Modernization in the Age of Political Post-Modernism
"Modernization sounds more old-fashioned and Soviet than other slogans in post-Soviet Russia," writes Russian film director Andrei Nekrasov. "Like octogenarian Soviet leaders Medvedev pays no attention to the style that emphasizes Russia's backwardness. Medvedev's call falls into the category of those grand authoritarian invocations à la sovietique. The irony of it seems to be lost not only on the youthful Russian leader himself, but on many ultra-modern westerners, who quote Medvedev with wishful seriousness."

