The Cedar Lounge Revolution

Just to share the following small anecdote (link maker not working again (natch!) – http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10006) from Prospect magazine from some months back, which notes an entertaining aspect of the current coolness between the United Kingdom and Russia… “as has been revealed by the row over Russia’s crackdown on the British Council”.

The recent skirmishes between Britain and Russia give some credence to the idea of “the new cold war” (the title of a new book by the Economist’s Edward Lucas). But in the absence of any big ideological clashes between the two nations, there is really no reason why they shouldn’t be friends. Culturally, Britain and Russia have always appealed to each other—an affinity that the two countries’ increasing business ties will surely enhance.

Well, let’s not overstate things, but certainly there is a russophile sentiment in the UK, at least in certain quarters. But then one would have to be pretty closed minded not to have at least some interest and fascination in a country that large, that historically significant, and that varied. Intriguingly it would appear to be a sentiment that is reciprocated in some unexpected places. For, consider the following:

One irony of the current situation is that British Council staff fondly recall the assistant to the mayor of St Petersburg who in the early 1990s worked tirelessly to help the council set up its office in the city.

And this paragon of cultural exchange and openness?

His name? Vladimir Putin.