The modern post-communist Russia was born out of the wave of revolution of the late 80’s and early 90’s as the Soviet Bloc and Iron Curtain were dismantled country by country, piece by piece. The people had had enough of the old staid authoritarian rule and wanted some Western freedoms, and goods in the shops. When I was in Eastern Europe around the same time, I heard all the stories of people queuing for tomatoes, just because there had just been a delivery to the state run grocery store. You never knew when you would have the chance to purchase them again. Under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev whose policy of Glasnost loosened the cords and the revolutionary passion of Boris Yeltsin who rose to power sweeping away the old guard, Russia was swept into a new capitalist era, where the old communists became the new capitalists and the poor stayed, well poor as they always were. At least under the new philosophy there were more things to buy and people grumbled but were a bit more content. The rise of Vladimir Putin however has seen the country lurch back to many of the old ways of thinking. The free press which burst up in 1991 like spring flowers after a deep freeze winter has had an iron grip placed on it again, and the latest round of elections were tainted by alleged massive vote rigging by Putin’s United Russia party. Protests are planned again this February as exceptionally harsh winter bites in Eastern Europe. The natives are restless and the Russian bear is once again waking this time with a rather sore head.
