Saturday, November 14, 2009 

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Dmitry Medvedev certainly talks a good game. Before taking office last year, he correctly diagnosed the country's biggest problem as "legal nihilism." The fact that lawlessness has worsened since then doesn't make Mr. Medvedev seem dishonest -- just powerless. On Thursday he delivered a 140-minute "state of the nation" speech that spelled out much of what has gone wrong during the authoritarian regime of Vladimir Putin. History suggests that this, too, won't presage much change. But the spectacle of Russia's president speaking the truth about his country was in itself a startling sight in the Putin era.

Mr. Medvedev's basic point was that Mr. Putin had failed to move Russia away from the relatively backward economy, rotten infrastructure and aggressive foreign policy of the former Soviet Union. He recited a damning litany of legacies: "a primitive raw materials economy"; "an archaic society in which the leaders think and decide for everyone"; and "chaotic" foreign and domestic policies "dictated by nostalgia and prejudice." We couldn't have said it better.

Mr. Medvedev again acknowledged his country's runaway corruption, including in its security forces. He boldly stated that "our most serious domestic political problem" lies in Chechnya, Ingushetia and other Caucasus republics, where "the level of corruption, violence and cronyism . . . is unprecedented." He suggested that Russia's foreign policy had been "full of hot air" and ought to become more "pragmatic" and more cooperative with the Western democracies, whose investments and technology Russia needs to modernize.

The "effectiveness" of Russia's foreign policy, the president said, "should be judged by a single criterion: Does it contribute to improving living standards in our country?" That suggests a radical change from Mr. Putin's approach, which has been aimed at restoring Moscow's dominion over former Soviet republics and gaining political leverage over the United States and its European allies.

Several Russian media outlets reported that Mr. Putin, who now holds the post of prime minister, looked unhappy in his front-row seat as Mr. Medvedev spoke. But there's no telling for sure whether the speech represented a challenge to Mr. Putin's authority or an effort to create the sort of inviting but false facade that has been a feature of Russian politics for centuries. Opposition activists were quick to note that Mr. Medvedev had nothing to say about the murders of human rights activists and journalists, or about the gross fraud recently perpetrated by the ruling party in local elections; they dismissed his modest list of political reforms as meaningless.

Still, it's worth remembering that the political transformation that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago this month began with another Kremlin leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, speaking unaccustomed truths about his country. A lot of people then believed that Mr. Gorbachev didn't mean it, or had no ability to act on his words; they were proved wrong. Let's hope that those of us who have doubted Mr. Medvedev's capacity to reverse Russia's descent into authoritarianism and aggression will be pleasantly surprised as well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111303956.html?nav=rss_opinions