I do not pretend to be an expert on Russia's politics and management. I, only had the priviledge to see the evolution which took place in one city: Orenburg and its region. The improvements have been tremendeous. It seems to me that russians must keep that pace and nor rush too fast and become like us (occidentals) money' slaves. Some commentaters write and talk about russian backward economy and deficiences in certains ereas. They forget to mention your success. It is also evident than you must keep full control over your natural ressources and have like Amerca some strategic reserves. Your economy must be run by russian experts and not fluctuate under foreigners' mondialisation-masters' wishes. Otherwise in a few years companies like Gasprom could have the same destiny as our french pride Total which now belong for 80% to US pensions funds and the rest to Worldwide oligarchs, plus a few of that company's managers. Some times ago, I wrote to RTTV a similar comment. What Mr Medvedev said is interesting but simple evidence. Just work and improve Russia at your own pace and don't run into troubles. Sinerely...Jean-Claude Meslin

Medvedev and Putin - Thankyou! Onward we go together. Simply the best Director and CEO of Russia I could ask for. Simply the best turn around I have ever seen. Meslin - Absolutely right, we do it at our own pace, ourselves, it takes time to bake a cake, and this recipe is mouthwatering, it is well worth the wait.

I think Medvedev is tackling the real issue and that is banking may facilitate, but all the banking in the world adds no real value to any economy. Medvedev is using a very broad-brush stroke and although correct, I’d like to see that vision translated to ideas like this, ones that even a banker can understand ;) Let’s builds ARK’s (Automatic Regenerative Kinesis). And this is the idea… you invest in a new village to the point that it starts to do Regenerative Kinesis. The village has a democratic bank, managed by the investors who take it to the point of Automatic Regenerative Kinesis, and then you stand back and marvel at how you just put 20,000 people to work and created a perpetual gold mine. For example, you take a dairy farm, you give it Biogas, that makes energy and fertilizer which you use to feed Biodiesel crops, like Soya, now you have diesel for tractors, and a byproduct is glycerin, and that’s you use to make Soap and Toothpaste. It’s cold in Russia so you create a hydroponics plant and the glycerin comes in handy there as well. Now people are eating and you have already created a thousand jobs and Russia has trees, so they supplement the energy requirement making charcoal and wood alcohol (methanol which is needed for biodiesel manufacture), and so it goes on. Not enough space here to describe an entire vision but this is really how capitalism should work, and its important because this is the mechanism that can be used for green CDM type projects, the mechanism to get people employed and the way one can rebalance the planet without war, and most importantly, it offers a way to slow down capitalism, something bankers still need to learn. Russia’s leadership is impressive, they saying, “fix banking and you fix society”, this is the trick, if you have the courage. All it needs now is someone with a vicious imagination to launch project Noah and build those ARKs ;)

China has understood the formation of profit according to Marx ( something which the first founding fathers of Communism in Russia did not ! Alas !) and the management of the combined national surplus values as productive capital for all the structures in the Nation ( capital investments productive of a continue time valorization - roads, railways, dams,estates, airports, ports, industrial centres, lands reclamations , education and development of technologies etc.) leaving the so called " service industries " ( producing little or no real values - see the uncontrolled indebtiness of the USA ) free to stimulate people. Europe has ten years ago accepted Marxist economy ( I think they call it " market economy" ) trying to move from capitalism to a structured economy. Russia MUST follow the Chinese example as the Russian are ecceptionally lucky to have the bases for a continue valorization thanks to their energy natural sources. Triste in Trieste

Medvedev did not talk about Russia’s national ethics. Yet it is the moral values of any person or company or nation that determines how it uses the resources and opportunities available to it, and that ultimately determines the kind of outcomes produced. Medvedev said, “We have to admit that, in previous years, we ourselves did not do enough to solve the problems inherited from the past. We failed to get rid of the primitive structure of the economy, from the humiliating dependence on raw materials exports, to re-orientating production towards people’s real needs.” Primitive economic structures are not nearly as humiliating – nor as debilitating – as primitive ethical structures. The reality is, that Russia has not freed itself from some pivotal ethics of its Soviet past. It does not acknowledge the realities of its Soviet history, has required no one to answer for the crimes against humanity which Russians, under the Soviet flag, committed against other Russians and against neighboring countries, still claims that Stalin brought liberty instead of a mere change of oppressors to Eastern Europe, and still denies that a Soviet occupation of the Baltics even happened. How can a nation produce healthy outcomes if it is still enmeshed in such morality? Medvedev added, “We have to learn the lessons from the events of the past period.” He applied this to the recent post-Soviet past, but needs to apply it to the Soviet past. I have never heard any Russian individual, journalist or leader analyze what mistakes the Russian people made that allowed Communism to be imposed on them, and that allowed the Soviet regime to remain in place for so long, or what their own personal moral legacy from Communism is. Nor have I heard any Russian, much less any Russia leader, specify what he or she will do to ensure that such mistakes will never be repeated. Russia urgently needs to recognize and repudiate its heritage of Soviet moral values if it is to prosper.

Medvedev is absolutely right on the innovation issue. However it has to be recognized that innovators can be everyone not just big companies. All innovators need support.

I impressed with Dmitry Medvedev's plan of modernisation of Russia. It is looking very promising and revolutionary. I just want to add at this point that as a great AGRO country Russia will benefit from the future developments in areas of the biofuel technologies (like BIODIESEL) which can be used in the car industry and airspace too. My personal opinion that the future crisis (5 years from now of running out of oil in most countries) would bring deficit of the fuel to the world car industry and airspace markets and therefore - other countries would have a LARGE demand for the BIO fuels. I believe, Russia need to begin to develop its territories for the biodiesel growth, and that also would include modernisation of the country side villages, it would create demand of the people who will live and work there for the development of the food industry, communications systems, ROADS, media, internet, schooling and social, medical, events and entertainment. Crisis in the some western countries will probably push some reach investments into Russia ( by not having to pay a huge taxes) but I would understand if Russian goverment will demand that those kind of deals would be build on the ptrincipal of the half, or partly shared ownerships, which brings benefit to Russian Banking system, living Russian people in the control of their assets. Maria Kuznetsova