The West is, with every passing year, doing less and less to support those in Russia who try actively to further Western values in their country

14 July 2012

By Martin Dewhirst

When the cherry orchard was finally sold and something unique was sacrificed in the name of the progressive capitalist future, it was in a way a relief for those naive people who had been fondly hoping that something or someone would somehow turn up and save a thing of beauty from destruction. I think that now even those nice, humane people (or useful idiots?) who believed that Medvedev would get a second term and then, even after Putin became the President again, suggested that once he was reinstalled in the Kremlin he would begin a genuine Perestroika-2, have no more excuses if they persist in failing to understand the essence of the present neo-Soviet political regime and its strategies.

In addition to the bills on rallies, NGOs and the Internet, there is also the decision to return kleveta (whether slander or libel) from its short period as an administrative offence to being considered again as a matter for the criminal code, with the stiffer penalties that this implies.

One of the reasons why Putin can get away with all this is the mistaken but widespread view that the Cold War is over. It's over in the sense that the West is, with every passing year, doing less and less to support those in Russia who try actively to further Western values in their country. Too few foreigners are concerned about the continuing - indeed, intensifying - Cold War going on within Russia itself.

It's difficult to be sure whether this is because of a feeling by some Western strategists that 'the worse things get in Russia, the better, since Putin is ''objectively'' working in the interests of his Washington blackmailers', ensuring that the crunch will thereby come sooner rather than later. I'm surprised at how many Western specialists on Russia (there aren't all that many left, alas, since Russia is now widely regarded as a nuisance, but not a danger, so there's little need to study it) are convinced that Putin can't possibly stay in power for more than a couple more years.

In some ways, I hope they are right, because the longer Putin remains President, the worse it will be for his country. But will what comes after Putin be worse still? Chaos? Civil War?

It's very easy to understand why Putin feels such empathy for the poor, beleaguered, President of Syria.
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