The New York Times quotes Yabloko leader Yavlinsky:

Grigory A. Yavlinsky, leader of Yabloko, one of the mainstream liberal parties that have opposed Mr. Putin, said Mr. Putin had put himself in a bind because he wants to retain power but knows that if he tries to obtain a third term immediately, he will be seen as illegitimate by some in Russia and abroad.

“œHe has created really an authoritarian system, in which he is like a hill in the desert, and nobody is around,” Mr. Yavlinsky said. “œNow time has come to make a transfer of power, and he really, really has no idea how to do that. And nobody else has any idea. And his character is such that he has no confidence in anybody. So he creates a procedure that is abnormal. That is why he is in real difficulty.”

“œAnd that is why there is this instability now, and why the bureaucracy is very nervous,” Mr. Yavlinsky said.

But its an instability without any momentum. I’ve seen the momentum in Ukraine a couple of years ago, and it was civil, it was in the hands of thouse thousands of citizens who took it to the streets. Here, its in the hands of a small political elite. There goal is quoted in diamonds. I might be bitter, but it seems that in 16 years Russia managed to transform communism into wild-capitalism, and straight into tzarism. Bravo.

И вот настал великий день -
Мне дали в руки бюллетень”¦

Het waren de ’singer-songwriters’ avant la lettre, met simpele ‘chansons’ kregen ze de Sovjet-Unie tot in haar verste uithoeken op de knieen. En soms – heel soms – staat er in het Rusland van nu iemand op die hetzelfde vermogen heeft. En dit keer zijn het geen dissidenten met taperecorders, maar mensen als u en ik die de boodschap via ‘Youtube’ verspreiden. Zijn amateuristische video (Gitar!) werd ruim 350.000 keer bekeken, en hij werd gevraagd voor de lancering van de Russische editie van Youtube. Er volgenden interviews, en een eerste concert. Peter Nalitch, onthoud die naam!

‘La Boheme’ – De man zingt een aardig woordje Frans

Een klassieker, doet het goed op ieder treurig verjaardagsfeestje

‘Kom, ik ga slapen, laat jou dansen’

‘Baba Lyuba’

Een interview met Izvestia