Because the best things in life are free.

 
The Straw Destined to Break Russia's Back?

Russia's youth may be coming of age. The Russia they have grown up with is not that of Lenin or Stalin and "cold war". Instead, Russia's Generation Y have grown up in the age of rampant corruption, organized crime, and an ever more divisive war in Chechnya. But nothing has captured their attention like the attempted murder of German Galdetsky. Moscow is already on edge after a terrorist bomb attack punctuated the Metro rush hour in February. With police instructed to scrutinize "suspicious persons", it appears that German was attacked by members of the "thin blue line", Russian-style. He lies now in a coma, along with another reporter who had attempted to research the story. As the BBC reports, over 40 chat-rooms have popped up with the sole intent of discussing young German's fate. After three weeks, the Ministry of the Interior, the ministry ultimately responsible for the police, ordered a special commission to investigate the misconduct.

Still it's hard to explain how German became such a hero to Russia's future. Unlike Britain or the United States, the Kremlin criticized the American invasion of Iraq. In addition, high school men have become inured to years of conscription and the prospects that until the conflict in Chechnya is resolved, life in the army could feel no different as under the Soviet Union. The richest man in the country, Mikhail Khorodovsky, will stand trial for irregularities in running the privatized oil firm Yukos.
Yet in the face of all this, one man's campaign to expose police corruption has everyone up in arms.

Yet perhaps this is exactly the point. Studies of black riots during the 1960s suggest that communities often seemed to explode for no apparent reason. After enduring police brutality for sometimes months at a time, neighborhoods would erupt over something as simple as a traffic stop. Instead of riots being the product of escalating relations between the authorities and African-Americans, riots seemingly began when there was a "straw that broke the camel's back". Yet there's no question what impact the black riots had on America...but what about a Russian youth riot?

Remember that Russia sits in a odd position compared to the rest of Europe. It's population is shrinking, while it's infrastructure is growing. It's markets are liberalizing and it's diplomatic stature has been enhanced by the Bush Administration. An at bottom, Russia sits on the world's most lucrative timber and natural gas markets. If the youth decide to flex their muscle older generations may be stuck. Even German himself was a math student who would likely work in a growing higher paying scientific jobs. And ever so belatedly on Friday the Interior Ministry vowed to descend into not just the depths of the Moscow subway, but also the dark heart of police corruption and the increasing animosity of Russia's youth.




posted by Thomas at 6:09 PM 0 comments