It will be interesting to here what in particular you mean saying Russia treat Finland as it is part of Russia (which it was). Of course it is only Russian and American news available for me not Finland, so I may not know and you opinion will be very interesting. Lets not talk about Estonia, Latvia and Litva.
About seriouce internal problems - hard to beleave. Russian economy is booming, approval rating of Putin is huge. Let me explain why, because it may not be really clear for Westerner.
Russian state during Eltzin era get used to not to pay salary and retierment pentions. So you came to you work for your monthly salary and have - "Sorry, we just do not have money this month". This was on regular bases, people have no salary for six months continuing to work.
This affects almost all Russian because they were in general state employees. And it includes state manufacturing workers, police, medical doctors, military, science, education... and all retiered old people. This was "normal practice" for years - all over 90th!
Now can you imagine similar situation let say in England or France - it will be raids all over countries! But this brutal, bad Russians just wait and try to survive one or other way, planting potatoes on the small piece of land near their house etc...
When Putin became prime minister of Eltzin first what he did - stop this practice all salary get paid in time now, every month you have your money plus he pay off all debt - remember people did not have salaries for 6 months.
After this it is hard to be not elected, I even say that if somebody try not to let Putin being president most likely people of Russia will make him anyway. He may dance on the Red Square naked and will be elected anyway! In the Western news it was presented as he was elected because of his success in Chechnya - but I hope you see now that this is silly and simplistic and did not show any understanding of situation in Russia that days - just usual excuse.
Now with economy booming Russia turning into something like US and general population less and less care about Europe, other World, all what western news talk about focusing on internal affairs - actually "Paris Hilton in jail" kind of news.
Thanks, Vassili
Well, I mean the way Russia constantly interferes in the internal affairs of its independent neighbouring nations, such as Finland, and most recently Estonia. Russia is always making statements how, for example, Finland's possible membership in NATO would severely damage Finnish-Russian relations, and sending fighter aircraft to make a couple of "accidental" intrusions into Finnish airspace every single year. Sure, that is not atypical for any superpower, but Russia really has a way of pushing it far more than others.
As for Finland having been a part of Russia, yes, after Russia invaded what was then the Finnish province of the Kingdom of Sweden. And only two decades after Finland had declared independence, Russia (or the Soviet Union, as it was then), invaded Finland again. That's really not the way to treat your neighbours and expect good relations.
Sure, this is all in the past, but what is not in the past is the way countries treat each other diplomatically this very day.
I remember very well how the times were in Russia after the collapse of the Union and during Boris Yeltsin's rule. Had a Russian school teacher, very smart, about thirty years old, move next to me during those years. She said, she hadn't been paid for the last eight months, so she literally couldn't live in Russia anymore, so she came to Finland, where she had some relatives. Bad days, and not really surprising, seeing how enormous the change was from the Soviet Union to a freer, capitalist economy and at least a somewhat democratic society. Make things better, and it's easy to get popular.
The internal problems I referred to are not quite the same type of problems as those experienced after the collapse of the Union. I'm talking political assassinations (Politkovskaja, anyone?), very brutal treatment of conscripts during military training, the whole case with Chechnya, and more. These are not the kind of things that will cause an immediate revolution, but neither are they things that any politician in power would want citizens talking about while reading the morning paper at breakfast.
All in all, Russia has a long way to go before being a truly democratic nation, and one that does not treat neighbours as though property. But certainly, the Russia that exists today is a much more pleasant neighbour than the Soviet Union ever was, and things are changing. There are certainly some things western countries might want to learn from Russia: like how not to give in to the madness of multiculturality, and allow an army of islamic fanatics to storm the west.
But I digress again, and I think I've gone a tad too political for the rules of this forum, so, sorry about that. I'll get on topic now.
