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and with Vladimir Putin's man, Dmitrii Anatolevich Medvedev's succession as President of Russia, an accomplished fact even before the March 2008 election, Dr. White's assessment has proved not only sound but prophetic. Dr. Ji Zhiye, in an interview conducted by the Editor, gives a more favourable picture of Putin's Russia, even pointing to the benefits of the highly centralised political system that has developed under him. He also discusses the nature of Russia's foreign policy, especially its good-neighbourliness relations with China. Apart from the problems discussed, the irony of the current political situation in Russia and China cannot but strike many readers. China is Communist, but has become increasingly more receptive to Western capitalism and modern culture, while Russia—since the fall of the Soviet Union a socalled democracy in transition—appears to be shifting towards greater authoritarianism of the Soviet kind.
César Guillén-Nuñez 胡纪伦 |
