Making the Same Mistake Twice: Wealth and Power in Russia

Filed under: Eastern Europe

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) released a report on Russian poverty earlier this week. In it, even Kremlin sycophant Sergei Mironov, Russia's equivalent to the American U.S. Senate Majority leader, admits: "Objective indicators and scientific studies show worsening of human potential in Russia over the last 15-20 years. The negative trend can be seen across the board, from education levels and qualifications to health and life expectancy. This entails a decline in living standards of our people, and it undermines prospects for economic development, which is the basis for solving social problems." Yet, the moronic Russian people, who are literally being killed off by the Kremlin, continue to favor it with 70%+ approval in polls and do not demand any credible opposition candidates in elections. Despite having made this statement, Mironov has called for the dictator Vladimir Putin to remain in office indefinitely, with legislative blessing!

The UNDP report: "Only about a quarter of the country's population lives in the regions with a Human Development Index score above the national average." That means that three-quarters of the nation is below average, and that the average can be maintained only by having a tiny group of ultra-privileged people, just as in Tsarist times. As a nation, Russia ranks #65 out of 177 nations surveyed on the UNDP's most recent index of national development, well behind such countries as Malaysia, Bulgaria and Uruguay -- a truly shocking fact when you realize that Russia's gross GDP as a nation is in the world's top 10. This bespeaks utter failure on the part of the Russian government to serve the needs of Russia's people, yet the people do not call the government to account. In other words, to put it bluntly, they deserve their suffering. The fact is, most Russians will never even hear about the UNDP report because they have allowed their government to seize control of virtually Russia's entire media establishment; the Kremlin-controlled media will naturally not report facts which could undermine its own power. Russia's insulation from basic facts was a key element in the downfall of the Soviet regime, yet Russians are allowing that exact same situation to be recreated.

The report states that 60% of Russia's regions have poverty rates higher than 20%. This polarization of wealth has a huge impact at the most basic level of mere survival. The report states: "Life expectancy in the most developed regions, Moscow (71) and the Tyumen Oblast autonomous districts (68), is much higher than the country's average (65). In the least developed regions life expectancy indicators remain very low: the Republic of Tyva -- 56, Chita, Amur and Pskov oblasts -- 59-60 years. An extremely high level of mortality among men -- an acute gender issue in Russia -- is the major reason for low indicators in this area." Russia ranks #115 out of 177 nations surveyed by UNDP for life expectency.

According to the report, tuberculosis is running rampant in poorer areas, whilst AIDS is ravaging the wealthier ones.

Sexism is going hand-in-hand with wealth disparity:

Gender inequality remains evident in politics and income distribution. Higher income levels in a region tend to entail a larger gap between average wages of men and women and, vice-versa, this differentiation is minor in regions with lower income levels. Another problem is an extremely low representation of women in government: only one region in ten has a level of female representation in the parliament above 20 percent, while in about a quarter of regions this indicator is less than 5 percent or none. As a rule, there are more women in the parliament in bigger and wealthier regions.

Once again, we see Russia plunging down the road to elitism, with a tiny minority in Moscow and St. Petersburg hoarding vast quantities of the nation's wealth while a huge underclass is oppressed, as if Russia learned nothing at all from the Tsarist period. The graphic above shows the stark reality that Sri Lanka, with a per capita GDP far below that of Russia, has a human development index score nearly identical to that of Russia, meaning that Sri Lanka is using its national resources to benefit the population far more effectively than Russia is. And even while this happens, Russia is also plunging down the road to dicatorship, empowering a KGB regime in the Kremlin as if it had learned nothing from the Soviet period. This even includes the boldest and most provocative gestures of the cold-war era, creating a competition with Western nations that Russia cannot even wage coherently, much less win. From Estonia in the Baltics to Venezuela across the sea, Russia is directly confronting basic Americann security interests and inciting a new arms race, while its vast, sick and impoverished population is left to pay the price.

Russia appears to be a doomed nation.