Richard Sakwa. Putin. Russia’s Choice (Second Edition). Routledge, London, 2007

Richard Sakwa. Putin. Russia’s Choice (Second Edition). Routledge, London, 2007.
DK 510.763.S247 2007
ISBN 978-0-203-40766-3

Richard Sakwa needed to exculpate his sin (stating, with many caveats and excuses, that something positive can be possible in Russia), so he produced second edition of his book, re-written in extremely disdainful and haughty manner. He also purged the second edition of some of his rash 2004 pronouncements, for instance, that Russians given their problems in Chechnya look with shock and awe at the quick and easy victory achieved by American military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The author, like the rest of the Kremlinologist tribe, uses oral sources only from fringe opposition groups: views of mainstream journalists or politicians are not given any credence or are dismissed as government propaganda. But these people (Kasparov, Kasyanov, etc.) perform exactly the same role vis-à-vis Russia as the pro-Moscow Communists played in the Western scene during the Cold War. I.e., for a small fee from a Big Brother, they provided informational fodder, which was subsequently recycled for domestic agitprop. In an inverted post-Cold War world, different American and EU agencies similarly pay, as they think, to dupe Russians but mainly manage to deceive their own policymakers.

Another, peculiarly Anglo-Saxon habit is to compare real conditions in Russia or other “barbarian” nations with some earthly paradise called Pepperland in Octopussy’s little garden beneath the waves, rather with similar situations in other nations, including one’s own. Nobody, who witnessed enthusiastic support by the “free media” of the Bush-Blair propaganda campaign to sell the Iraq war, must judge media freedoms in other lands as wanting.

Yet, Sakwa’s book stands above all the rest and still contains a lot of accurate information and valid insights. I can certainly agree with his conclusion that current constitutional arrangement is a stopgap measure and it may develop in different directions. Russian Constitution is 13 years old, the same age as American was at the beginning of Jefferson Presidency. Practically every state, which came out of totalitarian past (Germany, Italy, Japan) had, for the protracted period, or has “one-and-a-half” party system, moreover, the duration of this semi-monopoly was inversely proportional to the level of development of democratic institutions before the dictatorship. The near future of Russian political system will depend on whether Russia’s Unity will retain a similar role in the political process.