Russia falls short of G8 standards: UK think-tank

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 6/24/06 | Adrian Croft

[NormsRevenge]

LONDON (Reuters) - Russia does not meet democratic standards for membership of the Group of Eight and its leadership of the rich nations' club risks destroying the G8's credibility, a British think-tank said on Sunday.

Russia has gone backwards in its respect for democracy and civil liberties since it took over the presidency of the G8 in January, the Foreign Policy Center said in a report published before a Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg on July 15-17.

The Foreign Policy Center is an independent think-tank whose patron is British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's record is no longer in doubt," the report's author, Hugh Barnes, told Reuters.

"He has systematically dismantled Russian democracy and that very fact in some ways makes a mockery of the G8," said Barnes, director of the center's "Future of Russia Programme."

The report said the Russian economy -- expected to move up to 10th in the world this year from 12th -- was not big enough for the G8, intended to group the world's largest economies, and that Russia was neither politically nor economically free.

"Moscow's leadership of the G8 is in danger of reducing the group's credibility and relevance to zero," the report said, urging other G8 nations to develop a concerted policy "to force Putin to live up to his international obligations."

Putin has rejected similar criticisms of Russia's record on democracy in the past.

The report noted, however, that Russia holds the world's largest natural gas reserves and its oil reserves may equal those of Iraq. "As world energy demand grows ... Russia's wealth and potential power are certain to grow as well," it said.

The Group of Seven leading industrial democracies -- the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada -- have gradually integrated Russia since the early 1990s into their club to foster democracy and economic reform there. But the report said things had not worked out that way.

It rated Moscow against the G8's founding principles of democracy and economic stability, finding that Russia had failed to comply with G8 norms on open society and rule of law.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

California has a larger economy than Russia, with a smaller population and less natural resources (and not having a long, direct cultural history to draw a lot of tourists (though the movie industry draws a relatively large amounts) the way European countries do (France is the most popular tourist destination although it is much smaller than the United States)).

[G. Stolyarov II]

It is wise of the G7 countries to notice that Russia is not living up the standards of a free, economically prosperous country -- since its government has returned to a policy of statism, nationalization, expropriation, and political oppression. The Western world should send a stronger signal to Putin that he should liberalize or be cut off from ties with respectable Western powers.

I am
G. Stolyarov II
http://www.thebizofknowledge.com
http://www.panasianbiz.com
http://www.zhonghuarising.com
http://www.risingsunofnihon.com
http://rationalargumentator.com
http://rationalbusinessjournal.rationalargumentator.com

[GSlob]

"It is wise of the G7 countries to notice that Russia is not living up the standards of a free, economically prosperous country"
It cannot, even if it wanted to - having "open society and the rule of law" goes against the civilizational grain there.
"its government has returned to a policy of statism, nationalization, expropriation, and political oppression."
It is called "reversion to the norm", akin to the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Actually, it is a corollary of the 2nd law of thermodynamics, in application to the sociology of large systems.

[Paul Ross]

The money quote:

"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's record is no longer in doubt," the report's author, Hugh Barnes, told Reuters. "He has systematically dismantled Russian democracy and that very fact in some ways makes a mockery of the G8," said Barnes, director of the center's "Future of Russia Programme."

I wonder how long it will take before the Usual Suspects from the FSB show up to say, Move Along, nothing to see here....

[GSlob]

Well, there is indeed nothing new to see here - everything could have been expected and predicted. In other news: the second apple has fallen on the head of Sir Isaac Newton. 'This confirms the law of gravity', said the prominent scientist.

[Timedrifter]

What matters in the end is how the Russian people feel about Putin. After more than six years his popularity is resting near its all time high. The budget is in surplus and economic growth is over 6% for the fifth year running. We could only dream our president and Congress would have the fiscal restraint that has been shown by Putin. Considering the condition the country was in when he took office its no wonder his popularity is where it is. The anti-Putin brigade can crow all they wish but I believe Putin is one of only a few true statesmen in the word today. He will be the first Russian leader remembered fondly by his people in well over a century.

[Paul Ross]

What matters in the end is how the Russian people feel about Putin

Ah, a Usual Suspect so soon...I think we can take your standard and the polls they rest on with more than a grain of salt: As Putin arrests and prosecutes his enemies, silences opposition press, and destroys democracy. The Russian Sheeple all just bleat, and say, "Yes Master!"

[Timedrifter]

Ah, a Usual Suspect so soon...I think we can take your standard and the polls they rest on with more than a grain of salt: As Putin arrests and prosecutes his enemies, silences opposition press, and destroys democracy. The Russian Sheeple all just bleat, and say, "Yes Master!"

Nonsense! Do you really think the Russian people are not able to simply compare their lives today to what it was like 7 years ago? As for the "destoys democracy" and the rest, the same things are said by Leftists here in America about Bush. The fact of the matter is there is no difficulty finding anti-Putin viewpoints in the Russian media. Their mainstream television media is biased, then again so is ours. Yet just like here you have numerous cable channels to chose from in cities as well as thousands of non-establishment newspapers and periodicals.

[the invisib1e hand]

in application to the sociology of large systems.

yeah, except people aren't molecules.

[GSlob]

"yeah, except people aren't molecules."
The larger the crowd the simpler the behavior. People are self-conceited molecules in large crowds.

[the invisib1e hand]

The larger the crowd the simpler the behavior. People are self-conceited molecules in large crowds.

I see where you're coming from here. That people take leave of their autonomy in groups is a phenomenon. Thought you were making a blind application of mechanical science to the human soul, where no such application is fit.

[GSlob]

The math in the probabilistic matrices involved here is too hard even for Crays, but the basic conclusions are intuitively self-evident even without supercomputers: reversion to the mean, to the familiar [like old shoes] minimum of potential energy. And any disruption or perturbation [below the meaningful threshold] would tend to dissipate with minimal [and always forced] adjustments. And for conservative systems that threshold of meaningfulness is so high that in the terms of human societies it translates into nothing short of genocide.

[the invisib1e hand]

well, here you lose me. the beautiful thing about being human is the supernatural component.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Calvin Locke]

I think they were hoping Russia would progress towards the "G" standards, not regress.

Probably some of the "inside the tent urinating out..." POV too.

[GSlob]

Well, the complexity involved in these statistical calculations is so high [I am familiar with a few early attempts at sociological applications] that it is much simpler to ascribe [the results] to a supernatural component. But for those not buying into supernaturality "that people take leave of their autonomy in groups" is a perfectly predictable and explainable corollary of the perfectly natural laws. The larger the group, the more complex the math, and the simpler and more trivial the results. One could indeed use statistical thermodynamics here. Entropy tends to grow.

[the invisib1e hand]

the position that people are molecules is folly and denial.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Bump for later read.

[GSlob]

If you get good predictive power out of that position, it is all that counts. If the predictions hold true, it is neither folly nor is it denial. I will tell you a true story - an example of this methodology:
At my former workplace they were conducting an executive search for a "sweep" - SVP, senior vice president. A large office stood empty for many months, and nobody knew who or when would come to occupy it. So, a few months before they found their sweep, I predicted to my coworkers the nameplate they should be putting on that door: I had assumed an exaggerated facial expression of a prophet from bad movies, stared into the future with a hand with outstretched fingers extended towards that empty door, and in a sepulchral voice [I was overplaying it, I'm afraid] pronounced: " I see it... I see it... GREEDY A**HOLE". Well, several months later they found their sweep - and my prediction of what he was turned out to be so correct that a year later they had to squeeze him out.
Now homework for you: explain how that prediction was made possible. Additional information: I was NOT on the sweep search committee, and had no information link from them.