Impact Of Berlin Wall Collapse Still Rippling Through Russia

Berliners sing and dance on top of the Berlin Wall to celebrate the opening of East-West German borders, 10 Nov 1989 Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, many formercommunist countries of Central and Eastern Europe have distancedthemselves from Russia with a series of military, political andeconomic reforms. But Russia itself is still struggling to lead aneffective military alliance, to modernize its resource-driven economy,and to liberalize its authoritarian political system.

Thecollapse of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 signaled not only theend of communism in Europe, but also of Moscow's control of the formerEastern Bloc. Several nations in the region have since entered theEuropean Union and traded their membership in the Soviet-led WarsawPact for NATO. Independent Russian military analyst AlexanderKonovalov says new NATO members sought protection against Moscow.

Konovalovsays the Soviet Union imposed its political will many times, andalthough they would never openly admit it, the main reason thosecountries joined NATO is historic fear of Russia and the Soviet Unionas powers that could impose something they do not want.

Russiahas sought to organize a new defense alliance, the Collective SecurityTreaty Organization, which includes five other former Sovietrepublics. But in moves widely seen as snubs against Moscow, Belarusboycotted an alliance summit in June and Uzbekistan has refused to signa key agreement on a rapid reaction force. Konovalov says Russia hasalso lost the initiative in another security group, the ShanghaiCooperation Organization, or SCO.

Konovalov says many countriesare seeking to join the SCO and they are currently being grantedobserver status, but the organization is not successful because it wasorganized by Russia, but because China is a member. He notes that SCOis an Asian, not Soviet organization.

Konovalov says thecollapse of the Berlin Wall exposed Russia to market forces andrevealed that its Soviet-era command economy was not competitive. Today, Russian leaders frequently talk about economic diversification,but the country continues to import the majority of its finishedproducts and to export mostly oil, gas and other natural resources. This makes Russia heavily dependent on global price fluctuations. TheRIA Novosti News Agency quotes Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin as sayingthe value of Russian exports would drop by $190 billion this year dueto reduced worldwide demand.

The President of Moscow's NewEurasia Foundation, Andrei Kortunov, says the abundance of naturalresources in Russia means there is little incentive for economicreforms. He says Russia also lacks another incentive that provided abig boost to former Soviet satellite countries.

"They wanted tojoin the European Union, and that was the key factor that defined theireconomic transformation policies," said Kortunov. "Russia doesn't havesuch incentive. Russia is not likely to join the European Unionanytime soon. Therefore, there is no supergoal that Russia mightpursue."

Kortunov says the Soviet-era social contract betweenordinary Russians and the state continues by inertia. That contract,he says, presumes many ordinary Russians still expect the state to beresponsible for their well-being.

"Under Mr. Putin, we had arestoration of the old social contract," he said. "On the one hand, thestate provides citizens with growing real incomes, and at the sametime, citizens - the population - are ready to provide their politicalloyalty to the state."

This inertia, says Kortunov, preventsmany Russians from seeing the connection between their economicinterests and the liberty to pursue them on their own.

MashaLipman at the Moscow Carnegie Center agrees, but notes Russia has madeconsiderable progress since the demise of the Soviet Union.

"Thefreedom of travel, there is a freedom to engage in entrepreneurship -if we compare this to the USSR, where private property and drawingprofits were a crime," said Lipman. "This is a huge, huge difference,and for many people this opens new avenues to fulfill themselves. Notwithout limitations, not without reservations, but still a hugedifference."

Lipman says some older Russians have nostalgia forthe superpower status they enjoyed under the Soviet Union. As for theyoung, she says they have difficulty imagining the constraints of lifein the totalitarian Soviet police state.

"It is indeed very hardto imagine, unless you lived in those days, how your very naturalthings were denied to you, like playing the music that you like, dressthe way you like, enjoy yourself the way you like as a young person,"she said.

Lipman says Russia today is a country in search of anidentity; an identity that collapsed along with the Berlin Wall. Sheadds that many Russians have mixed feelings about that historic day,which Eastern Europeans used to revive their status as independentnations. Russians, however, appear torn between their Soviet andCzarist past; between communism and capitalism, and also betweenauthoritarian and democratic rule.