Rússia, para variar...

Para variar um pouco: Rússia. Martin Wolf, do Financial Times, afirma-se apreensivo com a Rússia de Putin e explica porquê: Why Putin’s rule threatens both Russia and the west (o acesso pode exigir o registo). Alguns dos factos referidos que ilustram os seus juízos de valor (e a frase com que termina a coluna):

"True, between 1999, the year before Mr Putin became president, and 2007, the
Russian economy expanded by 69 per cent. But the economies of 11 of the 15
former republics of the Soviet Union expanded by more than Russia’s. Indeed,
only Kyrgyzstan did markedly worse. A number of the former Soviet republics did,
it is true, benefit from an oil and gas bonanza. But so, too, did Russia: its
oil and gas exports jumped from $76bn in 1999 to $350bn last year. Even so, the
Russian economy expanded by less than Ukraine’s."

"Like all post-communist countries, Russia’s economy suffered
a steep initial decline, which reached its trough in 1998. Countries that
reformed more decisively, such as Poland, bottomed out more quickly and are now
far ahead. Again, Russia’s recovery is in no way exceptional: tiny Estonia has
done far better. Maybe this is why the Kremlin hates the Baltic state so
much."

"Mr Putin has eliminated all independence in television and most of it in the
press; he has destroyed the autonomy of regional government; he has emasculated
parliament; and he has eliminated competition for power. The political
divergence between Ukraine, increasingly free, and Russia, increasingly
despotic, is as clear as it is disturbing."

"In 2006, Russia ranked a mediocre 96th out of 175 in the World Bank’s “ease of
doing business” index, its worst ever position. In the World Bank’s governance
indicators for 2006, the effectiveness of Russia’s government was ranked in the
38th percentile from the bottom. Its rule of law ranking was in the 19th
percentile, well behind Ukraine’s 27th and Poland’s 59th. If one judges a state
by its ability to serve the people and protect them from the powerful, including
itself, Russia’s is ineffective. That vast numbers of Russians like such a state
makes this no less true, merely more depressing."

"Let us rid ourselves of illusions. This is no new cold war, not least because
Russia offers no enticing new ideology. But it is a cold peace. That is a
tragedy. It is also a reality. It is one the west must live with, probably for a
long time to come."