The ongoing Gaidar Forum used to be merely pointless; now it has become simply pathetic.
A group of very cowardly people is sitting in one hall, carefully pretending not to notice the giant pink elephant taking up 95% of the room.
The forum will be a success only on one condition: someone in the audience finally stands up and says to the presidium—to Medvedev, Chubais, and the rest of that gang of “economists”: “The main obstacle to Russia’s economic development is you personally. And all the ministers in your government sitting in the front row. And your Putin with United Russia, entrenching criminal authoritarianism. As long as you remain in power, there will be no development.”
And now Artemyev, the head of the anti-monopoly service, is speaking, babbling all sorts of pious nonsense and banalities.
What integrity and liberal economics? What are you even talking about?
The audience is full of grown adults. Tell them the truth:
— You know, guys, we have insanely competitive sectors: road construction and bridge building. For 12 years now, there could have been development there—technology, lower prices, better quality. But the thing is, Putin orders all contracts to be handed to the Rotenbergs and Timchenko so they can siphon off money for him and themselves. And all state procurement has been funneled to Putin’s friends for exactly that reason. So absolutely nothing will work out for us while they are in power. That’s it. I have nothing more to say.
That kind of speech would be the forum’s sensational success; without it, it is a lying, hypocritical disgrace. And it is organized in such a way that a journalist from The Economist calls it an example of why Russia will never attract investment.
And the most important thing at the forum happened yesterday. Medvedev spoke there and said, word for word: “We need serious structural reforms, although we have probably been talking about this for the past fifteen years.”
The prime minister and, at the same time, the leader of the ruling party, which holds a constitutional majority in parliament.
In other words, he occupies the most favorable possible position for carrying out any reforms and has an unquestionable mandate to do so. Just write the laws, pass them in a single day, and implement them.
And this could have been done continuously for 14 years straight, since 2003, when United Russia secured a solid majority in the State Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament).
If for 15 years they have been talking and wanting to do it, but have done nothing—despite having every opportunity for 14 of those 15 years—what does that mean?
It means that very pink elephant in the Gaidar Forum hall—the irrefutable fact that the main obstacles to economic growth are Putin, Medvedev, and United Russia.
If you could not do it in 15 years, then you never will. Leave.