20 July 2005, 13:59 Opinions

The top and the seven goats

Vladislav Inozemtsev Recently, on one of the Russian Internet sites, a commentary appeared on the latest G8 summit, entitled “The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats.” It seems to me that the formula “The Little Wolf and the Seven Goats” is more appropriate.

Who gathered in Scotland? Are they really the leaders of the eight most powerful powers of the modern world? Hardly. Canada today is neither economically nor politically more powerful than India, and France is no more powerful than China. Rather, those who met there can be defined as a club of leaders of the leading industrial democracies of the West and Russia - a non-Western, non-industrial and non-democratic country.

On what basis is Russia a member of the G8? On any. Even more: contrary to all the rules.

The G7 consists of states that are economically developed and democratically mature. Russia, alas, does not yet belong to either one or the other. Let's take economics. GDP per capita in the G7 varies from 26.4 thousand dollars in Italy to 35.7 thousand dollars in the USA. In Russia, this figure is 3.5 times less - 8.2 thousand dollars. The share of the high-tech sector in the economies of the G7 countries ranges from 54% to 69%. In Russia - no more than 18%. Commodities account for less than 1% of US exports; in most European countries they are not included in trade statistics at all. In Russia, oil, gas and metals account for 70% of export revenues. The integral indicator of economic development - life expectancy - in the G7 countries ranges from 77 years in the USA to 81.5 years in Japan, while in Russia it barely reaches 66.5 years. The conclusion seems obvious.

Let's turn to politics. The G7 regularly holds democratic elections. In Russia, elections by Western standards - with all their pros and cons - were held perhaps only once - in 1996. All countries have an independent judicial system, which did not exist in Russia and does not exist. The constitutions have not changed for 4 or more decades. In Russia, not even a month goes by without changes to the most important federal laws. In each of the seven states, the army is under the control of civilian politicians and cannot be used within its own country. In Russia, shoulder straps are visible from under the jacket of every second high-ranking bureaucrat, and military rhetoric has become familiar to everyone in recent years. And in this case, the dissimilarity of the entire “seven” and Russia is clear to anyone.

<1>By all parameters, Russia has no place in the “seven”. However, having been let into this circle, she has no intention of leaving it. Even if for the Kremlin leaders this fact serves as nothing more than confirmation of their “elitism”, just as for the “new Russian” - a luxurious Mercedes or a mansion on Rublyovka. But it’s hard to even imagine a greater absurdity than Russia’s upcoming chairmanship of this prestigious club.

What agenda can Russia propose? They say the problems are “energy security”. What can provoke danger? Only her own behavior on the international stage. How do the Russians themselves look at the possible topics of the proposed St. Petersburg summit? More than half believe that the main issue should be security and terrorism. But Russia's security, according to the Kremlin, is being undermined by its foreign enemies. That is, Russians want to discuss their security, which is threatened almost by the “personal friends” of their president, and the president, in fact, proposes to discuss the security of his own country for the rest of the world. All this looks extremely senile.

Why does the West “appease” a country that is alien to it not so much in the consciousness of its people, but in the principles of its political class?

Why does it give an unprincipled government a reason to look like democracy? Why call a backward resource-based economy an industrial one? There are many options for avoiding the answer to this question, but, alas, there is no answer itself. Apparently, “appeasement” is in the blood of many Western politicians.

“You’ll still remember Munich!” - can answer this. Munich really has nothing to do with it. Then the situation was really similar to the communication of a wolf with kids. “Wolf” was strong, and his intentions were clear. “Kids” are weak and unorganized. Russia today is not like Germany in the 1930s, but rather like modern Pakistan. Not a dictatorship, but an autocracy. At the same time, a loyal ally of the United States in the “war on terror.” An unstable state with nuclear weapons. A country whose relations with the West are determined only by the personality of its leader. Not a wolf - more like a wolf cub. But the one next to whom the other seven look like grown-up, stately goats.

The author is the editor-in-chief of the magazine “Free Thought-XXI”