Posted on December 10, 2007 - by Venik

Russia’s liberals: the identity crisis

I just stumbled upon a remarkably-balanced article about Russian politics: “In Russia, a democratic message blurred“, by Nikolai Petro, US State Department’s former special assistant for policy on the Soviet Union under George H. W. Bush. It is not every day that in an American newspaper one encounters an intelligent thought about Russia’s political life.

The author talks about the fact that has been obvious to most Russians for several years now: the “liberal opposition” in Russia has completely discredited itself through its associations with foreign russophobes. When Russian “liberals” started seeking alliances with neo-bolshevik extremists, they lost whatever little support they had among the Russian intellectuals.

Today Kasparov and his foreign sponsors represent nobody in Russia. This sad group of political opportunists offers nothing beyond vicious criticism and empty rhetoric. Most Russian voters just got tired of this liberal circus. With the recent support from Putin for Medvedev, the “liberals” will see their remaining support evaporate.

Despite his close ties with Putin, Medvedev is seen by many as the most liberal presidential candidate. Most, however, did not believe he had a serious chance of winning the presidency. This has changed now: from an unlikely candidate Medvedev turned into the front-runner, with considerable support among the Russian business and intellectual elites. Kasparov and his cohort went from obscure to irrelevant almost overnight.

The checkmate for Kasparov is rapidly approaching. I am sure he can feel it. In the upcoming few months the “opposition” has no choice but to adopt even more erratic and extremist tactics. Foreign journalists in Russia are their only hope to remain in the headlines. If they are very lucky, maybe some Russian policeman accidentally cracks Kasparov in the head with a baton and the Western media can squeeze a few tears out of it.

It is truly remarkable how much contempt and petty hatred this accomplished and once widely-respected man has toward his country. If Kasparov really thought that politics was like chess, maybe he should have asked IBM’s Deep Blue for some advice.

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