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PDF…. argues Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the imprisoned former oligarch.
History suggests that Russia’s current rulers are making the same mistakes as their Communist forebears:
I understand Russia’s current power elite; they came of age at a time when change was dangerous. If the roof is not leaking today, they don’t worry that it will in the future. They believe that the oil and gas bonanza will go on forever and that no real reforms need to be enacted, just some make-believe for the TV cameras. They accept corruption, embrace archaic ideas and are united in their desire to keep talented, creative people off the public stage. A modern, innovation-driven economic model is the antithesis of their hierarchical approach.
It is precisely these kinds of mistakes that led to the death of the Soviet Union.
He believes that there is “a new generation of Russian politicians waiting in the wings, people who are ready to accept the world as it really is: rapidly globalizing and dynamic.”
Let’s hope so.
