* Russia’s long-haul truck drivers have disrupted the country’s federal highways
... For more than two weeks to protest a new road tax (platon in Russian) collected (with a 20% commission) by the Putin-associated Rotenberg oligarchs. The protesters threatened a full blockade of Moscow today unless their demands for a radical restructuring of the government are met. Russia’s riot and traffic police have not been able to halt the convoys, and the Russian government has refused good-faith talks. Putin’s propaganda machine is threatened with its own version of a nationwide Maidan. And the truck drivers intend to paralyze the traffic of the nation’s capital. Talks failed when Russia’s transport minister staged a show meeting with counterfeit truckers before government media. Despite massive security efforts, 200 trucks have arrived in Moscow. Ominously for the Kremlin, private car drivers are joining the protest... Vladimir Putin came into office with promises of growth and prosperity. That the ailing Russian economy can no longer deliver on these pledges has weakened the Kremlin, but the liberal opposition isn’t strong enough to end Putin’s kleptocracy. Instead, any fatal blow must come from Putin’s core supporters–workers (including truckers) and pensioners–reacting to unpaid wages, declining living standards and to the billions stolen by Putin’s inner circle at their expense...
(Photo from Associated Press, by DMITRY ROGULIN: Hundreds of Russian truck drivers head to Moscow for protest) -- St. Petersburg, Russia - Fortune (USA), by Paul Roderick Gregory - Nov 30, 2015Labels: trucking industry troubles worldwide
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