Russia still suffering from political anorexia

In his address to the nation Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called for Russia to modernise, but at the same time reasserted the country's claim to power over the former Soviet republics. The Latvian daily Diena reacts nervously: "The key question for Latvia is how serious Russia's potential for aggression is at present. And to answer this one thing must be clear: Russia has still not recovered from the illness historian Norman Davis once described as its 'political anorexia'. Although this time Medvedev made no mention of the 'lost territories of the old indestructible Union' and the countrymen who live there, he addressed Georgia saying that Russia would deal with the resistance in the North Caucasus and do everything in its power to ensure prosperity for the people there. This, however, harks back to the naïve hopes of the Americans that they could bring peace to Iraq with Hollywood films and humanitarian aid."

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