Russia 110513 Basic Political Developments

The 1,000-day countdown

http://rt.com/politics/press/rossijskaya-gazeta/sochi-olympic-games-installation/en/
Published: 13 May, 2011, 04:21
Edited: 13 May, 2011, 04:21

Pavel Zarudny, Anna Kozina

On February 7, 2014, Sochi will light the Olympic Flame. All that remains is to wait 1,000 days. That’s not so much. And just look at everything that has already been done!

Facilities for the upcoming Games are appearing like mushrooms in the resort town: a new airport has been built, tunnels and highways are being constructed at an accelerated pace. The cute mascots of the 2014 Olympics, which for the first time ever were chosen by a popular vote, are impatiently biting their paws in anticipation.  

But, that’s not all. Starting tomorrow, the waiting for the home Olympic Games will take place to the steady beat of a precise Swiss mechanism. A unique countdown clock, “1,000 days to the 2014 Olympic Games” will be set up in the park in front of the Sea Port of Sochi.    

The clock’s dimensions are fully consistent with the scale of the event. The official time-keeper of the International Olympic Committee from Switzerland has created for the Russian people a clock more than four meters high, more than two meters wide, and weighing three and half tons.  

Installation of the innovative Olympic “chime” will be handled on location by Swiss specialists. However, Russian organizers are not lagging behind their punctual colleagues in terms of innovation and have offered a number of surprises.  

“The Games will start on February 7, 2014; but already today we want for every resident of our country to feel connected to the Olympic movement. And on this memorable day, when we overcome the symbolic achievement, everyone will have this opportunity,” noted Dmitry Chernyshenko, president of the 2014 Sochi Organizing Committee.   

In Russia, the project “1,000 days before the Games” will be very unique in nature. Throughout the entire country, 26 volunteer centers will host events with social, cultural, environmental or an athletic emphasis, called “1,000 good deeds”.  

Symbolic numbers, large-scale involvement, the presence of Olympic champions – are all part of the mandatory conditions. In Moscow, Krasnodar, Khanty-Mansiysk, and Novocherkassk, starts the campaign called “1,000 Olympic lessons”. Master classes will be taught to students of physical culture schools by Svetlana Zhurova, Aleksey Nemov, Svetlana Masterkova, Denis Pankratov, Nikolay Kryukov, Maria Kiseleva, Nikolay Gulyaev, Karina Aznauryan, and other gold medalists.  

Large-scale flash-mobs, called “Olympic workout”, will be organized by volunteers for amateur athletes and supporters of a healthy lifestyle at the central squares of a number of cities. In Pyatigorsk, meanwhile, it was decided to add social stress to the physical. Participants in the “Conquer 1,000 meters” event will not only hike up the 1,000-meter Mashuk Mt., but also collect garbage on its slopes.  

“1,000 children’s drawings on asphalt” will appear on May 14, as well as “1,000 smiles” and “1,000 chocolate medals”. Moreover, residents of Moscow, Kazan, and Tomsk, will be able to hear the original version of the Sochi-2014 hymn, which will be performed by 1,000 people from three combined orchestras. These cities will have their own clocks, albeit not Swiss. Volunteers will create an art installation from 1,000 alarm clocks, which will be gathered in one place. A simultaneously sounding alarm will be the symbolic start or the countdown to the Olympic Games in Sochi.    

Incidentally, creators of the original clock have things over which to be concerned. Whereas the countdown “1,000 days to Beijing-2008” and “365 days to Vancouver-2010” began from the first attempt, the clock “500 days to London-2012” had been launched twice. After the solemn ceremony, the precision instrument stopped. Now, the timer works without fail.   

The final celebrations within the framework of the “1,000 days to the 2014 Olympic Games” will be gala concerts in Moscow and Sochi.

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Is Russia Interested in Regime Change in Belarus?

http://belarusdigest.com/2011/05/12/is-russia-interested-in-regime-change-in-belarus/
This week Russia’s Finance Minister Kudrin made it clear that Moscow was not interested in bailing out the Belarusian economy with no conditions attached. That stimulated discussions that Russia finally decided to get rid of Alyaksandr Lukashenka. However, these discussions are based the premise that Russia`s intention is regime change.

Certainly Russia has no interest to support further Lukashenka’s geopolitical juggling between the East and the West. Despite the noisy anti-Lukashenka campaign and speculations over possible support to opposition candidates, Russia`s intention has not been changing Lukashenka. For Moscow any other president would mean a new large opening to the West. The Russian efforts more intends to guarantee the loyalty of Belarusian leader and to get the most important economic assets of Belarus – energy transit, oil refineries, potash and some other – under control. Russia certainly does not want to weaken Belarus too much and therefore could support Lukashenka’s regime financially (as it has happened before), should it be absolutely necessary. But not now. Moreover, Belarus makes ideology is based on, may no longer remain as the only option.

In this context, the Western press is eagerly discussing the lack of the right EU policy toward Belarus. But Brussels has tried everything from isolation to engagement by now. With the renewal of sanctions based approach, the EU policy has returned to the same point after a full circle. Moreover the visa-ban itself is a great show case how much the West knows Belarus: dozens are left the positions, another dozen are not responsible for the actual court decisions, there are two heads of presidential administration and even a dead person on that list. Perhaps now it would be worth learning what is really happening in Minsk first of all in order to make the Western policy and assistance a better fit.

It is time for the West to think out of the box – consider that nothing can make the EU more attractive in the eyes of Minsk than ignorance. This is exactly what happened with the US before the elections. The American ignorance two years ago after the row over the US Embassy in Minsk when Minsk forced the US to reduce its diplomatic corps from 34 to a mere 5 prompted Minsk to give up its enriched uranium before the elections. Although the delivery is in question, the path toward a new policy is there.

Thus, a new viable mid-term strategy for the West at this moment is not to isolate but to ignore Alexander Lukashenka, meanwhile focusing on broader society as a whole. It is not an easy task considering the strong intention of the West to be (at last) principled with Belarus. Having no oil or gas, Lukashenka has developed another commodity – his own image of a dictatorship. Until the West will reduce the importance of this commodity, it will keep continue to play its part from the Lukashenka’s script. As Lukashenka is in the corner he is sending different messages every day: insulting European Commission President Barosso while offering dialogue with the EU. Hold your breath.

The Western press and policymakers, rightly so, have pushed for a tougher response. In the meantime a new policy must finally acknowledge that Belarus provides a more complex challenge than it seems. It is not only about Lukashenka but about a society that approves and supports order and stability and does not mind a lack of freedom in return. To make Belarus embrace European values – such as normal leadership change through free and fair elections – the West needs to engage with all layers of society. Unless the West is able to expand its contacts and influence amongst the bureaucrats it will have a little chance to support a systemic reform and build public support for it.

Balázs Jarábik

Mr Jarábik is Associate Fellow at FRIDE in Madrid, Spain. The full version of this paper is available at FRIDE web site.