Hotmail  |  Gmail  |  Yahoo  |  Justice Mail
powered by Google
WWW http://www.JusticeForNorthCaucasus.com

Add JFNC Google Bar Button to your Browser Google Bar Group  
 
 
Welcome To Justice For North Caucasus Group

Log in to your account at Justice For North Caucasus eMail system.

Request your eMail address

eMaill a Friend About This Site.

Google Translation

 

 

Window on Eurasia: Moscow is ‘Losing’ the Russian Far East, Journalist Says

posted by eagle on March, 2009 as Imperialism


FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2009

Window on Eurasia: Moscow is ‘Losing’ the Russian Far East, Journalist Says

Paul Goble

Vienna, March 27 – Having held on to the Far East during the Russian Civil War and during the wild 1990s, Moscow is now “losing” that enormous region because of “the idiocy of bureaucrats” in the center who pay attention to it only when there is “a flood, earthquake, volcano eruption or visit by the president or prime minister,” a Russian commentator says.
In an article in today’s “Novaya gazeta,” Yekaterina Glikman argues that because of Moscow’s neglect in most cases and foolish actions in others, just about the only thing that the Russian Far East has “in common” with Moscow is “the Russian language” -- and that is “too little to make one feel part of a single country” (www.novayagazeta.ru/data/2009/031/00.html).
This process, she says, is likely to accelerate when a new directive of the Federal Customs Service goes into force on March 30. That document, which has “the neutral title of ‘On measures of declaring particular types of control of goods,” is going to have anything but a neutral impact on Russia’s Pacific Rim.
On that date, Moscow will require that all metal ores and products from the Far East go through the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a port lacking rail connections with the rest of the country, and not through the ports of Vladivostok, Nakhodka, Vanino and Pose’yet, all of which are railheads and through which such commodities been going.
That will mean that it will be necessary for Russian exporters to load such goods on boats, something that will add four to five days to the process, throw an increasing number of Russians in the ports that can no longer be used out of work, and add fuel to the fire to the two most recent Moscow actions that have sparked protests in the region.
Those, of course, involved in the first instance Vladimir Putin’s decision to try to promote domestic wood processing by introducing prohibitive export quotas and in the second, the Russian prime minister’s desire to promote domestic car manufacturing by introducing prohibitive import quotas on foreign cars.
These actions, Glikman continues, compromise the interests of Russia itself – they make the country a less attractive path for goods to flow between Europe and Asia – but they hit the interests of the population of the Russian Far East by reinforcing the view among people there that Moscow is not paying attention to the needs of that region. 
The journalist goes on to describe a variety of Moscow-mandated actions by customs officials, most of which involve enormous delays and great costs that have “neutralized” the advantage that the Trans-Siberian railway would otherwise have as a basic “transportation corridor” between Europe and Asia.
She notes that there is now just one country whose ports are more difficult for importers and exports to clear than Russia: “this is North Korea,” which of course has sought to cut itself off from the world in order to protect the particular social, economic and political system its leaders want. 
Appended to Glikman’s article are the comments of two people with a direct knowledge of these problems. Mikhail Shchukin, the director of the Union of Russian Ship Owners, says that “in the Far East, the entire economy is being destroyed before [his] eyes,” the result of policies that are infuriating an already angry population. 
And Mikhail Voytenko, the editor of an Internet publication on shipping, adds that what is going on in the ports of the Russian Far East now as a result of Moscow’s misguided and clearly thoughtless policies has created “a situation that [the great 19th century Russian satirist Saltykov-Shchedrin would envy.”
Obviously, even the actions that Moscow has taken so far are unlikely to provoke enough people in the Russian Far East to call for independence, but the increasing willingness of people in that region to hold that up that even as a distant threat shows just how explosive the situation there is becoming, exactly the opposite trend that the center has advertised and hoped for.

comments (0)


1 - 1 of 1

Post comment

Your name*

Email address*

Comments*

Verification code*







 RSS FEED


New Posts



Search Imperialism



Imperialism



Archive


 january 2015

 march 2014

 november 2013

 september 2013

 july 2013

 march 2013

 february 2013

 january 2013

 december 2012

 november 2012

 september 2012

 july 2012

 april 2012

 february 2012

 july 2011

 june 2011

 april 2011

 march 2011

 february 2011

 january 2011

 december 2010

 november 2010

 october 2010

 september 2010

 august 2010

 july 2010

 june 2010

 may 2010

 april 2010

 march 2010

 february 2010

 january 2010

 december 2009

 november 2009

 october 2009

 september 2009

 august 2009

 july 2009

 june 2009

 may 2009

 april 2009

 march 2009

 february 2009

 december 2008

 november 2008

 october 2008

 september 2008

 august 2008

 july 2008

 june 2008

 may 2008

 april 2008

 march 2008

 february 2008

 january 2008

 december 2007

 november 2007

 october 2007

 september 2007

 august 2007

 july 2007

 june 2007

 may 2007

 april 2007

 march 2007

 february 2007

 january 2007

 december 2006

 november 2006

 october 2006

 september 2006

 august 2006

 july 2006

 june 2006

 may 2006

 april 2006

 march 2006

 february 2006

 january 2006

 december 2005

 november 2005

 october 2005

 september 2005

 august 2005

 july 2005

 june 2005

 may 2005

 april 2005

 january 2005

 july 2000





Acknowledgement: All available information and documents in "Justice For North Caucasus Group" is provided for the "fair use". There should be no intention for ill-usage of any sort of any published item for commercial purposes and in any way or form. JFNC is a nonprofit group and has no intentions for the distribution of information for commercial or advantageous gain. At the same time consideration is ascertained that all different visions, beliefs, presentations and opinions will be presented to visitors and readers of all message boards of this site. Providing, furnishing, posting and publishing the information of all sources is considered a right to freedom of opinion, speech, expression, and information while at the same time does not necessarily reflect, represent, constitute, or comprise the stand or the opinion of this group. If you have any concerns contact us directly at: eagle@JusticeForNorthCaucasus.com


Page Last Updated: {Site best Viewed in MS-IE 1024x768 or Greater}Copyright © 2005-2009 by Justice For North Caucasus ®