“I noticed, with an involuntary pity, that the Tsar cannot smile with his eyes and his mouth at the same time.” – Marquis de Custine
1) How strong is Russia?
Land giant – An enormous place with 140 million ppl living on 1/9 of Earth’s land area spanning 11 time zones. The country has just celebrated her first population growth in 15 years, slowly recovering from the sharp drop in population since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
“Russia Inc.”– As one of the world’s largest oil provider after Saudi Arabia, Russia is responsible for a third of Europe’s oil and natural gas. I can’t agree more with journalist Steve LeVine that the energy giant “for the first time burst out of its border not at the point of a gun, but through the strength of its purse” with the ever-elevating oil price since Putin’s first year on throne.
Political giant -With veto power in the UN Security Council and her increasingly strong global influence, the country never fear condemning or confronting the US with issues on terrorism, Iraq invasion, Kosovo independence and NATO expansion. Within the country, the foundation of its political structure is the fearsome siloviki, intelligence or military officers recruited to the Kremlin under Mr.Putin’s rule, who are well-known for their dark bare-knuckle approach in ensuring stability.
2) How is Putin engineering his return to the presidency?
Never stop flexing his political muscle – He will be more active in meeting foreign leaders (for example, the list of world leaders in Beijing Olympics 2008), dutifully appear more on state-controlled television than the current President, Dmitry Medvedev. He is still powerful in foreign policy and energy security issues. For the first time in his career, in May 2009 he also started writing columns to express his political views.
Never stop displaying his abs muscle – To boost his 57-year-old personal charisma, in the presence of photographers, he will continue spend time on bare-chest fishing, shirtless horse riding, black-belt judo, tiger killing, swimming with dolphins, hunting…or any kind of vivid display of testosterone. He shows his gentle fatherly side by singing with a nervous schoolgirl at a national-broadcast school visit. (In my opinion, all these deliberate PR approaches are very successful in keeping his high 80-percent approval rating.)
Coached questioners – When being asked about his return with millions watching on the state-run television, he hinted”I will think about it. There is plenty of time”. The phone-in questioner is in fact one of the coached members in his own communications team.
3) Looking back into history, why is the general populace in Russia indifferent towards the state violence–or as described by NYT, a political system which activists are murdered with impunity and oligarchs are thrown in jail?
History created culture – In the six hundred years of Russian history, Russians are accustomed to the tradition of fear-based rule. From Ivan the Terrible, Josef Stalin or even the most-admired Peter the Great, the Soviet population was fearful of the wave of violence, but at the same time, they also seemed to defend the Tsar as a symbol of patriotism in bringing glory and pride. This long-rooted fundamental contradiction preserves until today.
Culture created history – Though I say they maybe accustomed to such atmosphere of impunity, I never think anyone would favor dictatorship. That is why when democratic election is available as an alternative in the Post-Soviet area, the new system is applauded. As long as there is prosperity and political stability, the general populace is therefore not motivated to challenge the system at all. The detachment or passiveness may simply the lack of inclination to care as caring is in vain.
