THE RUSSIAN FRONT

President Medvedev’s video blogged comments regarding the need to defend memory from the efforts of falsifiers seeking to impugn the meaning of history (see Dave Stone’s post below) appear not to be an isolated blast from the past, but rather part of a broader return to the types of rhetorical devices and displays used by Russian statesmen to secure legitimacy during times of political crisis. Along with nationalistic appeals and martial fanfare, compensatory symbolism is alive and well, too. That, at least, was the impression given off by Moscow’s recent Victory Day celebrations according to The Economist:

Amid Russia’s anti-crisis measures, the military parade on Red Square on May 9th was spectacular. Some 9,000 soldiers goose-stepped past political leaders. Tanks, rocket launchers and ballistic-missile carriers scratched the cobblestones; bombers, jets and helicopters flew above St Basil’s Cathedral. The show is meant to mark victory in the second world war. But this genuinely national holiday has long been appropriated by the Kremlin for ideological ends. Rather than celebrating the war’s end, this military parade represented Russia’s readiness for a new fight….

At a time of financial crisis, this posturing is meant not only to project Russian invincibility but also to compensate for falling incomes and rising unemployment. To maximise the therapeutic value of the parade it was preceded by full-scale public rehearsals that won top billing in news bulletins. That some 100,000 Russian war veterans do not even have flats took second place to a show that cost an estimated 3 billion roubles ($94m), half of it for patching up the road surfaces it damaged.

Read the whole thing here

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