Nezavisimaya Gazeta: "We don't give a damn?"
FOR POLITICS
The past week saw two significant events, the first of which was a big surprise and the second had been widely expected.
Vladimir Putin's peace-loving speech in Davos about the dangers of government interference in the economy gave the impression of having nothing to do with the way the Russian Government had behaved for many years.
Observers were baffled. On the one hand, it was a good thing that Mr Putin had come a long way from his Munich speech. On the other hand, it was clear that in the face of the crisis fences had to be mended to encourage investments. However, could the Russian Prime Minister's speech indicate a decisive turn towards liberalism?
While the West was wondering about the sharp change in political pressure from the East, Russian officials on Saturday were busy taking their subordinates to the streets to demonstrate support for the Government's anti-crisis measures. The keynote of these manifestations was: We are grateful to Messrs Putin and Medvedev (the speakers at the United Russia rally in Moscow mentioned them in that sequence) for our happy childhood. Nobody mentioned a happy old age, and it was a good job, too, because the following morning such a slogan would have been blasphemous.
On Sunday night an old age home with a score of its patients was gutted by a fire in the Republic of Komi. What is depressing is that such emergencies have been happening with some regularity. The circumstances of the latest disaster are still unclear. However, if the Ministry for Emergencies commission, which went to the region on the President's orders, tries to put down the accident to inmates' drunkenness (the media have already suggested as much) that will be unconvincing.
It is good that the head of state has reacted promptly. But questions arise to which we have yet to get an answer. For example, why is it that in over a decade of prosperity and windfall oil revenues we did not get around to putting that sphere of public life in order? Do we have millions of old age homes? Would it have cost all that much to build new modern ones and staff them with qualified professionals? We are only too willing to make sacrifices to help Palestine. But we don't care about our own lonely old folks.
Most importantly, alarm bells had been ringing for some time. Old age homes burned down and rural schools crumbled when there was still no sign of a crisis and everybody was euphoric, either from drugs or from oil revenues. All we got was some mumbling from the bureaucrats who promised to look into the matter and set things right. No officials lost their jobs over the incident.
Not a single political party - including the ultra-liberal ones, which are today lashing out at the United Russia - took up this matter as its campaign slogan. It brings too few PR dividends: the elderly are not very good at thanking their benefactors in any tangible way or displaying the humble interiors of their flats for the cameras. The situation in this field is hopeless. The current government system, which has replaced natural rotation due to competition with reshuffling of bureaucrats as a stack of cards, has resulted in total impunity. In the absence of a credible political opposition this is disastrous for the vulnerable social strata.
Meanwhile the rivals of the party in power last week were promised a new law redistributing the time allotted to members of Parliament on television and radio (apparently in favour of non-United Russia deputies). However, there is more to this problem than meets the eye. Mechanical distribution of airtime between representatives of opposition parties is not synonymous with democratisation of society. In the face of the crisis, it is rather a sign of the authorities' concern that the United Russia would be held responsible for the worsening of the economic and social situation in the country.
Obviously, the move is intended to shield United Russia from criticism by showing its discussions with an amenable opposition on government-controlled channels, with more airtime given to the United Russia. However, the fact that the rivals are not initiating any legislation and pin their hopes on the political will of the President is equally depressing. It shows that the opposition is not ready to uphold its rights and does not mind if these rights are handed down to them by the authorities. And of course, as the saying goes, one does not look the gift horse in the mouth.
