What if Medvedev’s Serious?
We’ve heard so many empty promises and ritual BS from our own politicians that it might just be the right time to take new Russian President Dmitri Medvedev at something resembling face value. Imagine, if only as a mental exercise, that he even sort of means any of this:
Describing the eight years of Putin’s presidency as a “strong foundation” for growth, Medvedev said his priorities would include defending civil rights and raising living standards.
“I fully understand how much needs to be done,” he said, “to make the state genuinely fair and attentive to citizens and to guarantee the highest living standards, so as many people as possible can join the middle class, get a good education and quality health care services.”
Returning to a theme from his election campaign, Medvedev promised to strengthen rule of law, which he said was necessary to stop corruption and encourage growth.
“We must achieve true respect for the law and overcome legal nihilism, which seriously interferes with development today,” he said, singling out the problem as one that needed “special attention.”
A lawyer by training, Medvedev first used the term “legal nihilism” in a January speech that marked the beginning of his election campaign. Boosting the rule of law was also a favorite Kremlin theme during the early years of Putin’s presidency, when Putin called for a “dictatorship of the law.”
I recognize that this is a long quote from The Moscow Times. But, again, it’s not as if the mainstream American political press isn’t transparently biased too, probably more so every day. Anyway, if I had to draw up a shortlist of things it’s vital for Russia to do, I’d add ‘just say no’ to the list Medvedev just provided and be done with it. I’m most captivated by his attack on ‘legal nihilism’ — because, after all, even a dictatorship of the law is a dictatorship, and as we’ve known since Plato, dictatorship is the HOV lane to nihilism.
Probably now is also the time to mention that as a rule I think those of us trying to restart an adversarial relationship with Russia are making the world’s most serious mistake. If we lose Russia, we lose the whole game of post-9/11 world politics. American interests are directly harmed the weaker and more paranoid Russia becomes. If we help Russia become a flourishing power, and give it the room to breathe that this requires, we will be doing ourselves a favor, too. But really doing this well requires ensuring that Europe has its own act together. I admit this is a way too brief survey of my Eurasian geopolitics. More later.