| Magnetonium |
This article is the proof that Medvedev is not quite the Putin's slave as some would suggest. There's a change in Russian politics ...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...TPInternational
G8 in dire need of shakeup, Medvedev says
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Russia's rookie President says Western financial institutions must embrace new ideas
JANE ARMSTRONG
July 3, 2008
MOSCOW -- Western financial institutions failed to spot, then halt, the global economic crisis, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said, adding it might be wise for the world's largest economies to listen to Russian solutions for a change.
One revered institution in dire need of a shakeup is the Group of Eight industrialized countries, Mr. Medvedev said, suggesting it could be expanded to include other emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China.
He made the remarks in an interview with The Globe and Mail and a small circle of journalists from each of the G8 countries, on the eve of the annual economic meeting.
"It's obvious that a series of institutions which were set up in the 1960s and 1970s ... are not getting on top of the problem," Mr. Medvedev, 42, said.
"That's why the idea has emerged in a number of states to try to regulate the financial system in a new way. This isn't easy. Of course, it doesn't mean smashing the system which has been created for decades, but it must be improved so as to become more contemporary and better defended against risk. It must be fairer toward other states."
It's the second time in recent weeks Mr. Medvedev has questioned the soundness of Western financial systems. At an economic forum in St. Petersburg last month, he spoke of U.S. "economic egoism." He used the phrase again at the Kremlin interview, adding: "The system can't be based only on one country and one currency. In the future, it must be based on a balance of leading economies."
The diminutive, rookie President, inaugurated in May, said the main issues confronting the G8 leaders meeting next week in Japan will be rising food prices, energy security and climate change.
Mr. Medvedev's fondness for careful, corporate language was on full display during the 90-minute interview, which drove home the sharp contrast in style to his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, now Prime Minister.
Where Mr. Putin was expansive, emotional and sometimes crude, Mr. Medvedev was contained, careful and courteous, his speech laced with economic jargon.
Seated at the head of a round table in the Kremlin's stately library, Mr. Medvedev listened earnestly to the questions before launching into long, serious replies.
Dressed in a crisp navy blue suit, his face lightly powdered, Mr. Medvedev sipped tea and occasionally twirled a pen. Despite prods by reporters, he offered few hints about his own personality and passions.
Mr. Putin's last years as president were characterized by his increasingly bellicose remarks aimed at the West. He routinely accused the West of hypocrisy and rejected all criticism of Russia's flawed elections.
Mr. Medvedev, by contrast, displayed far less bravado about the state of present-day Russia.
"I wouldn't like to idealize the situation in my own country," he said. "We are a young democracy, far from being ideal. But we are trying to develop it and trying to be consistent based on the constitutional foundation we have."
The only time Mr. Medvedev appeared to drop his guard was when he was asked to comment on a recent poll that said nearly 60 per cent of young, middle-class Russians have toyed with the idea of emigrating.
"I am surprised," he said.
"I thought the number of people who wanted to leave had dropped in recent years. I just had a feeling ... talking to my friends who are not civil servants, who do not work in important offices. They're just people working in small businesses, just people who deal with social issues."
Since taking office in May, Mr. Medvedev, a former lawyer who worked his way up the ladder in Mr. Putin's presidential office, has been depicted alternately as a modernizer by some and a Kremlin-picked defender of the status quo by others, trained and promoted by Mr. Putin, who still wields considerable political power.
But Mr. Medvedev told reporters that he's in charge of Russia. Some days he talks to Mr. Putin several times, other days not at all.
"At this level, when a decision is taken, there is no one to consult. There is no one to take the decision for you. Of course, there are people to ask for advice, people to consult, like Vladimir Putin. ...
"But the final decision is to be taken by you. And if a mistake is made, you will be in charge and that's what changes it all, what changes your approach to work."
Though he insisted he is the boss, Mr. Medvedev said his aim is to continue Mr. Putin's policies, domestic and foreign.
To that end, he railed again about the West's recognition of Kosovo, saying it was a grave mistake that will affect Europe for decades to come. He urged diplomacy, instead of sanctions, with Iran and he urged the West to be patient with emerging democracies, from Eastern Europe to Afghanistan.
Democracy, he said, "can't be forced from the outside," he said. "In the last decade, we see the proof of that," in Afghanistan and Iraq.
When asked whether he considers himself a liberal, Mr. Medvedev said he doesn't like to be pigeonholed. Instead, he said, he is guided by a set of principles he adopted as a university student: respect for the law, human rights and private property.
"I'm not a supporter of statism or of the primacy of the state over law. On the contrary, I favour a law-based state which develops according to a modern civilized democratic model.
"We've had periods of anarchy and dictatorship in our country, which ended in catastrophe," he said, adding that Russia "fell to the dust" after the Bolshevik Revolution, "allowing for a dictatorship to be built on these ruins."
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