Who Runs Russia, Anyway?

Who Runs Russia, Anyway?
http://trudolyubov.livejournal.com/47159.html

Published by the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times online, November 19-20. Maxim Trudolyubov, editorial page editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti, is currently a world fellow at Yale University.

"I’ve been in America for several months on a fellowship, and I’m often asked about Russia. Only the question is always the same: What is the relationship between Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev?..

... The key difference between Mr. Putin and Mr. Medvedev is that they work with different audiences.Mr. Putin’s audience is mostly people with a low to middle income who are dependent on the government for their salaries and pensions. Middle-aged and senior citizens — people who lived a large part of their lives as citizens of a great power — are well represented. Most of them watch television regularly.Mr. Medvedev’s base consists of people of middle and higher income. They live in cities, travel abroad and do not depend on the government for their income. People in their 20s and 30s are well represented. They cannot imagine a life without a market economy or modern technology. Many of them do not watch TV, but they do use the Internet extensively.Another important part of Mr. Medvedev’s audience is the international community. President Medvedev works “for export”; Prime Minister Putin, even when he speaks abroad, is talking for domestic consumption.This is a crude division. The two groups overlap. There are older people in Mr. Medvedev’s audience and younger people in Mr. Putin’s. But the groups are distinct. Hence the divergence between Mr. Medvedev’s and Mr. Putin’s comments on many issues — a difference that may seem political but is in fact tactical...

... Mr. Putin’s and Mr. Medvedev’s views may sound opposing because the two politicians are working to appease two different social groups. Power politics, pride in Russia’s entire history, taking a hard-line on foreigners — these are all winning points for Mr. Putin. Awareness of the country’s problems and a critical stance toward the role of the state in the economy are winning points for Mr. Medvedev.Mr. Putin’s audience is larger, as is his resource base. This is why Mr. Putin is doing more than he is saying, while Mr. Medvedev is saying more than he is doing. Mr. Medvedev’s role is to soothe the middle class and successful people who are frustrated with the government’s inefficiency and corruption. But this does not mean that he is allowed to act on his agenda. He is only allowed to voice it and publicize it, which does sometimes amount to criticizing policies of Mr. Putin’s presidency (no small feat in itself).Why? Mr. Medvedev’s audience is growing. More and more people are frustrated with corruption and inadequate public services. At the same time, Internet penetration of Russia is growing at 18 percent to 20 percent a year.Mr. Putin is well aware of this and encourages Mr. Medvedev to raise issues that are constantly debated in the blogosphere and across social networks. But Mr. Putin knows that his audience is much larger, and that most of it relies on television as its main source of information and opinion. This is why very little of what Mr. Medvedev says has any chance of being implemented. He is entrusted with control over discussion, not action. Mr. Medvedev’s comments resonate well with me. But after so many years of state-sponsored P.R. it is difficult to tell whether he sincerely believes what he is saying. If he is for real, Mr. Medvedev still has to prove that he means what he says.

NY Times about censorship at (Russian) St. Petersburg State University

Russian Professors Chafe at Scholarly Screening
Published: October 27, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/world/europe/28petersburg.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Word spread this month among the faculty members of St. Petersburg State University: According to a document signed on Oct. 1, they have to submit their work to administrators for permission before publishing it abroad or presenting it at overseas conferences.
The order, which was circulated internally and made its way onto a popular Internet forum, says professors must provide their academic department with copies of texts to be made public outside Russia, so that they can be reviewed for violation of intellectual property laws or potential danger to national security.
Administrators say they are simply bringing the university into line with Russia’s 1999 law on export control, passed after a decade in which some impoverished scientists sold strategic technology to foreign customers. But some professors are protesting, saying such a system is unheard of in Russian universities — and could be a step toward broader academic censorship...


Follow-up:

Major University in Russia Eases Fears on Rules
Published: November 1, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/world/europe/02russia.html?_r=2&hpw

MOSCOW — The authorities at St. Petersburg State University issued a statement last week announcing that researchers in the humanities and social sciences would not be required to submit to an export-control screening before publishing their work overseas, easing fears that new procedures would constrain academic freedom.
Professors at the prestigious Russian university raised objections in early October, when an internal university document was posted on a popular Internet forum. The document called for faculty members to provide copies of texts to be published abroad so that they could be reviewed for violations of intellectual property law or danger to national security.
Some professors responded with alarm, warning that bureaucratic barriers could hamper their efforts to publish and travel abroad, and fearing the requirement was a step toward greater academic censorship.
A statement released by the university on Friday explained that the export-control procedures applied only to research involving “dual-use technology,” nonmilitary techniques that could have military applications. Russia’s export-control law, passed in 1999, was intended to stem the flow of strategic research out of the country during the chaotic decade after the fall of Communism...

From RGE Monitor, edited by Nouriel Rubini - 10 statements written by Boetcker

William J. H. Boetcker, a Presbyterian minister, released a pamphlet titled "Lincoln On Limitations" (which did include a Lincoln quote) but also added 10 statements written by Boetcker himself:

1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong
3. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
4. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
5. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
6. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
7. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
8. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
9. You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
10 You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

Let ’s do something interesting with the OJB Facebook Group

Proposal of Paul Bradshaw:
Let’s do something interesting with the OJB Facebook Group

Posted using ShareThis

US diplomat (Vice-consul Robert Bond) organized an illegal demonstration in Moscow

Taken from here:
http://russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-11-02/us-diplomat-illegal-rally.html
US diplomat spotted at illegal rally in Moscow – report
Published 02 November, 2009, 13:17 Edited 06 November, 2009, 20:02

APTEA 2009 Congress in Belgrade newsletter by Garry Watts

Garry Watts wrote at APTEA Australian Program of Training for Eurasia) his
"Welcome to the APTEA 2009 Congress in Belgrade Newsletter"
http://www.aptea.info/newsletter-no-3-2009-congress-edition/

My photos from the Congress of 01-10 October are here
http://picasaweb.google.com/sergebrovko/APTEACongress2009BelgradeBySergeBrovko
Some my comments about the Congress will be on this blog a bit later.

So here is what Garry wrote:

Newsletter APTEA Congress 2009

A successful congress depends on the hard work of individuals and the support of good sponsors. The Congress in Belgrade had all of these things.

When Marija Sipcic first took on the job of organising the Congress in Belgrade by herself, she knew she had a lot of work to do. And, in typical fashion, she worked very hard and had everything more or less organised by the end of August. It was just as well because on August 25, after visiting the University in Bled, Slovenia, Marija and her partner, Tony, were involved in a serious car accident in which Tony lost his life and Maria was badly injured. She was taken to the Veterans Hospital in Belgrade where she had a number of operations and was only released temporarily on the day before the Congress was due to begin.

Despite Marija's initial inclination to postpone the Congress, it was really too late to do so and the decision was made to go ahead with the Congress. Marija is strong, mentally and physically, probably as a result of her mountain climbing experience, and she had very valuable help from her colleague, Kosta Ilic; her family Aleksandra and Jovana and Sandra's friend, Marko; plus there was help from Mateja and Mitja Kregar and Zdravko Cuk, all from Slovenia. I was able to help from Melbourne, thanks to the internet and to the enthusiastic support of Ros Smith. Finally, the management and staff of the Continental Hotel did all they could to assist us.

So despite all the difficulties everything was more or less ready for the Congress to start on time. Meanwhile, unbeknown to us, Marija's family had prepared name tags and Congress welcome packages containing T-shirt, decorative key holder and fridge magnet, both with the APTEA logo; plus there were lots of maps and other useful information. They also collected Congress participant fees on the first night, as many of the attendees had not been able to deposit their participation fee before the opening night. So we owe Marija's family a great vote of thanks.

SPONSORS

Fortunately, there was a surplus left over from the very successful Melbourne Congress and part of this surplus was used as seeding money for the Belgrade Congress. Therefore the sponsors of the Melbourne Congress were indrectly also sponsors of the Belgrade Congress.

We were fortunate to have as a major sponsor of the Belgrade Congress Halewood Wines, of which Val Resteman (Group 7, 1993) holds the position of Managing Director of Halewood Estates. Halewood supplied all the wine for the final night closing dinner and everyone agreed that the standard of wine supplied was excellent. Halewood Estates (Domenile Halewood) is part of the Halewood Romania Group, along with Halewood Wine Cellars (Cramele Halewood) and Halewood International Romania. Whilst Halewood Wine Cellars is processing grapes and is producing wine and Halewood Int Romania is dealing with the wine distribution and import -export operations, Halewood Estates, established in 2002, develops vineyard farms and manages the premium wine grapes production for Halewood winemaking.

THE CONGRESS - DAY 1

A you can see from the photo, we had a very good turn up with more than 70 participants attending at various times. The Congress opened on the Thursday evening with drinks and finger food in the New York Lounge at the Continental Hotel, Belgrade.

Unfortunately, Marija was not well enough to to get to the start of the Opening Ceremony so I had to take her place. It was my pleasure to introduce the Australian Ambassador to Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia, Her Excellency Clare Birgin, who welcomed us all on behalf of the Australian government and officially opened the 9th APTEA Congress, Belgrade. She spoke glowingly of APTEA and its fine reputation in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and wished us all well for the Congress.

For the rest of the evening, Fellows and guests mixed freely and re-newed friendships and acquaintances. Towards the end of the evening, Marija was well enough to appear briefly in her wheelchair.

DAY 2

Proceedings were opened for the day by the chairperson, Ros Smith of Swinburne University. Ros introduced three guest speakers from the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce, who introduced us to the Serbian economy and spoke of the enormous changes taking place there. The speakers were:
ALEKSANDAR MILOSEVIC, Secretary of the Center for SMEE Development
JOVANA NINKOVIC, Coordinator for EU Integration
JELENA CUPIN, Deputy Secretary of the Center for International Economic Relations

All speakers illustrated their points on overhead slides and we hope to get copies to send out before the next Newsletter.

Following a brief break for morning tea, the next speaker was Zoran Kostovski (APTEA Group 12 1994). Zoran is Australia's Honorary Consul for Macedonia. He delighted us all with his memories of his first awareness of and application for APTEA and his experiences since completing the APTEA Program. He ended his session by involving everyone in a hilarious 'Management Game'.

In the afternoon, Leon Zimmerman took over the role of chair of proceedings. Five presenters were each given the task at the presenting a topic of their choice to the group. The rules allowed for 20 minutes of presentation and ten minutes for questions. One of Leon's tasks as chair was to make sure that nobody went beyond their allowed time.

Presenters were:
Mihai Tudor - Management in economic downturn
Valery Gorokhov - What APTEA did for me
Roman Przybyl - Elektromontaz: a company turnaround case study
Serge Brovko - Inside an economic turbulence: preparing to live in a de-globalized world
Lena Theodoulides - The concept of trust in business relationships

After the presentations, all of which were excellent, members of the audience were asked to vote for the best presentation and votes were collected.

The next input for the day was the much-awaited address by Leon Zimmerman, continuing his theme of past Congresses of personal development and understanding. To read his address, open the attached file 'Thoughts and Beliefs'. (on APTEA web-site)

CHOOSING THE SITE FOR THE NEXT CONGRESS

The next item on the agenda was the very important discussion and vote for the location of the next Congress to be run in 2011. The group from Macedonia led by Zoran Kostovski put forward a very strong case to run the next Congress, probably at Lake Ochrid. Caught up in the enthusiasm generated, the Fellows in the audience voted strongly in favour of the next Congress being held in Macedonia. Over the life of the APTEA program there have been 10 fellows from Macedonia and four of them were at the Congress (Verica Hadzi Vasileva Markovska; Slobodanka Ristovska; Dragan Andrijevic; Zoran Kostovski). All have agreed to be a part of the Congress Organising Committee.

The Fellows from Russia would also have liked to run the Congress in 2011 but very graciously withdrew their nomination and indicated that they would like to run the following Congress in 2013. This nomination was also very warmly accepted by the audience. Further lobbying will need to take place in Russia as to whether the Congress will be held in Moscow, St Petersburg, the Crimea, the Far East, Siberia, etc., all of which would be desirable and exciting destinations.

A WALK AROUND BELGRADE

This Congress was not good for anyone wanting some rest! After a short break, Fellows gathered together for a one hour guided walking tour of Belgrade, starting at Knez Monument followed by a walk along the main promenade, also called Knez Mihailo, up to Kalemegdan (the Victory Monument).

The evening concluded with a dinner at "Putujuci Gliumci" (Traveling actors) on Skadarlija. This was a typical Serbian restaurant in the beautiful old part of Belgrade, famous for its beauty and restaurants. Fellows and guests were met at the door of the restaurant and offered a large glass of the Serbian equivalent of slivovic or plum brandy. Whatever it was, it was very strong and challenged even the hardiest of spirit drinkers. We were then served wine and a great variety of Serbian dishes - meats, breads, salads, etc. All in all a very satisfying meal! To spice up the night a group of musicians went from table to table, playing songs requested from them. Several Serbian and Russian songs managed to get the audience singing loudly and emotionally and generally a great time was had by all.

The stayers were back at the Continental Hotel well after midnight.

DAY 3 - EXCURSION DAY

If we thought Day 2 was a busy day, it was only a warm-up for Day 3.

After breakfast at the Continental hotel, Fellows were shepherded into a bus for a day-long excursion. First they drove through the new town of Belgrade and finally got off the bus in the area below Kalemegdan. Because I can no longer handle the steep steps required to get into tourist buses, Ninka and I were fortunate to be driven around by Blaz Udovic (Group 15, 1995), who had been at our official driver at the Congress in Slovenia.

On board the bus was an official guide who was able to point out the main sights and supply interesting information. The bus went past the following areas of Belgrade:
Dedinje Park
Terazije main street
St. Sava Church (second biggest Orthodox church)
Football stadium Patizan and Crvena Zvezda (Red star)
Ruins of Yugoslav army headquarters
Town Hall
Embassy Avenue
London Square

Finally the bus stopped at the bottom of the large hill which is the site of the Kalemegdan (Victory Fortress) and here we had the group photographs taken in front of Victory Monument.

From there, the bus drove to the Hotel Dunav on the bank of the River Danube, about 70 kms from Belgrade. Lunch was at the hotel, located in the wine producing region of Fruska Gora (National park). Once again we were treated to a Serbian feast with wine and music supplied. We sat at large tables with room for ten per table. As on the previous night, the musicians were able to involve the audience when they played popular, rousing Serbian and Russian songs.

After a hearty lunch, we strolled through the baroque town of Sremski Karlovci. This is a beautiful 17th-century town with the original houses, churches, shops, buildings etc and extremely beautiful. On the far side of the town we were welcomed for a wine tasting in the 350 year old wine cellar 'Zivkovic'. This was a very memorable experience and was followed by visit to a bee keeping museum, after which we strolled back to the waiting bus.

Then, on the way back to Belgrade through the very pretty Serbian countryside, we stopped to visit the capital of the autonomous region Vojvodina, called Novi Sad, where we walked around the open pedestrian precinct and had coffee in the beautiful surroundings there before setting off on the long trip home to Belgrade.

Back home in Belgrade at the Continental Hotel, it was time for the Closing Dinner. it was during the dinner that Marija made the farewell speech, thanking everyone for coming and thanking the sponsors for their fantastic efforts.

I then thanked Marija and all her helpers and the sponsors and in particular thanked Val Resteman for the wonderful wines that he and Carmen had brought all the way from Romania. It was generally agreed that the quality of the wine was outstanding. (See link to tasting notes below). I was also able to announce that Lena Vincencova had been judged, by a narrow margin, as the best presenter on the previous day. I also took the opportunity to thank Ambassador Birgin and the Australian Embassy for their generous support and contribution of the bottle of Australian wine to each of the presenters. I also thanked Swinburne University, Ros and Trevor Smith and Leon and Etti Zimmerman for their generous support.

The party finally finished well after midnight with the hotel staff maintaining their friendly and professional approach all the way to the end.

DAY 4 THE DEPARTURE

Because Belgrade is such a central location, several Fellows had driven their own cars, while others made their way to the local airport. That evening, after a nice long chat with Marija, Ninka, Vlasta and I had dinner at a most delightful fish restaurant called Saran (Carp). It was right on the bank of the Danube and gave us a delightful last experience of Belgrade.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I would like to thank all those intrepid photographers listed below for their contributions to this Newsletter which are greatly appreciated. And, finally, Marija and I would like to thank all those who came Belgrade and made the Congress such a great success.