Clark and Gevorkian on Illarionov's resignation

[occuserpens]

Readers of the Guardian and Gazeta.ru are not supposed to compare what they see in these newspapers. Even less they are expected to track what is going on systematically. However, once this is done, a few things become clear.

-- Russian pro-Western liberals act in full sync with New Labour. The timing of the articles is perfect, their rhetoric is strikingly similiar.
-- Illarionov is not the last neoliberal on Russian top, Gevorkian and others must have a high level sponsor inside Russia.
-- In practical terms, discussions of "Russian image" boil down to the issue of Russian membership in G8 - among other things.

1. N.Gevorkian. Illarionov's resignation: let us be patient: http://gazeta.ru/column/gevorkyan/508184.shtml

2. GU. David Clark. Russia's autocrats must feel the weight of world opinion: http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,1674718,00.html
...the conditions for Russia's free internal development have been eroded. The scale of that erosion was made clear this week, with the resignation of Putin's economic adviser Andrei Illarionov, one of the few remaining liberals in the inner circle, saying that Russia was no longer free or democratic.
The price of international silence about Russia's authoritarian turn is high. On the day Putin returned from the G8 summit at Gleneagles to boast that not a single leader raised the Khodorkovsky case with him, the Russian prosecutor's office opened a criminal investigation into the finances of Mikhail Kasyanov, the former prime minister and favourite to represent the liberal opposition in the 2008 presidential elections.
David Clark is a former Labour government adviser and chairman of the Russia Foundation

[acmavm]

1. I've always thought it extremely funny that anyone ever

expected any type of 'democratic' government or reform out of a Putin organization. That guy is ruthless and knows exactly what he's doing. He intends to keep a TIGHT lid on Russia and anyone who ever thought that a former KGB official could ever have any intention of allowing any power to slip out of the Kremlin's tight fist was nuts. I always thought that he was the guy that bush** most wanted to be.

[occuserpens]

2. "Pravda" on Potomac

Yes, unfortunately, all this is quite true /1/, "Pravda" style is alive and well in WPost. Well, I'd make a few additional remarks to clarify the situation.

-- Unlike Applebaum, Hiatt is not a specialist on the post-Soviet space. So, there is little doubt that (at least) Russia-specific materials Hiatt gets from somebody else. That is, in Wilson's terminology, he acts as a "toilet pipe" for a certain PR machine.
-- There is a close operational cooperation between Hiatt, Applebaum and others on the US side, the Guardian in the UK, Russian liberal columnists from Grani.ru and Gazeta.ru.
-- It would be a mistake to take this rhetoric as something entirely Russia-specific. Same - and actually more aggressive - language is used on France quite for some time.

1. JRL 9328. Edward Lozansky. "Pravda" on Potomac: http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/9328-28.cfm http://english.intelligent.ru/cgi-bin/loadtext.pl?id=11651&file=articles/text_e0139.htm
2. JRL 9324. Andrew Wilson. VIRTUAL POLITICS: 'POLITICAL TECHNOLOGY' AND THE CORRUPTION OF POST-SOVIET DEMOCRACY: http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/9324-5.cfm
3. WPost editorials blog: http://inplainview.us.tt/newsWP-Opin.htm
4. Denis Boyles. Vile France: 255 Years of Fear, Duplicity, Cowardice and Cheese: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594030529
5. JOHN J.MILLER, MARK MOLESKY. Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America's Disastrous Relationship with France: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385512198/