> Dissent beginning to spread across Russia as crisis bites
>
> By Shaun Walker in Moscow
> The Independent (UK)
> Monday, 2 February 2009
>
> The Kremlin's rule is beginning to look much shakier than at any time
> since Vladimir Putin came to power, after a series of protests in cities
> across its vast landmass this weekend by Russians disgruntled about the
> economy. And as the country starts to feel the effects of the global
> credit crunch, there are also signs of a growing rift between Prime
> Minister Putin, and his hand-picked successor as President, Dmitry
> Medvedev.
Hilarious. The Anglo-American commentariat is still good for one thing: a good post-American laugh. Neoliberalism lies in smoking ruins, market fundamentalism has destroyed the entire US banking system, so what to do? Indulge in neocolonial fantasies about Russia!
Let's count the Orientalist tropes: "Kremlin's rule" (never mind things like Presidents or elections), "came to power" (Putin was elected twice), "series of protests" (there have been protests in Russia for 17 years), "vast landmass" (cue to garish fantasies of Asiatic hordes), and "hand-picked" (never mind the fact Medvedev is a trained lawyer and had years of executive experience running Gazprom, one of the titans of the energy biz).
-- DRR