Putin and Europe on the Same Page

As expected, the economic crisis has led to social unrest. Most workers have seen little result from the victory over the crisis that government officials and observers announced as far back as the middle of last year. In place of increases to production, employment and the standard of living, Russians have seen improvements to a few statistics and greater corporate profits. Meanwhile, the money that the government so generously doled out to the oligarchs as anti-crisis aid has almost run dry. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin does little more than make a show of scolding businesspeople and exhorting them to do something — anything — for society, reminding them of old promises and the public funds that the authorities continue giving their businesses to keep them afloat.