Guardian: Путин ходит по канату!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/09/russian-nationalism-challenge-putin-power
Russian nationalism may be biggest threat to Putin's power, experts warn
Prejudice against people from the North Caucasus and central Asian migrant workers has been fuelled by economic hardship
Rising nationalist sentiment may pose the biggest challenge to Vladimir Putin's hold on power as the Kremlin persists in avoiding a glaring social fracture, experts warn.
The Kremlin has so far refrained from dealing with mounting anger against people from Russia's turbulent North Caucasus region, as well as migrant workers from central Asia, which has grown as the country's oil-fuelled economic boom has given way to the hardship of the global financial crisis.
Xenophobic vitriol was all too palpable during a recent rally in which 7,000 nationalists, mainly young men and boys, donned black balaclavas or blue medical masks and took to the streets of Moscow chanting messages of hate and slogans in support of ethnic Russians. They ran from the conventional – "Russia for Russians" – to the bizarre – "Sport! Health! Nationalism!" – to the extreme – "Fuck the Jews". City authorities gave permission to hold the rally, a right regularly denied to the liberal opposition, albeit on the city's outskirts. Helicopters hovered overhead, and a relatively small contingent of police lined part of the rally's path.
"I came here because there's an occupation going on by people from the Caucasus," said Andrei Sharapov, a rosy-cheeked 14-year-old who attended the march with friends. "They steal, they're violent and we need to get rid of them in any way."
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Russian nationalism may be biggest threat to Putin's power, experts warn
Prejudice against people from the North Caucasus and central Asian migrant workers has been fuelled by economic hardship
Rising nationalist sentiment may pose the biggest challenge to Vladimir Putin's hold on power as the Kremlin persists in avoiding a glaring social fracture, experts warn.
The Kremlin has so far refrained from dealing with mounting anger against people from Russia's turbulent North Caucasus region, as well as migrant workers from central Asia, which has grown as the country's oil-fuelled economic boom has given way to the hardship of the global financial crisis.
Xenophobic vitriol was all too palpable during a recent rally in which 7,000 nationalists, mainly young men and boys, donned black balaclavas or blue medical masks and took to the streets of Moscow chanting messages of hate and slogans in support of ethnic Russians. They ran from the conventional – "Russia for Russians" – to the bizarre – "Sport! Health! Nationalism!" – to the extreme – "Fuck the Jews". City authorities gave permission to hold the rally, a right regularly denied to the liberal opposition, albeit on the city's outskirts. Helicopters hovered overhead, and a relatively small contingent of police lined part of the rally's path.
"I came here because there's an occupation going on by people from the Caucasus," said Andrei Sharapov, a rosy-cheeked 14-year-old who attended the march with friends. "They steal, they're violent and we need to get rid of them in any way."
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