‘Human Rights’ and Soft Power in Russia
The news that Lyudmila Alekseyeva, head of the Russian Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) the Moscow-Helsinki Group, will be returning
to the Presidential Council for Human Rights, has been heralded by many
in the liberal establishment in Russia as a victory for their cause.
Indeed, as an adversary of President Putin on numerous occasions,
Alekseyeva has been held as a symbol of the pro-Western, pro-US
orientation of Russian liberals who see in Russia not a power seeking
independence and sovereignty from the global hegemon in Washington, but
rather a repressive and reactionary country bent on aggression and
imperial revanchism.
While this view is not one shared by the
vast majority of Russians – Putin’s approval rating continues to hover
somewhere in the mid 80s – it is most certainly in line with the
political and foreign policy establishment of the US, and the West
generally. And this is precisely the reason that Alekseyeva and her
fellow liberal colleagues are so close to key figures in Washington
whose overriding goal is the return of Western hegemony in Russia, and
throughout the Eurasian space broadly. For them, the return of
Alekseyeva is the return of a champion of Western interests into the
halls of power in Moscow.
First appeared: http://journal-neo.org/2015/06/01/human-rights-and-soft-power-in-russia/
vast majority of Russians – Putin’s approval rating continues to hover
somewhere in the mid 80s – it is most certainly in line with the
political and foreign policy establishment of the US, and the West
generally. And this is precisely the reason that Alekseyeva and her
fellow liberal colleagues are so close to key figures in Washington
whose overriding goal is the return of Western hegemony in Russia, and
throughout the Eurasian space broadly. For them, the return of
Alekseyeva is the return of a champion of Western interests into the
halls of power in Moscow.
First appeared: http://journal-neo.org/2015/06/01/human-rights-and-soft-power-in-russia/
