Home-buyers: Do not invest in Russia!
FINROSFORUM // The Finnish-Russian Civic Forum strives to promote cooperation between the peoples of Finland and Russia by supporting civic initiatives for democracy, human rights, and freedom of speech.
Lengthy visits of Russian officials to the United States usually contribute to if not sensible decisions, then at least to some clarity in the minds of our rulers. The visits serve to remove any thought of Russian economic power and the workability of our crony capitalism, and help understand how backward Russia really is. I wonder, did Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sense anything of the sort on his latest visit to the US? Be it as it may, what ever went through the president's mind and what ever measures he intends to take, is of no consequence. Change will not happen in Russia.
"We are not a member of the EU, but we are a European country," said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in an interview with Western journalists on the eve of the G-20 summit and a key meeting with President Barack Obama in Toronto. His words are worth thinking about. The Russia we know today has been looking for its place in the world ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union 20 years ago. Stripped of the shell of Soviet empire, the country’s identity has been in flux. The search is at once geopolitical, philosophical and profoundly psychological.
The global financial crisis has hit Russia hard. The country’s gross domestic product declined almost 9 percent in 2009, and income from energy sales have dropped sharply. Inflation and unemployment are both rising, and the number of anti-government protests is increasing across the country. Against this background, Medvedev has sought to highlight the need for a thorough political and economic modernization of Russia. He has described Russia as "a primitive and chronically corrupt economy based on raw materials" and fixated on the old habit of relying on the state to solve its problems.
