Russia, Belarus, and the others

Russia fears foreign Belarus plot
Nikolai Patrushev heads the successor to the Soviet KGB
Foreign pro-democracy activists are secretly plotting revolution in Belarus, Russia's spy chief has said.

I read the Russian version of the news fairly carefully. "Foreign pro-democracy" activists weren't mentioned. The main allegation is made to "foreign NGOs" of various sorts. Slopiness of expression by BBC? Could it be representative of something? I leave this for you to interpret.

Several things are clear, however. Iron Curtain or no Iron Curtain, Russia still feels like it has to go face to face with the Western world. It is worth noticing that the Russian sphere of influence, which has shrunk to a minimum, now consists mostly of countries where de facto dictatorship regimes are in power (Belarus, Kazakhstan, you name it). Russia itself is drifting towards a form of government which is anything but encouraging. The nagging conclusion is that while the demise of the Soviet Union allowed many countries to wrestle out of the grasp of the Siberian bear, for a small hard core it was just a means for transforming into free market communism. The capital is now held by legitimate businessmen, who are former Communist functioneers, and the people have an illusion of freedom. This is a way more comfortable way to preserve a status quo, which was on its way out.

Bulgarian Ports Authority illegal, Constitutional Court says

The Bulgarian Ports Authority was registered as a state-owned business enterprise. It has been vested with certain business, regulatory, and executive powers that allow the agency to establish a monopoly on sea and river transportation (chiefly by setting the port taxes, and operating the river- and seaports, which remain public property). This, combined with the fact that NPA is in the category of firms that can potentially be subject to privatization, was enough for the Court to declare its illegallity.

I honestly think that the notion that the state should try to delegate more to private parties is not a difficult one to grasp. How come applying it can be such a failure, and on a regular basis, too?

Hello World

I often make ambitious plans that I fail to keep up with. Hopefully this one will work out.