June
2008 Issue
Dmitry Medvedev is young and powerful, but
can the new Russian president escape his predecessor’s shadow?
Mystery. That is the best description of new Russian President
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev. Although no one outside of Russia
really knows much about him, the global media didn’t
hesitate to portray him as nothing less than a pawn to the
outgoing president and new Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin.
Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow. Inauguration of Dmitry Medvedev
as President of Russia. (The Kremlin)
Medvedev is another figure to add to the collection of “post-“ leadership.
As American Sen. Barack Obama has been branded as a “post-civil
rights leader,” Medvedev is considered “post-Soviet.” Different
from his predecessor, the 42 year-old was never a member of
the KGB, the long time intelligence wing of the former Soviet
Union nor does he have the network ties to the old socialist
state.
In fact, Medvedev was still in school at the time of the Soviet
Union’s fall, earning his PhD from Leningrad State
University. He didn’t rise up the old ranks of the
Soviet Union industrial and military infrastructure, but
started out as a legal expert in the new Russia. He would
later catch the political eye of Vladimir Putin and run the
latter’s presidential campaign in 2000.
Once Putin won the presidency, he made Medvedev his chief of
staff, a role that would spring board him to First Deputy Prime
Minister and a host of many other high level positions. A loving
husband and doting father, Medvedev doesn’t hide his
softer side when speaking about his wife Svetlana. "In
seventh grade, Sveta came into my life and I stopped caring
about school," Medvedev said in a previous interview. "It
was much more fun to walk with my future wife than to sit with
my textbooks."
Dmitry and Svetlana “Sveta” Medvedev.
(Photo by the Presidential Press and Information Office)
But with all that said, no one knows what to expect from him
as a leader. The world is morphing right before his eyes as
Iran is attempting to attain nuclear weapons, China’s
economy continues to grow at a rate of 10% annually, the United
States mulls over a possible indefinite presence in the heart
of the Middle East all while facing economic unrest, and natural
disasters claim thousands of lives in both the Western and
Eastern hemispheres.
During the Boris Yeltsin days, Russia was in the midst of regaining
its dignity and the United States made nice in this effort.
Putin on the other hand, came in preaching the praises of a
democratic Russia. Once he was elected though, observers began
to witness the strong difference between Putin and Yeltsin’s
leadership styles. Human rights suspicions and accusations
of corruption were beginning to rise like yeast. Accounts of
police officers in Moscow taking bribes from citizens running
red lights to stories of disappearing or poisoned government
officials huddled the headlines.
Putin’s Russia was physically appearing to be a hyper-Westernized
state, on its surface, but resembled a place of villainy and
nostalgic Soviet aspirations in its underbelly. Opposites similar
of Wasmund’s American single malt whiskey and Russian
vodka, U.S. President George W. Bush’s aggressive stance
towards Iran put the U.S. at odds with Putin’s administration.
Old Cold War alliances paired the Soviet Union on the side
of Iran while the United States worked to fully fund their
opposition, the Afghan Mujahideen in the Reagan years of the
1980s.
After the Soviet Union’s collapse, Russia continued its
ties to its Iranian allies through mutual interests and trade.
It’s been no secret that Iran’s government led
by its president and mouthpiece Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is in
the business of trying to build up their nuclear credentials.
The United States in turn, has vowed not to let such a day
happen, regardless of who their next president is. The U.S.’ foreign
policy doesn’t sit well with Russia. In an interview
with the Real News Network, Eric Margolis, contributing editor
for The American Conservative and Sun Media stated, “The
threats are going back and forth. Russia is now getting up
off its knees, it's standing up again, it's reasserting its
traditional interests, and it's saying to the US, ‘Wait
a minute, you can't go charging into Iran’--Very important
trading partner for Russia, as well as a country of enormous
strategic interest.” 
President Medvedev (r) and Prime Minister Putin (Photo by the
Presidential Press and Information Office)
Paul Jay, editor of The Real News Network, stated in his interview
with Margolis, “Now, one of the questions Medvedev is
going to have to deal with immediately is Iran. Russia has
big investments in Iran. They're helping the Iranian nuclear
energy program. They were just shipping nuclear energy equipment
of some kind to Iran just recently. If there is a US attack
of some kind on Iran or even just the continued efforts to
diplomatically isolate Iran, Russia more and more is in a place
of confrontation with US policy.”
U.S. oil companies aren’t the only one’s watching
their profits soar this quarter. With oil barrel prices breaking
new records daily [it’s now hovering at $131 per barrel
at the time of this article], the Russian government that Medvedev
has inherited is becoming filthy rich off of the rising prices
of oil, all at the expense of the West.
“Putin's comeback and his strength in rebuilding Russia is thanks
in part to the US invasion of Iraq. So it's in part the Russians'
interest to keep the pot stirring and to keep Iraqi oil off
the market, which is happening. But in the longer-term, Russia's
got to react strongly to a growing and permanent US presence
in Iraq and the heartland of the Mideast,” said Margolis.
Since taking over on May 7, 2008, Medvedev has done everything
but appear to be Putin’s puppet. Immediately taking the
reigns with conviction, The Moscow Times has declared that
Medvedev has already started off at a faster pace than his
predecessor in taking on the good, the bad, and the ugly. He
was eager to work with Chinese President Hu Jintao to provide
disaster relief for the people of China in the wake of the
devastating earthquake and its still looming aftershocks. During
his visit to China, Medvedev said, “Russia was quick
to respond, sending humanitarian aid, rescue workers and
doctors to the stricken regions. We will continue to provide
help if
needed. It could not possibly be otherwise, because between
friends, who always stand together, relations should be precisely
of this kind.”
It’s been reported that he also plans to provide $170
million for the expansion of the Pushkin Art Museum, but Amnesty
International is seeing signs that Russia has other things
in common with China as they push Medvedev to boost his country’s
attitude towards human rights.
In a memorandum to the president, the London based-group
stated, "A
number of serious patterns of violations persist and in some
cases have worsened in recent years. Amnesty International
looks to you as the president of Russia to initiate a sea-change
in direction in terms of freedom of expression in Russia."
As he gets more comfortable in his new office in the Kremlin,
the world will be closely watching for significant differences
between him and his predecessors as well as his stances on
the crucial issues that dominate this ever-changing world.
A relaxed Medvedev
(Photo by the Presidential Press and Information Office)
Even as the world tries to figure out just who
he is, Medvedev’s tastes
and offered advice remind you that he’s more than the president of an
emerging nation, in fact, he’s a regular guy from Leningrad. “If
you really want to, you'll find the time to raise your children and listen
to music. Everything else is just laziness. You can always use your own laziness
as a pretext and say that there's not enough time for everything. Rock, jazz,
and classical music are all part of one and the same musical process. One
should also read good books - a real way to relax - and then everything will
go well.”
Cover picture property of the Russian Presidential Press
and Information Office
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