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Russia is on the front line of the coronavirus crisis in that it shares a very long territorial border with China/Asia. Nonetheless, many of its official reactions are similar to those in the United States.
Citizens are being told to self-isolate. New responsibilities, authority, and public prominence are being devolved to regional governors and mayors of large cities, particularly Sergei Sobyanian, the already accomplished and widely admired mayor of Moscow. And leaders at all levels are suddenly relying heavily on, and deferring to, the expert opinion of medical authorities and other specialists.
But at this moment in Russian history, something else is being tested: not only Vladimir Putin’s personal leadership but the efficacy of the political-administrative system he has created since 2000—the “vertical” stretching from the Kremlin to all of the regions and cities of the world’s largest territorial country. Though Putin and his evolving system have faced previous crises—in particular, the Chechen War—this is the most serious and ramifying.
The health crisis also comes amid a national discussion as to how—not if—Putin will remain the No. 1 leader after his constitutionally permitted two consecutive terms as president expire in 2024. Various solutions are being discussed, including constitutional changes that would eliminate such limits or create a new position for Putin and whether such changes would require a national referendum—and indeed whether one could be held given the health crisis.
Larger, long-term issues are also involved. How, for example, would further empowering Putin impact plans to democratize the political system by transferring more power from the Kremlin to the parliament (Duma). One proposal, apparently made with Putin’s support, had been to give the Duma the power to name Russia’s president. Whatever the outcome, it is notable that no public figures, including oppositionists, seem to be able to imagine an alternative to Putin himself at this time.
Nor is the role of the United States missing from the discussion. Increasingly, Russian public figures are drawing a parallel with the World War II US-Russian alliance against fascism and calling for such an anti-viral alliance today. But Even if President Trump understood this necessity and sought to act on it, as he should, it is not clear he would be permitted to do so in Washington.
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Prof Cohen,
Welcome back to both the UR and the John Batchelor Show with 21 February being your last appearances! I hope that the new ownership of WABC, your flagship radio station, will not impede your broadcasting. I hazard a guess that the new owner hopes to use it as a springboard for his future mayoralty ambitions. If so, play along since he (or almost anyone) would be an improvement over the present occupant.
Again, Ron Unz is to be commended for presenting your views outside the parochial confines of The Nation magazine.
It seems unlikely the pandemic will produce a détente between the global powers. It is already being politicized to create scapegoats and demonize rivals. More likely it will contribute to mankind’s entropic decline into nuclear war.
https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
“Nor is the role of the United States missing from the discussion. Increasingly, Russian public figures are drawing a parallel with the World War II US-Russian alliance against fascism and calling for such an anti-viral alliance today. But Even if President Trump understood this necessity and sought to act on it, as he should, it is not clear he would be permitted to do so in Washington”…nor is it clear what he should do, with or without such permission. Would it be an “anti-viral alliance” or an alliance against “anti-viral alliance” scaremongering? Does anyone in Russia (or anywhere) truly believe that the present moment factually parallels WW2? That another 25 million or so lives hang in the balance in the CIS alone today & maybe twice that many or more throughout the rest of the world? What the U.S. & Russia really need is an anti-nuclear alliance and an anti-climate-change alliance, each of which is exponentially more important than the doubtful distraction over the current “ramifying” corona “crisis”. Nonetheless, nice to hear from (or about) Russia again. Don’t forget to write!
We are constantly reminded by our “tunnel vision” media and the political establishment that Russia is an undemocratic dictatorship. A dictator’s leadership is never tested (see the headline) by minor thing like Covid19. Who is lying here?
Russia population ~140 million vs US 340 million
Check out disparity in total deaths…..
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/russia/
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
Russia is both a dictatorship and being tested by the fake pandemic: there is no contradiction. It’s also failing miserably, as is nearly every other nation that caught the emotional contagion.
They took early action which was laudable, but it seems this only delayed the spike; so this gives the Kremlin the precious illusion that it’s happening now, rather than it simply manifesting now, i.e. they think quarantine is more than ever needed to prevent infection.
Of course, the early action and the freedom to ride the metro and go shopping is what got everyone infected, so there’s nothing to be done about it now. But because they’re venal liars totally absorbed by propaganda, theirs and the West’s, they’re starting to do what Russian government do best in a crisis: crack down on the citizenry with total irrationality and impunity.
It’s just the beginning. They will probably drag it out til summer, impose mandatory vaccination if one becomes available, and arrest or at least fine you for not wearing a mask & gloves. Probably doing that now, but I’m not in Moscow at the moment. The pigs, or trash as they’re called here, are already arresting people for walking around even with “PPE”.
Two critical facts about the situation in Russia:
1) It is now Kremlin mandate to classify all cases of respiratory trouble as COVID-19
2) In nearly all statistics available about Russian cases, the ages are not listed at all, nevermind the totally predictable “comorbidities” – this, the better to scare Russians into “оставайтесь дома”; as everywhere, media are having a field day, heedless of nuance and fact
Russia is not however, a global power. There are 3, The US, China and the EU with wildly different configurations. The EU is about to surge forward due to the collapse in the oil price. Russia thought it had a future as a Chinese gas station. Turns out it will be a European farm. Turkey already has the cheap labour role sewn up with its future annexes in Syria and Iraq.
Putin blew it. He spent 20 years fighting Soros and all the Soros tentacles, with tremendous success, then he surrendered.
Why? Who exerted enough pressure to force him to sacrifice 20 years of HARD WORK?
I disagree. Putin knows he needs a long period of peace to modernize Russia’s infrastructure. So he’s ‘going along’ with the ‘plandemic’.
For much too long now Russians have told the joke ‘in Russia there’s no roads – there’s only directions’
As an aside, there may be some happy side effects of ‘playing along’ to wrangle some more social controls / reduction in civil liberties – to make it easier for himself and his successor to rule into the future.
Minor quibble, most of the Russian land mass is in Asia so this is a non-sensical statement. It would be like saying that the United Stated shares a long border with Mexico/North America which leaves the impression that somehow Mexico or the US aren’t in North America.
Actually , I think President Putin is taking this virus pandemic and testing his people in the administration. He is delegating responsibility and checking the depth of his colleagues and countrymen. He wants to know, that things can run without him being there 24/7. He wants to be just a normal retired Russian , a man that can get out and do whatever he wants. I can’t blame him one bit. Thanks Professor and Unz Rev.
I had been wondering about the playing along. Maybe the so called Russian vaccine is just a vodka shot, he hands it out for free and all Russians have a pleasant moment.
Anyway, the argument that opposing the plandemic is a risky business which could lead to worse, that directing it is strategically more wise, and could even be utilized in the good sense does make some sense, we will see about it. On the other hand, it is also risky business which could get out of control. I am sceptical.
Stephen Cohen was one of America’s best Russia scholars.
F.
R.I.P Prof Cohen. Peace and reason have lost a champion.
Nearly 18 months later, the thesis expounded by Prof Cohen seems absurd. It is much better applied to most Western states, rather than Russia.
Most of the commenters range from the misguided to the deluded. Poor old Phil Owen takes the biscuit as usual. The unhinged Welsh Euromaniac windbag produced this classic.
I do hope his doctor has upped the dosage of his prescription !
Hmmm… so this coronavirus with a 99% percent survival rate can only be defeated by:
The consolidation of state and corporate power
The strip-mining of personal liberties
The mandating of masks, social distancing, and stay at home orders
The outlawing of criticism of public health officials, big pharma, and uncensored speech
The deification of science, and the banning of debating or questioning it
The proliferation of contact tracing digging into the communications, associations, and actions of all Americans
The destruction of the world’s economy, supply chains, and work ethic – and the coming famine that will surely cause
And the forced injections of untested gene altering concoctions into the veins of every person on the planet?
The hell with it, I’ll put up with the virus, thanks.
http://tritorch.com/folly
A breaking report from the Pentagon has confirmed that the United States has worked collaboratively with Ukraine by providing the country with security, safety, and disease surveillance for 46 Biolabs in the country.
https://welovetrump.com/2022/06/10/breaking-the-pentagon-admits-to-46-biolabs-in-ukraine/?utm_source=PTN&utm_medium=mixed&utm_campaign=PTN
Putin is in on the script with the go slow fake war in the Ukraine and the same goes for COVID and he is in the pockets of the bankers in the far away little bit of land just like Trump and all our other leaders.
1. When Israel bombs Syria, Putin turns the S400s off
2. Gas/Oil sold to Europe even when it’s used to produce weapons sent to kill Russian in the Ukraine
3. Nuke power station under Russian control still sends power deep into the Ukraine
Bit too bloody late for Putin to mumble about 9/11 being a false flag or pretending not to know about the American Bio-labs not just in the Ukraine but all over the world.
The Putin puppet is also running with the monkey pox story just in case you thought he had gone off script a bit.
Even though I’m very much a Putin fanboi, its sadly true that his feet contain substantial amounts of clay. Please do better Vlad!
The fake Pandemic are made up by the Genocide organization UN.
I hope Mr Putin will realize that. The Genocide intended to wipe out 6 billion humans have already started.