ROFLMAO and then shaking head in disbelief. The propaganda flaks ae arguing that a county should put economic progress (real liberalism) ahead of national sovereignty and national security. What universe are they living in?
Alongside the much-vaunted support that Putin enjoys (in large part a creation of the state-run media) there are strong dissenting voices. Putin’s former Vice-Premier and Minister of Finance, Alexei Kudrin, is saying that Russia needs a rule-based political and economic system capable of providing for sustainable economic growth. Kudrin, who is now responsible for drawing up a new reform plan for Russia, recently tried to persuade Putin to ease geopolitical tensions in order to attract foreign investment. The former finance minister received a stern rebuttal from Putin who said that he would never bargain over Russia’s sovereignty. Putin has thus confirmed that his understanding of sovereignty and security takes precedence over any economic logic. He seems to consider it beneath him to deal with lowly economic issues.
One has to be very clear about the kind of building blocks that bolster Russia’s assertiveness: they include the primacy of absolute political sovereignty and the willingness to use force. These key concepts are brought up by Moscow’s state-controlled news media and top Russian politicians on a daily basis. Russia is building a new credibility on its readiness to use the country’s hard power; not soft power, trade power, or economic competitiveness. Led by the current political elite, Russia has decided against pursuing economic development or modernizing policies, seeing these essentially as compromises.
This person is supposedly an expert on international relations and foreign policy. Spare me.
HIs bio shows him to be a Russian liberal. The agenda of Russian liberals is for Russia to return to the Yeltsin years that almost destroyed it as country, ruled by oligarchs and mafiosi.
National priorities are sovereignty, security, order, welfare, and prosperity, in that order. The Kennan Institute and Wilson Center know this very well. The conclusion is that this a propaganda piece.
Kennan Institute Wilson Center
Everybody Wants To Be Great AgainMaxim Trudolyubov | Senior Fellow at the Kennan Institute and the Editor-at-Large of Vedomosti, an independent Russian daily. Mr. Trudolyubov was the editorial page editor of Vedomosti between 2003 and 2015. He has been a contributing opinion writer for The International New York Times since the fall of 2013.
Mr. Trudolyubov writes
The Russia File blog for the Kennan Institute and oversees special publications.
- See more at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/maxim-trudolyubov#sthash.v9yBO9ns.dpuf
