From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 10/27/2005 4:16 AM
Putin Tired of Working
By Marina Tokareva The Moscow News
Says a French expert on Russian affairs
 
A persona non grata in the Soviet Union and a welcome guest in new Russia; an expert on Russia, an authority for university students, and a consultant to presidents; a democrat by persuasion and an aristocrat by blood; a French woman of Russian descent; an intellectual, leader of the "immortal," perennial secretary of the French Academy, Helene Carrere d'Encausse has just completed her latest book, L'Empire d'Eurasie. It spans four centuries of Russia's political history - from the moment the empire began to evolve until its evolution into a democracy.

Why have you written this book right now?

In large part because there is an extensive debate going on in the West over whether Russia is ready to abandon its imperial thinking and ambitions.

I suppose it is not easy to forget that the country was once a great empire; it is not easy when your neighbors don't like you any more (e.g., Georgians or Ukrainians); and it is not easy when so many people dream about the past that has been lost. Yet, different type of relations are emerging. Furthermore, Russia was the only empire that was able to live in peace with Muslims. Even after Ivan the Terrible or Peter the Great banished Islam, the Russian people got along with Muslims pretty well. Russians have a good knowledge of non-Europeans and herein lies Russia's strength. Armed with this, it can even get over the loss of an empire.

What do you think about Russia's current problems, its ruling authority which remains Russia's main problem?

First, the relationship between the ruling authority and the people has not improved. Second, Russia's entire political and administrative life today is built on endemic corruption. Third, there are elites in Russia, people with an excellent education and upbringing, but they do not know what to do in politics.

I must say that I do not understand very well what is happening with Putin. When he came to power, he was very good at analyzing Russia's problems, obviously striving to go further. Today, it is difficult to understand how his socio-political program will be carried out. I hope it does not mean that the state will once again place everything under control. It is enough that Khodorkovsky is in prison!

Many people in the West say that Putin will stay in power for 20 years, playing all sorts of tricks with the Constitution, while he himself is saying more and more loudly that he will not stay for the next term, thus cutting off escape routes. This is interesting since after all is said and done, it must be very comfortable to be in power. But I rather suspect that he is already tired of working. He goes to different places a bit too often and practices sport a little too much.

He seems to have run out of steam - I don't know why.

Maybe because the project, codenamed "Successor", has already gotten underway?

Everyone keeps wondering who his successor is going to be. People in the West have trouble understanding that Russian history has never been democratic, that the Soviet era rooted out all changes, that three generations of people were cut off from the rest of the world, and that there was no historical memory. I remember some people at Moscow State University, where I read a course of lectures, thought that serfdom had been abolished by Lenin. People in the West do not understand that 15 years is too short a time to build anything after this.

Yet history can be unexpected. When Boris Yeltsin came to power, who could have expected him to know exactly what to do? Gorbachev told me: "He did what he did simply because he wanted to take my place." So what? What he did was incredible. No one expected him to do that. People had great expectations for Gorbachev, but he did not dare go to the end. So let us hope that the successor [to Putin] will live up to expectations.

How do you view today's relationship between France and Russia?

There are two levels. On the political, official level, it is fairly good. Russia is considered to be our big ally; we have an anti-U.S. troika (which, I believe, is not quite balanced and reasonable). But French society has a far less sympathetic view of Russia. French people believe that Russians - and it is our media and our elites that are to blame for this - are slow and not as democratic as we are. (Incidentally, we, purportedly good democrats, elected our president three years ago by an 82 percent vote: This is simply indecent, just not good enough.) But people in France say Russia is no longer building democracy: Consider Chechnya. Open any [French] newspaper, and you will read that Chechens are not the kind of terrorists that they are made out to be.

This may sound a bit harsh, but I get the impression that our elites are irked by the fact that Russia has extricated itself from Communism on its own, without any outside assistance.

Are you talking about the so-called gauche caviar [a French term to describe someone who claims to be a socialist without feeling the need to espouse an appropriate lifestyle]?

Yes, them and our former communists who have turned anti-communist. Public opinion in France is shaped by the media, while the media is influenced by the left. Dyed-in-the-wool anti-communists are especially terrible if they are former Communists. Furthermore, many Russia experts dislike Russia.

Do you see an onslaught of censorship in Moscow?

Yes, we see that Russian television reports on every step that Putin takes, to the exclusion of all else. But then French television is so PC that it is simply a nightmare. We have laws that not even Stalin could have devised. A person risks being sent to prison if he says that there are too many Jews or blacks on television. People may not speak their minds on ethnic groups, World War II, and many other things. This is a statutory offence.

Here is one example: We at the French Academy award prizes to books that we consider interesting. Last year, we awarded a prize to a person who had written an in-depth study on slave trade. The French Senate also gave him an award. But then a female MP demanded that he be put on trial for violating a law that she initiated two years before. Under this law, all issues related to the history of colonization, deportation, and Africans may only be covered from a certain perspective. So the author of this historical study will go on trial because he was allegedly not critical enough of the colonial system. How is that for a democracy?

Political correctness on French television is probably the same as media censorship in Russia. But Russia has some terribly interesting newspapers, while in France, all major newspapers write more or less the same stuff.

I love France. It is a good country. But a good democracy is rare. Russia, which is only learning democracy, needs time. It extricated itself from communism, which required much energy. It is changing. I can see the tragedy of those who are unable to enter into the new era, and I admire the energy of those who can take responsibility for their own lives. I know how difficult it must be for Russia, and how easy it is to give advice when you are in Paris. But Russians are a heroic people.

Could you talk a little about your Russian roots?

My predecessors played a real role in history: They brought Catherine to the throne and they bumped off Paul. My predecessor Orlov gave Russia the Crimea. All of them were part of Russia's political life.

This is why you chose it as a subject for your studies?

Up to a point. My generation grew up in Europe, divided in two. I spoke Russian, but the Soviet Union seemed to be an insulated, off-limits continent, and that intrigued me greatly. There were periods when I was bored having to watch which Politburo members were sitting in the front row. But then in 1988, I said: "How exciting! Everything I know does not exist anymore. I have to start from the beginning. Russia has returned to history!"

And what place did it occupy there?

As a unique country, a bridge between Europe and Asia, which has all that it takes to influence all historical fields.

http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2005-41-2