Power

An opposition radio station in Russia, Ekho Moskvy, airs a show whose stated aim is to determine who possesses true power in the country. On a recent installment of "Power," viewers heard that Russia wants to Finlandize Ukraine and that the Putin-Medvedev regime has never altered a decision under pressure from public opinion. Until now, such a regular program would have been unthinkable in the CR, because there would have been too few guests willing to talk openly. A concurrence of events is changing this. Ever-mounting budget deficits, the consolidation of a huge share of the economy into a single ČEZ-PPF-J&T bloc, the audacity of the politicians allowing it, and the revulsion of a handful of public figures and journalists is making it easier to pose pointed questions. Even MP Miroslav Kalousek warned today in HN that the "privatization of public authority" means that voters might not know one day whom they're voting for and who's calling the shots. He vowed to make it an issue in the election campaign.