Democratic Whispers

President Medvedev is well-known for paying lip service to the grand ideas of reform and democracy, whilst, some would say, overseeing little in the way of concrete results.  Today provides us with one such example of the President’s democratizing zeal, as he apparently told Vedemosti that political competition was essential for progress in Russian society:

I think that in principle we should be gradually moving towards a society based on a balanced representation of several parties in power. Eventually, they will replace each other in power so as to remove current problems.

The President’s comment has of course been muffled in the avalanche ofwell-justified coverage of the Moscow airport atrocity, leaving itlittle room to stand out.  Some of us may wonder if it would make anydifference if this wasn’t the case.