Political experts close to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have publicly criticized the state of democracy in Russia and advised him that the country’s progress hinges on genuine political pluralism.
“Russia has reached the limit beyond which it must shift to democratization in order to pursue its own modernization,” political analyst Igor Bunin said on Wednesday as he presented a report on the subject.
Apart from its contents, the report was notable for being ordered by the Institute for Modern Development, a quasi-governmental research group whose supervisory board is chaired by Medvedev himself.
The document was circulated in Moscow as Medvedev prepared to attend his first G8 summit next week, where other major powers will be watching him closely for clues about his political values and future intentions.
Basing their conclusions on interviews with around 40 political experts and business leaders in Russia, the authors of the report said the two-term presidency of Vladimir Putin saw strong economic modernization in Russia.
But they cautioned that “Implementation of the country’s development strategy from now until 2010, stressing innovation and high-technology ... is impossible in the [current] vertical and hierarchical system dominated by the bureaucracy.”
Bunin called on Medvedev to lead a “revolution from above” and lead as an “enlightened European.” The report said flaws in the current system included a “servile parliament” and lack of political pluralism.
In a rare display of tolerance, representatives of genuine political opposition groups were invited to join other experts close to but critical of the Kremlin to discuss the report and formulate recommendations for Medvedev.
Viktor Sheinis, a member of the opposition Yabloko party, said the Kremlin had spoken many “just words” but under Medvedev had to take concrete steps to show it was serious about real democracy.
“Perestroika became a reality when Mikhail Gorbachev pulled troops out of Afghanistan and freed Andrei Sakharov from exile,” Sheinis said.
“We see nothing of the kind today,” he added, referring in particular to jailed former Yukos oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
In an interview with reporters from G8 countries released yesterday, Medvedev said he had no intention of granting a pardon to Khodorkovsky, quashing recent speculation that such a move might be forthcoming from the new president.
Another opposition leader, Nikita Belykh of the Union of Right Forces, said he doubted the Medvedev administration was any more interested in broadening democracy in Russia than the Putin administration had been.
“A portion of the corrupt elites have passed the point of no return. Their personal security is put in danger with democratization,” Belykh said.
In his G8 media interview, Medvedev acknowledged that free political competition in Russia was crucial to the country’s future development.
But, echoing the line taken by Putin, he said this competition had to remain within the confines of the law and should be “rational.”
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
RSS