By Vitaly Tretyakov, chief editor of the journal Politichesky Klass (The Political Class)
Next week, which will be a holiday week, sees a year since the inauguration of President Dmitry Medvedev.
It would be interesting to fantasise what this year would have been like for the country and for the President but for the confounded economic crisis.
After all, there is no point in recounting what happened, people remember everything. Likewise, commenting on the events of the past 12 months would hardly add anything to what has already been said. What was clear then remains clear. What was foggy then is still foggy. The party in power, alias the dominant party and, according to the latest linguistic fashion, the ruling party, is going from strength to strength, crisis or no crisis. And what is shrouded in mist is seen differently by different people. Some discern a "power tandem", others see "dual power". Some have got tired of waiting for a "thaw" (but still continue to test the water with their toes to see if the ice has grown thinner), others say, you'll never see a thaw. And anyway, can there be a thaw if there has been no frost to speak of?
As for the crisis, it seems to be no object to the military reform, which is going on at full speed prompting speculation because it is not explained or even declared. The same is true of the "Bologna process", which seems to have been abandoned by the best universities in Europe, but which continues to eat into what remains of the once brilliant Russian education system. Only, by contrast, there is a surfeit of declarations on that subject.
Obviously, the cost of housing would have continued to rise if there had been no crisis. As it is, it is only just not falling. That is hardly a revolutionary change of trend with which Russia looks doomed to live fore several more decades because the greed of the developers and the government officials who give them city parks and squares to be built up is in reverse proportion to their taste.
Pop culture which fills television screens is becoming increasingly vulgar. The number of "stars" is growing catastrophically, like the predicted pandemic of the "swine flu." The latter fact is actually heartening as it is clear that the word "star" is on the way to becoming a cuss word.
Life runs its own course oblivious of any "freezes" or "thaws". Indeed, judging from many words and occasionally interspersed with deeds, if there is a "freeze" in the morning there is sure to be a warm spell in the evening. Eclecticism - moral, ideological, economic, political, etc. - has emerged as the prevalent attitude of our time in this country. But that is not something specific to the past year, although the last year has highlighted it.
However, some events would not have happened or would have looked very different but for the crisis. Most of them, however, belong to areas where there are so many variants that even surmises cannot be made. For example, who can say what would our view of Ukraine have been today if there had been no crisis? Or would Dmitry Medvedev have given his first and so far only interview to a journalist from Novaya Gazeta or, for that matter, some kind of Staraya Gazeta (Old Newspaper). Still, some important events did fall on the first year of Dmitry Medvedev's presidency. Some of them are attributable to the crisis. Others happened because the new President had a hand in them. I will give you a random list of such events (a pattern will probably emerge in a couple of years' time), in the first place those which are important or highly indicative.
The crisis, thank God, sobered up many of our fellow countrymen who had engaged in an orgy of buying on credit. To live on credit is not the best, although much-touted, feature of the market economy from the point of view of mental (and indeed physical) health.
With the advent of Dmitry Medvedev to the Kremlin and the crisis to the world economy, intellectual life on the planet and in our country has intensified. In Russia, to use an old cliché, it has deepened the ideological cleavages. Once again I will stick my neck out and say that it is a useful and sometimes a fruitful process.
The era of liberal-monetarist Bolshevism, which lasted only a couple of decades in Russia but wreaked economic havoc, seems to be drawing to a close. Granted, it had some positive elements, but they have more to do with consumerism. With Russia's new ideology, which is emerging in the course of the ideological battle, consumerism will be severely ostracised. Perhaps many would soon prefer to be at the bottom rather than at the top of the Forbes list. So, the last will become first, which does not mean levelling or rationing.
The crisis has brought out a determination, hopefully not a speculative or temporary one, to turn the rouble into a world currency. Theoretically, it was clear all along that no "sovereign democracy" could be built without a fully national and economically viable currency. Perhaps "a non-sovereign tyranny" could. Let us hope that now "specially trained people" will come to grips with that task.
The absolute highlight of the first year of Dmitry Medvedev's presidency has already etched itself on history as 08.08.08. A lot has been said about it, so I would just note that the date marks the start of true resurgence of Russia (which does not mean that one step is enough).
Either because of the crisis ("we are all in the same boat"), or because of the "thaw", or due to the still fashionable Obama-mania, or due to the new President's personal style, the dialogue with the West on our part has become so politically correct that I sometimes catch myself thinking that I miss Mr. Putin's acerbic and earthy jokes that greatly enlivened the fairly sluggish Russian foreign policy of the time.
Talking about Putin. A couple of years ago it would have been thought an irreverent way of referring to the leader. But on the other hand, Vladimir Putin himself has assumed such a low political profile that some issues of the news bulletin sometimes make no mention of him. Sometimes one wonders whether the "Formidable VVP" is planning, as soon as "his Government" overcomes the crisis, if that ever happens, to become the head of some academic institution or an international "think tank." However, something prompts me that this is not his plan.
Be that as it may, throughout the past year Putin was becoming less and less of a public figure (much to the delight of some people). However, a holy place is never empty. In the event the saying takes on a literal meaning. During the first year of Dmitry Medvedev's presidency Russia got, in Patriarch Kirill, a new powerful political figure encumbered (which is rare) with a prodigious intellect and a clear strategic vision. The event merits a special discussion. For the time being let us just recognise that Russia now has a threesome of political heavyweights: Patriarch Kirill, Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin (I mention them alphabetically not to provoke speculation). A year ago we did not have such wealth, we made do with only one leader.
Come to think of it, wealth is more difficult to handle than a meagre ration (as we know only too well). But we should use it...
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Russia now has a threesome of political heavyweights: Patriarch Kirill, Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin