should decide. It is up to Russia whether to win or to lose. The ability of Europe and the United States to decide what the new Russian identity will be is extremely limited. We should not delude ourselves.
David Lipton, Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers; Anatoly Chubais; Boris Yeltsin and President Clinton; Tatyana Dyachenko.
Gennadi Zyuganov; Strobe Talbott and Viktor Chernomyrdin; Yegor Gaidar; Jeffrey Sachs.
Sergei Stepashin; Viktor Chernomyrdin and Vice President Gore; Vladimir Gusinsky; Boris Berezovsky.
Obviously one shouldn't attach too much meaning to the selection of photos, but it's interesting that the only guy who shows up twice, Chernomyrdin, still has a not unimportant job, and that Khodorkovsky did not merit placement in this photo array at all.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Why Putin is like Mugabe*
Zimbabwe's President Mugabe has been accusing his political opponents of intending to return farms to their dispossessed white owners.** Where have I seen similar populist rhetoric recently? Oh, right:
[image source]
The Nashi pamphlet this page comes from is an old story, but it is a good illustration of the Kremlin's main anti-Kasyanov talking point throughout the 07-08 election cycle - that he would surrender Russia's oil wealth to "the West" and take things back to the bad old days of the 1990s.
Here is a translation of the quotation attributed to Mikhail Kasyanov (under the banner headline, "This is what betrayal looks like"):
Having received the approval of American businessmen to enter the Russian presidential campaign, I have decided to sell Russian oil for three times less than the current market price.And here is the actual quotation which appears to have served as the basis for the misquote above:
In his first interview with foreign media since announcing his candidacy, Mr Kasyanov said he would use the huge surplus from high oil prices to improve pipelines. He said: "Such projects would help lower the price of oil and gas on the market." A "fair price", he said, is $20-$25 a barrel. The price is now $63. "The world needs to think about alternative sources of energy, but use what we have now."As Russian campaign spin goes, this is actually a pretty minor distortion, and no doubt Kasyanov would have been more accommodating, for example, to Western participants in the Sakhalin projects (in fact, one could argue that such accommodation would actually be in Russia's interest, since Western investment and know-how will likely be needed to maximize development of Russia's oil & gas sector). It's worth noting, though, that when Kasyanov was PM, he appeared to at least make a show of driving a hard bargain with Western investors in Russian oil projects.
Nevertheless, it served the Kremlin's interests to portray Kasyanov not only as the corrupt "Misha 2-percent" (a nickname acquired when two percent was enough of an alleged skim to seem offensive; never mind that the only proof of Kasyanov's corruption offered up to the public was a shady dacha privatization involving a sum which the barons of Rosneft and Gazprom would not bend down to pick up off the sidewalk on Tverskaya) but also as an agent of Western corporate interests. Similar nefarious intentions to forfeit Russia's oil wealth were ascribed to Vladimir Ryzhkov (apparently solely on the basis of a meeting with Dick Cheney).
Of course, the myth-making about Russian traitors would be nothing without the creation of a parallel mythology of Western politicos salivating at the prospect of carving Russia up and feasting on the oil wealth. Exhibit A in that book of fairy-tales is the infamous false claim that Madeleine Albright once stated Russia was unworthy of Siberia's oil wealth.
Unlike Zimbabwe, Russia is not a former colony of the West and has never been in danger of losing control of its natural resources. Apparently, Putin & Co. realized that the rhetoric of xenophobia and class hatred travels well to any country.