In one of the most famous opening lines in literature, Leo Tolstoy wrote, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” What he meant by that was it is possible to fail in many ways, but there is only one way to succeed. The interesting thing about Russia’s ongoing failure, in contrast to its most famous writer’s wisdom, is that it is unrelenting in its uniformity. Nothing happening in Russia today is a surprise. It looks exactly like Russia's entire painstaking history played out year after year, decade after decade. Russian history, which is full of unique and different historical events, always seems to arrive back at the same place. 

For most observers, the current state of the Russian opposition is simultaneously despondent and hopeful, defeated and resurgent. On March 26th, thousands of people came out to protest against corruption and express their anger at Vladimir Putin’s regime. The demonstrations were catalyzed by Alexei Navalny’s exposé of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s offshore accounts, yachts and vineyards that he secretly owns at a time of economic decline and expenditure cuts.