As President Putin has slowly but surely been wiping away any real democratic freedom in Russia, one of his economic advisors has been regularly signaling the alarm bells. It is now so bad that lone voice has resigned. Brussels Journal has all the details.
2006: Russia Returns to Dictatorship
Four months ago the Brussels Journal published a piece about Andrei Illarionov, the chief economic adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Illarionov had surprised his fellow members of the Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) at a meeting in Reykjavik when he warned them that his boss was abolishing economic and political freedom in Russia. This, he said, was obvious in a number of areas: The Russian authorities are reaffirming their stranglehold on the economy. They have effectively nationalized the oil and gas industry. The bureaucracy and the military are on the rise. The rule of law is diminishing.
Mr Illarionov’s resignation comes as an embarrassment to President Putin because next Sunday Russia will assume the presidency of the G8, the Group of Eight industrial nations. Illarionov was dismissed from his position as Russia’s envoy to the G8 early this year after he had criticized the nationalization of the oil and gas industry – a move which, he said, showed that Russia had been infected with the “Venezuelan disease.†Yesterday Illarionov added that Russia now also suffers from the “Saudi disease.†He defined this disease as the use by a country of its energy exports to pressure other states. In his words, Russia’s energy reserves have become “a weapon.”
This does not bode well for the world, but continues, BJ argues, because Western Europe has “turned a blind eye.” Read the whole thing.
Interesting article. It seems the local nations (Ukraine, etc.) were paying prices below the global market for energy. This would have been a remnant of the old controlled economy, and the tale is a cautionary one: Once you get addicted to government controls and subsidies, it’s immensely difficult to break the habit. Rightly or wrongly, the politicians are quick to respond to any economic disruption by asserting greater government control. That’s what the populace seems to beg for. You remember the recent global spike in oil prices that sent local gasoline prices through the roof? Everyone was suddenly screaming about the oil company profits, and Congress was quick to respond, even though I don’t think the oil companies did anything wrong in this situation. (This is not to say the corporations are angels or anything; they’d sell their mother if they could get a buck out of the deal. But I’m not willing to let the government seize control of the economy because I’m mad at some businesses.) Consider the screams you hear from self-proclaimed defenders of civil liberties in response to, for example, the Patriot Act. They express concern, which is worthy of discussion, about whether we are losing essential protection from being searched and harassed. But you notice that those same “defenders” couldn’t care less when you’re stripped of your economic freedoms; when you’re taxed and regulated and your private property is controlled. And they also don’t care when you lose your right to self-defense. They’re very selective, these “civil rights” crusaders. I wish there was a truth in advertising law, so we could force the ACLU to change its name to something more accurate, such as “Alliance of Criminal and Leftist Uglies”. Hmmm, what was I saying? I seem to have meandered far from my point, if indeed I ever had one. Never mind!
Putin doesn’t think the cold war is over. Is he still angry that the U.S. helped defeat the Russians in Afgahnistan? He is acting like an enemy (selling anti-aircraft missiles to iran). This guy has a serious hate for the U.S. when Russia should be working together to fight islamoterrorists.
The saying goes, “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. Let Putin find out the hard way.
As so unfortunately often is the case in Russia: meet the new Tsar, same as the old Tsar.