Gulag Nationalism: Solzhenitsyn Weighs-in @ Rossiyskaya Gazeta

In tomorrow's Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Alexander Solzhenitsyn will once again publish writing critical of his native Russia. Though he has recently supported Putin's international policy, Solzhenitsyn still finds much to criticize in Putin's Russia.

Personally, I find it tragic that this icon of resistance has had to align himself with Putin's nationalistic agenda, though I suppose it should come as no surprise. It is a truism that with age comes conservatism.

The impending end of Putin's term in 2008, and his 'required' resignation, provides a glimmer of hope that new leadership will be able to lead the Russian Bear safely into the 21st Century--a faint glimmer. From the Independent:

"Nobel laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn warns in the preface to a newly republished article that Russia is still struggling with challenges similar to those of the revolutionary turmoil of 1917 that led to the demise of the czarist empire.

"The article - which will appear tomorrow in the influential government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta - analyzes the roots of the February revolution 90 years ago that forced the abdication of the last czar, Nicholas II, and helped pave the way for the Bolsheviks.

"It's all the more bitter that a quarter of a century later, some of these conclusions are still applicable to the alarming disorder of today," Solzhenitsyn wrote in a preface to the article first written in the early 1980s.

"Solzhenitsyn's wife, Natalya, said it should serve as a reminder to Russia's political class about the dangers stemming from the huge gap between the rich and the poor, and the stark contrast in lifestyle and moral attitudes in the glitzy Russian capital compared to the far less prosperous provinces.

"Alexander Isayevich is deeply worried by this gap," Natalya Solzhenitsyn told a news conference Monday. "It's necessary to pay attention to that. If the government fails to do that, consequences would be grave."

for the rest, click HERE.