Word: russianizing
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Victor Yushchenko may have overcome Russian political interference and dioxin poisoning to win the 2004 Orange Revolution in dramatic fashion, but he may now be losing the political war of attrition to hold on to power in Ukraine. On Monday night, Yushchenko, as President of Ukraine, ordered the dissolution of his country's single-chamber parliament, the Rada, to make way for elections in late May. However, the Rada, dominated by his opponents, refused to follow the order and the controversy is now headed for the country's Constitutional Court. In almost theatrical fashion, the man standing to benefit from...
...Yanukovych tent city is rapidly being deployed around the Rada and Cabinet buildings. But instead of orange, the dominant colors are the blue and white of Yanukovych's Party of the Regions. Defenders of the Orange Revolution are being mustered up as well, but under a divided leadership. Russian TV stations are sinisterly prophesying "the coming massive bloodshed in Ukraine." Kremlin leaders have no love for Yushchenko and his erstwhile ally Yuliya Tymoshenko; and it believes bloody clashes in Kiev would only serve to undermine further Yushchenko's hold on power...
...coalition of opponents to the government of Vladimir Putin, Kasparov has become Russia's most conspicuous political gadfly--a symbol of the sense that as the world prepares for the end of the Putin period (presidential elections are due to be held in March 2008, and under the Russian constitution, Putin cannot stand for a third term), all is not well in Russia. The Other Russia has been holding a series of protest marches, most recently in Nizhny, Novgorod, where the rally was broken up by police...
...chosen an interesting time to engage. Russia is at a fulcrum. Fueled by high prices for energy and raw materials, the economy is booming as it has not been in decades. Most Russian citizens live infinitely freer lives now than they did during the Soviet era of gulags and totalitarianism. But Russia's political system is dominated by a military-industrial-security complex, many of whose members (like Putin) have roots in the old KGB and seem determined to maintain control of the nation's natural resources for their own benefit. Kasparov doesn't believe Russia's leaders are readying...
...that seems unlikely to be Kasparov. He says he is merely a "moderator" between left and right. But he isn't taking chances. In a Russia where crusading journalists like Anna Politkovskaya have been shot, he travels with bodyguards. Russians must take responsibility for change, he says. All he wants from the West is an unequivocal message to the Russian ruling élite that "there will be consequences if they don't play by the rules...