Disputed land

Tension is building up between Japan and Russia after president Medvedev's visit to the Kuril islands. The Kuril islands are around 50 islands outside the eastern coast of Russia and north of Japan. After the Japanese surrender in World War II the Soviet Union annexed the four southernmost islands that previously belonged to Japan. Because of this issue there has been no official peace between Russia/Soviet Union and Japan following WWII. This is however disputed by Japan. In this context Medvedev's visit was a clear sign from Moscow that these islands are to be considered Russian ground and it not up for negotiation. This stop was made on his trip to the meeting of Southeast Asian nations the coming weekend.

Whether or not this should be seen as a sign of a Russian expansionistic and nationalistic movement is still unclear. The San Francisco Peace Treaty between the Allied Powers and Japan from 1951 states that Japan must give up all claims to the Kuril islands, but it also does not recognize the Soviet Union's sovereignty over the Kuril Islands.

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Corruption

 In most countries people would raise their eyebrows, if the major of a large city was making his wife enormously rich by awarding her company large building contracts. In Russia corruption seem to a part of everyday life, so when this happens in Moscow it is not really a big surprise. This has been going on for quite a while and it has not been kept a secret.

Now the major, Jurij Luzjkovs has been fired by president Medvedev. So there must be some logic behind that this happens now. Speculations has arisen about a possible conflict between president Medvedev and prime minister Putin. In a Russia where mainstream media is not free and under heavy control it is logic that media was used to discredit Luzjkovs and to serve Medvedev's purposes. It is obvious that he has been corrupt, so nothing wrong there. But the way it has been handled does not tell a story of a true democratic society.

It is obvious that a conflict between Medvedev and and Luzjkovs, perhaps Putin is also involved somewhere. The first thing that comes to mind is some sort power struggle, where Luzjkovs may have some sort of power ambitions or has challenged the ruling duo. I guess the last thing is not yet said in this matter...

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...Medvedev and Putin

No surprises here, Medvedev won as expected and foreign power will surely come with critique regarding the election and the way it was carried out. With large companies forcing their employees to vote a certain way, media that is almost totally controlled by the ruling party and other pressure on the public to vote a certain way.

One can only wonder how loyal Medvedev will be to Putin and how long he will follow in his footsteps.

[Russia] [Election] [Putin] [Medvedev] [Democracy]

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