Democracy's Acid Test: Bizarroworld (i.e., Russia)

Filed under: Russia

Writing in National Review, those were the concluding thoughts of Nixon Center director and National Interest publisher Nikolas K. Gvosdev on the question of the horrifying paradox that is now sweeping Russia: Russians are voting not to be democratic. They're voting for renewed cold war with the United States, for imperialism, for oppression. Surely, given Russia's size and military power, this is the greatest challenge the institution of democracy has ever faced, its acid test. To read a translation by of an article by Andrei Illarionov (along with his interview in Der Spiegel) concluding that Russia is becoming the new Zimbabwe, click here. To read more about the National Review piece, click the jump.

Gvosdev asks: Why do millions of Russians support an odious regime like that of proud KGB spy Vladimir Putin? He suggests: "The short answer, popular in the West, is that the masses have been drugged into complacency by a mix of Kremlin dominance of the airwaves and walking-around money provided by high energy profits." In other words, its the same answer we gave during the Cold War: Russians don't really want dicatorship, it's being forced upon them by a few bad eggs. Given the chance, they'll be friendly and democratic. Comforting thought, to be sure.

But what if we were wrong then and, as Gvosdev suggests, are wrong now too? What if Russia really was an "Evil Empire," as Ronald Reagan proclaimed it, with a majority of people who will actively or passively support a rogue neo-Soviet regime if they think they can get something out of it? Gvozdev states that 30% of Russia now owes its livelihood to "Kremlin Inc." -- the network of companies owned by the government. 75% agree that you cannot get accurate information from mainstream Russian media, yet will do nothing to change the situation as long as they personally continue to get their paychecks.

Gvosdev notes that, although they have the opportunity (at least for now), very few Russians are willing to publicly challenge the regime (those not bribed off are simply terrified by the string of murders within the opposition community). Thus:

The question about alternatives is also something we must address here in the West. There is a prevailing attitude, particularly on Capitol Hill, that "anyone but Putin" must be a better choice. And in the "Alternative Russia" (Drugaya Rossiya) coalition, there are some compelling figures whose commitment to Western-style liberal market democracy is beyond question -- among them, Putin’s former advisor Andrei Illarionov and former presidential candidate Irina Khakhamada. But there are also some troubling elements, too. Why U.S. conservatives would want to make common cause with groups like the "National Bolshevik party" -- whose emblem combines Nazi and Soviet designs, and which sends its skinheads into battle with the police -- or hold up the "Vanguard of Red Youth" as the best representatives of Russian democracy, is difficult to explain. Grigory Yavlinsky and the Yabloko party, the largest remaining liberal political force in the country, declined to take part in the marches this past weekend "due to fundamental political and ideological differences with the event organizers and our mistrust of them," according to their press statement. Yavlinsky went on to criticize the overbearing response of the authorities to the marches, but his concerns should raise some red flags here.

There are a few points Gvosdev unfortunately overlooks here. First, FDR had no problem being Stalin's pal to beat Hitler; such a practice is hardly unheard of, and the more crazed the Russian public's behavior, the more necessary it might be. Second, Gvosdev also might have mentioned that Yavlinsky's own party has been an utter disaster as an opposition force, so he hardly is in any position to give any advice to others as to how to best proceed. Third, he also neglects the fact that those he favors, like Illarionov and Khakamada, have not been the recipients of widespread support from the West (including Gvosdev's own organizations). The West is clearly making its own bed here, and soon will have to lie in it, just as it did when it underestimated the rise of Bolshevism in the first place.

The idea of facing a neo-Soviet Union in which it is clear a majority of Russian people themselves support a regime that provides weapons to rogue nations like Venezuela and Iran, financial support to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas, obliterates democratic values and provokes a new Cold War is to be sure a terrifying one. But if it is correct, it's one we'd better get used to if we want to win that war.

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