Cyrill Vatomsky, Where All Politics Are Global: Russia and G8: Why is Russia a member?!

Russia and G8: Why is Russia a member?!

Posted At : June 26, 2006 1:22 PM | Posted By : Cyrill Vatomsky
Related Categories: Russia,Europe,Free Market

La Russophobe reports on a Moscow News article…

Russia does not meet democratic standards for membership of the Group of Eight and its leadership of the rich nations’ club risks destroying the G8’s credibility, a British think-tank said on Sunday.

…and sends me on the prowling trip through the sewers of Russia. The reference is to the Foreign Policy Centre in UK that also launched the 'Russia and the G8; a Summit Scorecard' and published a set of essays “Dictatorship or Reform - Putin's chance to end corruption and strengthen democracy.”

"The sacking of Russia's top law officer gives Vladimir Putin a perfect opportunity to begin the long overdue reform of his country's undemocratic and corrupt legal system", STEPHEN TWIGG, Director of The Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), said today.

This is all find and dandy, but it also seems to be a case of wishful thinking, unless it is just an “I dare you” case. Sacking of Ustinov has, according to a lot of analysts, (sorry, it is in Russian) nothing to do with fighting corruption and strengthening democracy, but is rather a clash of clans within the Putin’s feudal surroundings.

According to Stephen Twigg, the FPC director:

The rule of law is a cornerstone of democracy and essential to a well-functioning society that protects individual human rights. Yet in the six years since he pledged to uphold democracy as a "dictatorship of law", President Vladimir Putin has increased the role of the police and security services in governing Russia and wielded the power of the courts for political ends.

Most certainly a dare, since who would seriously expect Putin to betray his very nature and his core authoritarian beliefs and grief for the departed monster:

Putin has described the collapse of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century.

What I think Mr. Twigg is missing is realization that rule of law, albeit a cornerstone of a democracy is only a support mechanism and is a consequence itself of developed capitalistic system of private property ownership. Russia is not a capitalist society, it has only a law about private ownership of land, but it has no mechanisms of such ownership. A large portion of privatizations still follow the 51/49 scheme, which is nothing but a feudal way for a cabal leader to distribute wealth among his vassals.

After reading opinions of analysts in the gaseta.ru article, one can not escape a feeling they are not talking about a modern developed country. What a shock. It appears more and more like a power struggle over Le Putin’s successor between two major Putin’s vassals:

Medvedev, Chairman of the Board of Gazprom. Hardly a liberal, but is referred to as one, and he is definitely a pretender to the throne.
Igor Sechin and the “Thugs” (a loose translation of siloviki). Sechin is long time Putin’s secretary since the time Putin was a deputy mayor in Saint Petersburg, shaking down foreign businesses for bribes. Sechin just happens to be a Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rosneft. The sacked Ustinov is Sechin’s relative to boot. This clan has yet to announce a pretender, and Ustinov hoped to be one.

Sechin recently wrested control of Russia's notoriously corrupt Customs away from Gref and his technocrats. According to American Chamber of Commerce in Russia

[FCS] Boasting daily collection of more then $270 million in revenue, in 2005 the FCS has contributed over 46 percent of budget revenues and totaled 8 percent of GNP

When one fifth of Russia’s GDP is wasted on bribes, placing this, supposedly a G8 caliber country, next to Mozambique one can only wonder how much of that comes now to Igor Sechin and Putin himself.

Sacking of Ustinov yanked Sechin’s chain. So the feudal rat race goes on, one clan gets too strong and then dialectically, gets nerfed so that no one is too strong to undermine Putin’s own long-term goal of keeping most of his money and some power when he has to vacate the castle of Kremlin and move to the Brestskaya Fortress he is building for himself in St. Petersburg.

Could we now return to La Russophobe’s assertion – Russia should not be a G8 member? I will wholeheartedly agree, arguing the same point on my radio show ever since Russia has been admitted to the table of grown up economies. Let’s be totally clear about it, the only reason Russia – not even a member of WTO - was even considered for a G8 membership was its nuclear arsenal. Add to this its growing ability to blackmail Europe into submission using its oil and gas supplies, and we have a case of a street thug making himself at home at someone else’s Thanksgiving dinner.