Времени на время! (It's time for time!)

I actually wrote this last night, and debated about putting it up today or on Monday. I decided might as well give you all something to read over the weekend.

It’s a well conditioned reflex, almost Pavlovian. Every weekday from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, Russian families come back home from work, eat quickly, and once the clock reads 8:59, they reach for their TV dials and turn on Channel 1 for the official state news entitled “Vremya” (literally: Time). The program starts out the same way it always has for over 40 years, a 1960’s style clock ticking down the seconds to 9:00, wherein stylized CNN-esque dramatic music plays and then Ekaterina Andreevna, a rather severe but pretty looking anchorwoman, sits down and launches into a hour long Putin lovefest. Approximately half of the program is dedicated to what Vlad the Great did today. Tonight was no different, except there was a big “Ask the President” (it took up all of Vremya) presentation, wherein any one could call a toll free number and ask the president a question, and he would answer them on air. From what I could translate, Putin promised better pensions, more economic growth, and a need for a positive demographic change, all things that the Motherland desperately needs.

Russia is currently entering a demographic crisis. Its population is rapidly shrinking, last numbered at 122 million and having a negative birthrate for the eighth year in a row. To encourage a better birthrate the government gives a mother $10,000 for having two or more children. That’s for each child, and can only be redeemed to buy an apartment, provide higher education for the child once he/she grows up, or can be put toward the pension that she’ll go on once she turns 60. They at first gave straight cash, but discovered that those wily Russians would just spend it on alcohol and narcotics, and when the rubles ran dry, well, it was time to crank out another little Ilya or Zhenya. Rinse and repeat. Then of course is the highly lauded National Conception Day, which happened on September 12 this year. The Russian government set a date (June 12), and the mother of every baby that is born on that day can receive fabulous prizes such as new refrigerators, other appliances, or cash rewards.

Pensions are a big deal here. The average Russian woman’s age here is 37, with an absolute legion of babushka widows who are za pensii (on the pension). Putin has increased the pension by quite a bit, and thus he enjoys the support of pretty much all the babushkas.

Furthermore, as a former KGB man, Putin also enjoys the overwhelming support of the Russian military. With more and more military buildup and the Chechen conflict rarely reported on, military strength is starting to creep back toward Soviet levels. By no way are they able to take anyone on yet, but thanks to the high price of oil nowadays, Russia is raking in profits and some of those billions of rubles are going toward new toys for the military and better pay for the officers.

Almost all Russians like Putin, not for his actions, but for one reason: nationalism. Putin believes in putting Russia first, and many people saw him as a breath of fresh air after Yeltsin put almost all of Russia on the market to the highest bidder. For the first time in all of Russia’s history, it has an emerging middle class. The only people that don’t really like him are the modern-day intelligentsia, who see him as a threat to the emerging Russian democracy, one of the party opposition leaders referred to Putin as “having more power than the tsar and General Secretary of the Soviet Union”. However, the opposition parties cannot band together to form a strong enough front to go up against Edinaya Rossiya (United Russia, Putin’s political party), so Putin and ER are looking very strong going into the December parliamentary elections, and the February presidential elections. I have not seen any sort of political advertising for the upcoming elections, save for ER’s legions handing out pamphlets entitled “Putin’s Plan”, in which is outlines a multiple point plan “to make Russia and its citizens great once again”. I’ll have to bring one home to share; it’s a pretty slick piece of rhetoric.

Well, there’s the necessary boring dissertation on Russian politics. I promise not to bring the topic up again in depth. One can only take so much of it, and we are still 2 months away from the election date. As Ekaterina Andreevna always says at the end of her broadcasts: “That’s all the news we have, I wish you and yours a very successful day”!