#11
From: "Peter Lavelle" <plavelle@metropol.ru>
Subject: Untimely Thoughts
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001

Peter Lavelle: Untimely Thoughts: On mirrors, cameras, and strategic transparency
(re Transparency Russian style)

Those who thought it could not happen here should be shockingly surprised. The TV program Behind the Mirror shows Russia's youth culture in its most transparent form. Twenty-four cameras keep an eye on their every move. It is difficult to describe the program's popularity, shown all through the day and evening. For sure the program has its dissenters, the older generation (read: communists) and intelligentsia (read: those cultured people who have not been able to translate their brains into money with the end of the old regime). I watched one "episode" and found it boring. I don't know what category that puts me in. What I do find striking is how far "transparency", in one sense, has gone here. "Behind the Mirror" would make Orwell smile. Is the show popular because Russians already know something about being watched by others? Or is it that Russians enjoy how the tables have turned? Now they can watch the every move of a group the people with impunity. It all may be a mute point however; the station, called the "last independent channel", appears to be on the brink of closure due to government pressure.

While on the subject of viewing. Mayor Luzhkov has come up with the idea to place 1,200 cameras on Tverskaya Street, Moscow's main drag. To be manned by 41 police officers, Luzhkov seems intent on keeping an eye on just about everything. If his aim is to discourage crime on the landmark street he may (or may not) be disappointed. There are enough cops on the beat to deter most petty criminals. On the other hand, some of Moscow's "highest maintenance" diversions can also be seen lurking the streets and their well to do clients. Like the people who watch "Behind the Mirror", maybe Luzhkov just wants some cheap thrills (and plenty of video tapes to have on hand if he feels the need apply pressure on those who indulge in such favors). In this sense, Luzhkov is truly a man of the mirror people.

One has to wonder about the transparency of the "new alliance-partnership". Is the endgame against the Taliban and the creation of the new post-war regime going as planned? To date, the Northern Alliance (and de facto Russia) seems to be getting the better of the deal. American airpower is making the Soviet dream (turned nightmare) come true  the new Kabul government may become first and foremost friendly to Russia. An Afghanistan most friendly to Russia may become Moscow's ultimate "prize". If Russia is just beginning to flex its oil muscles in the world, a pro-Russia Afghanistan could add considerable flesh to those muscles. There are many, including myself, who have doubted what Russia can really bring to the new relationship. Maybe Putin is simply thinking in an entirely different way. What he brings to the table is the leverage he hopes to gain from the endgame. A Russia that has hegemony over Caspian oil and its distribution would have quite a bit of leverage. The US helped to create OPEC in the interest of establishing a stable level of oil production at a stable and predictable price. Will the US allow Russia supersede OPEC for the right to extinguish Muslim terrorist movement in the world? How wonderful for Russia. It may attain a vastly enhanced position in the world oil market while the US destroys its enemies.

All these examples have at least one thing in common. All turn the concept of transparency on its head. The voyeurism of "Behind the Mirror" assaults privacy. Luzhkov's cameras intend to watch your every move. What may be illegal can be determined later. Putin -- through his openness the west -- may succeed where the invasion in December 1979 failed, with the US picking up the bill and the challenge of still how to get out of the mountains (of ethnic conflicts) that makes up Afghanistan.