tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13240912032300045802024-03-14T01:18:54.060-07:00LR TranslationsTranslations from the Russian media by <i>La Russophobe</i>.La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-9321456812054859152007-05-03T14:49:00.000-07:002008-02-11T15:03:36.203-08:00Welcome to LR Translations<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span>This blog is a collection of original translations from the Russian press which were originally published on the Russia blog <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.russophobe.blogspot.com/">La Russophobe</a>. Its contents are always expanding and are currently as follows (to read an article, simply click its link; to scroll and browse, open the blog archive for February in the sidebar; to search the contents, use the search window at the top [to return whole posts] or bottom [to return headlines] of the page):</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">CONTENT INDEX</span></span><br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >By Topic</span><br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Neo-Soviet Crackdown (human rights, civil rights)</span><br /></span></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/spare-organs.html">Spare Organs</a></span></li><li><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/commissars-of-internet.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Commissars of the Interne</a><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/commissars-of-internet.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">t</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/nashi-manifesto-revealed.html">The Nashi Manifesto Revealed</a><br /></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/on-litvinenko-putin-and-gaidar.html">On Litvinenko, Politikovskaya and Gaidar</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/radzikhovskiy-on-litvinenko.html">On Litvinenko</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/dear-president-putin.html">Dear President Putin</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/dear-president-putin-ii.html">Dear President Putin II</a><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/saga-of-larisa-arap.html">The Saga of Larisa Arap</a><br /></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-versus-other-russia.html">Kremlin versus "Other Russia"</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://russophobe.blogspot.com/2007/04/hooray-here-comes-oborona.html">Here Comes Oborona!</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/exposing-neo-soviet-tv-news.html">Exposing Neo-Soviet TV News</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-versus-oborona-postcard-from.html">The Kremlin versus Oborona</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/happy-birthday-mr-president.html">Happy Birthday, Mr. President!</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/on-trail-of-politkovskayas-killers.html">On the Trail of Politkovskaya's Killers</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/big-brother-is-watching-you.html">Big Brother is Watching You</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/bukovsky-real-russian-patriot.html">Vladimir Bukovsky, a Real Russian Patriot</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/illarionov-on-bhutto.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Illarionov on Bhutto</span></a></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-crushes-russias-internet.html">The Kremlin Crushes the Internet</a></span></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2008/02/latynina-on-kasyanov.html">Latynina on Kasyanov</a><br /></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Imperialism<br /></span></span></span><ul><li><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-versus-tymoshenko.html"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span></span></a><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-versus-tymoshenko.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Kremlin versus Tymoshenko</a></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/nonsense-of-empire-building.html">The Nonsense of Empire Building</a></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-cold-war.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The New Cold War</span></a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/liability-for-chechnya.html">Liablity for Chechnya</a><br /></span></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Russian Mindset (culture, attitudes)</span><br /></span></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/05/so-bad-its-good.html">So Bad, it's Good!</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/made-in-ussr.html">Made in the USSR</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/window-on-russian-blogosphere.html">A Window on the Russian Blogosphere</a></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/vladmir-michael-moore-putin.html">Vladimir "Michael Moore" Putin</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/prison-camp-russia.html">Prison Camp Russia</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/imitation-as-russian-national-idea.html">Imitation as the Russian National Idea</a><br /></li></ul>Historical-Philosophical Analysis<br /><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/everything-old-is-new-again.html">Everything Old is New Again</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/savior-of-motherland.html">The Savior of the Motherland</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/lie-as-national-idea.html">The Lie as National Idea</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/remembering-yeltsin.html">Remembering Boris Yeltsin</a></li><li><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/estonia-and-russian-history.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">Estonia and Russian History</span></span></a></span></span></span></span></li><li><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/lollipop-kid-and-time-magazine_24.html">The Lollipop Kid and Time Magazine</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/lies-for-youngest.html">Lies for the Youngest</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/humped-and-dumped.html">Humped and Dumped</a><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></li></ul>Corruption<br /><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/wages-of-putin.html">The Wages of Putin</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-kremlin-buys-its-defenders.html">How the Kremlin Buys its Defenders</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/approaching-zimbabwe.html">Approaching Zimbabwe</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/nashi-election-broadsheets.html">The Nashi Elections Broadsheets</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/united-russia-shakedown.html">The United Russia Shakedown</a><br /></li></ul>Economic Performance<br /><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/evaluating-authoritarianism.html">Evaluating Authoritarianism</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/07/illarionov-on-russias-future.html">Illarionov on Russia's Future</a></li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" >By Russian Publication</span><br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Novaya Gazeta</span><br /></span></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/spare-organs.html">Spare Organs</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/dear-president-putin.html">Dear President Putin</a></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/big-brother-is-watching-you.html">Big Brother is Watching You</a></li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Kommersant<br /></span></span></span><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/evaluating-authoritarianism.html">Evaluating Authoritariansm</a></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/nonsense-of-empire-building.html">The Nonsense of Empire Building</a></span></span></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Gazeta.ru<br /></span></span></span><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/vladmir-michael-moore-putin.html">Vladimir "Michael Moore" Putin</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/prison-camp-russia.html">Prison Camp Russia</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-versus-other-russia.html">Kremlin versus "Other Russia"</a></li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Yezhedevny Zhurnal</span><br /></span></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/on-litvinenko-putin-and-gaidar.html">On Litvinenko, Politkovskaya and Gaidar</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/radzikhovskiy-on-litvinenko.html">On Litvinenko</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/05/so-bad-its-good.html">So Bad, it's Good!</a></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/everything-old-is-new-again.html">Everything Old is New Again</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/remembering-yeltsin.html">Remembering Boris Yeltsin</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/approaching-zimbabwe.html">Approaching Zimbabwe</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/07/illarionov-on-russias-future.html">Illarionov on Russia's Future</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/exposing-neo-soviet-tv-news.html">Exposing Neo-Soviet TV News</a></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/saga-of-larisa-arap.html">The Saga of Larisa Arap</a></span></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/happy-birthday-mr-president.html">Happy Birthday, Mr. President!</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/on-trail-of-politkovskayas-killers.html">On the Trail of Politkovskaya's Killers</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/imitation-as-russian-national-idea.html">Imitation as the Russian National Idea</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/bukovsky-real-russian-patriot.html">Vladimir Bukovsky, a Real Russian Patriot</a></li><li style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-cold-war.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The New Cold War</span></a></span></li><li style="font-family:georgia;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/nashi-election-broadsheets.html">The Nashi Elections Broadsheets</a></li><li style="font-family:georgia;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/illarionov-on-bhutto.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Illarionov on Bhutto</span></a></li><li style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/lollipop-kid-and-time-magazine_24.html">The Lollipop Kid and Time Magazine</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/lies-for-youngest.html">Lies for the Youngest</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2008/02/latynina-on-kasyanov.html">Latynina on Kasyanov</a></span></li><li face="georgia"><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/humped-and-dumped.html">Humped and Dumped</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li face="georgia"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/dear-president-putin-ii.html">Dear President Putin II</a></span></li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Russkii Zhurnal<br /><ul><li><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/estonia-and-russian-history.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">Estonia and Russian History</span></span></a></span></span></span></span></li></ul>Grani.ru<br /><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/savior-of-motherland.html">The Savior of the Motherland</a></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-crushes-russias-internet.html">The Kremlin Crushes the Internet</a></span></li></ul>Rupor Info<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-crushes-russias-internet.html">The Kremlin Crushes the Internet</a></span></li></ul>Blogosphere<br /><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/window-on-russian-blogosphere.html">A Window on the Russian Blogosphere</a></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-kremlin-buys-its-defenders.html">How the Kremlin Buys its Defenders</a></li><li><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/commissars-of-internet.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Commissars of the Interne</a><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/commissars-of-internet.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">t</a></li><li><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-versus-tymoshenko.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Kremlin versus Tymoshenko</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://russophobe.blogspot.com/2007/04/hooray-here-comes-oborona.html">Here Comes Oborona!</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/nashi-manifesto-revealed.html">The Nashi Manifesto Revealed</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-versus-oborona-postcard-from.html">The Kremlin versus Oborona</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/wages-of-putin.html">The Wages of Putin</a></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/liability-for-chechnya.html">Liablity for Chechnya</a></span></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/united-russia-shakedown.html">The United Russia Shakedown</a></li></ul></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >By Russian Author</span><br /></span></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Blant, Maksim<br /><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/everything-old-is-new-again.html">Everything Old is New Again</a></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Bronstein, Boris<br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/dear-president-putin.html">Dear President Putin</a></span></li></ul></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Danilin, Pavel</span><br /><ul><li><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/estonia-and-russian-history.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">Estonia and Russian History</span></span></a></span></span></span></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Gazmanov, Oleg</span><br /></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/made-in-ussr.html">Made in the USSR</a></span></li></ul><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Gevorkan, Natalia<br /></span><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/vladmir-michael-moore-putin.html">Vladimir "Michael Moore" Putin</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/prison-camp-russia.html">Prison Camp Russia</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/nashi-election-broadsheets.html">The Nashi Elections Broadsheets</a></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Golts, Alexander</span><br /><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/exposing-neo-soviet-tv-news.html">Exposing Neo-Soviet TV News</a></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-cold-war.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The New Cold War</span></a></span></li><li><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/lollipop-kid-and-time-magazine_24.html">The Lollipop Kid and Time Magazine</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Illarionov, Andrei<br /></span><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/evaluating-authoritarianism.html">Evaluating Authoritarianism</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/approaching-zimbabwe.html">Approaching Zimbabwe</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/07/illarionov-on-russias-future.html">Illarionov on Russia's Future</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/illarionov-on-bhutto.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Illarionov on Bhutto</span></a></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Kiselyov, Yevegeny<br /></span><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-versus-other-russia.html">Kremlin versus "Other Russia"</a></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Kompromat.ru</span><br /><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/wages-of-putin.html">The Wages of Putin</a><br /></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Korolkov, Igor</span><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/spare-organs.html">Spare Organs</a></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Latynina, Yulia<br /></span><ul><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/remembering-yeltsin.html">Remembering Boris Yeltsin</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/happy-birthday-mr-president.html">Happy Birthday, Mr. President!</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/on-trail-of-politkovskayas-killers.html">On the Trail of Politkovskaya's Killers</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/big-brother-is-watching-you.html">Big Brother is Watching You</a></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2008/02/latynina-on-kasyanov.html">Latynina on Kasyanov</a></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Milshtyn, Ilya<br /></span><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/savior-of-motherland.html">The Savior of the Motherland</a></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Nossik, Anton<br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/window-on-russian-blogosphere.html">A Window on the Russian Blogosphere</a></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Osobstov, Alexander<br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/on-litvinenko-putin-and-gaidar.html">On Litvinenko, Politkovskaya and Gaidar</a></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Podrabinek, Alexander</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/saga-of-larisa-arap.html">The Saga of Larisa Arap</a></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/imitation-as-russian-national-idea.html">Imitation as the Russian National Idea</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/bukovsky-real-russian-patriot.html">Vladimir Bukovsky, a Real Russian Patriot</a></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;">Polyanskaya, Anna</span><br /></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/commissars-of-internet.html"><span style="font-size:100%;"></span></a><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/commissars-of-internet.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Commissars of the Interne</a><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/commissars-of-internet.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">t</a></li></ul><div style="text-align: left;">Radzikhovskiy, Leonid<br /><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/radzikhovskiy-on-litvinenko.html">On Litvinenko</a></span></li></ul>Sidorov, Nicholai<br /><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/nonsense-of-empire-building.html">The Nonsense of Empire Building</a></span></span></span></li></ul>Svanidze, Nikolai<br /><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/05/so-bad-its-good.html">So Bad, it's Good!</a></span></li></ul></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" >By Translator</span><br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Original Translator</span></span></span><br /></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/spare-organs.html">Spare Organs</a></span></li><li><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/commissars-of-internet.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Commissars of the Interne</a><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/commissars-of-internet.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">t</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/nashi-manifesto-revealed.html">The Nashi Manifesto Revealed</a></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/on-litvinenko-putin-and-gaidar.html">On Litvinenko, Politkovskaya and Gaidar</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/05/so-bad-its-good.html">So Bad, it's Good!</a></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/everything-old-is-new-again.html">Everything Old is New Again</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/remembering-yeltsin.html">Remembering Boris Yeltsin</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/approaching-zimbabwe.html">Approaching Zimbabwe</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-kremlin-buys-its-defenders.html">How the Kremlin Buys its Defenders</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/07/illarionov-on-russias-future.html">Illarionov on Russia's Future</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/exposing-neo-soviet-tv-news.html">Exposing Neo-Soviet TV News</a></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/saga-of-larisa-arap.html">The Saga of Larisa Arap</a></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-versus-oborona-postcard-from.html">The Kremlin versus Oborona</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/imitation-as-russian-national-idea.html">Imitation as the Russian National Idea</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/happy-birthday-mr-president.html">Happy Birthday, Mr. President!</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/on-trail-of-politkovskayas-killers.html">On the Trail of Politkovskaya's Killers</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/bukovsky-real-russian-patriot.html">Vladimir Bukovsky, a Real Russian Patriot</a></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-cold-war.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The New Cold War</span></a></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/nashi-election-broadsheets.html">The Nashi Elections Broadsheets</a></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/liability-for-chechnya.html">Liablity for Chechnya</a></span></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/united-russia-shakedown.html">The United Russia Shakedown</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/illarionov-on-bhutto.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Illarionov on Bhutto</span></a></li><li><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/lollipop-kid-and-time-magazine_24.html">The Lollipop Kid and Time Magazine</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2008/02/latynina-on-kasyanov.html">Latynina on Kasyanov</a></span></li><li><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/humped-and-dumped.html">Humped and Dumped</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/dear-president-putin-ii.html">Dear President Putin II</a></span></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2008/02/latynina-on-kasyanov.html"></a></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />S.S.</span><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/big-brother-is-watching-you.html">Big Brother is Watching You</a></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-crushes-russias-internet.html">The Kremlin Crushes the Internet</a></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Dave Essel<br /></span><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/evaluating-authoritarianism.html">Evaluating Authoritarianism</a></li><li><span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/estonia-and-russian-history.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">Estonia and Russian History</span></span></a></span></span></span></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/wages-of-putin.html">The Wages of Putin</a><br /></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />Vova Khavkin</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/dear-president-putin.html">Dear President Putin</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/window-on-russian-blogosphere.html">A Window on the Russian Blogosphere</a></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/savior-of-motherland.html">The Savior of the Motherland</a></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/nonsense-of-empire-building.html">The Nonsense of Empire Building</a></span></span></span></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/vladmir-michael-moore-putin.html">Vladimir "Michael Moore" Putin</a></li><li><a href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-versus-tymoshenko.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Kremlin versus Tymoshenko</a></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/kremlin-versus-other-russia.html">Kremlin versus "Other Russia</a></li><li><a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/prison-camp-russia.html">Prison Camp Russia</a></li><br /></ul>LR Staff<br /><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://russophobe.blogspot.com/2007/04/hooray-here-comes-oborona.html">Here Comes Oborona!</a></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/made-in-ussr.html">Made in the USSR</a></span></li></ul><br /></div> </div></div></div>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-47028826021225728862007-02-24T15:43:00.000-08:002008-12-08T13:46:21.157-08:00The United Russia Shakedown<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-style: italic;">La Russophobe</span>'s original translator has uncovered evidence in the <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://sergeyhudiev.livejournal.com/">Russian blogosphere</a> of an attempt by United Russia to extort political campaign contributions under threat of force. Here's a copy of a document posted by the Russian blogger:</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/R0SSccTTuUI/AAAAAAAACS0/MERxTxQXcoA/s1600-h/944500bgcxc0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/R0SSccTTuUI/AAAAAAAACS0/MERxTxQXcoA/s400/944500bgcxc0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135390492440377666" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">(click the image to enlarge it)<br /><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Here's our translation of the letter and the blogger's short post about it:</span><br /><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><u>Translation<o:p></o:p></u></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">------------ Text of Letter -----------------</i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">Letterhead:<span style=""> </span>All-Russian Political Party “United </i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i style="">Russia</i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i style="">” (Yedinaya Rossiya), Kemerov Regional Branch<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">Date Stamped:<span style=""> </span></i><st1:date year="2007" day="13" month="11"><i style="">November 13, 2007</i></st1:date><i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">Addressed to: A.K. Loginov, Executive Director, OAO “Sibirskaya Ugol’naya Energeticheskaya Kompaniya” (Siberian Coal Energy Company)<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">I am taking your refusal to provide financial support to the regional branch of the “United </b><st1:country-region><st1:place><b style="">Russia</b></st1:place></st1:country-region><b style="">” party for the upcoming parliamentary elections as a refusal to support President V.V. Putin and his policy direction.<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">I consider it my obligation to relay this to the Presidential Administration and the Governor of the Kemerov Oblast.<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">Signed: G.T. Dudyaev<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">Secretary of the Regional Political Council<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">Kemerov Regional Branch<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">United </i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i style="">Russia</i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i style=""> Party <o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">------------ End of letter -----------------<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><u>Blogger’s comment:<o:p></o:p></u></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I don’t know whether V.V. Putin would be pleased to have his name used as part of a racketeering/”ironing” enterprise.<span style=""> </span>Perhaps he would not be pleased - judging from his comments about “impostors” (prokhodimtsi).<span style=""> </span>This is, however, an unavoidable consequence of his cult of personality - this is the identity the impostors will use for their fraudulent ends.<span style=""> </span>And it is for this purpose that a cult is established.</p><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-22959557191679681592007-02-24T15:02:00.000-08:002008-02-11T15:02:42.107-08:00Dear President Putin! II<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">An Open Letter to President Putin<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" align="center">by Vladimir Sinelnikov*</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><a href="http://www.ej.ru/?a=note&id=7785"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</span><o:p></o:p></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" align="center"><st1:date year="2008" day="7" month="2">February 7, 2008</st1:date></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Dear Mr. President,</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I would imagine that most of the letters sent to you contain one or another request.<span style=""> </span>But I have a different purpose:<span style=""> </span>I would like to direct your attention to a recent event which reflects as in a drop of water a phenomenon that is without a doubt causing much concern in Russian society.<span style=""> </span>I hope that what I set forth in the letter below will cause your assistants to bring it to your attention.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">About two years ago, during the day, I was returning from a film shoot in my minivan, and as we crossed the square where not long ago there stood a monument to Dzerzhinskiy [TN: Feliks Dzerzhinskiy, the founder of the KGB; his statue stood in front of the headquarters of the KGB, now the FSB, on Lubyanka Square] my vehicle was hit broadside by a car speeding through a red light, impacting right in the spot were I was sitting in the passenger seat.<span style=""> </span>I could not get out of my vehicle, because I was covered in cuts from broken glass and was in a state of shock.<span style=""> </span>But my driver, who was not as badly injured, was able to get out and headed for a traffic island in the middle of the square.<span style=""> </span>The driver responsible for the collision approached the traffic police posted there and told them:<span style=""> </span>“Listen up: I’m an FSB officer on assignment to the Russian Presidential Administration.<span style=""> </span>When you write up your report, start with that.”<span style=""> </span>Then right there, at the scene of the accident, he got on his mobile phone and called two people, who arrived in 4-5 minutes and claimed they were “bystanders” to the accident.<span style=""> </span>After giving their eyewitness accounts they identified themselves for the report as FSB officers (thereby explaining how they were able to get to the traffic island so quickly from their place of work).</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Beginning the next day the leadership of the traffic police special cases unit became the target of unprecedented pressure from federal and Moscow city law enforcement agencies, which demanded that the FSB officer Subbotkin, who was driving the car that rammed into mine - and who loudly proclaimed at the scene of the accident that he worked for you, Mr. President - be exonerated from all responsibility for the accident.<span style=""> </span>But that’s not all.<span style=""> </span>Without any request whatsoever from the police, Subbotkin brought to the traffic police investigations office a videotape which, it turns out, the FSB makes 24 hours a day of the square where the accident took place.<span style=""> </span>Unfortunately for him, he did not anticipate that analysis of the tape by independent experts would only further prove his responsibility for the accident.<span style=""> </span>But a fact remains a fact, and the tape was entered into the case file.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Despite all the pressure that was placed on him, the traffic police investigator refused to declare that my own driver, and not Subbotkin, was responsible for the accident.<span style=""> </span>The most the investigator would agree to do was write was that he could not determine who was at fault.<span style=""> </span>And for that he was immediately sent into retirement.<span style=""> </span>I appealed in a letter to the chief of the FSB Personal Security Directorate, General Kupryashkin, setting before him a single question:<span style=""> </span>whether it was true what Subbotkin said at the scene of the accident, that he was an FSB officer.<span style=""> </span>And also whether the two “bystanders” who supposedly saw the accident were FSB officers as well.<span style=""> </span>(Again, they themselves gave their names and places of employment in the course of the investigation at the scene of the accident.)<span style=""> </span>In a letter signed by one of Kupryashkin’s assistants, it was confirmed that they were all FSB employees.<span style=""> </span>I am attaching this letter because one point is worthy of your attention:<span style=""> </span>in this letter, the agency does not give an assessment of the conduct of any of its officers - neither Subbotkin, nor the false witnesses.<span style=""> </span>Furthermore, while confirming their affiliation with the FSB, the respondent nonetheless did not give the officers’ last names, and confirmed their involvement in the affair only as anonymous figures.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>But instead he assured me that they (“they” who?<span style=""> </span>the witnesses?) had “not threatened” me, although I never said a single word about this, and never even saw the witnesses.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">After this I wrote a letter to the chief of your administration, Mr. Sobyanin, in which I asked him to confirm or disconfirm that Subbotkin is an FSB officer on assignment to the Presidential Administration.<span style=""> </span>I received an official reply, delivered to me by state courier, signed receipt required, which said that Subbotkin is in fact an employee of your administration.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Then I turned to the courts, and here, Mr President, several additional circumstances came to light that are worthy of your attention.<span style=""> </span>The judge demanded that I state Subbotkin’s place of residence - i.e., provide his certificate of domicile - even though in the accident report he wrote his address in his own hand, and it was accurate enough that a telegram sent there to determine the damage he inflicted on my car reached him.<span style=""> </span>It turns out, Mr. President, that Mr. Subbotkin’s place of residence is not at the address given by him, but another:<span style=""> </span>Bolshaya Lubyanka, Bldg 1/3.<span style=""> </span>I know that you once worked at this address, as does Mr. Patrushev [the current head of the FSB], and that this is the location of the KGB’s prison, but I cannot imagine where in this vicinity Subbotkin might be residing.<span style=""> </span>I can’t help but ask:<span style=""> </span>for what purpose would we have a regulation, written or unwritten, that gives intelligence officers the right to register as their domicile their place of work?<span style=""> </span>Wouldn’t it be worthwhile to change such a law, if it exists, or extend it to all organizations, including my television company?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I do not know why - I do not want to imagine why - but the court lost my case file on two separate occasions, and was not even able to tell me the date on which the court supposedly returned my documents to me.<span style=""> </span>So twice I had to start all over again, pull together all the necessary documents, and again pay the court fees.<span style=""> </span>And then, just after my story appeared on the website of the Russian organization “For Human Rights” (Za Prava Cheloveka), the judge who twice lost my case file suddenly disappeared, and the whole process had to begin again from a blank piece of paper.<span style=""> </span>In this way, Mr. President, my story proceeded for two years.<span style=""> </span>And then, just when the my case was finally going to court, who should appear but Mr Subbotkin (I should note that he never once appeared in court these two years, but suddenly he turned up, as soon the court found him responsible in absentia and ordered him to pay for damages to my vehicle).<span style=""> </span>And here occurs the main turn of events that is worthy of your attention.<span style=""> </span>Subbotkin filed a retaliatory suit, alleging that my driver was responsible for the accident.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But that’s not the main thing.<span style=""> </span><b style="">Subbotkin also demanded that I be held responsible for tarnishing his image and honor as an FSB officer, referring to the fact that the above story, word for word, appeared on the website of the “For Human Rights” organization.<span style=""> </span>He does not deny that he presented himself at the accident site as an FSB officer; does not deny that he personally delivered to the traffic police a videotape produced by the intelligence services; and he does not deny that he called his FSB colleagues to serve as false witnesses.<span style=""> </span>But he accuses me of taking the liberty of drawing to public attention the fact that he is a member of the intelligence services<i style="">.</i></b><span style=""> </span>[TN: Emphasis in the original.]</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yes, I knowingly passed this information to the respected organization’s website.<span style=""> </span>And I will say further:<span style=""> </span>this story became the subject of an hour-long program on the radio station “Svoboda” (Freedom), in which I was joined by the recently-elected Russian Duma deputy and retired FSB General Kandaurov.<span style=""> </span>On the program, Kandaurov gave his unambiguous assessment of Subbotkin’s conduct.<span style=""> </span>At the end of the program I asked him to answer a question for me.<span style=""> </span>“I thought,” I told him and the program’s listeners, “that this story would end approximately as follows:<span style=""> </span>I would be invited to FSB headquarters, where they would admit their involvement in what happened, and tell me that Subbotkin would not be able to discuss the matter with me because he was fulfilling his duties in a garrison somewhere near Chita [TN: city in eastern Siberia].<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Or will they instead just send the tax inspector to visit my television company?” I asked.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Kandaurov smiled and answered, “After the website affair, and now this hour-long program on ‘Svoboda’, they will first apologize... And then they will send the tax inspector.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Kandaurov was halfway wrong, but also turned out to be halfway right.<span style=""> </span>No one has apologized, and Subbotkin is not in <st1:city>Chita</st1:city>, but continues to work in <st1:city><st1:place>Moscow</st1:place></st1:city>, in your administration, Mr. President.<span style=""> </span>Moreover, regarding the tax inspector, I was apparently provident in my thinking.<span style=""> </span>In his retaliatory suit Subbotkin demands of the court that I present a legal document specifying the date my driver began working for me as driver at the television company, what kind of personal relationship he has with me, in what capacity he had the right to drive, etc., etc.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In court Subbotkin begged for the mercy of the court, requesting he be allowed to pay the court fees in installments (the same court fees that I had to pay twice), because he was living in poverty.<span style=""> </span>Nonetheless, he had two lawyers accompanying him to court.<span style=""> </span>It would be interesting to know who paid the not insignificant sum for their fees - Subbotkin, or the agency that shares in his injury at having their honor and dignity tarnished?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Dear Mr. President, I will get to the point.<span style=""> </span>The story of my automobile accident is an everyday occurrence in our lives; it is a matter for the courts, experts, etc.<span style=""> </span>But what worries me, and not only me, is something different:<span style=""> </span>this story has been dragging on for two years; official letters from the FSB and the Presidential Administration convince me that these authoritative organizations know very well who works for them and why I asked for their answers.<span style=""> </span>Now, as Subbotkin is filing his retaliatory suit regarding the offending of his dignity as an FSB officer, it has become clear that there is no talk of his being sent to <st1:city><st1:place>Chita</st1:place></st1:city>.<span style=""> </span>Subbotkin understood what his senior managers indicated to him by their two years of utter silence:<span style=""> </span>you’ve done everything just right, Subbotkin.<span style=""> </span>With regard to this I have some thoughts and questions:<span style=""> </span>who is Subbotkin related to, or whose daughter did he marry?<span style=""> </span>Not one of your daughters, of course - yours are too young.<span style=""> </span>I don’t know if Patrushev has any daughters, but the circle of influential people is not so narrow and tight.<span style=""> </span>But perhaps it is even worse than that?<span style=""> </span>Perhaps all members of the intelligence services now allow themselves to think that the day has arrived when they can behave like this.<span style=""> </span>The untouchability of the head of the government, guaranteed by the Constitution, the untouchability of his narrow circle, and now the bureaucratic riff-raff with their government-issued personal weapons – they are all a threat to society as a whole.<span style=""> </span>Not yet 20 years have passed since we became convinced of this.<span style=""> </span>And look where that led the previous regime as well.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">My friends and colleagues urged me not to send this letter to you.<span style=""> </span>Yes, yes, Mr. President, alas, everyone is thinking about this nowadays, fear is in the air.<span style=""> </span>But I have behind me films about Chernobyl, Sakharov, and the interrelationships between the people and the authorities, and I have those ten days in the life of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Lyubimov">Yuri Lyubimov</a>, which the Politburo of the USSR allowed him to spend in his Motherland to reproduce his performance of “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Godunov_%28opera%29">Boris Godunov</a>” at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taganka_Theatre">Taganka Theater.</a> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">On your decree, Mr. President, I was awarded the Order of Valor for the film “The Bell of Chernobyl” [1987], which was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for being shown in every country of the world having television.<span style=""> </span>This was the last “unreleasable film” (полочная картина) of the Soviet era, having been released to viewers in the new era.<span style=""> </span>Military men, with whom I am nowadays working on upcoming films, tell me that this is the only medal that cannot be earned while serving “on the parquet” [in the rear]. <span style=""> </span>I am proud of this medal and remember it now, as I grow depressed while shooting a series on international terrorism in places that would make one envy <st1:city><st1:place>Chernobyl</st1:place></st1:city>.<span style=""> </span>That’s why I’m writing you this letter regardless.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I have nothing to share with Subbotkin.<span style=""> </span>But the manner in which they relate to him in his place of work is a very important sign, of the most profound sort.<span style=""> </span>Especially now, on the eve of the presidential elections.<span style=""> </span>This is my first letter to you and, probably, it will be my last.<span style=""> </span>Letters to presidents - they’re not my genre.<span style=""> </span>But I want to tell you one thing, having now taken up my pen:<span style=""> </span>it seems like there is a plan being worked out today to cause society to completely condemn the 1990’s.<span style=""> </span>But from those years we got not only the oligarchs who robbed <st1:place><st1:country-region>Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place> blind, but also those who created the democratic basis for our life today, and, to get right to the point, those who make up the political elite in today’s society.<span style=""> </span>The intelligentsia that was formed in the 1990’s is a part of our society not compensated by anything or anyone. “Without me the people are incomplete”, said the great Russian poet.<span style=""> </span>Without the intelligentsia the people are also incomplete.<span style=""> </span>The year after Sakharov’s death in <st1:place><st1:city>Padul</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Italy</st1:country-region></st1:place>, there was a reading of his writings.<span style=""> </span>The head of the Russian delegation, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Sobchak">Anatoly Sobchak</a> [TN: former mayor of <st1:place><st1:city>Saint Petersburg</st1:city></st1:place>, and Putin’s first boss after leaving the KGB], invited me to join the delegation and bring my recently completed film “Sakharov – the Man and the Era”.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>The delegation was small, but included Yuri Karyakin, Gleb Yakunin and Yelena Bonner.<span style=""> </span>Now I think to myself, how sad it is that these people are not around you today.<span style=""> </span>But instead we have Subbotkin at the scene of a traffic accident, proclaiming to the police that he is Your Man.<span style=""> </span>And in court they make it clear that no one is allowed to make encroachments on the honor of an officer of the intelligence services and a member of the Presidential Administration.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Mr. President, my story is not about a personal offense, but about my fear for the society in which I live, along with you, and your children, and mine.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Respectfully,</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Vladimir Sinelnikov</p> <p class="MsoNormal">General Director and Artistic Manager</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Television Studio “Kloto”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">---------------------<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><i style="">*</i></b>Here is a brief biographical statement on the author, from a 2005<b style=""> <a href="http://www.nrs.com/news/090205_72633_31804.html">interview</a> </b>published in<b style=""> </b>the Russian-American newspaper <span style="font-style: italic;">Novoye Russkoye Slovo</span>: <span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote>Vladimir Lvovich Sinelnikov founded one of the first independent television stations in <st1:place><st1:country-region>Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>, “Channel 31”, and is currently the owner and artistic director of the television studio “Kloto”.<span style=""> </span>He has written screenplays for approximately one hundred documentaries, and has been awarded numerous prizes at national and international film festivals.<span style=""> </span>Among the films and television serials based on his screenplays:<span style=""> </span>the four-part series “The <st1:city>Bell</st1:city> of <st1:city><st1:place>Chernobyl</st1:place></st1:city>” [1987]; “The Academic Sakharov - A Man for all Time”; “Mirages and Hopes” [1996]; “Memories of the Present”; and “The Final Myth” [1999].<span style=""> </span>His current project, a series on international terrorism, is being partly financed by the Ukrainian businessman and patron of the arts Vadim Shulman.)</blockquote><i style=""><o:p></o:p></i><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">For readers of Russian, the full text of Sinelnikov’s correspondence with the FSB related to his traffic accident with Subbotkin can be found on the website of the organization “For Human Rights”, at: <span style=""> </span><a href="http://www.zaprava.ru/content/view/921/">http://www.zaprava.ru/content/view/921/</a><o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-30193585857047156472007-02-24T14:59:00.000-08:002008-12-08T13:46:21.278-08:00Humped and Dumped<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/R6TevgZkgHI/AAAAAAAACv8/bJ1-_rvQLNo/s1600-h/humpty_dumpty.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/R6TevgZkgHI/AAAAAAAACv8/bJ1-_rvQLNo/s200/humpty_dumpty.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162495980605833330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Prologue:</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> It seems that Nashi has now served its purpose to the Kremlin and is <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.theotherrussia.org/2008/01/30/kremlin-slims-down-nashi-youth-movement/">going the way of all things</a>, before it becomes too confident and hence threatening to the insecure but nonetheless malignant little troll who struts upon the Kremlin's parapets. We predicted some time ago, in a translation of Nashi's bizarre <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://russophobe.blogspot.com/2007/06/on-nashis-trail-special-investigative.html">call for middle managers</a> that Nashi would not make good on its promise to help all its young "volunteer management trainees" get jobs in "major Russian corporations." In this regard, the following piece establishes that Nashi has now shown itself to be nothing more than a classic Russian pyramid scheme, just like the infamous MMM. (Remember them?). The authors of the following piece devastatingly refute any positive interpretation of why Nashi was disbanded - for example as some kind of a move away from the <span style="font-style: italic;">Putinjugend</span> model, maybe because of Medvedev being named as his successor. This is nothing but: (a) a tactical move, to save the Kremlin a pile of money that Putin and Co. can then sock away in their Swiss bank accounts; (b) a strategic move, for making the group less obviously tied to the Kremlin, so it can become even more violent and cruel; and (c) a cynical loss of interest by the crass manipulators who used to run the organization, who never had any long-term vision for Russia at all, only for themselves. </span><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><span lang="EN-US">Humped and Dumped<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.ej.ru/?a=news&id=7862"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</span><o:p></o:p></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" align="center"><span lang="EN-US">January 29, 2008</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The youth movement <span style="font-style: italic;">NASHI</span> ["us slavic Russians"] is ending its existence as a centralized, federation-wide project.<span style=""> </span>The leader of the organization, Nikita Borovik, announced to the newspaper “<a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?docsid=846635"><span style="font-style: italic;">Kommersant</span></a>” that the regional leaders of Nashi decided at a recent conference to preserve only five of their previous 50 regional offices - in Vladimir, Ivanov, Tulskiy, Voronezh, and Yaroslav.<span style=""> </span>Activists from other regions will still be allowed to participate in special Nashi projects (“Our Army”, “Volunteer Youth Brigade”, Orthodox Corps”, Lessons in Friendship”, etc.).<span style=""> </span>Sources in the Kremlin told the newspaper that there were no longer any plans use Nashi activists actively for political purposes, and Nashi-generated crowds would not be needed in the coming elections.<span style=""> </span>Still, there would be no “formal closing” of Nashi, according to the Presidential Administration:<span style=""> </span>the authorities would not leave the young people “unsupervised”.<span style=""> </span>A portion of the group’s financing would also remain - like the 10 million rubles allotted for the group’s traditional summer camp at </span><st1:place><st1:placetype><span lang="EN-US">Lake</span></st1:placetype><span lang="EN-US"> </span><st1:placename><span lang="EN-US">Seliger</span></st1:placename></st1:place><span lang="EN-US">.<span style=""> </span>So what has long been predicted has finally come to pass:<span style=""> </span>the big, bad old men used the starry-eyed little Nashisti for their own PR purposes, and now... “Thanks for the memories, goodbye.”<span style=""> </span>Experts are certain that Borovikov’s announcement is only the “first cut”, and eventually the remaining five offices will also be closed, and financing for the group will be completely cut off.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">-----------</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span lang="EN-US">Sergey Udaltsov, Communist Youth Avant-garde (AKM):<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">For me personally, the news came as no surprise.<span style=""> </span>I have long expected it.<span style=""> </span>From the moment the Nashi movement was created, as with many others like it, it was obvious to me and a lot of other people that the movement was contrived, temporary and in essence something of a commercial project, especially for the movement’s leaders, who I suspect have already received their due dividends.<span style=""> </span>Most significantly, from the very beginning this group had no discernible ideology; just support for the president and his policies - essentially apologia for the authorities and forceful suppression of all their opponents; no ideology or anything resembling it here, just storm troopers.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Hence, everything that is happening here is to be expected, with plenty of precedent:<span style=""> </span>recall the movement “Walking Together” (Iduschiye Vmeste), which also lasted a few years and then passed away, and which almost no one remembers today.<span style=""> </span>Following its demise, “Walking Together” was essentially reincarnated as “Nashi”, but I think this time we are seeing something other than re-branding:<span style=""> </span>there will be no successor organization.<span style=""> </span>What happened was that Nashi had accumulated such an aggressive image that the authorities themselves came to see that the continued existence of such a movement carried with it more minuses that plusses, especially considering how negatively it was viewed from abroad.<span style=""> </span>I think this is the reason they are now closing it down.<span style=""> </span>Although, of course, the sacred pedestal never remains vacant for long:<span style=""> </span>new people will appear, young and ambitious, wishing to build their careers and businesses upon it.<span style=""> </span>There will be successors of some sort, but I think they will be of a different sort than we see today.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Besides the negative image there is other reason the movement was closed:<span style=""> </span>the people who headed Nashi had already gotten everything they wanted from it.<span style=""> </span>Mr. Yakemenko has essentially joined the government, and a string of Nashi functionaries have landed in the Duma (parliament) - <span style=""> </span>after which they just lost interest.<span style=""> </span>Hence, on the one hand Nashi was no longer needed by the Kremlin, and on the other was no longer needed by its own leadership:<span style=""> </span>everything they wanted, they had already gotten out of it, and as far as they were concerned, I think, the rank and file could just go to hell.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">-----------</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span lang="EN-US">Ilya Barabanov, journalist/correspondent, <span style="font-style: italic;">The New Times</span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In the end they will not completely close “Nashi”.<span style=""> </span>Why?<span style=""> </span>Because it is much easier, having cut off their financing, to simply keep them alive as a small and, at first glance, hardly visible group of assets, ones that can be called upon when the need arises to advance certain interests.<span style=""> </span>Nashi as a large bureaucratic machine required too much financial investment.<span style=""> </span>And the absence of any connection to a political party made their activities look to everyone like the work of the Presidential Administration.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This image was advanced as well by regular meetings between the movement’s leaders and first Vladimir Putin then Vladislav Surkov.<span style=""> </span>Considering the absurdity of most of Nashi’s activities, its very existence, far from helping, actually hurt the image of the authorities.<span style=""> </span>The group “Young Russia” (Rossiya Molodaya) presents a more beneficial structure for the Administration.<span style=""> </span>Their actions are not viewed as being those of Surkov, so they can permit themselves to be throwbacks/barbarians (“otmorozheniye”).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Having chopped up Nashi into a series of smaller subgroups, the movement’s handlers in the Administration can still use these assets in the future for more pointed and radical actions, since in the eyes of the mass media and public opinion the Kremlin bureaucrats will not be responsible for them.<span style=""> </span>More simply put:<span style=""> </span>small, impersonalized structures, which no one associates with Surkov, Putin or his successor, are much more useful than one huge money-sucking monster committing outrages in front of the Estonian embassy.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So the Nashi movement will continue, in the form of a series of small groups, and one can anticipate their radicalization.<span style=""> </span>The destruction of Nashi is simply the destruction of a corrupt bureaucratic machine.<span style=""> </span>Put in economic terms, the Kremlin bureaucrats are optimizing their assets.<span style=""> </span>And it will hardly affect their colleagues from “Young Russia” at all.<span style=""> </span>The Kremlin ideologues will always need for one purpose or another a group of thugs (“otmoroziki”), ready at any moment to pick up crowbars and baseball bats.<span style=""> </span>It’s a little more complicated with the “Young Guards” (<span style="font-style: italic;">Molodaya Gvardiya</span>).<span style=""> </span>After the December elections, their reason for existence will have disappeared.<span style=""> </span>I think they can expect a slow death, beginning immediately after the presidential elections.<span style=""> </span>The authorities will stop funding them - and as soon as they stop giving them money, the kids will skedaddle.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-style: italic;" href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2008/02/04/018.html">Moscow Times</a>, however, reports that Nashi may not be fully on board with the Kremlin's plans. Has Putin created a Frankenstein even he can't control?<br /></span></span></p> <p class="textar">Pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi said Friday that it was seeking to double its membership this year and dismissed reports of its imminent demise. Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov said at a news conference that while the group was undergoing a reorganization, it was not drifting into irrelevance. "No one can stop us," Borovikov said.</p> <p class="textar">Kommersant and Vedomosti, citing Nashi members and sources in the presidential administration, reported recently that Nashi was becoming obsolete after United Russia swept to a landslide victory in the Dec. 2 State Duma elections. Borovikov said the reports were part of a campaign to discredit the group by "small movements" and "individual politicians who have disappeared from the political skyline." He did not specify which groups or politicians were behind the purported campaign.</p> <p class="textar">Part of Nashi's reorganization includes transferring power to regional centers to implement various projects, including Mishki, or Bear Cubs, a patriotic children's group under the Nashi auspices, Borovikov said. Nashi intends to organize rallies in Moscow and St. Petersburg with 100,000 activists, as well as send 1,000 activists to Grozny to support reconstruction projects in the Chechen capital, Borovikov said. Nashi members are also working on the presidential campaign of Dmitry Medvedev in the March 2 election. Medvedev, expected to win in a landslide, has the backing of President Vladimir Putin, to whom Nashi has pledged fealty.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"></span><br /></span></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-87060814703838011742007-02-24T14:56:00.000-08:002008-02-11T14:57:45.467-08:00Latynina on Kasyanov<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><span lang="EN-US">The Major’s Syndrome<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><span lang="EN-US">Yulia Latynina<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.ej.ru/?a=note&id=7745"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</span><o:p></o:p></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" align="center"><span lang="EN-US">January 24, 2008</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Now they want to exclude Mikhail Kasyanov from the presidential elections.<span style=""> </span>But whatever for?<span style=""> </span>So what if Kasyanov runs and gets 2% of the vote?<span style=""> </span>Whom would this bother?<span style=""> </span>On the contrary, it would help legitimize the election.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Remarkably, and almost simultaneously (January 21), something very similar happened:<span style=""> </span></span><st1:place><st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">Russia</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span lang="EN-US"> issued an Interpol warrant for the arrest of Mikhail Gutseriev, accused by the Tverskiy court of fraud and money laundering.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This cannot be called an especially wise move.<span style=""> </span>The problem is that the temperamental Gutseriev, unlike others who were in the process of having their businesses taken over by the authorities, did not restrain himself, but instead wrote a letter in which he accused the Kremlin of stealing his company.<span style=""> </span>After which all of his company’s stock was frozen and a federal arrest warrant was issued for Gutseriev himself.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">After that Gutseriev’s son was killed.<span style=""> </span>The young man was involved in an auto accident in his personal car, but refused hospitalization (an ambulance crew that arrived immediately after the accident gave him a shot).<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>He returned home, called his relatives to assure them that it was nothing serious, then went to bed - and died.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So the young man died of acute pride - he did not want to bother his father, who already had his own heap of problems without having to worry about an auto accident, a trip to the hospital, etc.<span style=""> </span>Mikhail Gutseriev will always have to ask himself whether his son would have died if he, Gutseriev, had not been in the process of having his business confiscated.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">But more to the point:<span style=""> </span>immediately after the accident rumors started swirling around </span><st1:city><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Moscow</span></st1:place></st1:city><span lang="EN-US">.<span style=""> </span>That the accident was staged; that the ambulance arrived suspiciously quickly after the accident; that the paramedics injected Gutseriev’s son with poison.<span style=""> </span>And all this was done to trick Gutseriev into coming back to </span><st1:place><st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">Russia</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span lang="EN-US"> to bury his son.<span style=""> </span>Paradoxically, the rumors were being circulated by both the enemies of FSB chief Igor Sechin - locked in mortal combat with him for the graces of the monarch - and, apparently, his followers, who were trying to highlight the omnipotence of their patron.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Gutseriev is now, as far as is known, still in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span lang="EN-US">.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In this situation, issuing an Interpol warrant for Gutseriev’s arrest would seem, to put it mildly, unwise.<span style=""> </span>More exactly, it was stupid.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Any legal procedure brought against Gutseriev while he is in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span lang="EN-US"> will end with his triumphantly receiving political asylum.<span style=""> </span>Furthermore, I doubt that the British public, following the Litvinenko Affair and the Papua New Guinea-like story of what happened with the British Council, will be so skeptical as yours truly is toward the theory that Gutseriev’s son was killed by the Russian intelligence services, who were trying to take over his father’s business.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In that case, you ask, why in the world would they issue a warrant for his arrest - if up to that point he had been sitting quietly in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span lang="EN-US">, not requesting asylum, and apparently even hoping to negotiate for a peaceful resolution to his case?<span style=""> </span>And then, after issuing an arrest warrant through Interpol, you get not only an international scandal and refusal to extradite, but also an enraged guy from the </span><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Caucasus</span></st1:place><span lang="EN-US">, with three billion dollars and a dead son?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The answer is simple:<span style=""> </span>just don’t analyze the actions of the authorities from the perspective of what benefits the Kremlin (Putin, Sechin, etc.).<span style=""> </span>The Kremlin is so little in control of the situation that the actions of the authorities should be analyzed only from the perspective of what benefits the Major [TN:<span style=""> </span>the middle-ranking officer].</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">What were they thinking, going after Kasyanov?<span style=""> </span>Did they want to give another card to those who are going to doubt the legitimacy of the elections?<span style=""> </span>Certainly not.<span style=""> </span>But here’s poor Mr. Churov, Chairman of the Central Elections Commission.<span style=""> </span>And if he doesn’t expel Kasyanov from the elections, then tomorrow some little cockroach wanting to take his job will come running to the Kremlin with a story about how Churov didn’t exclude Kasyanov because Churov is a secret supporter of the “Orange Plague”.<span style=""> </span>What should Churov be thinking about?<span style=""> </span>The strategic interests of the Kremlin, or his own job security?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">What were they thinking, issuing an arrest warrant for Gutseriev?<span style=""> </span>That this time a </span><st1:place><st1:city><span lang="EN-US">London</span></st1:city></st1:place><span lang="EN-US"> court, hearing from Putin, Sechin & Associates, would embarrass them worse than they ever dreamed of?<span style=""> </span>Certainly not.<span style=""> </span>But here’s some Major, charged with going after Gutseriev.<span style=""> </span>And if he doesn’t issue an arrest warrant, then tomorrow some little Captain, wishing to take his place, will come running with a story about how the Major didn’t issue an Interpol arrest warrant for Gutseriev because he’s taking money from him and plotting against Sechin.<span style=""> </span>What should the Major be thinking about?<span style=""> </span>The strategic interests of those who want to steal Gutseriev’s company, or keeping himself out of jail?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Oh, just imagine how much that little Major must hate those s.o.b’s who get to steal whole companies, while he, the Major, has to wince and worry as he slips 10 measly rubles into his pocket.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-69862539340664202112007-02-24T14:22:00.000-08:002007-12-12T14:22:37.035-08:00Liability for Chechnya<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><st1:street><st1:address><b style="">European Court</b></st1:address></st1:street><b style=""> Says </b><st1:country-region><st1:place><b style="">Russia</b></st1:place></st1:country-region><b style=""> Must Pay 42,000 Euros for the <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">Murder of a Chechen by Policeman Federal Soldiers<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.newsru.com/world/15nov2007/strasbourgchechn.html">NewsRu.com</a><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><st1:date year="2007" day="15" month="11">November 15, 2007</st1:date></p><p class="MsoNormal">The <a href="http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/viewhbkm.asp?sessionId=3337014&skin=hudoc-pr-en&action=html&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649&key=66112&highlight=">European Court of Human Rights</a> on November 16 handed down a decision in a suit related to the murder in Grozniy of Aslanbek Kukayev, a policeman of the Staropromyslov Regional Branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">As reported by Interfax, the court found in favor of the suit brought by Khamzat Kukayev, the father of the policeman who was killed in November 2000 in Grozniy, and obliged the <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russian Federation</st1:place></st1:country-region> to pay him 7,000 euros as compensation for material damages and 35,000 euros for moral damages.<span style=""> </span>In addition, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> is required to pay over 7,000 euros for court costs.</p> <p class="normal">In the opinion of the court, with regard to the petitioner <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> permitted the violation of Articles 2, 3 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights.<span style=""> </span>Specifically, violation of the “<span class="normal--char"><span style="">Article 2</span></span> (right to life) of the European convention on human rights concerning the disappearance and death of Aslanbek Kukayev; a <span class="normal--char"><span style="">violation of the same Article</span></span> concerning the authorities’ failure to carry out an adequate and effective investigation into the disappearance and death of Aslanbek Kukayev.”</p> <p>The Strasburg court also found that with respect to Kukayev’s father, who suffered mental anguish as a result of the disappearance of his son and the lack of a competent investigation, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> had allowed a violation of Article 3 - according to which “<span style="color:black;">No one shall be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="color:black;">The court also established a violation of Article 13 of the Convention, which guarantees the right to an effective remedy in defense of a person’s rights, as well as Article 38, which establishes a procedure for examining cases brought to the </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="color:black;">European Court</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="color:black;">.<span style=""> </span>The Russian government failed to present documents that the court had requested.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="color:black;">As reported by the online publication “<a href="http://kavkaz.memo.ru/newstext/news/id/1201517.html">Kavkazskiy Uzel</a>” (Caucus Knot), Dmitriy Grushkin, a lawyer with the “Memorial” organization who is representing the father of the murdered man in the Strasburg court.<span style=""> </span>Kukayev disappeared in Grozniy in the year 2000.<span style=""> </span>On November 26, Kukayev, a member of the patrol service of the Aslanbek Kukayev (<a href="http://www.newsru.com/russia/05Aug2002/spisok_3.html">No. 221 on the list of those who have disappeared mysteriously</a>), together with his fellow serviceman Roslanbek Damayev (<a href="http://www.newsru.com/russia/05Aug2002/spisok_2.html">No. 134 on the same list</a>), left for work for the last time in his life, bound for the Central Market of Grozniy.<span style=""> </span>On that day, Russian Federal forces were conducting a “special operation” in the market.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="color:black;">According to multiple witnesses who were interviewed by members of the human rights organization “Memorial”, at 11:00 a.m. on 26 November, 2000 the central market of Grozniy was unexpectedly cordoned off by soldiers and armored vehicles.<span style=""> </span>Traffic was halted for several blocks around the market, and pedestrian movement was limited.<span style=""> </span>Heavy machinery, including tanks and bulldozers, moved toward the rows of stands located on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="color:black;">Mir Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="color:black;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="color:black;">The market was plundered.<span style=""> </span>One of the traders, a woman, tried to protect her goods.<span style=""> </span>A fight broke out, involving several other women as well.<span style=""> </span>The soldiers were forced to retreat to a market exit, firing over the heads of the people -- as described by “Memorial” in the first book in the series “<a href="http://home.eastview.com/xq/ASP/sku=A2050607/f_locale=/Radchenko/BG/Moskva/Russia/Russian/qx/russian/books/product.asp">People Live Here.<span style=""> </span>Chechnya: Chronicle of Violence</a>”, covering the period from July to December 2000 and published by the company “Zvenya” in 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="color:black;">Grozniy resident Khava Magomadova:<span style=""> </span>“At </span><st1:time minute="0" hour="11"><span style="color:black;">11:00 a.m.</span></st1:time><span style="color:black;"> the market was surrounded by soldiers, some of them in masks.<span style=""> </span>Under the guise of checking passports, they chased the traders from their working places and right in front of everyone began taking merchandise from the tables.<span style=""> </span>After opening the merchants’ lockers, they began to load up their Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) and other vehicles with boxes and crates of alcohol and food products.<span style=""> </span>I had goods worth 22,000 rubles disappear.”<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="normal">Zarema Abubakorova, a resident of the Grozniy region:<span style=""> </span>“I was working at the market on November 26, when the Russians started roughing people up outrageously.<span style=""> </span>They stole merchandise, food, boxes of vodka, cigarettes and equipment.<span style=""> </span>When two police officers from the Zavodskyy Region tried to intervene, they took away their identification and led them away somewhere.<span style=""> </span>Things stolen from my locker included raincoats, jackets, suits, and shoes, worth 50,000 rubles.<span style=""> </span>Only a few of my colleagues managed to hide and preserve their goods.”</p> <p class="normal">While some soldiers plundered the market, others kidnapped young people:<span style=""> </span>at least 20 people were detained.<span style=""> </span>A few of them managed to ransom their way to safety, but the fate of most of them is still unknown.<span style=""> </span>Two women also disappeared from the market, also perhaps taken by the soldiers.</p> <p class="normal">A student at <st1:place><st1:placename>Chechnya</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>State</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype>University</st1:placetype></st1:place>, who requested anonymity:<span style=""> </span>“I went to the central market to buy some clothes.<span style=""> </span>Suddenly a panic broke out, people started running around in confusion.<span style=""> </span>It turned out that the Russians had surrounded the market and were conducting a document check.<span style=""> </span>Although I presented my passport and student identification, they took me to a vehicle with several dozen other young men who were being detained.<span style=""> </span>On the road I managed to negotiate with one of the soldiers, who let me go in exchanged for money.<span style=""> </span>Several other people from my group also managed to buy their release.<span style=""> </span>I don’t know what happened to the others.<span style=""> </span>I only know that their relatives are looking for them.<span style=""> </span>If I hadn’t had some money with me at the time, I’m sure mine would be looking for me now.”</p> <p class="normal">The policemen Aslanbek Kukayev and Roslanbek Damayev were in camouflage uniforms and had with them their identifications as members of the police force.<span style=""> </span>At about <st1:time minute="0" hour="12">12:00</st1:time> <st1:time minute="0" hour="12">noon</st1:time> they were detained by soldiers of the federal forces.<span style=""> </span>Presenting their credentials, Kukayev and Damayev “demanded the soldiers explain what was going on.<span style=""> </span>But then, in front of a multitude of witnesses, they themselves were placed in a truck with some other Chechen policemen who had also been arrested. </p> <p class="normal">According to witnesses, the vehicle stopped at the <st1:place><st1:placename>Grozniy</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Teachers College</st1:placetype></st1:place>, where Kukayev and Damayev were taken off by a group of six soldiers.<span style=""> </span>The truck then continued on, and after a little while shots were heard.<span style=""> </span>By evening of the same day, all of the Chechen policemen who had been detained had returned home.<span style=""> </span>Except for Aslanbek Kukayev and his fellow officer.</p> <p class="normal">Khamzat Kukayev immediately began looking for his son Aslanbek.<span style=""> </span>He appealed to the Grozniy city prosecutor, as a result of which a criminal case was opened. <span style=""> </span>He also turned to the FSB and Commandant of the city.</p> <p class="normal">After 4 months, on <st1:date year="2001" day="22" month="4">22 April 2001</st1:date>, soldiers of a mobile unit of the Federal Forces discovered two corpses at the entrance to a basement in the Teachers College building during a search of the area.<span style=""> </span>Expert analysis determined that the bodies were those of the missing policemen:<span style=""> </span>Aslanbek Kukayev and Ruslanbek Damayev.</p> <p class="normal">Both of them had been shot in the head.<span style=""> </span>On 12 May the criminal case on the disappearance of Kukayev and subsequent discovery of his body was passed to the military prosecutor’s office.<span style=""> </span>After a few days the military prosecutor returned the case to the civil court, on the basis that no military servicemen were involved in the crime.</p> <p class="normal">On <st1:date year="2001" day="28" month="5">28 May 2001</st1:date>, the civil prosecutor’s office officially closed the case “on the basis that no individual could be found subject to being identified as a suspect.”</p> <p class="normal">Having exhausted all possible means of investigating and punishing those responsible in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, Khamzat Kukayev appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.<span style=""> </span>In the view of the petitioner, with respect to the death of his son there were violations of Article 2, para 1 (right to life), Article 3 (right to not be subject to torture or inhuman treatment) and Article 13 (the right to effective remedy in defense of one’s rights) of the European Convention on Human Rights.</p> <p class="normal">In the list compiled by “Memorial” of people who have disappeared in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Chechnya</st1:place></st1:country-region>, Aslanbek Khamzatovich Kukayev, date of birth 1976, is listed as a member of the Chechen OMON.<span style=""> </span>According to eyewitnesses, he was detained and taken away in the direction of the “Khankala” military base.<span style=""> </span>Criminal case number 12332 was opened in the Grozniy city prosecutor’s<span style=""> </span>office on 13 December 2000, in accordance with Article 126, chapter 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (kidnapping of a person), and was investigated by agencies of the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Repulic.<span style=""> </span>In the middle of 2001 the case was closed in accordance with Article 195, chapter 3 of the Criminal Code (“inability to find an individual subject to being identified as a suspect”).<span style=""> </span>The bodies of Kukayev and Damayev were discovered on 22 April in the ruins of the <st1:place><st1:placename>Grozniy</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Teachers College</st1:placetype></st1:place>.</p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-33378888844400305542007-02-24T13:00:00.000-08:002008-12-08T13:46:21.586-08:00The Nashi Election Broadsheets<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">Assuming it’s True…<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.ej.ru/?a=note&id=7614">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</a><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><st1:date year="2007" day="30" month="11">November 30, 2007</st1:date></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><i style=""><o:p> </o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><i style="">“This guy tells me they’re printing this pamphlet in the print shop next door…”</i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/R1RUdWFqXvI/AAAAAAAACX4/6Xkkf1cW3lM/s1600-R/1196375513.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/R1RUdWFqXvI/AAAAAAAACX4/2uQOy0FpVaQ/s400/1196375513.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139825937858846450" border="0" /></a><b style=""><i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><em><strong><span class="caps">TRANSLATION</span></strong>: On December 2nd we elected President Putin to be the National Leader of Russia. The President and his party won a devastating victory. They won in exactly the same way that over the past 5 years they have destroyed the terrorists in Chechnya, paid back all of Russia's debts, regained our country's respect, taken back the huge petroleum reserves of Sakhalin-2, and captured the 2014 Olympics for Sochi.<br /></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/R1RUkWFqXwI/AAAAAAAACYA/ygzZ7-LerTY/s1600-R/1196375523.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/R1RUkWFqXwI/AAAAAAAACYA/5ZB8k_WXAzI/s400/1196375523.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139826058117930754" border="0" /></a><br /><i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="font-weight: bold;">TRANSLATION</span>: The </i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i style="">USA</i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i style=""> had a different plan.<span style=""> </span>It wanted the traitors and thieves to win - the American citizen Kasparov, the fascist Limonov, and Nemtsov, who sold off the country.<span style=""> </span>They don’t agree that Putin won.<span style=""> </span>The traitors still want to seize power and take </i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i style="">Russia</i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i style=""> back to the oligarchic and chaotic 1990’s, and once again give the bandits and embezzlers the ability to rob our country and sell off our oil and gas for a pittance. </i><i style="">From December3 until the official announcement of the election results, they will try to seize the city squares and buildings, incite disorder, and steal our victory. // You can watch all this on television.<span style=""> </span>//<span style=""> </span>Or you can stand up, with the President’s Team, and defend the independence of our country, be worthy of the Veterans who will come out on the streets with us. //<span style=""> </span>In these historic times it is your to decide how you will live.<span style=""> </span>COME OUT AND DEFEND THE COUNTRY!<span style=""> </span>EARN THE RIGHT TO BE ON THE PRESIDENT’S TEAM! //<span style=""> </span>[contact information and identification of the leaflet as a Nashi publication]…”)<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Aleksandr Golts:</b><span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Assuming it is true that what appeared on LiveJournal (TN: the pamphlet above) is not a fake, this can mean only one thing:<span style=""> </span>that an anti-constitutional overthrow of the government is being planned in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style=""> </span>And those who were planning it were looking for comrades or accomplices (as you prefer).<span style=""> </span>What to do in this situation, everyone must decide for themselves.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Viktor Shenderovich:</b><span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Setting aside the artistic merits of the publication, let’s take a sniff at dry remains.<span style=""> </span>A few observations, taken from the pamphlet:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">1.<span style=""> </span>Still three days before the elections, and they already know the results.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">2.<span style=""> </span>They know that these results will the result of falsifications, and are gathering their forces to physically suppress those who will try to prove this.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">3.<span style=""> </span>They need the falsified results as a basis for fraud and further speculation on theme of “Putin - the National Leader”.<span style=""> </span>All of this, it goes without saying, is a crime, from beginning to end.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">P.S. – A personal linguistic note regarding the phrase “a victory with devastating result” (<span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">победы с сокрушительным результатом</span>)</span>:<span style=""> </span>“Сокрушительный = уничтожающий [destructive], разрушительный [ruinous]” <i style="">– Dictionary of the Russian Language, Ed. S. Ozhegov<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And this is such an exceptional event that one cannot but agree with “Nashi”:<span style=""> </span>The results of Putin’s victory will be, indeed, devastating.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">That is, ruinous.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And destructive.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Boris Nemtsov:<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">If anyone had any doubt that a lowly and fraudulent dictatorship has been installed in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, they should take a look at this.<span style=""> </span>There’s just one thing Putin doesn’t understand:<span style=""> </span>you can’t build a strong country on such a rotten foundation, on such cynicism and barbarism.<span style=""> </span>In reality, he has already lost the elections.<span style=""> </span>His reputation is little different from that of [Belarusian President] Lukashenko’s.<span style=""> </span>And in the eyes of thinking Russians he already looks weak and hysterical.<span style=""> </span>No matter how hard the Pavlovian, half-drunk Leontievites and phony <i style="">Nashisti</i> provocateurs may try, they won’t be able to change this diagnosis.<span style=""> </span>Sooner or later, not only <st1:city><st1:place>Moscow</st1:place></st1:city> and <st1:city><st1:place>St. Petersburg</st1:place></st1:city>, but the whole country is going to learn it.<span style=""> </span>Now what kind of National Leader is that?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">*<span style=""> </span>*<span style=""> </span>*</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <i style="">(TN:<span style=""> </span>Shortly after YeZh posted the article above, the leaflet in question was posted on another <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.izbrannoe.ru/21446.html">online journal</a> with confirmation from Kristina Potupchik, press secretary for the of the Nashi organization, that it was in fact produced by Nashi.<span style=""> </span>Potupchik characterized the leaflets as “donated materials” in support of a demonstration planned for December 3 in </i><st1:city><st1:place><i style="">Moscow</i></st1:place></st1:city><i style="">, at which 10,000 people were expected to attend.)</i>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-3756237106015585532007-02-24T12:53:00.000-08:002007-12-12T12:56:37.604-08:00The New Cold War<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;">For Internal Use Only<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span lang="DA" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Aleksandr Golts</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span lang="DA" style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.ej.ru/?=note&id=7631">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span lang="DA" style="font-size:12;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >December 7, 2007</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> The main question being asked these days by foreign diplomats in Moscow is: What is the meaning of the recent hostile military rhetoric of the Kremlin? Is it a sort of temporary insanity, brought on by the uncertain future of the system of power in Russia, or is it a long term bet on confrontation?<br /><br />At first glance, everything suggests that Moscow is setting itself up for a long-term conflict with the U.S. In the days leading up to the elections, the President repeatedly emphasized that the military might of Russia was needed to keep anyone from sticking their “snotty nose” into Russia’s internal affairs. And a few days after the electoral victory of United Russia, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) issued a fierce commentary accusing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the OSCE of being “non-objective” in declaring that the elections in Russia did not correspond with international norms demanded of democratic countries. This was followed by a series of mini-scandals in connection with meetings Vladimir Putin held with international leaders. The Kremlin’s press service claimed, for example, that the Italian Prime Minister congratulated the president on his success in the elections. However, Roman Prodi’s secretary announced that there had been no such congratulations. In turn the Kremlin press service repudiated the President Bush’s pronouncement of deep concerns regarding the conduct of the elections. The sharp pronouncements of the majority of European leaders, among them Angela Merckel, left no doubt about their intention to meddle in the internal affairs of Russia.<br /><br />The situation called for slamming the door on these snotty little foreign noses. And voila - the Commander of the 37th Air Force Major General Pavel Androsov is telling journalists about the accomplishments of recent training missions (to emphasize their importance the president insists on calling them “military patrols” - боевое дежурство) of strategic bombers. In the course of these long flights over neutral waters of the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic oceans, the planes conducted 270 so-called “tactical launches” of cruise missiles (in which the crew carried out all the procedures for a launch, without the missile actually leaving the plane). In every one of these 70 flights, the Russian bombers were intercepted and escorted by NATO fighters. Although the Russian military scrupulously avoids discussing who the potential adversaries are, the Russian planes went to the brink of attacking only bases located in the U.S. and other NATO countries. It is worth noting that there have been no known flights near the territory of China.<br /><br />The next day the Russian Minister of Defense met with the president to propose sending ships from the Northern and Black Sea fleets into the Mediterranean Sea, in order to “reestablish a naval presence in the world’s oceans”.<br /><br />These events would seem to be clear evidence that Russia is preparing for a serious confrontation with the West. A confrontation which - to the extent Russia is slipping toward authoritarianism - would also seem to have some ideological basis.<br /><br />But it turns out to be evident only on first glance. Russia is completely lacking in the resources needed for another Cold War: the Russian military budget is currently only one-twentieth the size of the American. Russian military expenditures amount to only 2.7% of GDP (analysts have estimated that the USSR spent 40-80% of GDP on the Cold War).<br /><br />Answering a question on the status of a new squadron of strategic bombers, which last year then-Minister of Defense Sergei Ivanov promised to deliver to the Air Force, General Androsov could only say that “the military order is being fulfilled in accordance with the timeline.” At the same time, it is well-known that the only Tu-160 bomber that has been produced to date is in no condition to leave the factory in which it was built in Kazan. Furthermore, without fighter escort, strategic bombers are sitting ducks for enemy fighters. And Russian military industry has not been able to produce so much as a single fighter aircraft.<br /><br />It is the same story with the Russian Navy, which is supposedly reestablishing the Russian presence on the world’s seas. Last summer, Admiral Vladimir Vysotskiy, at the time the commander of the Northern Fleet, announced that a group of ten vessels was being sent to the Atlantic. Now it turns out that there were only four. After every such expedition the heavy cruiser “Admiral Kuznetsov” has to spend six months undergoing repairs. A second ship, the cruiser “Moscow”, the flagship of the Black Sea fleet, was built over 30 years ago. With ships in this condition, any talk of a permanent presence in the world’s seas is just that - talk. The surface navy is big enough only to occasionally show the flag. For good measure three years ago, during the last exercise in the Atlantic, a Navy Su-33 crashed due to the pilot’s lack of experience.<br /><br />There is going to be no Cold War starting up until the West sees a genuine threat to its security. And there is no such threat. Moreover, while official propaganda keeps telling the Russian citizens that their military is busily preparing to repulse an attack from adversaries, the military is quietly taking measures to preserve its partnerships with these exact same supposed adversaries. At this moment in Germany, the joint Russian-American military training exercise “Torgau-2007” is underway, the purpose of which is to create a unified brigade for peace-keeping missions. During this time, the head of the Russian chiefs of staff in Washington, D.C. signed a Russian-U.S. memorandum of military cooperation. The details of this memorandum were not made public. And I don’t think it was because the agreement contained military secrets of any sort. Rather, it is simply strange to be developing one’s military cooperation with the same people you are calling the “blood enemy”. At the same time, of course, one has to wink desperately away at this “enemy”, hinting to him that he is an “enemy” for internal purposes only.La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-54834993099470308312007-02-24T12:46:00.000-08:002008-12-08T13:46:21.724-08:00The Kremlin Crushes Russia's Internet<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Russia Starts the Second Cold War . . . on the Internet</span><br /><br /><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://rupor.info/glavnoe/2008/01/11/rossija-nachinaet-vtoruju-holodnuju-vojnu-v-intern/">Rupor.Info</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Editorial</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Translated from the Russian by S.S. </span><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/R5cZWQZkfkI/AAAAAAAACrk/05c8tYaB9H4/s1600-h/__1_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/R5cZWQZkfkI/AAAAAAAACrk/05c8tYaB9H4/s400/__1_.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158619768326225474" border="0" /></a>While Vladimir Putin is building a “<a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.rupor.info/glavnoe/2008/01/03/putin-bezhit-iz-rossii/">Golden Bunker</a>” through his stand-ins [TN: a $50 million residence known as "Villa Konstantin" which is rumored being <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://gun.az/2008/01/11/get=589">built for him in Switzerland</a>], the Kremlin administration has come up with a new way of interfering in citizens’ private lives and isolating the country from the rest of the world. In the best traditions of the Cold War, the Special Services will have the exclusive means to deprive all those living in the Russian Federation of the right to read and write.<br /><br />In a couple of months’ time, the horrors of censorship depicted by George Orwell in 1984 will seem like childish pranks compared to the powers granted to the FSB and other security organs in their instructions. Their work will be greatly simplified, and all “dissidents” will turn themselves into “Iron” Felix Dzerzhinsky [TN: First leader of the Cheka, later the KGB] themselves.<br /><br />According to the <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.inopressa.ru/print/guardian/2008/01/03/12:38:03/kremlin">Guardian</a>, Russian internet users, will be completely locked off from foreign traffic, which can be used to access the majority of free information, as currently happens in China. Those whose work requires access to foreign sites (ministries, departments and state companies) will have to be approved by the Special Services.<br /><br />In practice, this will be achieved by the introduction of Cyrillic domain names, which will automatically cut the whole of Russia off from the World Wide Web and the Internet’s other services.<br /><br />“The “Russian Internet” project will look at the question of how they can best communicate within their own country. The internationalization of domain names will give them the chance to do what is being attempted in China, where three top-level domain names, written in Chinese characters, are used: .net, .com and .cn”, Wolfgang Kleinwachter, member of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance, explains the technical details.<br /><br />The key question here is whether Russia’s own root servers will use Russian international domain names when deciding where to direct their enquiries on the Internet—that is will they be autonomous from the already existing root servers of the net, which are mainly based in the USA (5 in the USA, 2 in Northern Europe).<br /><br />In Kleinwachter’s opinion, the worst case scenario would be everyone having to register domain names using the Cyrillic top-level domain .rf. “Then Russian would have its own root name server, and it is much easier to control a top-level domain than a hundred thousand subdomains”, says the expert.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Chinese Model</span><br /><br />The FSB is taking a tried and tested route; it’s not reinventing the wheel. Russians will end up as isolated as the Chinese.<br /><br />Furthermore, the Chinese authorities are at the stage of perfecting Internet censorship.<br /><br />“Now the Chinese side has a choice: to preserve for itself the domain .cn in ASCII code, or to isolate it, “ explains Kleinwachter, “If they isolate it, then they will be able to build their own individual bridge which will link the Chinese Internet with the ASCII internet. The Russians, like the Chinese, have considered this variant. I’m under the impression that the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is more inclined to accept this variant than the Chinese Ministry of Economic Development and Trade”.<br /><br />Specialists aren’t excluding one other variant. Every citizen could be given a fixed IP address, which they would have to use wherever they gained access to the Internet.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Electronic Curtain</span><br /><br />“According to the estimates on the Russian side, 90% of the information exchange will take place within Russia and only 10% will go outside, “ says Kleinwachter. In these circumstances it is this 10% who will feel the difference from the previous situation most of all.<br /><br />According to Kleinwachter, it has been suggested that people will require a password sanctioned by state authorities to access the global Internet. In this way, the Kremlin will be able to control each citizen’s contact with the outside world.<br /><br />The authorities however assert that this will make tracing “cyber-criminals” easier.<br /><br />Anyone wishing to read the European press, including the Ukrainian, will now become a dangerous criminal; in the same way as everyone going to a demonstration instantly turns into an “extremist”.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Legal” hackers</span><br /><br />Western IT specialists point out that this innovation makes all Russian hackers absolutely untraceable. “This would result in a wall being built being cyber-criminals and their victims” believes Jose Nazario of the company Arbor, who defends the state and corporations from attacks from hackers originating from Russian territory.<br /><br />“Tracing Russian hackers will become very complicated. Security experts are now only just beginning to understand their methods, and this decision would slow our work down considerably. Aside from this, it is a sign of the increasing strain in the relations between Putin’s Russian and the West”, emphasizes Nazario.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">NOTE: This article has nearly 100 comments attached, for those who read Russian.</span>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-79438241270854396242007-02-24T12:11:00.000-08:002007-08-29T12:12:54.494-07:00The Kremlin Versus Oborona: A Postcard from the Battlefront<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Court of Dyatlov vs. Charles Darwin</span><br /><br /><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.oborona.org/760"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oborona</span></a><br /><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.oborona.org/krevedko2.gif" align="left" hspace="5" />On August 14 in the 370th precinct of the Tverskiy Region in Moscow, a trial will be held to consider the case of Vladimir Akimenkov, an activist in the groups Oborona and OGF. The court will convene at 10:00 at Bolshoi Cherkasskiy Lane, bldg 7/8, room 1B. Akimenkov is accused of insubordination to police who were dispersing a protest sanctioned by the authorities on June 22.<br /><br />The June 22 picket near the Presidential Administration was, as noted, sanctioned by the authorities, though this did not prevent the militia from dispersing it and detaining several participants. Among those detained was one member of Oborona, Vladimir Akimenkov, who had to spend 17 hours at the police station.<br /><br />In July the activist was fined by a judge in the Dyatlov regional court for “disturbing the peace by participating in a public demonstration”, inasmuch as the sign Akimenkov was holding, in the opinion of the court, “did not correspond to the purpose of the picket, was aimed at undermining the authority of the Head of State, and was anti-government in its character.” On the sign was written the words, “Time for the Dinosaurs to go Extinct”. This is the first decision by a Russian court that not only officially acknowledges the President of Russia is a prehistoric fossil, but also calls Darwin’s theory of evolution “anti-government”.<br /><br />This turned out not to be enough for the court, however, and a month later the Dyatlov court decided to punish once again this defender of Darwinism - this time for “disobeying the police” during the dispersal of the same picket. According to article 19.3 of the criminal code, Vladimir Akimenkov could face 15 days imprisonment.<br /><br />8/13/2007<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">[TN: The animated double-picture that accompanies this article (shown above) has Gandhi saying, “Putin, are you a dinosaur?” And Putin answering, “No, Ia Krevedko!” (Йа Креведко) – which I think means essentially, “No, I’m a monster.” Doing some quick online research, I gathered that Krevedko is the name of a “Ktulkhu” (</span><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-style: italic;" href="http://bestuff.com/stuff/ktulkhu">Ктулху</a><span style="font-style: italic;">) - type monster, which is a person with a squid-type mouth... But I could be wrong. Reader comments are most welcome on this issue. A second post updated the above, it is translated below).</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Court is Frightened by Oborona Activists<br /><br /><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.oborona.org/761">Oborona</a><br /></span></div><br />At approximately 9:00 a.m., about one hour before the court convened in the case of Oborona activist Vladimir Akimenkov, activists from Oborona and other organizations began to gather around the court, along with some journalists. All approaches to the court were blocked by police cordons, and as the number of those gathering grew so did the number of police. The Oborona activists had planned simply to attend the trial and watch the somewhat remarkable spectacle of the Dyatlov court, which had declared war on the theory of evolution. They did not plan to raid the court, of course, nor do anything else untoward.<br /><br />But the Dyatlov court lost its nerve, and at 9:40 a.m. announced that the trial had been canceled. The reason given was the non-appearance of one of the police officer witnesses against the accused. Having allowed into the building only Akimenkov himself and one of the journalists, the court announced that the case would be heard on 22 August, again at 10:00 a.m. The court also noted that photography would not be permitted in the court and only five people would be allowed inside.<br /><br />On 22 August the statue of limitations will expire in the case of Akimenkov.<br /><p></p><br /><p></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-58465640299078645292007-02-24T09:16:00.000-08:002008-12-08T13:46:21.903-08:00On the Trail of Politkovskaya's Killers<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">“Exposure of the Target”, or Something About Cultural Codes<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.ej.ru/?a=note&id=7414">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</a><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><st1:date year="2007" day="24" month="9">by Yulia Latynina<br /></st1:date></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><st1:date year="2007" day="24" month="9">September 24, 2007</st1:date></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/Rwu2i96Z2TI/AAAAAAAACDo/ng-OrpxRaJQ/s1600-h/main_4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/Rwu2i96Z2TI/AAAAAAAACDo/ng-OrpxRaJQ/s320/main_4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119386113288034610" border="0" /></a>The unraveling of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya began when the investigation noted something:<span style=""> </span>one month before Politkovskaya was murdered, a certain Lieutenant Colonel in the FSB, Pavel Ryaguzov, without leaving <st1:country-region><st1:place>Chechnya</st1:place></st1:country-region>, looked up the address of Politkovskaya in an FSB database and immediately called a certain Shamil Buraev.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">According to the testimony of Ryaguzov, this Buraev asked Ryaguzov to find the address, and the latter, good soul that he was, was unwittingly made use of.<span style=""> </span>I will note, however, that the facts neither refute nor support this version of events.<span style=""> </span>The facts are simply that Pavel Ryaguzov looked up Anna Politkovskaya’s address in an FSB database and after that called Shamil Buraev.<span style=""> </span>Two explanations are possible.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It is possible that the “organizer” (one of them) Buraev requested the “executor”, Ryaguzov, to determine the address.<span style=""> </span>Or it might have been that the “organizer” (one of them) Ryaguzov found the address and provided it to the “executor” (one of them), Buraev.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Buraev is an ex-head of the Achka-Martanovskiy region, a “federal man” to his bone marrow, brought to the region in a deployment of federal forces in 1995, and in 1996 directed the region from he great city of <st1:city><st1:place>Moscow</st1:place></st1:city>.<span style=""> </span>He was federal to the point that it was hard to tell in this duo where the chekist began and Chechen ended, but it was clear why it was easy for him to turn to Ryaguzov, or Ryaguzov to turn to Buraev.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But this story about acquiring the address stuck in my head, and I thought for a long time what it reminded me of.<span style=""> </span>And then I remembered.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">A few years ago, in a home I had just recently rented, the phone rang.<span style=""> </span>It was a former KGB guy.<span style=""> </span>(He was delirious, accusing all his personal enemies of being in a conspiracy against democracy, so it’s not important what he has after.)<span style=""> </span>The KGB guy, having called, decided to try and impress me.<span style=""> </span>“I acquired your address from a database - well, you understand, I have these connections,” he said.<span style=""> </span>“But the address where you were registered was not where you were living.<span style=""> </span>They gave me a telephone number, and when I called that number I got another number, and from that number I got this number.”<span style=""> </span>What an idiot, I thought:<span style=""> </span>All you had to do was call Novaya Gazeta and say you were with the New York Times.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It soon became clear that I was not alone in my contempt for people who “acquire” addresses the way they did back in the good old 1970s.<span style=""> </span>One of my oligarch acquaintances, choking back laughter, told the story of how he bought a copy of his own dossier from the security services.<span style=""> </span>In the dossier there were several volumes of transcripts from telephone calls.<span style=""> </span>But the oligarch could not figure it out: who were these people - Vasya, Masha; buy some potatoes, change the diapers.<span style=""> </span>What in the world?<span style=""> </span>Potatoes?<span style=""> </span>Only after digging into it deeper did the oligarch realize that the ops officers had over a period of several months diligently tapped the phone line of… his old apartment, which he had once rented, but had not been living there, of course, for about ten years.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And then I heard the story of another friend.<span style=""> </span>He ordered the profile of a competitor from some “special services officers” (spetsovs) from the intelligence services, and the officers, trying to impress him, delivered my friend’s own dossier as well.<span style=""> </span>I should note that my friend had three years before divorced his wife and immediately remarried.<span style=""> </span>Coming to a phrase about how he had “lately been showing up everywhere with a mysterious blonde woman, whom no one knows” (in reference to a woman with whom he had been married for three years, and who worked at a major bank), my friend stopped reading and kicked out the “spetsovs”.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And then a little while later I was talking with one these “spetsovs” myself.<span style=""> </span>“You look up the address in a database, find the telephone number, registration number, and voila - in ten minutes you’ve exposed the target,” he told me proudly.<span style=""> </span>I remember my amusement:<span style=""> </span>How could this grown, intelligent, cultivated man say that “in ten minutes the target is exposed”?<span style=""> </span>What if the telephone number is for his father?<span style=""> </span>And what if the man is driving his wife’s car, and she his?<span style=""> </span>Who will you be following?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Why am I going into all this?<span style=""> </span>Because there is a big difference between the cultural codes of a person raised in the system of the Soviet KGB - a person who is accustomed to thinking that there is always a residence permit and a single telephone number, and who was trained in specific methods of “exposing the target” - and the world view of normal people, be they entrepreneurs or bandits.<span style=""> </span>People who understand that “exposing” a well-known journalist is pretty basic.<span style=""> </span>One need not “access a database”, “expose the target”, etc.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Let us recall what we know about the Politkovskaya case.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">First the murderers found the address in an FSB database.<span style=""> </span>Then it turned out that the addresss was an old one, and then they sent an “outside surveillant” (naruzhka), who followed her from her work to her home.<span style=""> </span>And do you know who did this, according to the scenario published in the mass media?<span style=""> </span>Who paid the “naruzhka”?<span style=""> </span>The Chechen killers, who were so poor that they could not destroy the car in which they arrived to kill Politkovskaya – and now the car is in the hands of the investigation.<br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And that’s just the beginning!<span style=""> </span>According to the prosecutor Chaika, “There were two groups of surveillants; when one was following the journalist, the second directed them, and vice-versa.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is too much to imagine.<span style=""> </span>If the first group - the”gunslingers”, were hired police surveillants, then to what agency did the second group belong?<span style=""> </span>What kind of killers, too penurious to get rid of a car, would lay out money for two groups of “naruzhki”?<span style=""> </span>And why would they want to supervise the work of the first group of naruzhki - to write a report to their management?<span style=""> </span>What kind of killers would risk exposing their activities to such a large number of government officials?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Would it be hard for a group of private Chechen killers to find Politkovskaya’s address?<span style=""> </span>Piece of cake.<span style=""> </span>Just write a letter to the editor:<span style=""> </span>“I, Mohammed such-and-such, want to tell you about my friend who was tortured in Khankala.”<span style=""> </span>Set up a meeting in a café and follow Anna from the café home.<span style=""> </span>The entire operation would be done in one day by two brothers, who would not pay anyone or expose anyone.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But the organizers did things a different way.<span style=""> </span>An FSB database, two groups of “naruzhki”…<span style=""> </span>Cultural codes, I tell you.</p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-13787707635112586762007-02-24T09:12:00.000-08:002007-10-17T09:14:13.652-07:00Imitation as the Russian National Idea<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">Imitation as National Idea</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">by <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.ej.ru/?a=author&id=144"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Aleksandr Prodrabinek</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><a href="http://www.ej.ru/?a=note&id=7415"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</span><o:p></o:p></a></p> <div style="text-align: center;"><st1:date year="2007" day="26" month="9">September 26, 2007</st1:date><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">What is the deal with this mishmash of politicians and government ideologists stubbornly searching for a national idea for <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>?<span style=""> </span>The choices include a purely Russian path, a clerical government, a consumer culture, a lawful government, a market economy under a harsh authority, a harsh authority with a state-run economy, and God knows what else.<span style=""> </span>Meanwhile, the national idea has actually been existing all along, and moreover triumphing in the minds and affairs of Russians.<span style=""> </span>This idea is the imitation of whatever is in style or one especially likes at the moment.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Kyivan kings in the tenth to eleventh centuries forcibly implanted Christianity throughout what was then called Rus, dealing harshly with the pagans.<span style=""> </span>Although, what could be more inimical to Christianity than coercing faith through the use of force?<span style=""> </span>Peter I imitated the western Enlightenment in the Russian Empire, at the same time eliminating anyone who expressed their disapproval.<span style=""> </span>Nikolai II imitated a constitutional monarchy, but, openly despising liberal ideas, did not give much leeway to Russian parliamentarianism, and thereby brought the country to a revolutionary boil.<span style=""> </span>Under the Communists, the Russian taste for imitation lost its quality, but they more than made up for it in quantity, making it the primary characteristic of all social and government institutions - as it always is in a totalitarian system.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">After the collapse of Communism and a brief period of more or less freedom to find one’s own way, the itch to imitate once again made itself felt.<span style=""> </span>We had to become a great power, and so we now strive to create the attributes of a great country:<span style=""> </span>a powerful army, effective governmental control, a thriving economy, and expansive foreign policy.<span style=""> </span>Even if all of this is only for appearance, we still need to look the part, even if we cannot actually be it.<span style=""> </span>Our ancient strategic bombers proudly plow through the skies along foreign borders, hoping to create the impression of Russian military might.<span style=""> </span>Government control is built in the form of “verticals of power” in the naive hope of achieving effectiveness through strict orders and harsh subservience.<span style=""> </span>Economic success is shortsightedly based on the export of raw materials and subordination of business to government.<span style=""> </span>Assertiveness in foreign affairs is achieved by stubbornly opposing any proposals from our western partners, while dangerously flirting with despotic regimes.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The sickness of imitation is contagious and transient.<span style=""> </span>One after another the institutions of society and government become imitative and inauthentic.<span style=""> </span>The courts cease to adjudicate, issuing sentences and verdicts based on orders from on high or specified sums paid to the judge.<span style=""> </span>Law enforcement officials occupy themselves not so much with fighting crime as enriching themselves through misuse of their official position, taking bribes, and providing cover for organized crime groups.<span style=""> </span>Parliament has ceased to be a place for discussion and instead obediently rubber-stamps laws proposed by the executive branch and president.<span style=""> </span>Plurality is allowed only to those parties that suit the executive.<span style=""> </span>At elections, voters are given the opportunity to choose only from among those who have shown their loyalty to the current political course.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Outwardly, we have everything - courts, police, parliament, political parties and regular elections - but it’s all phony.<span style=""> </span>Imitation is our national idea.<span style=""> </span>This and “Potemkin villages”, built for the visit of Catherine II to Crimea; and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Kolokol">Tsar Bell</a>, which has never been rung; and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Cannon">Tsar Cannon</a>, which has been fired all of once.<span style=""> </span>This and “open” trials of “enemies of the people” in 1937; and the news nowadays on the central television stations.<span style=""> </span>An imitation of news.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Imitation attracts not only the authorities, but also the opposition.<span style=""> </span>It’s not even worth mentioning the parties that were created from the outset only to imitate an opposition, that’s beside the point.<span style=""> </span>But how can Yabloko and SPS even participate in parliamentary elections, when their leaders, both privately and publicly, say the current election system and Law on Political Parties has turned elections into a farce?<span style=""> </span>Participating in the farce, they too merely imitate democratic elections.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Two leaders of the youth wing of Yabloko, protesting against unjust elections, recently imitated self-immolation, dressed in fire-proof clothing and with friends standing by with fire extinguishers and ambulances.<span style=""> </span>It’s possible that it never occurred to them that this looked like a parody of the Czech <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Palach">Jan Pallach</a>, the Lithuanian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romas_Kalanta">Romas Kalanta</a> or the Crimean Tartar <a href="http://www.euronet.nl/users/sota/ctnm.htm">Musa Mamut</a>, who immolated themselves for real and died in the course of their personal struggle with the Communist regime.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And how many times have they imitated “to the death” hunger strikes, halted at the first sign of exhaustion or loss of health!<span style=""> </span>How many human rights workers only imitate human rights work by participating in expert and public panels for ministries and presidential commissions?<span style=""> </span>Imitation - this is our national idea, uniting both the authorities and the opposition.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">True, to be sure, not all the opposition.<span style=""> </span>There are some who are uncompromising.<span style=""> </span>But the majority consider them marginal, “outside the system” idealists, and twirl their fingers around their temples when talking about them.<span style=""> </span>Thus have we always related to those who have not shared the great Russian national idea.<span style=""> </span>At the same time, these people have not needed their own special national idea.<span style=""> </span>They live or sacrifice their lives for the sake of a common human ideal of freedom.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">No matter who you ask, “When was life better, under socialism or now?” - everyone starts by talking about prices, salaries, full or empty shelves, pensions.<span style=""> </span>And maybe one in ten will recall something about freedom.<span style=""> </span>That’s because in the common conception “better” means more full, not more free.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And so we’ll continue to live in the world of imitation, amid the false and phony, full of hopes and disappointments, until the idea of freedom becomes our national idea.</p><span style="font-style: italic;">Aleksandr Prodrabinek was a Soviet dissident in the 1970s & 1980s, during which time he served two terms in Siberia for his human rights work. Since 1987 he has edited of number of human rights-oriented journals, and is currently a correspondent for Novaya Gazeta.</span><br /><p></p><br /><p></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-15333095446609590622007-02-24T09:11:00.000-08:002008-01-15T09:12:21.716-08:00Lies for the Youngest<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><span lang="EN-US">Lies for the Youngest<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.ej.ru/?a=news&id=7808"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</span><o:p></o:p></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" align="center"><span lang="EN-US">December 25, 2007</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" align="center"><span lang="EN-US">Editorial<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" align="center"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">What is it they say about great events?<span style=""> </span>First time as tragedy, second time as farce.<span style=""> </span>And indeed, everything is being repeated:<span style=""> </span>already we have almost Soviet rhetoric, almost the same “enemies of the people” [dissidents], almost the same Oktobryata [“children of the October Revolution] in the “mishki” [Nashi’s new patriotic organization for children], and now there will be an almost Soviet version of history.<span style=""> </span>It is now clear that the authorities have no intention of limiting the distribution of pseudo-historical propaganda through the central channels of power.<span style=""> </span>The Ministry of Education and Science is expected to approve a new list of high school textbooks for the coming school year.<span style=""> </span>According to the newspaper <i style="">Nezavisimaya Gazeta</i>, among these new textbooks will be the infamous “Russian History, 1945-2007”, developed on the basis of Aleksandr Filippov’s “Book for Teachers”.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The textbook has already been published in a first run of one thousand copies.<span style=""> </span>After approval by the staff of the Ministry of Education it will be sent to no less than five regions, where it will undergo a one-year trial period.<span style=""> </span>At the end of this period it will be officially recommended to schools.<span style=""> </span>Filippov is deputy directory of the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span lang="EN-US">National</span></st1:placename><span lang="EN-US"> </span><st1:placetype><span lang="EN-US">Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span lang="EN-US"> for Foreign Policy, which is associated with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleb_Pavlovsky">Gleb Pavlovskiy’s</a> Foundation for Effective Policy [a well-known Kremlin think tank].<span style=""> </span>It should be noted that the most scandalous chapter, “Discussion of Stalin’s Role in History”, in which the Great Purges are presented as “the formation of a new ruling class, adequate to the tasks of modernization in conditions of resource shortages”, was not included in the textbook.<span style=""> </span>But the portion concerning “The Putin Era” remains.<span style=""> </span>As in the teacher’s edition, the replacement of directly elected regional governors with appointed ones is presented as having been due to the “unpreparedness of the regional executives to effectively deal with crisis situations”- as demonstrated, in the opinion of the authors, by the Beslan hostage crisis.<span style=""> </span>The “Yukos affair”, the authors believe, “decisively buried the oligarchs’ hopes of preserving their control over the Russian government.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">December 26, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span lang="EN-US">Irina Karatsuba, Historian:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This past summer I read this textbook in detail and took part in a round table discussion organized by the journal “Bolshoi Gorod” in which the textbook was discussed.<span style=""> </span>After studying Filippov’s textbook and discussing it with the authors, I came to the inescapable conclusion that this was without doubt a paid-for textbook, written on someone’s orders, phony all the way through.<span style=""> </span>It is based on one very dangerous idea, which can be summed up succinctly as, “The State is everything, the individual nothing.”<span style=""> </span>Regarding the current regime, the textbook is absolutely servile, stating simply that Putin is the second most effective leader the country has ever had, after Stalin.<span style=""> </span>And this is the crowning glory - there is nowhere higher to go.<span style=""> </span>For this reason, of course, its introduction into schools in any capacity (and I think it will be introduced, as the leading textbook) can bring only harm.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The textbook automatically brings to mind how we all once studied.<span style=""> </span>Soviet textbooks contained not a word of truth, of course, and no one took them seriously, nor did they expect to learn anything from the subject of history, but searched for the truth instead on their own.<span style=""> </span>I recall how a textbook I was once studying (I graduated from high school in 1977) said that “the careerist Ezhov and the political adventurist Beria, using some of Stalin’s personal marks, fabricated accusations that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Communists.”<span style=""> </span>Reading this, at age 16, I thought to myself:<span style=""> </span>But how could these two people, with the help of a third, kill tens of thousands of people… What kind of regime was this?<span style=""> </span>I think this is about the line of thought that will be followed by those who study from Filippov’s textbook.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">But for me, as a professional, this is of course sad, because it is not just a step backward, but ten steps backward in comparison with the textbooks that were written at the end of the 1990’s and the beginning of this decade.<span style=""> </span>And I am very bitter about how the textbooks of Dolutskiy and other authors are being replaced with nonsense like this.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This event is not, of course, unique.<span style=""> </span>It is part of a general process of searching for a new Russian identity.<span style=""> </span>A reconsideration of the Soviet period is taking place, expelling the odious waste of “the terrible 1990s” (although the current occupants of the our political </span><st1:place><st1:placetype><span lang="EN-US">Mount</span></st1:placetype><span lang="EN-US"> </span><st1:placename><span lang="EN-US">Olympus</span></st1:placename></st1:place><span lang="EN-US"> during the same 1990s all occupied high-profile posts) - this is all part of the creation of a myth about ourselves.<span style=""> </span>But this myth is phony through and through, and worse than that it is immoral, because it sanctifies the spilling of blood and use of violence.<span style=""> </span>It just perpetuates a falsehood.<span style=""> </span>All of which brings to mind the words of the 16-th<sup> </sup>century Russian essayist Ivan Peresvetov, who wrote to Ivan the Terrible, “In Russian czarism there is belief, but no truth.<span style=""> </span>But God does not love belief.<span style=""> </span>He loves the truth.”<span style=""> </span>Immortal words.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I would also recall the words of Petr Chaadaev, who wrote in 1837 that “The era of blind belief has passed.<span style=""> </span>I think that now the truth is our greatest obligation to the Motherland.”<span style=""> </span>Alas, this was such a premature hope, because even today this “now” has not yet arrived.<span style=""> </span>But what will become of our Motherland, and of the truth, if this “now” never arrives?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Of course, the universities cannot be separated from society as a whole, and this false conception of history is beginning to penetrate them as well.<span style=""> </span>One of the authors of the textbook, Leonid Polyakov, is professor of at the Higher School of Economics.<span style=""> </span>This is a person who has said the most incredible things lately, such as that “we really never know what happened in the past”, and we need a positive myth about ourselves…<span style=""> </span>In other words, we should just make ourselves look good, tell ourselves falsehoods - that this will help us.<span style=""> </span>I do not understand how it is we can build something on falsehoods that will help us.<span style=""> </span>But beyond this it becomes an issue of individual honesty, and I cannot believe that the majority of my colleagues, in either the universities or schools, will be inclined to teach according to the Filippov textbook.<span style=""> </span>On the contrary, I have seen only shock, deep shock, in reaction to this textbook.<span style=""> </span>The academic and teaching communities will oppose this textbook; they are already opposing it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><i style=""><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><i style=""><span lang="EN-US">Irina Karatsuba is an historian and associate professor in the Department of Regional Studies at </span></i></b><st1:place><st1:placename><b style=""><i style=""><span lang="EN-US">Moscow</span></i></b></st1:placename><b style=""><i style=""><span lang="EN-US"> </span></i></b><st1:placetype><b style=""><i style=""><span lang="EN-US">State</span></i></b></st1:placetype><b style=""><i style=""><span lang="EN-US"> </span></i></b><st1:placetype><b style=""><i style=""><span lang="EN-US">University</span></i></b></st1:placetype></st1:place><b style=""><i style=""><span lang="EN-US">.</span></i></b><i style=""><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-31238294719241534712007-02-24T09:08:00.000-08:002008-12-08T13:46:21.946-08:00Happy Birthday, Mr. President!<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">Putin’s Birthday and the Day of Polikovskaya’s Death<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><a href="http://www.ej.ru/?a=note&id=7453">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</a><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><st1:date year="2007" day="8" month="10">by Yulia Latynina<br /></st1:date></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><st1:date year="2007" day="8" month="10">October 8, 200</st1:date>7</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/Rwu2i96Z2TI/AAAAAAAACDo/ng-OrpxRaJQ/s1600-h/main_4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/Rwu2i96Z2TI/AAAAAAAACDo/ng-OrpxRaJQ/s320/main_4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119386113288034610" border="0" /></a>One year ago, on October 7, 2006 Anna Politkovskaya was shot in the entryway of her home, and no matter how many demonstrations “Nashi” (our own) may hold on this day - the birthday of Putin - this is the day of the death of Politkovskaya.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It seemed like the murder of Politkovskaya, unlike the murder of Litvinenko, would remain unsolved forever.<span style=""> </span>But one year on, to the amazement of some, we already know a fair amount about this killing.<span style=""> </span>It is helpful to separate out what we know into facts and conclusions.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The facts are as follows.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Immediately after the murder of Politkovskaya, President Putin announced that her murder brought more harm than her activities.<span style=""> </span>The President appointed the investigator Pyotr Garibyan, who had no unsolved cases, to investigate the case.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The investigation took place in a vacuum.<span style=""> </span>To the point of being funny:<span style=""> </span>the killers arrived to murder Politkovskaya as a foursome, in one car.<span style=""> </span>Surveillance cameras showed the car next to her apartment building, but the license plate number was not readable.<span style=""> </span>The investigators tried to find the number by looking at footage from other cameras, but they too were blurry.<span style=""> </span>They tired to “pull out” the number with the help of criminal investigations experts - and at that point everything got stuck.<span style=""> </span>In the end the investigation, through personal connections, had an institute specializing in the manipulation of data from satellite photos manipulate the data from the surveillance videotapes.<span style=""> </span>Out popped the license plate number of the car, which it turned out belonged to the Makhmudov killers, though formally it was owned by their uncle Akhmed Isaev.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The investigation found the car in which the killer (presumably one of the Makhmudov brothers) arrived at the scene.<span style=""> </span>It was further determined that shortly before the death of the journalist a lieutenant colonel of the FSB, Pavel Ryaguzov, looked up<span style=""> </span>her address in an FSB database and immediately called Shamil Buraev, his long-time acquaintance (and, apparently, his agent) - also the former head of the Achkho-Martanovskiy region, a reliable federalist, and from the same clan as the Makhmudovs.<span style=""> </span>The investigation further determined that the address turned out to be old, and that a “outside surveillant” (<span style="font-style: italic;">naryzhka</span>) from the police was hired to determine her new one.<span style=""> </span>“There were two outside surveillants”, said the prosecutor Chaika.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In other words, it turned out there were two groups.<span style=""> </span>One - the killers (the money paid them was not much - the Makhmudovs did not even destroy their car), the other – those who were responsible for the surveillance and penetration of the building (<span style="font-style: italic;">probivka</span>).<span style=""> </span>The investigation believes Sergei Khadzhikurbanov served as the connection between the two groups.<span style=""> </span>Khadzhikurbanov was a former operations officer in the ethnic department of the Regional Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (RUBOP) [of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MID)] and, incidentally, a close acquaintance of Colonel Ryaguzov.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There was even an incident involving both of them:<span style=""> </span>Khadzhikurbanov and Ryaguzov together beat up a businessman in an office.<span style=""> </span>The businessman escaped from the building and ran to an embassy across the street.<span style=""> </span>Ryaguzov and Khadzhikurbanov showed their badges and pried the businessman from the embassy guards, again beat him up, threw him into a car, and took him back to his home.<span style=""> </span>When it turned out he had no money at his home, they beat him again, and drove him to a forest, but there they were stopped by a traffic policeman.<span style=""> </span>There was, of course, no testimony of any sort taken from the businessman, and no criminal case was brought.<span style=""> </span>How many times Ryaguzov and Khadzhikurbanov had driven around with a businessman in their trunk before without being stopped by a traffic policeman, no one knows.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The arrests occurred on August 13.<span style=""> </span>They went quietly, without any sort of publicity, until the prosecutor Chaika announced to Putin that the murder had been solved and it was ordered by someone from abroad.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">At this point there was an explosion of information.<span style=""> </span>While at first nothing leaked from Garibyan’s group, no sooner was the information passed to the leadership than the leaks flowed as if from a sieve.<span style=""> </span>The license plate of the car that transported the four men (which had up to this point still not been seized!) was leaked to the press, and the secretary of the Basman court gladly revealed to the press the names of those detained.<span style=""> </span>But the most surprising thing happened in court with the FSB Colonel Ryaguzov.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">As it turned out, the military court presided over by judge Seryukov (the same one who acquitted the accused in the murder of Kholodov) categorically refused to arrest Ryzugov in the case for which he was detained two months previously.<span style=""> </span>The court demanded all information in the Politkovskaya case be turned over to it.<span style=""> </span>It was turned over.<span style=""> </span>For the first time the name of Buraev was heard.<span style=""> </span>(Buraev at that moment had not yet been arrested or questioned in the Politkovskaya case, although his name had been mentioned in the Khlebnikov murder case.)<span style=""> </span>The court proceedings were closed to the public.<span style=""> </span>The name, however, appeared on every website, with a reference to Interfax, although Interfax had released nothing from the court.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Some journalists called Buraev.<span style=""> </span>He said that as soon as he heard of this idiotic affair he got dressed, got in his car, and drove from his home.<span style=""> </span>At this point he was immediately arrested, because he had been under surveillance for some time.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">So these are the facts, or more exactly, some of the facts.<span style=""> </span>What remains are the conclusions which can be drawn from the facts.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In my view, Putin’s announcement [immediately after the murder of Politkovskaya] was directed primarily at the murderers:<span style=""> </span>What did you vermin drag in here?<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In my view, appointing Garibyan (and not someone like Karimov) as the investigator meant that Putin actually was interested in finding out who of his people killed Politkovskaya.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The order for the murder was given to a certain syndicate of killers and had a purely commercial character.<span style=""> </span>As far as the organizer of the murder was concerned (and this was not Makhmudov, nor Muraev, nor even, probably, Khadzhikurbanov), the order might have gone to anyone.<span style=""> </span>However, the active involvement of government officials in “establishing the target” (<span style="font-style: italic;">ustanovlenie obekta</span>) of Politkovskaya forces us to assume that the officials at least knew that the murder was being planned.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But here’s a question:<span style=""> </span>One of the Makhmudovs pulled the trigger.<span style=""> </span>And he got out of the car that was carrying the foursome and was waiting for Politkovskaya at her apartment building.<span style=""> </span>But surely Politkovskaya was being followed on the day she was murdered.<span style=""> </span>The killers were passed the information that she was approaching.<span style=""> </span>Meaning that someone other than the foursome was in another car.<span style=""> </span>Whose car would that be, and who was in it?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Or this:<span style=""> </span>Colonel Ryaguzov got Politkovskaya’s address from the FSB database and called his personal friend Buraev.<span style=""> </span>Maybe it was Buraev who asked Ryaguzov for the address - this is what Ryaguzov says, claiming that he was “kept in the dark” and used.<span style=""> </span>It is possible that Ryaguzov first got the address and then asked Buraev about what the next steps would be.<span style=""> </span>But one thing is clear:<span style=""> </span>you can “keep in the dark” and use a bum.<span style=""> </span>Or a journalist.<span style=""> </span>Even a killer.<span style=""> </span>But a lieutenant colonel in the FSB cannot be “kept in the dark” and used.<span style=""> </span>Ryaguzov had known Buraev a long time.<span style=""> </span>He knew what Buraev did for a living.<span style=""> </span>He knew, above all else, about the Khlebnikov affair.<span style=""> </span>And when a person, whose activities are well known to an FSB lieutenant colonel (who himself is in the habit of transporting businessmen in his trunk), asks the FSB lieutenant colonel for the address of an opposition journalist, the FSB lieutenant colonel will at a minimum inform his leadership.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In my view, Chaika’s press conference was connected with the fact that rumors of the arrest were already circulating around <st1:city><st1:place>Moscow</st1:place></st1:city>, and if there was no press conference, the public would begin talking about exactly what was talked about above:<span style=""> </span>the facts.<span style=""> </span>But facts are not fatal to the security services.<span style=""> </span>And the appropriate P.R. decision was made:<span style=""> </span>“Instead of having them discuss the facts, let them discuss an announcement about how Politkovskaya was killed by the enemies of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The strategy worked perfectly.<span style=""> </span>The occasional liberal publication did not shed any tears over the alibis of the four Makhmudov brothers (their alibis consisted of a claim that one of the brothers was in Chechnya at the time) and the bright image of the chekist Pavel Ryaguzov, whom his leaders put forward due to his exceptional discipline, demonstrated in Ryaguzov’s attempt to save the life of the viciously beaten Aleksandr Pumane.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In my view, President Putin now knows who killed Politkovskaya.<span style=""> </span>But we will not know, at least not until the end of the regime.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There are democratic regimes, in which the head of the government does not order the murder of opposition journalists.<span style=""> </span>And there are dictatorships, in which the head of the government does order the murder of opposition journalists.<span style=""> </span>But I do not know what to call a regime in which an opposition journalist is killed and the head of the government is genuinely interested in knowing who did it – his left hand or his right foot.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">NOTE: A heavily abridged version of this article appears today in the <a href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/10/10/007.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Moscow Times</span></a> without naming <span style="font-style: italic;">Yezhedevny Zhurnal</span> as the source.</span><br /></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-2651885260674417142007-02-24T09:07:00.001-08:002008-01-15T09:09:45.855-08:00The Lollipop Kid and Time Magazine<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">Lollipop Kid Becomes Street Thug . . . and Man of the Year<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">Aleksandr Golts<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><a href="http://www.ej.ru/?a=note&id=7669"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</span><o:p></o:p></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" align="center">December 21, 2007</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">To tell the truth, I had originally planned to write this article about two weeks from now, conducting a “year in review” with the other members of the YeZh staff.<span style=""> </span>But the decision of <span style="font-style: italic;">Time</span> Magazine to declare Vladimir Putin its “Man of the Year” compelled me to do it earlier.<span style=""> </span>Because this decision in a surprising way explains why so many people (including the staff of <span style="font-style: italic;">Time</span> Magazine) consider Putin’s foreign policy to be a success. <span style=""> </span>As they put it: “<span style="color:black;">Time's Person of the Year is not and never has been an honor. It is not an endorsement. It is not a popularity contest. At its best, it is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world - for better or for worse. It is ultimately about leadership - bold, earth-changing leadership. <span style=""> </span>Putin is not a boy scout. … [but] he has performed an extraordinary feat of leadership in imposing stability on a nation that has rarely known it and brought </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> back to the table of world power. <span style=""> </span>For that reason, Vladimir Putin is Time's 2007 Person of the Year.”<span style=""> </span>As I read it, the Time Magazine writers, in their expansive commentaries, point to two major achievements of President Putin.<span style=""> </span>First, by gagging the press, trampling on civil rights and freedoms, and turning elections into a farce, he has brought stability to the country, “which it has rarely known”. <span style=""> </span>Secondly, it was exactly Putin, according to Time, who returned </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> to its status as a world power.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;">If this is true, then one should acknowledge that this status is a direct result of a completely ruinous foreign policy.<span style=""> </span>In previous years the symbol of </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Moscow</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color:black;">’s international activities was “the little boy with the lollipop in his sweaty palm” who wanted to trade with the West, exchanging oil and gas not only for money but for influence as well.<span style=""> </span>This year, the little boy grew up and became the neighborhood thug.<span style=""> </span>Now he no longer trades, he tries to intimidate.<span style=""> </span>The year 2007 saw the militarization of Russian foreign policy.<span style=""> </span>National interests and claims against other governments were expressed almost exclusively in military terminology.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;">The main foreign policy events of the year - the effective withdrawal of Russia from the Conventional Forces In Europe (CFE) treaty; the conflict surrounding Washington’s intention to base some elements of its anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system in Poland and the Czech Republic; the constant threats to withdraw from the Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile treaty - have been directly related to efforts to demonstrate Russia’s readiness for military confrontation with the West.<span style=""> </span>The paradox is that none of this has any connection with defending country or ensuring its security.<span style=""> </span>Russian demands have had no logic whatsoever.<span style=""> </span>Russian demands have lacked even formal logic.<span style=""> </span>Take for example the withdrawal from the CFE treaty.<span style=""> </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Moscow</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color:black;"> explains this by pointing to the refusal of NATO countries to ratify an adapted version of the treaty.<span style=""> </span>The basic concept of the treaty reflects two opposing blocks, setting forth limits on the armaments that can be deployed in various countries and regions.<span style=""> </span>But the Kremlin never ceases talking about the colossal advantage NATO has gained as a result of its new members.<span style=""> </span>The head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs demands the introduction of a general ceiling on the armaments of all the governments of NATO.<span style=""> </span>In this manner </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> is positioning itself as the lone member of a new Warsaw Pact.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;">The new defining characteristic of Russian foreign policy has become how its exponents do not even try to make plausible arguments.<span style=""> </span>The head of the Russian General Staff Yuri Baluevskiy claimed that the launch of American ABM missiles from </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Poland</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> could be mistaken for a nuclear attack and cause a retaliatory strike.<span style=""> </span>Evidently, the general literally forgot about agreements with the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">U.S.</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> on the exchange of information and joint control.<span style=""> </span>Therefore, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> will know exactly what kinds of missiles are based in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Poland</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;">.<span style=""> </span>It will therefore be impossible to mistake them for nuclear missiles.<span style=""> </span>But </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Moscow</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color:black;"> no longer worries about plausibility in its claims.<span style=""> </span>They need only shout them out, as loudly as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;">Still, even deploying the phraseology of the cold war, the Kremlin does nothing that the West could construe as a genuine threat.<span style=""> </span>No one is talking about any sort of return to actual military confrontation.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;">But might one say in all seriousness that </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Moscow</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color:black;"> has become an important player in international politics?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;">Perhaps </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> is returning to a position of general respect, developing its bilateral relationships with various governments?<span style=""> </span>One must certainly say that in the past year </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Moscow</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color:black;"> has significantly enriched the practice of diplomacy.<span style=""> </span>What was the cost to </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> of the murder of Litvinenko, in the course of which half of </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="color:black;">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color:black;"> was radioactively poisoned?<span style=""> </span>And then not only did </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> refuse to extradite the suspected murderer, Andrei Lugavoi, but secured his election to parliament.<span style=""> </span>And then there was the shut-down of the Estonian embassy in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Moscow</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color:black;"> by Putin’s Red Guards.<span style=""> </span>All of this, of course, is clear evidence of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> having been turned into a great power.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;">And so, the little boy with the lollipop got himself a dagger.<span style=""> </span>He has not yet, thank God, gotten himself into a fight.<span style=""> </span>But he flashes the knife everywhere and anywhere.<span style=""> </span>That’s all there is to </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;">’s growing authority in the world.<span style=""> </span>But the journalists at Time Magazine simply took it as an axiom that </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;">’s influence in the world is growing, without even trying to confirm it with facts.<span style=""> </span>Exactly this speaks volumes about the supposed arrival of an era of “stability”, which according to the American journalists is more important for </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> than truth or freedom.<span style=""> </span>They did not comment at all on those parts of their interview with Putin where he plainly lied.<span style=""> </span>For example, about how he was simply assigned to the KGB after graduating from university.<span style=""> </span>Or about how there are television stations in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> where opposition leaders “just never leave”.<span style=""> </span>The Time Magazine journalists (and before them Western analysts from the <a href="http://russophobe.blogspot.com/2006/09/valdai-club-betrays-democracy-many.html">Valdai Club</a>) placidly heard Putin out as he practically accused them of being paid-off/corrupt.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;">The thing is that all of them – the president of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">France</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;">, who congratulated Putin on his success in the elections; the president of the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">U.S.</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;">, who said he understood Putin’s soul; and countless diplomats, experts and journalists - have quietly come to agree that </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> is the one country of </span><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Europe</span></st1:place><span style="color:black;"> that will never be a democracy.<span style=""> </span>For this reason they can admire the “old monster” with the unblinking steely gaze.<span style=""> </span>And they can present freedom as an opposite to stability.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;">In this sense the designation of Putin as “Man of the Year” is a clear indication of how he, and worse </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;">, has finally passed into a clearly-defined category of country.<span style=""> </span>The category where </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">China</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> sits next to Paskistan.<span style=""> </span>And that means that </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> will not be treated as an equal partner.<span style=""> </span>This is the main accomplishment of her foreign policy. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><span style="color:black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-46876929210565944132007-02-24T09:04:00.000-08:002008-12-08T13:46:22.126-08:00Illarionov on Bhutto<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/R4oQRsfZjpI/AAAAAAAACos/gOtTP5Gg6nE/s1600-h/1199878876.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ztovbV7vTOo/R4oQRsfZjpI/AAAAAAAACos/gOtTP5Gg6nE/s400/1199878876.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5154950619665632914" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">NOTE: The noted Russian author (shown above, right, with Benazir Bhutto, former Primer Minister of Pakistan), a former Kremlin insider, compares Russia and Pakistan, and finds that Russia is in some ways <span style="font-style: italic;">the more</span> desperate of the two. In the <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://forum.ej.ru/showthread.php?t=281791">forum</a> that follows the article, several readers commented grimly that while tens of thousands of Pakistanis took to the streets to protest Bhutto's murder, only a few hundred Russians could bestir themselves to protest their own rigged parliamentary elections.</span><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><span lang="EN-US">The Word and the Bullet<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><span lang="EN-US">Andrey Illarionov<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.ej.ru/?a=note&id=7716"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</span><o:p></o:p></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" align="center"><span lang="EN-US">January 10, 2008</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">On December 27, 2007 Benazir Bhutto, twice the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the leader of the opposition People’s Party, and the sure victor in 2008 parliamentary elections, was assassinated in a terrorist attack in Rawalpindi.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Three months before her death Benazir Bhutto appeared before a large gathering of representatives from the American political, economic and intellectual elite.<span style=""> </span>Her presentation simply captivated the auditorium.<span style=""> </span>No matter what the topic, she demonstrated astonishing erudition, clarity of thought and lightning speed in her responses.<span style=""> </span>And all this with a surprising sense of tact, respect for her interlocutors and conviction in her own position.<span style=""> </span>With what grace she carried herself!<span style=""> </span>When the thin scarf that lightly covered her head slipped momentarily to her shoulders, one simply had to see it, the genuinely royal gesture with which she replaced it! </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In the hall were several former </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">U.S.</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> Secretaries of State and Defense, along with a number of high-ranking officials from the current Administration.<span style=""> </span>The topic of discussion was </span><st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">U.S.</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> - </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Pakistan</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> relations.<span style=""> </span>Bhutto talked about the mistakes the </span><st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">U.S.</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> had made in this relationship, and what heavy consequences followed from </span><st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">America</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">’s support for the military regime - consequences for </span><st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">Pakistan</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">, for South Asia as a whole, and </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">America</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> itself.<span style=""> </span>One of the former </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">U.S.</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> Secretaries of Defense tried to object.<span style=""> </span>Bhutto’s response was instantaneous, parrying the objection with several examples.<span style=""> </span>And she did this with such conviction, so perfectly pointing out the horrible failures of the Pentagon’s actions in those very years when her questioner was its leader that the latter sat back down with a gloomy expression, not daring to pose any further questions.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">At the end of her presentation the entire hall rose and gave Benazir Bhutto a standing ovation.<span style=""> </span>One should note that the American establishment is not easily won over.<span style=""> </span>It has seen it all, and is not known for its sentimentality, especially toward those who publicly flay </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">America</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> for its mistakes.<span style=""> </span>But all five hundred participants in the event (with a total net worth of probably several hundred billion dollars) stood and applauded this brave woman in a white Muslim headscarf, finding themselves enraptured and unable to resist the genuine miracle that had just taken place before them.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">One of the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">U.S.</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> presidential candidates had addressed the same audience a few hours before Benazir.<span style=""> </span>Without a doubt, the possible future U.S. President did not receive one-tenth the applause, attention and praise that was lavished on this former Prime Minister of a foreign country.<span style=""> </span>That same evening, under the deafening roar of applause, the organizers of the conference in almost total seriousness urged Bhutto to run for president of their own country.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I talked for awhile with Benazir Bhutto.<span style=""> </span>Naturally, the discussion turned to the political situation in our two countries, </span><st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">Pakistan</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> and </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">.<span style=""> </span>And naturally as well, we noted more than a few parallels.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Both </span><st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">Pakistan</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> and </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> are large, developing countries with diversified economies and a diversity of internal regions.<span style=""> </span>In both countries the intelligence services were never brought fully under control by a civilian government.<span style=""> </span>In both countries for the past eight years all power has been held by intelligence and military officers.<span style=""> </span>In both countries, all the institutions of modern governance - separation of powers, independence of the legislative and judicial branches, an independent press - have been systematically destroyed.<span style=""> </span>Both countries have had their epic struggles against the regime - in </span><st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">Pakistan</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> from the bar association, in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> from the Yukos oil company.<span style=""> </span>In both countries the main means by which the regime interacts with is people is brute, demonstrative force.<span style=""> </span>In both countries there are border regions that are poorly controlled by the central government, but which the intelligence services actively use as places to iron out their methods and recruit assassins.<span style=""> </span>In both countries the victims of terrorist attacks are <b style=""><i style="">leaders of the press and public opinion</i></b> – politicians, activists and journalists.<span style=""> </span>In both countries the clients and authors of contract killings are the <b style=""><i style="">masters of bullet and bomb</i>.</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In </span><st1:place><st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">Pakistan</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span lang="EN-US"> they killed Benazir’s father, the former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, two of her brothers, and thousands of pro-democracy advocates.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In Russia they killed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Men">Aleksandr Men</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larisa_Yudina">Larisa Yudina</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galina_Starovoitova">Galina Starovoytova</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Girenko">Nikolai Girenko</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Yushenkov">Sergey Yushenkov</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Shchekochikhin">Yuri Shchekochikhin</a>, Anna Politkovskaya, Aleksandr Litvinenko, <a href="http://russophobe.blogspot.com/2007/12/yuri-chervochkin-rip.html">Yuri Chervochkin</a>, hundreds of residents of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings">the apartment towers blown up in Fall 1999</a>, members of the audience in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis">“Nord-Ost” theater raid</a>, schoolchildren and parents at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan_school_hostage_crisis">Beslan</a>, and tens of thousands in the Northern Caucuses.<span style=""> </span>In </span><st1:place><st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">Ukraine</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span lang="EN-US"> they killed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyacheslav_Chornovil">Vyacheslav Chornovil</a>, the leader of parliament and leading presidential candidate in 1999, and poisoned the presidential candidate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yushchenko">Viktor Yushchenko</a> in 2004.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Terror is used against leaders of the press and public opinion because people listen to them and follow them by the thousands and millions.<span style=""> </span>Because unlike intelligence agents, public opinion leaders are influential.<span style=""> </span>And not only influential, but genuinely powerful as well – in their words, their convictions, and the support they receive from millions of followers.<span style=""> </span>In the battle of words, the secret police are doomed.<span style=""> </span>The have nothing with which to oppose the leaders of public opinion except terror.<span style=""> </span>Terror is the weapon of losers, of the defeated, of those who don’t stand a chance in normal, peaceful, human life.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The word is the argument of the strong.<span style=""> </span>The bullet - the argument of the weak.<span style=""> </span>The question most frequently asked of Bhutto by participants at the event three months ago was, “Won’t it be dangerous for you to return to </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Pakistan</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">?”<span style=""> </span>Benazir invariably replied: “I cannot not return.<span style=""> </span>They are waiting for me at home.”<span style=""> </span>These words reflect the main difference between the leaders of public opinion and the Masters of Cloak, Dagger and Bullet.<span style=""> </span>People await the first.<span style=""> </span>The second need only themselves.<span style=""> </span>The first are flooded with letters.<span style=""> </span>But no one writes to the Colonels (intelligence officers).<span style=""> </span>The first are remembered with gratitude and reverence.<span style=""> </span>The second are cursed for eternity.</span></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-2574614513890097032007-02-24T08:08:00.001-08:002007-05-02T08:09:12.203-07:00Everything Old is New Again<p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Don’t Repeat the Mistake of the 1990’s<o:p></o:p></b></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Maksim Blant<o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://ej.ru/dayTheme/entry/6756/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><st1:date year="2007" day="18" month="4">April 18, 2007</st1:date><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> the Power Model of governance has taken hold.<span style=""> </span>The diagnosis has been made:<span style=""> </span>Andrey Illarionov has with his usual thoroughness performed a fairly <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.iea.ru/corp_country.php">detailed analysis</a>, presented with a wide range of materials, tables and graphics on the website of the Institute of Economic Analysis, which he heads.<span style=""> </span>His recent column in <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.ej.ru/comments/entry/6735/">Yezhednevniy Zhurnal</a> (“Approaching Zimbabwe”) presented conclusions from a few of his investigations – conclusions which the authorities more than graphically illustrated the past Saturday in <st1:city><st1:place>Moscow</st1:place></st1:city> and Sunday in <st1:city><st1:place>Saint Petersburg</st1:place></st1:city>.<span style=""> </span>The completely unwarranted and unprovoked use of force came from only one side – from the side of the government, directed at private citizens.<span style=""> </span>The force was not used to uphold law and order, but quite the opposite, to prevent the people from exercising the rights and freedoms guaranteed to them by the Constitution and laws of the <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russian Federation</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There is no point in doubting that this regime will collapse.<span style=""> </span>The leadership of the Corporation of Special Service Collaborators (KSSS) will be removed from power and, perhaps, placed before a court.<span style=""> </span>But today the leaders, including the President, are nothing but “moles” and “stool pigeons”, operations officers and informers, who started their careers in the Soviet period, <span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" >prosperously survived the 1990’s, and fit right into the current regime. Fitting right in as well were those who, at the end of the 1980’s and early 1990’s selflessly flailed the “democratizers”, “just following orders.”</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" ><br /><!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p style="font-family: georgia;"></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The OMON police officers were also just following orders, </span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" >beating people this past weekend, in the process committing crimes that are punishable under the criminal code (I personally witnessed a series of incidents that I am ready to testify about in any court). The Corporation depends on exactly these executors of orders, because these are what allow it, even after being beheaded, to resurrect itself and quickly resume its struggle for power. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" >Hiding behind their orders and their depersonalizing uniforms, specially trained and equipped with the “means for suppression”, these people nowadays feel themselves completely above the law, inasmuch as the monstrous government machine of today completely relies on them. And while there is some question as to whether following an illegal order is itself illegal, all of civilized humanity decided this question for itself over a half-century ago – at the Nuremburg trials – but in Russia for some reason many do not consider this truth to be obvious. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" >All of this leads to some unpleasant thoughts. Even if the current authorities are forced to leave, and this is more than a change in the window dressing, there is no guarantee that the Corporation will not return in time, putting to the forefront figures yet unknown and uncompromised to the general public. For this reason sooner or later we will have to do what was left undone after the breakup of the USSR – we will have to undergo lustration, cleansing the organs of state power of former and active “collaborators”, both clandestine and open.</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" >This is in no way a call for a “witch hunt”, nor a desire to avenge and punish; those who have committed no crime have nothing to be punished for. This action is necessary in order to defend the power of the country from being monopolized by a well-organized, tight-knit and disciplined force, which has its own aims and interests. In addition, the country should place a permanent ban on the profession. No one is suggesting we should dissolve the army or abolish the intelligence or law enforcement agencies. They deserve our respect and admiration when they valiantly perform their proper functions.<span style=""> </span>But not when they start working against private citizens. It is simply necessary to exercise civilian control over their activities, and people who are making a career or considering a career in the intelligence services must understand that the path into the organs of state control, or leadership positions in government companies, has been closed.</span><o:p></o:p></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-8682004134170675382007-02-24T08:08:00.000-08:002007-05-09T03:29:23.799-07:00A Window on the Russian Blogosphere<p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="">“An 'Other' View”<o:p></o:p></b></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Russian Blogger</span> <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://shusharin.livejournal.com/24909.html">Dmitriy Shusharin</a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Translated from the Russian by Vova Khavkin</span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">It’s a new publication. They asked, so I spoke my mind.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’ve heard that it’s been published. The editors came up with the title of their own. I don’t know what it was.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Generally, it’s about what people have been talking the whole week and will keep on talking about.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">“In interpreting the events around the ‘Dissenters’ Marches’ which are (please note the present tense) taking place in various Russian cities, the following views prevail—to wit, that the authorities got scared, are showing weakness, and are despicable. Needless to say, I am talking about an interpretation of the current events by their participants and by those who are on their side. Or at least assume that no one has yet repealed the Constitution, although we are moving in that direction. So here it is: We are indeed moving in that direction. And this course of events does in no way attest to the authorities’ weakness; rather—to their decisiveness, assertiveness, and strength. The last word is certainly the key here, and it was uttered before me by Andrey Illarionov who spoke quite recently about a model of coercive government.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The only thing that might be added to this is that the coercive model is characterized in that the state institutions and statutory bodies become coercive. Thus, the Central Election Commission becomes a coercive agency. And what drives the activities of the supposedly public youth movements is not demagogy, which right in front of our eyes is being reduced to the logic of “Thank you, Comrade Putin, for our happy life,” but rather belligerent street actions. They are still confined to the streets, but the project “Dump the boss” reminds us of the Maoist “Fire on the staff” [<span style=";font-family:Batang;color:black;" >炮打司令部</span><span style="color:black;">] and, of course, <i style="">oprichnina</i> [extra-judicial rule by a violent inner circle during the time of Ivan the Terrible].<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;">And keeping in mind that the cliché about the West’s support for the “dissenters” now goes hand-in-hand with the argument that Mikhail Kasyanov has maintained his links to </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;">’s oligarchs and bureaucrats, one can expect that we should soon hear something similar to [Stalin’s] notion of intensification of class struggle as we progress towards socialism. The key here is “intensification of struggle” rather than the words “class” and “socialism.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;">The initial impression is that the government’s actions are hysterical and obviously excessive. But I suppose that this is a false impression. The ruling clan has so far been able to get what it wants. Andrey Illarionov’s arguments miss the key point: An evaluation of the government’s actions from the viewpoint of the government itself and within the scope of the mission they themselves have defined. And if you use this approach you have to admit that all the objectives have been achieved. And now you have to exploit the gains.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;">It they will be exploited—through force and force alone—without any regard to the public opinion or the international community, without any concern for the legal or ethical standards; moreover, by rejecting, first and foremost, any moral obligations to the members of the political elite. If you look at it, they are already disregarding it—who are these Berezovskiy, Khodorkovskiy, and Kasyanov, if not former “kinfolk?”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;">Only the elite itself is capable of counteracting this—if it finds the strength to go beyond internecine squabbles. Lacking this, all marches and all street actions will simply be a part of the government’s confrontational game. Don’t console yourselves with the notion that the authorities are supposedly setting a trap for themselves. Those who consider themselves to be the opposition may end up in the trap—unless they are already there.”</span></p><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Here's the take of uber-blogger Anton Nossik on the piece:<br /><br /></span><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="color:black;">Strength or Weakness?</span></span><b style=""><span style=";font-size:14;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span style="font-weight: bold;">April 23, 2007</span> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Blogger</span> <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://dolboeb.livejournal.com/927325.html">Anton Nosik</a></span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Translated from the Russian by Vova Khavkin</p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="color:black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;">Dmitriy Shusharin posted on his LiveJournal blog page a </span><u><span style="color:blue;">column about the logic of the Russian authorities’ behavior regarding the dissenters’ marches</span></u><span style="color:black;">. In his column the author argues with those of the “dissenters” who tend to interpret the disproportionate use of violence against peaceful demonstrators as a manifestation of the authorities’ fear and weakness. In fact, Shusharin argues, “</span>this course of events does in no way attest to the authorities’ weakness; rather—to their decisiveness, assertiveness, and strength.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;">Andrey Illarionov’s proposition that a coercive state is being built in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color:black;"> cannot be called either new or original. One does not need to attend any marches but simply listen to the Government’s paid propagandists who speak their master’s mind. Indeed, the enforcement bloc in the [power] “vertical” has long ago become superior to the economic [bloc]. And the further we go, the greater its role will be in all social processes, be that elections, rearing the young generation, mass media, Internet, or foreign trade.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;">Unfortunately, however, this does in no way obviate the fact that the authorities are paranoid, and therein is their weakness.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;">All totalitarian regimes, whose deeds are—one way or another—mentioned in Shusharin’s article, have been led by clinical paranoiacs fit to be tied: Both Russia in Ivan the Terrible’s time, and Stalin’s [Soviet] Union, and Mao’s China.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;">Supreme power’s paranoia is <b style=""><i style="">the</i> root cause</b> of the continually strengthening role of enforcement structures in the state—the security services first and foremost—whose mission is to identify and suppress domestic enemies. Because the paranoid authorities’ perception of their numbers is greatly exaggerated vs. the reality of it, the security services are given a mission which is quite consistent with their own interests: To breed enemies in a vacuum and concoct seditious conspiracies for the sake of subsequently unmasking them. This, first of all, is easier to do than fighting real enemies, like the terrorists who are well armed and fairly clandestine, and secondly, government’s “request for procurement” to multiply the number of public enemies is an excellent pretext for the enforcement agencies’ bloated staff, budget, and authority. As it was during Ivan the Terrible’s time, today this helps them, <i style="">inter alia</i>, greatly improve their own wellbeing. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;">So dealing with real threats—something for which the enforcement agencies have no time left—could simply be reduced to an information blockade which prevents the public at large from learning about their existence. Just as the public never knew at the time they happened about either </span><st1:city><st1:place><u><span style="color:blue;">Chernobyl</span></u></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color:black;"> or the </span><u><span style="color:blue;">anthrax outbreak in </span></u><st1:city><st1:place><u><span style="color:blue;">Sverdlovsk</span></u></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color:black;"> [now Yekaterinburg]. It’s been observed—by others—a long time ago: Troubles in the country happen because mass media report them…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br /></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-14081067353409923662007-02-24T08:07:00.000-08:002007-05-09T03:30:02.957-07:00The Savior of the Motherland<p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-size:14;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Thinking Aloud About my Motherland’s Savior</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Ilya Milshteyn</p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.grani.ru/opinion/m.121142.html">Grani.ru</a>,<br /></p><p style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">April 24, 2006</p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Translated from the Russian by Vova Khavkin</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">At the Kalininskiy market bread was “dumped” once every half hour. This was a strange type of bread: Some mongrel-looking types with large nostrils of unimaginable shape, as if made by a spiteful drunk baker as a revenge for his damned life. The people were grabbing them, scooping up the monsters off the counter. Then an invisible aunty-type woman’s voice was heard shouting from behind the empty counters: “No more, break it up!”—and the dense crowd moaned and quieted in a stupor. It was in a winter evening during the last Soviet year.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">One had to be able to digest this, smoking a Java [cigarette] from the Ducat [Tobacco Factory] in the December wind. They ran out of bread for good in the central store downtown, in <st1:country-region><st1:place>USSR</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s capital. And this meant that with that there was no more food in my own country, in this freaking state. No food to feed the kids. No food to feed the family. No food to feed yourself. The words “we are f**ked” were spelled across the grey sky in yard-sized fiery letters.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I had never experienced such horror in my life. Not in August 1991—not too far from this place in <st1:street><st1:address>Tchaikovsky Street</st1:address></st1:street>—when at dawn a new wave of tanks was moving from <st1:street><st1:address>Mayakovski Square</st1:address></st1:street> towards the tunnel. Not in October 1993 near the White House and the <st1:place><st1:placename>Moscow</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>City Hall</st1:placetype></st1:place>. Generally speaking, hunger is scarier than war. Because it means them all—war, poverty, jail, and death in a back alley.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Unimaginable last loaves of bread—as if twisted with a poke—was all that was left then as a legacy from the communists. This was their farewell practical joke and parting shot. To a country that at the turn of the century was exporting bread to the whole world while they were arguing at their clandestine party congresses.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is the country which Yeltsin inherited when he pulled the throne from under Gorbachev and proclaimed Russia to be an independent and democratic, <i style="">you see</i><sup>*</sup>, state—and went on putting this country together from rusty bolts lying around in the backyard. This was the economy he endeavored to cure together with Gaidar-Chubais with the help of a treatment the people referred to as “shock therapy”—something that even the reformers themselves agreed with.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It is hard to tell where this definition came from. The life itself was shocking, expecting a catastrophe and humanitarian assistance every day. The people rambling by in shock with red banners near the stores where food reappeared all of a sudden in a flash: It was expensive but real. The bosses who let a huge and vastly endowed country slip away were shocking. What was also shocking was the fact that there were people among those mid-level bosses and heads of laboratories who grabbed the impoverished and miserable <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> by the hair and started pulling her from the swamp.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Yeltsin phenomenon was shocking.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">A poorly educated, stubborn, and brutal man who had spent half of his lifetime sitting in the same offices where all human traits are exorcised from the very first day, he displayed an inexhaustible reserve of courage and spiritual power and barely sensed the power and personal responsibility for Russia. For a nation that of all the skills during the last half century preserved only its ability to “communize” [i.e., steal] all that’s not nailed down. For the reputation of a state which for 70 years evoked nothing but fear and disgust in the rest of the world except for a short break for the war.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">He was like a born-again, this former civil engineer, a political appointee, and a Politburo member; a staunch democrat for whom the freedom of speech was above all printable and nonprintable abuse directed at him—from the TV screens, in the newspapers, and in graffiti on the walls; a staunch Liberal for whom the notions of “freedom of enterprise” or “market” or “private property” were sacrosanct; a staunch anti-communist for whom the gods from the old testament of party booklets turned to be the demons reeking of sulfur and blood. Like any neophyte, he was laughable when discovering the truths knows even to children in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, but this did not make people laugh—because it originated in his childish naiveté which, together with his hunger for power, pride, and anarchic explosive temper, he maintained all his life.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">During his time (and only during his time) <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> rose from her knees—in one leap from destitution and shame. From communistic feudalism—to wild capitalism; from a Soviet siege economy—to Chicago of the 1920’s because Russia had no other way to go no matter what the proponents of “gradualism” and “slow convergence with the market” would want to say; had they had their way, the country with an empty treasury would have gone under in less that 500 days. The cornucopia on the store shelves and almost convertible ruble, factories and oil refineries rising from the ashes, gaudy restaurants, travel agencies, banks, banks, and more banks… all this was created during his reign, during the reign of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, during the early years of his rule and at the time which has become inextricably linked to his name.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Then he became worn out. Later under the strain of tiredness and the age-old Russian remedy to rid oneself of fatigue he began to display at times the worst of a regional party secretary’s traits. Despotism coupled with trusting the scoundrels woke up in him: This is how the fist Chechen war started. He developed great-power phantom pains: Then he started to threaten his “Friend Bill” with nuclear missiles and give medals to the [Kosovo] Pristina assault operation personnel. After all, he was too spontaneous as a market reformer and democrat: He didn’t like the oligarchs but tolerated them, didn’t tolerate but liked the thieves from among his inner circle. He took to drink trying to reform the country. He got well for a long time after he retired. In a well-known interview with Nikolai Svanidze he admitted that his life had not been an entirely happy one. And he only became happy now in his old age, being at rest.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This, by the way, is hard to believe in because Boris Nikolayevich himself gave plenty of reasons for doubts—on rare occasions he did respond to the leaden news from the life of sovereign <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and did so with noticeable despair. For example, when the man he himself anointed as his successor brought back Stalin’s national anthem or made a cynical grab for power after Beslan. And here the script became worthy of a tragedy. A sick Yeltsin who mistakenly saw in Putin an heir to the glory of past achievements was doomed, together with his countrymen, to live out his hallucination—in Russia which he chose for himself; and together with the bewildered compatriots watch how his political gains were slowly—but surely—being destroyed.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">By the way, there aren’t many [gains] left. Even <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s second president remembers this; he once muttered through clenched teeth: See, no matter what you think about Yeltsin, but it was during his years that “[T]he people got what matter most—freedom.” It also turned out that its value is also incontrovertible for Putin himself, at least during the moments when he is speaking about Yeltsin.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Actually, freedom still lingers in the country: “Yours and our freedom”—freedom of speech which has migrated to small-circulation newspapers and mass-circulation Internet. Freedom to demonstrate embodied in the banned marches where the “Other Russia” is defending her right to disagree in a city occupied by stormtroopers; the freedom to rally for human right—rights limited by the lawlessness of the Basmanny<sup>**</sup>-like courts and the overall environment of senile spy mania.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">On the other hand there is freedom to move about the world. At least the Russians—whether at home or in emigration—can wittingly today, together with the rest of the world, commemorate their first president for all the good things he’s had the time to do, and forgive him for his unwitting yet grave sins. For in these mournful days the image of Yeltsin the Liberator and Reformer eclipses all the mistakes of the sinner and at times irrational and inebriated man named Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">He will live in the memory of the generations to come as one of the most honorable heads of the <st1:place><st1:placename>Russian</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>State</st1:placetype></st1:place>. For if History were to make any sense it would be for the yearning of nations for freedom. In Gorbachev’s footsteps, Yeltsin took over this yearning and pushed ahead as long as his strength allowed him, and did not hold on to power when the strength failed him, and repented at the end, and with rising concern watched how events were unfolding in a country which he loved and which he wanted to become like himself—free, magnanimous, and strong. Until illness and unfulfilled hopes made his heart stop.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">____________</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><sup>*</sup>"You see" – Yeltsin’s trademark interjection</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><sup>**</sup>Basmanny court where Mikhail Khodorkovsky was tried and convicted, an epitome of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s “telephone justice”<o:p></o:p></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-38985023378790954162007-02-24T08:06:00.001-08:002007-05-09T03:31:21.414-07:00Kremlin versus "Other Russia"<p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style="">Premonition of GKChP-2</b></span><sup>*</sup><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Yevgeniy Kiselev</p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">April 18, 2007<br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><sup><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-family: georgia;" href="http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070424/64265569.html">Gazeta.ru</a></span></sup></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><sup><span style="font-size:130%;">Translated from the Russian by Vova Khavkin</span><br /></sup></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Why did the authorities, after all, stage an OMON [stormtrooper] street theatre in downtown Moscow on Saturday, 14 April, then duplicated it in Piter one day later? Why did they corral to capital city’s Pushkin Square thousands of out-of-town goon squad enforcers who went berserk and unleashed their nightsticks upon random old ladies, grabbing each and everyone in sight—women, children, and passers-by who had no intention of either marching, or holding meetings, or protesting but simply came to take a stroll downtown?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Why did President Putin need to have the newspapers—both here and in the West—splattered next day with reports about the “feats” of the stormtroopers? Does he need the foreign TV outlets (our own, thank God, are all under wraps) run endless coverage of the most vivid scenes from the “Dissenters’ March” in their newscasts? What is it with him—he enjoys it when spokesmen of the heads of the G8 states and governments publicly express their concern and demand an explanation?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Did the president seriously expect that proponents of the “Other Russia” were going to disrupt public peace, crush something, beat up somebody, turn over and burn cars? Would it have been easier to let them walk through the city peaceably, just as they had intended, have a meeting, and head home? Putin and his entourage would have been dealt a powerful argument to counter the accusations that they stifle democracy while the Kremlin propagandists could have cited the march as an example of how scanty the ranks of the opposition were.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Perhaps all that happened there was in spite of the president’s will? Oh no, this is rather unlikely! Personally I have no doubt that Putin was kept apprised of the events as they were unfolding. Firstly, to corral so many stormtroopers from so many regions, to have a show of force in the center of the capital, two steps away from the Kremlin—without the president knowing this? I don’t believe this. No [Mayor] Luzhkov would ever dare to do this.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Secondly, thanks to former Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi who was hosted by his friend in Piter last Saturday and whose words were quoted by Italian newspapers, Putin was talking on the phone to the Minister of the Interior the whole time.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">So why then was all this necessary? I am asking myself and the people around me for umpteenth time. It seems to defy rational explanation. Here, e.g., what Maxim Reznik, head of the Piter Yabloko [party] chapter says: “Irrational fear, irrational anger, and irrational aggression beget irrational actions. This is exactly how the crazed-up Russian [power] vertical smashed by the authorities does look like.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">So what is this, is it the very same case I described in my previous column: In order to comprehend the actions taken by the authorities one needs a psychoanalyst rather than a political scientist. Indeed, one can certainly see the paranoia in the authorities’ actions. They themselves invented the “orange” threat bogeyman and did this so well, so convincingly, that they began to fear it themselves in all sincerity. Indeed, what if not one, two, or three hundred “Other Russia” sympathizers hit the streets but ten, twenty, or thirty thousand?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It seems to me that there is another psychological factor, a certain inferiority complex which the authorities just can’t get over with. Putin became president bypassing the school of body politics. He never took part in organizing meetings and demonstrations during the <i style="">perestroika</i>, did not advance to a leadership role in any political party that came into being at that time, and was not tempered in the crucible of numerous elections campaign in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Furthermore, the only election he had ever taken part in before—when one fine day the whole country learned his name—was that of St. Petersburg governor in 1996; Putin was head of [former mayor] Sobchak’s election campaign, and Sobchak lost.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Putin was a high-level functionary on a county scale who was noticed by the Kremlin when Yeltsin’s “family” began having doubts about the reliability of the former FSB chief, and they needed to find a replacement. They continued to watch him and finally made the decision: Here’s the person we need as a successor. He was picked by the members of the “family”: [Yeltsin’s daughter] Dyachenko, [former Yeltsin chief<span style=""> </span>of staff] Valentin Yumashev, Roman Abramovich, [former Yeltsin chief<span style=""> </span>of staff] Aleksandr Voloshin, and Boris Nikolayevich [Yeltsin] himself—they picked him out of a slate of several candidates that included [former prime minister] Sergey Stepashin and [former head of the Russian Rail Corporation] Nikolay Aksenenko, and perhaps somebody else. For example, I personally heard that [former prime minister] Mikhail Kasyanov—the then finance minister—was also on the “short list” of successor candidates. By the way, could this explain the intensity of the royal dislike for the former prime minister?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The rest was just the work of political operatives and big-gun heavy propaganda artillery: It was just the matter of weeks for television Channel One and Channel Two that had spun Vladimir Putin (let’s face it, he did have a good potential) and made him a popular leader on a national scale. It is not coincidental that having been erected on the pedestal of president with the help of television, Putin began his reign with “cleansing” the television medium.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Now all TV channels are meek and unconditionally subservient to Putin. None of them would dare reminding the president about the unpleasant events of the recent past. Yet one cannot get rid of the impression that no matter what, the president still can’t put the history of his political rise behind him, and this is the case of his constant diffidence.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Remember how Putin usually reacts in the rare instances when the journalists (all of them foreign) ask him difficult questions and even begin to argue? What’s important is not even the words—it’s the inflexion of irritation, hostile and at times—like in the famous case of circumcision which Putin promised to arrange for a French journalist—bordering on hysterical. And this is not surprising indeed: Putin totally lacks any experience of public polemics with his political opponents.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I think that core of his team should have the same type of complex, albeit to a larger extent—they found themselves on the pinnacle of power solely because of the following:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="">a)<span style=""> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Being classmates at the Leningrad State University School of Law or the intelligence school;</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="">b)<span style=""> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Serving together at the Piter KGB structure;</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="">c)<span style=""> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Serving together at the USSR KGB station in the GDR;</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="">d)<span style=""> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Working together in the Piter city hall under Sobchak; and</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="">e)<span style=""> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Being member of the “Ozero” [<st1:place>Lake</st1:place>] cottage cooperative near <st1:city><st1:place>St. Petersburg</st1:place></st1:city>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Look at these, how nontransparent and closed to the public they are. Of course, this is partly their professional spymaster trait that shows, but also their insecurity about the future and the fear of open political competition.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> there is one more factor in the actions of the authorities—a psychological one: A cult of force which the president has clearly worshiped since his days of back alley youth in the ‘hood in Piter, the days when he had to earn respect and defend his territory and living space with fists. You can’t be weak, the weak are beaten up—how many times have we heard this [thought] slip by in Vladimir Putin’s speeches and public pronouncements. Hence his manic fear of compromise: God forbid some one thinks I am weak, that the government is weak. No negotiating with the enemy, never cutting any slack. <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The veritable hysteria that was uncorked on the eve of the “Dissenters’ March”, including the matter of the U.S. State Department report on the status of human rights in the world, a report that has been issued on an annual basis for many years but elicited such a disproportionate response for the first time (merely few pages are devoted to Russia in this voluminous report—about the same number as are devoted to many other countries) brings to memory 1991.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Back in the spring [of ‘91] Gorbachev—who was also full of anxiety, unable to make his choice between a peaceful and a violent resolution of the problems at hand, swung towards to the <i style="">siloviki</i> [experts in violence] and for the first time spoke with irritation “about the so-called democrats” while the servile yes-men instantly picked the cue and went on squealing about the “agents of influence,” saying that Washington knew all along the names of those who would speak up and criticize the authorities from the podium of the congress of people’s deputies.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Back then the KGB arrested [Duma Deputy] Valeriya Novodvorskaya in a provocative matter and put her away in the “Lefortovo” [prison]. Then they started to expel the most liberal members of the Gorbachev circle from the CPSU ranks: Shevardnadze and Aleksandr Yakovlev—although there was no rational sense in these persecutions. I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar happened again in the near future. They won’t expel people from the ranks of “United Russia;” rather, they will fire them from the government [service].</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is when the onslaught against mass media began: The pulled the plug on the “Vzglyad” [View] program, then “Before and After Midnight”, then forced the best democratically minded journalists out of the Central TV newsroom (I won’t name the names because they have left the fold) and tried to change the management at the <i style="">Izvestiya</i> [newspaper].</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Now again, a new wave is sweeping away what is left of the independent press: Bashkir president is threatening to sue the NTV [TV channel], the REN TV and “Russian News Service” management have been replaced: The commissars from state-run media dropped in, the prosecutor’s office is investigating the “Moscow Echo” because of the Limonov and Kasparov interviews while the FSB wants to stiffen the legislature in order to control the Web under the guise of the war on terror.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">One cannot rule out that just like the future GKChP party was fledging its wings then, the “party of the third term” has gone on the new offensive now. If this is so, then it’s logical: It simply has to act according to the principle “The worse—the better.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The savage breakup of a peaceful demonstration in downtown <st1:city><st1:place>Moscow</st1:place></st1:city> is a sure step towards “Lukashekaization” of Putin. Sic the stormtroopers on the opposition a couple of more times and you can safely forget about loyalty to the Constitution and the unwillingness to sour relations with the West. The West, they say, will never forgive this anyway, and as for the Constitution, why not amend it if we are violating it anyway?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It looks like this: While in 1999 struggle against Chechen terrorists was the main thrust of the Kremlin’s election campaign, and in 2003—the struggle against the oligarchs, today during the upcoming election campaign next fall the external threat may become the main theme.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Anything would do in such a case: Both the State Department report and the Jackson-Vanick amendment which the U.S. Congress can’t get around to repealing, and the European Court where some rulings not favorable to Russia are bound to be made, and PACE where Moscow will be continually castigated, and the WTO which just would not admit Russia, and the U.S. missiles in Poland: The enemy is at the doorstep, and the fifth column inside is ready to throw open the door. Hence—we are just a step away from a new version of GKChP. I hope every one remembers how the last affair ended.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">A premonition of GKChP-2 is not the only outcome of recent events. There are other feelings: It seems that the opposition—in a broad sense of the word—is coming into motion. Many people started saying all at once that the sympathies of the rank-and-file members of “Yabloko”, SPS [Union of Rightist Forces], and even KPRF [RF Communist Party] began to gravitate towards the “Other Russia.” The longer these parties’ leaders play a game called “we part way with the radicals” forced upon them by the Kremlin, the faster this process will evolve.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And what’s your word?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">______________</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><sup>*</sup>GKChP—Sate Committee on the State of <st1:state><st1:place>Emergency</st1:place></st1:state>, a provisional government that overthrew President Gorbachev in August 1991 and collapsed three days later<o:p></o:p></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-59075664644223265962007-02-24T08:06:00.000-08:002007-05-04T14:03:23.279-07:00Evaluating Authoritarianism<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Authoritarian Model of Governance:<br />Preliminary Results<br /></span><br />Andrei <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Illarionov<br /><br />April 2, 2007<br /></span><br /><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.html?docId=755085"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Kommersant</span></a><br /><br />Translated from the Russian by David Essel<i style=""><br /><br /></i><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="">(A. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Illarionov</span> is the President of the Moscow Institute for Economic Analysis, Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute, Washington D.C.. In 1993-94, he headed the Group for Analysis & Planning in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Viktor</span> Chernomyrdin’s government and from 2000 to 2005 was economic advisor to Vladimir Putin)</i><br /><br />The new structure model for Russia has been created. It is a brute force model, the main aspect of which is the use of force unfettered by any restraints <span style="font-size:100%;">– legal, traditional, or moral. That is the essence of brute force politics [силовая политика]. Thus we have brute force enterprise, brute force jurisprudence, brute force foreign policy. And the first fruits of this may now be examined.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><u><br /><br />Collapse of the institutions of the modern state.<o:p></o:p></u></b></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />In terms of the quality of the most important institutions of the modern state, today’s Russia is at the bottom of any list. With regards to political rights and civic freedoms, our country stand in 158<sup>t </sup>place out of 187 countries of the world – between Pakistan, Swaziland, and Togo. With regards to freedom of the press, Russia is 147<sup><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">th</span> </sup>out of 179, ranking alongside Iraq, Venezuela, and Chad.<o:p></o:p> In corruption, Russia occupies 123<sup>rd</sup> place out of 158, next to Gambia, Afghanistan, and Rwanda. In protection of private property rights – 89<sup><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">th</span></sup> out of 110, on the same level as Mozambique, Nigeria and Guatemala. Quality of legal system: 170<sup><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">th</span> </sup>out of 199 alongside Burundi, Ethiopia, Swaziland and Pakistan. Effectiveness of civil service: 170<sup><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">th</span> </sup>out<sub> </sub>out of 203, giving us Niger, Saudi Arabia, Cameroon, and Pakistan as neighbours.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />The brute force state model legalises violence in our society. The number of murders per thousand inhabitants in Russia is the world’s 7<sup><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">th</span> </sup>highest among 112 countries, lying between Ecuador and Guatemala, a little better that South Africa and a touch worse than Mexico. In overall physical security Russia’s inhabitants occupy 175<sup><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">th</span> </sup>place out of 185 countries, ranking in the same group as Zimbabwe, Sudan, Haiti, and Nepal. The <i style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">siloviki</span></i> have no care for their fellow-countrymen’s safety.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />And what, one may ask, about the financial, technological, and operational abilities of the “force” sectors of the state – the armed forces, the police, and the special services? Hasn't the fact that they have undergone reinforcement in recent years strengthened the state?<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />Unlike the institutions of any modern state which exist to ensure the safety of its citizens; to guarantee their equality before the law and the powers that be; to maintain the supremacy of the law and checks and balances; to provide freedom of the press; to protect private property, freedom of speech and of public and political organisation and the right to participate in the political life and running of one’s country, the “force” sectors differ because they are elements of the traditional state apparatus. Reinforcing them does not necessarily lead to a strengthening of the institutions of a modern state. The fact that the “force” sectors are flourishing is evidence of change in the opposite direction, of the degradation of the institutions of a modern state such as we see, for example in Somalia and Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Cuba and North Korea.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />Where are we heading? Is it that the low rankings on Russia’s state institutions are the result of the oligarchic past, of the “collapse” and “chaos” period in the 1990s and that these things are now being overcome by the stubborn work of brute force civil servants?<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />Complete myth. The sharp fall in the quality indices of state institutions has occurred in recent years. In 1998 (the last year before the advent to power of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">siloviki</span>), the level of civic freedom in Russia was 58% of the mean figure for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">OECD</span> countries. In 2002 (on the eve of the arrest of P. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Lebedev</span> and M. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Khodorkovsky</span> and just before the destruction of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Yukos</span>), this had dropped to 47% and by 2006 to 37%. The press freedom index in that time dropped from 55% to 47% and 33% while the political rights index fell accordingly from 57% to 45% and 27%.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />The freedom from corruption index which back in 2002 was only 35% of the mean for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">OECD</span> countries dropped to under 30% by 2006. Safety of property rights, which had reached 54% of the mean level for developed countries by 2002, dropped to a mere 14% by the end of 2006. The World Bank gives the following figures for the fall of Russia indices (based on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">OECD</span> levels for the period 1998 to 2005: government accountability – down from 60% to 43%; political stability – down from 51% to 43%; quality of civil service management – down from 59% to 56%.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />The number of murders per 1000 inhabitants in Russia was 12 times the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">OECD</span> level in 1998; by 2004 – 14 times. The number of serious crimes against the person more than doubled between 1998 and 2006. In 2006, in “conditions of political stability”, with record prices for oil and gas, unprecedented economic growth, a fantastic rise in wealth, and with absolute power in the hands of the <i style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">siloviki</span></i>, the level of crime in the country is more than twice what it was in 1998. And 1998, let’s not forget, was the year of the greatest crash of the economy at a time of low oil prices but greater democracy.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />This is total failure. The deterioration in the field of foreign affairs is no less marked. Having successful quarrelled with nearly all our foreign partners, the brute force state has created a situation not seen for a long time in Russia’s history: it would seem that today we have no allies at all. The army and the navy remain, but not a single ally for our foreign policies remains. Trumpet as we may of diplomatic successes, Russia is to all intents and purposes isolated in its foreign policies. This became particularly clear after the murder of Anna <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Politkovskaya</span> and the poisoning of Alexander <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Litvinenko</span>. A comparison with the previous seven years shows that the average level of meetings between Russian officials and their foreign peers halved during the winter of 2006-2007. The number of meetings with heads of Western states was down to a third of the previous level and with heads of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">CIS</span> states down 3.4 times. As a well-known television personality said: that is failure.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />True, the reduction in the number of contacts with traditional partners in Europe, North America, and the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">CIS</span> has been partially counterbalanced by a 50% increase in contacts with Eastern leaders – Indonesia, Mongolia, Lebanon, Syria, India, Guyana. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and China. The evolution of Russia’s internal political institutions is complemented by an evolution of the country’s foreign policy preferences.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><u><br /><br />What about the economic boom?<o:p></o:p></u></b></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28"><br /><br />Isn</span>’t the growth at least impressive? Growth there has been, but it should be judged in context. Mean GDP growth for 2004-2006 amounted to 6.8%, higher in actual fact than that of some European countries. But it is lower than the 8.2% growth achieved by Russia in 1999-2000 at the start of the oligarchies and before the brute force model got under way. At the same time oil – at $52 per barrel – has tripled in price since 1999-2000 ($19 p.b.), a gift to the country’s foreign trade figures worth 15-18% of GDP which was totally absent in 1999-2000.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />The real example of economic growth in the last 30 years is not anaemic Europe but dynamic China. Russia lagged behind China back over the last decades and continues to lag behind today. While Russia GDP grew by 58% between 2000 and 2006, China’s rose by 88%. Seven years ago, China’s economy was 5 times the size of Russia’s, today it is 6 times.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />Thanks to the brute force model, the country has been turned into an economic invalid even when viewed against the background of the other countries of the former USSR. Only two countries of the 14 former republics had growth rates higher than Russia’s in 1999-2000. For 2004-2006, 12 of them did better than Russia. With the brute force model ruling, Russia is being overtaken not only by other oil-and-gas exporting countries such as Kazakhstan (GDP growth of 94% over seven years) and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Azerbaidzhan</span> (153%). Russia is now also being overtaken by oil-and-gas-importing countries such as Armenia, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Tadzhikistan</span>, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />Even Georgia, which has no energy resources of its own and is furthermore subject to a total trade, transport, energy, travel and postal blockade by Russia, saw a GDP growth of 9% last year whereas Russia, swimming in petrodollars, achieved only 6.7%. One could not ask for a clearer demonstration of the total failure of the brute force model!<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><u><br /><br />Catastrophe<o:p></o:p></u></b></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />All crises have serious consequences. When economic policies fail even a serious cataclysm (like, for example, the 1998 crisis in Russia) can be overcome by responding with a responsible policy line. However, if institutions of state are destroyed, the force of their own inertia can lead to catastrophe, the depth, duration and consequences of which are of a quite different scale to political crises.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />The institutions of a modern state are the most important factor for economic growth and for giving the country its standing and its citizens a place in the modern world. The brute force government model has been tried dozens of times and we have been convincingly shown to what it leads. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">Vide</span>: North and South Korea, East and West Germany before the 1990s, China and Taiwan before the 19809s, North and South Vietnam before 1975.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />The countdown for the new historical experiment is already under way. It has not taken long for it to become clear how badly the brute force model of government in Russia does in comparison with the freer models in the Ukraine and Georgia. If the experiment is continued, we will have the opportunity to see how Russia is sidelined by all our freer close neighbours.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />In foreseeing crisis, out of habit we narrow our focus to energy resources: what if the price of oil falls? Versions of this can be heard all over the place. But the problems does not lie in tomorrow but in today. It’s not a matter of the price of oil but rather of today’s government institutions, not external factors but internal ones. The problem comes from the brute force, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">raptorial</span> and hierarchical state model imposed on Russia today.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:11;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />Its creators promised a rebirth of the Russian state but the brute force model is killing it. Its creators promised security to the country’s citizens but the brute force model is delivering the opposite. Its creators promised to strengthen Russia’s sovereignty but the brute force model is leading to her isolation. Its creators promised faster economic growth but the brute force model guarantees it will lag behind. Its creators promised a stronger country but the brute force model is making it weaker.</span><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:11;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />There is nothing more important for today’s Russia than a change of government system.</span></span></span></div></div> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 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0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="Body" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p><br /></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-72605688586224346832007-02-24T08:05:00.001-08:002007-05-02T08:05:50.333-07:00The Lie as National Idea<div style="text-align: center;"><b style="">The Lie as National Idea<o:p></o:p></b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><br /><br />Matvey</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Ganapolskiy</span><br /><br /><a href="http://ej.ru/comments/entry/6671/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Yezhednevniy</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Zhurnal</span></a><st1:date year="2007" day="11" month="4"><br /><br />April 11, 2007</st1:date></div> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The authorities in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> are always putting forward ideas which, in their view, might help unify the country.<span style=""> </span>The question, invariably, is to what extent the authorities believe these ideas themselves.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The central idea in the former <st1:country-region><st1:place>USSR</st1:place></st1:country-region> of happiness through equality collided with shortages of consumer goods which, like advancement in one’s career, were with few exceptions more accessible the higher one rose in the Party hierarchy.<span style=""> </span>It was far from the case that everyone had the chance to buy toilet paper, pineapples or salami.<span style=""> </span>Prosperity was achieved by following a simple saying:<span style=""> </span>“Five minutes of shame, and you’re set for life.”<span style=""> </span>You entered the Party, which did not set before you any realistic goals, but was inspired by the slogan, “Good fortune with us!”<span style=""> </span>Then, following the rules of this strange game, you at last became a fully enfranchised citizen.<span style=""> </span>The threat of shortages and the lure of growth in one’s career, both linked directly to membership in the Party, along with the closed borders, served as restraints against those who might deviate from the Party line.<span style=""> </span>Non-Party members<span style=""> </span>for all practical purposes had no rights.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sometimes the ideologues of the <st1:place>Soviet Union</st1:place> tried to vary this picture of life, and threw out an appeal to the people.<span style=""> </span>Such as, for example, the call to “Build the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">BAM</span>!” [TN:<span style=""> </span>The Baikal-Amur Main railroad, completed in 1984.]<span style=""> </span>Television programs showed young people singing songs as they departed to work on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">BAM</span>, and poets, sitting dachas outside <st1:city><st1:place>Moscow</st1:place></st1:city>, composed poems about these young people.<span style=""> </span>On closer examination, the idea of the railroad turned out to be a massive lie – surrounding the railroad for thousands of kilometers was no infrastructure whatsoever.<span style=""> </span>Settlements, where they existed at all, consisted only of the construction workers themselves, who settled in “<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">komfortabilniy</span>” train cars – they were shown on the television as well.<span style=""> </span>The authorities understood that the economy of the country was in decline, that the garden cities along <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">BAM</span> would never be built, but they stubbornly kept laying down the tracks.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">They were helped by two circumstances:<span style=""> </span>First, all the Party leaders were already awaiting their pensions. And in a government dacha, with pineapples served on little saucers, even the most ridiculous undertaking seemed not quite so awful.<span style=""> </span>Secondly, no one had ever inquired about past mistakes.<span style=""> </span>And the unclear mumblings of the latest General Secretary about “certain mistakes” that were made by some Party congress long departed from the podium were taken as the inescapable but easy enough tribute paid in the course of a classical ritual.<span style=""> </span>This was just an unwritten part of a social contract between the people and the authorities:<span style=""> </span>the people laughed at the leaders, made up jokes about them, but in essence always participated in the Big Lie.<span style=""> </span>Everyone went to the polls around <st1:time minute="0" hour="8">8:00 a.m.</st1:time> and voted, never looking at the ballots and not knowing the names of those they voted for.<span style=""> </span>And now, a decade on, many of those who worked on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">BAM</span> have long ago died, while others have scattered to their home towns, some now living in the desperate poverty.<span style=""> </span>But in the Russian mass consciousness <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">BAM</span> continues to be the project of the century, from which experience the current ideologues try to wring something useful in this age of the Internet and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">IPod</span>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The years of the shortages have passed, the Russian borders are now open and, it seems, the era of the Big Lie has slipped into the past forever.<span style=""> </span>But actually, it has not.<span style=""> </span>Unlimited possibilities have opened up not only for the people, but also, and foremost, for those in power.<span style=""> </span>This is the possibility of privatizing the country.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It may be that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> really is naturally a monarchy, since in both the recent and the current time the ruling elite have been seriously worried about the necessity of someday having to leave power.<span style=""> </span>So the powers that be exert every effort to ensure that their dachas are not, any longer, in the <st1:city><st1:place>Moscow</st1:place></st1:city> suburbs, and that they will not be left with just pineapples.<span style=""> </span>Of course, at stake is not just a bunch of goods in short supply, but the entire wealth of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, which the Kremlin rules <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">undividedly</span>, placing at risk along with the old-fashioned ideal of growth in one’s career, our very position as a free country.<span style=""> </span>Having made an example of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Khodorkovskiy</span> to show what becomes of those don’t obey, the Kremlin was no doubt surprised by how quickly everyone fell in line by themselves.<span style=""> </span>Poor Bill Gates and Warren Buffet!<span style=""> </span>They still have no idea that the most effective business managers in the world work in the Kremlin, considering how they regularly get onto the boards of directors of the most powerful Russian companies.<span style=""> </span>They must be geniuses, no?<span style=""> </span>Of course not.<span style=""> </span>The Kremlin’s favorites are placed in these companies as a reward, and to serve as the master’s eye.<span style=""> </span>Everyone knows it and takes it as a given.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Big Lie is once again in big demand.<span style=""> </span>The President says that the government does not want to break up <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Yukos</span>, already knowing exactly how he will break it up.<span style=""> </span>He speaks of the importance of civil society, but destroys it himself.<span style=""> </span>The Leader of Russia talks about the importance of friendship with the West, but the youth movement that obeys his every word hands out leaflets on the street from which one would infer that <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> is planning to attack <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> tomorrow.<span style=""> </span>Putin announces that the people will choose the next president, but everyone knows perfectly well that the leader will be the one designated by Putin.<span style=""> </span>He energetically demands that television give time to the opposition, but everyone knows exactly who is on the list of those banned from appearing there.<span style=""> </span>People like, for example, the world chess champion Kasparov, or the radical Eduard <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Limonov</span>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Regarding the latter, an anecdote has surfaced:<span style=""> </span>He gave an interview to a popular newspaper, for which the pro-Putin party condemned both the interviewer and publisher.<span style=""> </span>This seems unbelievable, but it is true:<span style=""> </span>the Party, forgetting about the Constitution, was upset that a person who does not like Putin – but who has nonetheless not been convicted of anything, stripped of his rights, or even placed under investigation – can be interviewed.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The most recent initiative is especially elegant:<span style=""> </span>Everyone knows that success in one’s career can be expected only if one enters the “United Russia” party, but the Party has officially proposed the idea of promoting young people into career-track positions.<span style=""> </span>This too is part of the Big Lie.<span style=""> </span>Party officials say that they will promote any talented young person, but people get the clear signal:<span style=""> </span>it is time to join exactly this organization, because exactly this organization will decide whether you have potential for a career.<span style=""> </span>Naturally, as in the era of the Big Lie, none of this is condemned by the people.<span style=""> </span>People in general do not take the actions of the authorities as being in violation of their rights, as an abrogation of the Constitution.<span style=""> </span>For them this is just a signal of what rules they will be playing by today.<span style=""> </span>And this <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Aesopian</span> language is also part of the Big Lie.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the end, it matters little by what motives the Kremlin rules, having made the Big Lie an integral part of their policies.<span style=""> </span>What is important is that around the Big Lie they have constructed the entire contemporary life of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Putin officially does not lead “United Russia”, but everyone knows perfectly well that it is his Party.<span style=""> </span>The country awaits parliamentary elections, but everyone already knows the results.<span style=""> </span>The authorities speak of civil rights, but opposition rallies are ruthlessly suppressed.<span style=""> </span>Big business is nominally independent, but everyone knows who really owns it.<span style=""> </span>Kremlin bureaucrats talk about patriotism, but their children have never served in the army.<span style=""> </span>They instead take top positions in leading banks and business enterprises.<span style=""> </span>Evidently the grounds of the Kremlin emit something that will make you a successful businessman, and not only you but your children as well.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">A furniture salesman was appointed the new Minister of Defense, and it was officially announced that he would undergo a crash course to acquaint himself with what an army is and how to lead one.<span style=""> </span>Any normal person would find this amusing, but not a Russian – he understands it:<span style=""> </span>Putin has faith in the new minister.<span style=""> </span>He needs him for some purpose, and it is unimportant what job he has been given.<span style=""> </span>Later he will be moved.<span style=""> </span>But none of these facts are of any particular interest to Russians.<span style=""> </span>The simple people do not think about such things.<span style=""> </span>And the elite understand that The Lie has become an integral part of politics, and they play along according to the rules.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">One of our old jokes used to go:<span style=""> </span>No matter what Russian industry produces, in the end it always turns out a Kalashnikov rifle.<span style=""> </span>It may be that modern Russian industry has learned to produce actual products.<span style=""> </span>But the factory that produces the “national idea”, having sorted through the possibilities of “autocracy, orthodoxy, nationality” and the somewhat more modern “rescuing the people”, has realized that the first set is too archaic, and the second requires it to actually do something, and has instead returned to the reliable old Big Lie, the objective of which is simply gain control over one’s future.<span style=""> </span>Hence, if one understands the “National Idea” to be something that permeates the whole society, unifies it, and defines its motives of conduct, then this is none other than the Big Lie.<span style=""> </span>This is what the Russian uses to adjust his current behavior and construct his vision of the future.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It is hard for a person to see himself from outside himself.<span style=""> </span>Russians laugh about the Big Lie as it exists in <st1:country-region><st1:place>North Korea</st1:place></st1:country-region>, reject the idea of wearing a lapel pin with a portrait of Kim <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Chong</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Il</span>, and are astonished to learn that the beaches of that country are fenced off in barbed wire to keep the grateful people from fleeing their adoring leadership.<span style=""> </span>But participating in the Big Lie does not require one to wear a lapel pin, and the barbed wire in one’s own mind is more effective than the stuff on the Korean beaches.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The main problem with <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> is not the breakup of the country, but the model of morality presented by the authorities.<span style=""> </span>Russian history has almost always urged Russians to live by a lie.<span style=""> </span>And the paternalistic society has readily agreed.<span style=""> </span>But a society is proven<span style=""> </span>healthy exactly by its willingness to oppose the Big Lie.<span style=""> </span>Conformism has no place here.<span style=""> </span>The Big Lie easily transitions into the Big Terror, which has happened in Russian history more than once.<span style=""> </span>And President Putin, with his unlimited power, had the chance to chance to change this sad tradition.<span style=""> </span>But instead he only enriched it.<span style=""> </span>And nothing is likely to change in the next government either.<o:p></o:p></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-20347107415277714452007-02-24T08:05:00.000-08:002007-05-09T03:33:41.555-07:00Remembering Yeltsin<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">A Great President Has Died<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" align="center"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Yuliya</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Latynina</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" align="center"><a href="http://ej.ru/dayTheme/entry/6837/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Yezhednevniy</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Zhurnal</span></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" align="center"><st1:date year="2007" day="23" month="4">April 23, 2007</st1:date></p><p class="MsoNormal">Boris Yeltsin, one of the greatest leaders of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, has died.<span style=""> </span>His greatness was not in his being a decisive liberal reformer, like Alexander II; nor in his hacking a window into <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>, like Peter I; nor in his making <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> an enlightened European country, like Catherine II.<span style=""> </span>The greatness of Boris Yeltsin -- the peasant’s son, the Party boss, the ruler, the passionate lover of power – was that he had an inborn sense of freedom.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This sense of freedom, joined with a massive personality, was common in Party bosses – Aleksandr <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Yakovlev</span>, Eduard Shevardnadze – but completely lacking in the majors and lieutenant colonels of the KGB, who plied their trade in those days from embassy to embassy with red caviar, vodka and little denunciations.<span style=""> </span>Exactly this sense of freedom led <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Yeltsin</span> to his expulsion in the late 1980’s, and to the barricades in 1991, and never once allowed him to cancel elections, manipulate their results or close television stations.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Everything becomes known by comparison. Yeltsin was accused of corruption.<span style=""> </span>But the most that history will produce against him are a few doubtful case-files of his daughter and son-in-law who headed Aeroflot.<span style=""> </span>By whatever means men like Friedman, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Khodorkovskiy</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Potanin</span> might have come to own half of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, it was not because they shared an office with Yeltsin.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">What a contrast with the <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> of today.<span style=""> </span>A Russia in which all of President Putin’s friends, everyone who served with him in the KGB or joined him in the “<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Ozero</span>” (“Lake”) Cooperative, have received stakes in Russian gas, oil, uranium, military equipment, railroad and other companies.<span style=""> </span>[TN: The “<a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozero"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Ozero</span></a>” Dacha Cooperative, co-founded by Putin in 1996, included many of the highest-level business and criminal figures in Saint <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Petersburg</span> at that time, including Vladimir <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Smirnov</span>, Vladimir <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Yakunin</span>, the brothers <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Sergey</span> and Andrey <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Fursenko</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Viktor</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Myachin</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Yuriy</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Kovalchuk</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Nikolay</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Shamalov</span> – all of whom have since been appointed to high-level posts in the Russian government or as heads of government-owned companies.<span style=""> ]</span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The press fiercely criticized Yeltsin for the Chechen War.<span style=""> </span>The mass media ridiculed the dancing, drunken Yeltsin in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and Yeltsin’s story about the 38 snipers.<span style=""> </span>[TN: In 1996, in connection with the <st1:place><st1:placename><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Kizlyar</span></st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Hospital</st1:placetype></st1:place> hostage crisis, Yeltsin on national television gave a rambling, mostly incoherent briefing about the Russian military response, in which he mentioned the use of “38 snipers”.]<span style=""> </span>But for some reason, no journalists were killed in the entryway to their apartments for this, and no television executives were put in jail.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">What a contrast with the <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> of today.<span style=""> </span>A <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> in which no one dares to criticize President Putin out loud.<span style=""> </span>And we hear nothing from President Putin himself, because he is not in the habit of reaching out to the people during times of national crisis or other important occasions for the nation.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yeltsin has been criticized for the breakup of the <st1:country-region><st1:place>USSR</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style=""> </span>This is hard to say, because if the <st1:country-region><st1:place>USSR</st1:place></st1:country-region> had not broken up peacefully, it would have broken up in the manner of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Yugoslavia</st1:place></st1:country-region> – in a growing sea of blood in every one of its republics.<span style=""> </span>But under Yeltsin, one way or another, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> held a central role in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">CIS</span>, and was an equal partner in the West.<span style=""> </span>We sometimes had to blush at our drunken president, but we never had to live in terror because of an infantile president.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">What a contrast with the policies of President Putin:<span style=""> </span>beginning with presidential wrath at the robbery of some Russian diplomats’ children in Poland, which resulted in the vicious beating of Polish diplomats in Moscow; and ending with a turn of phrase about citizens of “certain nationalities”, which lead to the mass deportation of Georgians.<span style=""> </span>The result of these policies is that we now no longer have any friendly countries on our borders.<span style=""> </span>Yeltsin brought the country into the “Group of Eight”, Putin – to the brink of becoming a pariah state.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yeltsin made a lot of small mistakes:<span style=""> </span>he inconsistently pursued reforms, stayed with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Korzhakov</span> too long, then <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Berezovskiy</span>.<span style=""> </span>Yeltsin also committed one fundamental mistake:<span style=""> </span>he never reformed the intelligence and security services (<i style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">siloviki</span></i>).<span style=""> </span>At first he did not think he needed to.<span style=""> </span>Under Yeltsin, the role of the all-powerful <i style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">silovik</span></i> was played by Aleksandr <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Korzhakov</span>, who opposed holding elections in 1996.<span style=""> </span>This is an iconic story for the <i style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">siloviki</span></i>:<span style=""> </span>they did not want the president to be dependent on the people for his power.<span style=""> </span>They wanted the president to be dependent only on them.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">So when the elections happened and Yeltsin entered his second term, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">Korzhakov</span> did everything to spoil the elections – with boxes from under the copy machine.<span style=""> </span>The President sent him into retirement, and a few days later suffered a severe heart attack.<span style=""> </span>But Yeltsin nonetheless made his choice – between being dependent on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">Korzhakov</span> and being dependent on the people.<span style=""> </span>A few years later, following the arrest of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">Khodorkovskiy</span>, President Putin would make exactly the opposite choice.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But only around 1998 did Yeltsin realize that while he had only poorly reformed the economy, he had not touched the <i style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">siloviki</span></i> at all, and this entire horde of employees of the Prosecutors Office, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">FSB</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">MVD</span>, all converted into a corporation with many shareholders, subsidiaries and affiliates, all of these colonels and generals, who supplied the oligarchs with girls or factories, attacked Yeltsin under the slogan, “They stole the country”.<span style=""> </span>A slogan which actually boiled down to:<span style=""> </span>“They stole the country, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">didn</span>’t give us anything”.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yeltsin tried to remedy his situation.<span style=""> </span>At first he appointed as head of his Administration the <i style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">silovik</span> </i><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">Bordyuzh</span>, but he did nothing.<span style=""> </span>Then the President appointed as head of the government the <i style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">silovik</span></i> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45">Sergey</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46">Stepashin</span>, but he decided to just get along with everyone.<span style=""> </span>And then the President appointed as head of the government yet another <i style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47">silovik</span></i> – Vladimir Putin.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Short indeed was the list of <i style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_48">siloviki</span></i> who might be considered in even small measure liberals.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">President Yeltsin loved equally both power and freedom.<span style=""> </span>He knew that newspapers were one thing, history another.<span style=""> </span>He did not want to go down in history as the first dictator of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style=""> </span>He did not dole out Russian companies to his cronies, did not poison his enemies with polonium or throw them in prison, did not close opposition television stations or pervert the purpose of elections.<span style=""> </span>For this he was laughed at on the television, and Prosecutor <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49">Skuratov</span>, when he <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50">wasn</span>’t visiting prostitutes, rummaged around in the files of his daughters.<span style=""> </span>President Putin learned from the mistakes of Yeltsin.<span style=""> </span>No one laughs at President Putin on the television.<span style=""> </span>But the question is what will history say about Putin?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">True, President Yeltsin did not create very much.<span style=""> </span>He was not much for economics, caused a default, and did not reform the <i style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51">siloviki</span></i>.<span style=""> </span>But he was a free man, and he shared that freedom with all of us.<span style=""> </span>Under Yeltsin, for the first time in the 20<sup><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52">th</span></sup> century, a free society appeared in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and this free society remains free to this day, despite the closed television stations, the seized assets and the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_53">Chekisti</span> at the head of government.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Even President Putin will not be able to turn this free society into a unitary enterprise and place at its head an old buddy from the “<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_54">Ozero</span>” cooperative.</p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-29338970630909955342007-02-24T08:04:00.000-08:002007-05-02T08:04:45.935-07:00Approaching Zimbabwe<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">Approaching </b><st1:country-region><st1:place><b style="">Zimbabwe</b></st1:place></st1:country-region><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">Andrei <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Illarionov</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><st1:date year="2007" day="16" month="4">16 April 2007</st1:date></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" align="center"><a href="http://ej.ru/comments/entry/6735/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Yezhednevniy</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Zhurnal</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal">In <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> a new model has been formed for the government, economic and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">socio</span>-political order – the Power Model (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">silovaya</span> model’).<span style=""> </span>It is a model distinct from any seen in our country before, including at the beginning of this century or in the 70 years of Communist power.<span style=""> </span>While much as been said and written about the separate elements of this system, its treatment as a whole has been lacking.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">What are the basic characteristics of the Power Model?<span style=""> </span>In this model, the entire body of state power has been taken over by a group called the “<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">siloviki</span>”, which includes not only the “<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">siloviki</span>” themselves [TN: generally understood to be current and former intelligence officers], but also intelligence service collaborators, members of the Corporation of Intelligence Service Collaborators (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Korporatsiya</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Sotrudniki</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Spets</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Sluzhb</span>) – the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">KSSS</span>.<span style=""> </span>[TN: A play on the initials of the late Communist Party of the <st1:place>Soviet Union</st1:place>, or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">KPSS</span>.]</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">As in any corporation, members of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">KSSS</span> have both individual and group interests.<span style=""> </span>For example, on issues surrounding the ownership of one or another asset seized by the Corporation, ferocious arguments take place between its members.<span style=""> </span>But the intensity of conflict within the Corporation is much weaker than between the Corporation and the rest of society.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Because the Corporation preserves the traditions, hierarchies, skills and habits of the intelligence services, its members show a certain degree of obedience, loyalty to one another, and discipline.<span style=""> </span>There are both formal and informal means of enforcing these norms.<span style=""> </span>There is, for example, something like an “<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">omerta</span>” [TN: Mafia term for a code of silence].<span style=""> </span>Violators of the code of conduct are subject to the harshest forms of punishment, including the highest form.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Members of the Corporation exude a sense of being the “masters of the country” and superior to other citizens who are not members of the Corporation.<span style=""> </span>Members of the Corporation are given instruments conferring power over others – membership “perks”, such as the right to carry and use weapons.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Corporation has seized key government agencies – the Tax Service, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Parliament, and the government-controlled mass media – which are now used to advance the interests of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">KSSS</span> members.<span style=""> </span>Through these agencies, every significant resource of the country – security/intelligence, political, economic, informational and financial – is being monopolized in the hands of Corporation members.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The legal order, previously much in doubt, is now being destroyed completely and replaced by new “rules of the game”, the main one being “selective enforcement of the law.”<span style=""> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">KSSS</span> members have been placed above the law.<span style=""> </span>The ideology of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">KSSS</span> is “<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Nashism</span>” (“ours-ism”), the selective application of rights.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In economics, the efforts of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">KSSS</span> are focused on strengthening and advancing quasi-governmental monopolies (governmental in form, privatized in essence, but not formally under the control of any governmental agency), the main purpose of which is the privatization of profits and the nationalization of losses.<span style=""> </span>A strong government-private partnership gathers revenues in order to force nominally private businesses to fulfill the demands of the Corporation.<span style=""> </span>Members of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">KSSS</span> exercise control over the primary financial flows.<span style=""> </span>The highest reward conferred by the Corporation is appointment of members to positions on the boards of directors of government- and quasi-government-owned companies.<span style=""> </span>This principle holds for all members of the Corporation, whether they are citizens of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> or former Chancellors of a foreign country.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The traditions, habits and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">modus</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">operandi</span> characteristic of the intelligence services are being spread by the Corporation to all levels of Russian society.<span style=""> </span>Secrecy and informational asymmetry are being imposed on the entire country.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The ideology of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">KSSS</span> is the ideology of the fortress, under siege by outside enemies and undermined by traitors and apostates from within.<span style=""> </span>The primary means used by the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">KSSS</span> for resolving governmental and social problems is force, unrestrained by the rules of law, tradition or morals, and completely absent of any experience, ability or desire to reach solutions by negotiating between competing interests.<span style=""> </span>The relative success of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">KSSS</span> is also in large part dependent upon personal bonds with several leaders of countries in the West and East.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Initial results from the implementation of the Power Model in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> indicate an inexorably deepening catastrophe.<span style=""> </span>The key indicator of the effectiveness of any government is the security of its citizens.<span style=""> </span>The number of serious crimes against persons – murder, robbery, assault, rape – per 100,000 residents in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> is today over twice as high as it was in 1998, a year when the country suffered its most devastating financial crisis ever, accompanied by a significant depression and decline in the standard of living, but when the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">Siloviki</span> were not in power.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In rate of economic growth between the periods 1999-2000 and 2004-2006, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> fell from third to 13<sup><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">th</span></sup> place among the countries of the former <st1:country-region><st1:place>USSR</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style=""> </span>And this despite the price of oil increasing by five times over the same period.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Power Model of governance is not capable of securing the same tempo of growth as observed in other countries of the former <st1:country-region><st1:place>USSR</st1:place></st1:country-region>, including those that have neither oil nor gas.<span style=""> </span>The Power Model does not strengthen the government – it destroys the very institutions of government and society.<span style=""> </span>And the Power Model does not strengthen the diplomatic position of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> – it leads to her isolation.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The change in the external world’s attitude <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> can be summed up by the following comparative progression.<span style=""> </span>At the beginning of the 1990’s, the prevailing view of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> was as a “large <st1:country-region><st1:place>Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region>”, albeit somewhat poorer and less developed.<span style=""> </span>In order to follow the Polish path and approach the standard of living of developed countries, it was expected that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> would require 10-15 years more than <st1:country-region><st1:place>Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Toward the end of the 1990’s, this view had to undergo some revision.<span style=""> </span>It became clear that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> was not <st1:country-region><st1:place>Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style=""> </span>It would be more accurate to compare it to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Bulgaria</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Romania</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Serbia</st1:place></st1:country-region> or <st1:country-region><st1:place>Bosnia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style=""> </span>And hence the building of quality institutions would take not 10-15 years, but more like 20-30.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Toward the middle of the current decade it became obvious that even a comparison with the Balkan countries would be inaccurate.<span style=""> </span>In both the level of institutional degradation and the direction of movement, it would be more accurate to compare modern <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> with countries such as <st1:country-region><st1:place>Venezuela</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In more recent years, however, it is becoming clear that even comparison with <st1:country-region><st1:place>Venezuela</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region> would be incorrect.<span style=""> </span><st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> now appears to be at an even lower level of institutional development, at the level of just a very few African countries.<span style=""> </span>From the point of view of international comparison, we are somewhere between <st1:country-region><st1:place>Nigeria</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Zimbabwe</st1:place></st1:country-region>, quickly approaching specifically <st1:country-region><st1:place>Zimbabwe</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The rule of the “<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">siloviki</span>” has not meant an increase in the security of the Russian people.<span style=""> </span>On the contrary, the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">siloviki</span> in power are increasing the level of danger for our people in the most everyday sense of the word.<span style=""> </span>In today’s <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> there is no more important cause than changing the current <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">socio</span>-political and economic order.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There are possibilities for changing the situation.<span style=""> </span>But they are not lying on the surface.<span style=""> </span>As concerns the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">KSSS</span> itself, it is not demonstrating any kind of capability for transformation.<span style=""> </span>The dynamic of the past seven years has shown that the rate of degradation in the institutions of the Russian state is increasing.<span style=""> </span>A change in the regime from outside is also unacceptable.<span style=""> </span>There remains only Russian society itself, the Russian people.<span style=""> </span>Before us, before all of Russian society, stands the non-trivial challenge of changing the model by whatever means we have.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">[TN:<span style=""> </span>In the <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://forum.ej.ru/showthread.php?t=276991">discussion forum</a> that accompanied the above article in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Yezhednevniy</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">Zhurnal</span> a reader noted that a longer version of this article had appeared on another forum, of the information portal <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://domd.ru/f/index.php?showtopic=1176">Dom <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">Druzey</span></a> (House of Friends). That posting, dated April 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">nd</span>, in turn credited the home page of the daily <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.kommersant.ru/"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">Kommersant</span></span></a><span style="color:black;">, but I was unable to locate the article on that website.<span style=""> </span>Interestingly, the longer version, written prior to recent the protest actions in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="color:black;">Moscow</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color:black;">, did not contain the last paragraph of the above version.]</span></p><p class="spIntrotext"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">From the pages of</span> <a style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,478817,00.html">Der <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">Spiegel</span></a>:</p><p class="spIntrotext"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Former Putin Advisor Discusses Brutality Against Russian Opposition</span><br /></p><p class="spIntrotext">Andrei <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">Illarionov</span>, 45, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Cato Institute and former chief economic advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, discusses the reasons for the Kremlin's brutal treatment of the political opposition and the West's attitudes toward Moscow.</p> <script type="text/javascript"> <!-- OAS_RICH('Middle2'); // --> </script><div class="quchnoad"> </div> <p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45">SPIEGEL</span>:</b> We see the same images in the news almost every weekend: The powerful state has its police officers converge with clubs on small groups of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46">protestors</span>. Given his popularity, does President Vladimir Putin really need this?</p><p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47">Illarionov</span>:</b> Those in power deliberately use violence to intimidate. They want to break the people's will to resist and act independently, and to do so they are constantly raising the level of aggression. Unlike the mass terror under Hitler, Stalin and Mao, we in Russia are currently experiencing a campaign of terror against individuals and groups.</p> <p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_48">SPIEGEL</span>:</b> Who is conducting it?</p><p><b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49">Illarionov</span>:</b> Employees of the intelligence agencies. These people now occupy more than 70 percent of all top positions in the state machinery. The destruction of Mikhail <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50">Khodorkovsky's</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51">Yukos</span> oil company, the murder of journalist Anna <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52">Politkovskaya</span>, the polonium poisoning of former agent Alexander <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_53">Litvinenko</span> -- the goal in each of these cases is to keep society in a state of constant fear. That makes it easier to control the people. This is the only reason the state-controlled media are allowed to report at length on these cases. It contributes to the climate of fear. </p><p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_54">SPIEGEL</span>:</b> Who decided to deal with the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_55">protestors</span> so harshly, the president or his <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_56">advisors</span>?</p> <p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_57">Illarionov</span>:</b> It certainly didn't happen at the level of Interior Minister <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_58">Rashid</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_59">Nurgaliyev</span> alone. It's hard to imagine that such decisions were made without the knowledge of our country's top leadership.</p> <p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_60">SPIEGEL</span>:</b> There is no evidence whatsoever of any threat to the government. The economy is growing by upwards of six percent, and Russians are traveling abroad on vacation and buying cars. Why doesn't the Kremlin simply accept peaceful demonstrations?</p><p><b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_61">Illarionov</span>:</b> Our rulers act according to a different logic. Putin himself said, and he was probably right, that there are no former intelligence agents. They were specifically trained to hunt down enemies. And if there are none, then they create them. </p><p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_62">SPIEGEL</span>:</b> Is Russia a dictatorship?</p> <p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_63">Illarionov</span>:</b> Russia is certainly no longer a free country. We are moving in the direction of Zimbabwe.</p> <p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_64">SPIEGEL</span>:</b> Now you're exaggerating.</p> <p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_65">Illarionov</span>:</b> No. All our democratic institutions are also being dismantled. We suffer from the Zimbabwean disease. This is why Russia is becoming more isolated diplomatically, and why economic growth is slowing. In a comparison with the 15 former Soviet republics, Russia is now third to last when it comes to economic growth.</p> <p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_66">SPIEGEL</span>:</b> Western companies value the stability Putin has brought to the country. Should they stop investing in Russia?</p> <p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_67">Illarionov</span>:</b> That's their decision. They'll have to evaluate the political risk themselves.</p> <p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_68">SPIEGEL</span>:</b> Boris <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_69">Gryzlov</span>, the president of the Russian parliament, has praised the police, with their grandmother-beating tactics, for having "done everything right." He is scheduled to meet with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_70">Steinmeier</span> and the leaders of Germany's major political parties in Berlin on Monday and Tuesday.</p><p><b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_71">Illarionov</span>:</b> It is not my place to make recommendations to German members of parliament. If <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_72">Gryzlov</span> is justifying violence against the opposition, then he is approving what our criminal code refers to as banditry. It was not the demonstrators but the police officers that behaved like bandits. The police, with the blessing of those in power, acted like a terrorist group. </p><p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_73">SPIEGEL</span>:</b> You served under Putin as liaison to the G8 for five years. Should the West exclude Russia from the group of key industrialized nations for its abuses of democracy?</p> <p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_74">Illarionov</span>:</b> One cannot overestimate the options the West has available with which it can apply pressure on Russia.</p> <p> <b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_75">SPIEGEL</span>:</b> Will Putin enter a third term next March, despite the fact that it would not be sanctioned under the constitution?</p> <p> <b>Illarionov:</b> Putin has often said that he will not do this. But there are people around him who are urging him to do so. They are taking many steps to ensure that he will feel compelled to stay.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><br /></span></p>La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1324091203230004580.post-8996261406023827552007-02-24T08:03:00.001-08:002007-05-09T03:27:55.664-07:00Vladmir "Michael Moore" Putin<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hey, Cop, Get busy—Go and Catch Robbers </span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Natalia <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Gevorkan</span><br /><br /><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.gazeta.ru/column/gevorkyan/1597649.shtml"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Gazeta</span>.<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">ru</span></a><br /><br />April 19, 2007<br /><br />Translated from the Russian by Vova Khavkin<br /></div><br />The Michael Moore-style next documentary about Russian President Putin is being spliced literally in front of our eyes. The past weekend will become one of its most vivid, ridiculous, and obscene scenes. Kremlin’s PR hacks should get circumcised—you know where to cut—simply for the scheduling conflict of their boss’ itinerary with that of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">OMON</span> [TN: the Kremlin's stormtroopers]. And also for the obvious disconnect between the event marked as the key on the president’s 14 April schedule on his Website—the “no-rules fight” in the company of Messrs Putin, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Berlusconi</span>, and Van <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Damme</span>—and the reality in the country which [Mr.] Putin still presides over—a show of force, worthy of better application, against the peaceful public in the streets of Moscow and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Piter</span>. In one episode of the “March” [of the Dissenters] in Moscow posted on the Web an old man, a veteran, is speaking with a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">stormtrooper</span> who is trying to push him back or pull him to the side: “What are you doing? Whom are you raising your hand against, boy? Get busy, go and catch robbers.” It <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">couldn</span>’t be better said.<br /><br />You can do it yourself easily, and it <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">doesn</span>’t require Michael Moore’s skills—to splice end-to-end the pictures of happy [Mr.] Putin enjoying the show in the rink, and the stormtroopers beating people over the head with sticks. You can do what in a professional sense should be done for you by the TV people, unless of course they farted away their professionalism under the watchful guidance from the Kremlin. You can see for yourself on the Web all that was taking place at the same time that the president was having an adrenalin rush in the company of a less-than-honorable prime minister and a B-movie actor. And you will understand what it means to have superior force and still lose. On April 14 of this year Putin actually lost the country at the exact moment what he was under the impression that he just defeated America.<br /><br />[Mr.] Putin said “screw it” to what was happening behind the walls, the generals said “screw” everything and everybody. The Western [TV] channels showed the violence in the streets of Moscow and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Piter</span>. Not everybody, thank God, had his head smashed like the Japanese reporter. This footage was shocking. It would have been shocking even had the captions at the bottom of the screen said “Minsk” rather than Moscow” or “<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Piter</span>.” But this was video footage from Moscow and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Piter</span>, not from a rogue country but from the main cities of a G8 member-country. The question of why they were doing this, about the relatively disproportionate response of the law enforcement bodies, is what all my foreign colleagues asked when they called me: “Why are they letting foreign reporters record all this lawlessness, what do you think?”<br /><br />Because I think they don’t give a damn, because they are tired of the fear of “orange revolutions” and they decided to show that nothing of the kind was even possible in their sovereign democracy. Because the West must finally realize that the people who occupy the seat of power today will stop for nothing in the name of maintaining their positions, whether you like it or not. Because the West must see with its own eyes that Russia is no Ukraine or Georgia, not to mention Kyrgyzstan. Because this is the last historical opportunity for the G-men who got the country all to themselves by default through fool’s luck, and they know for sure that they won’t be given another chance ever again. The KGB will end the day this government ends—it will go out with a bang, not a whimper, and therein is the problem. And lest there be any doubt—they do have what to defend. You can put a price tag on this power in dollars with relative accuracy. They will never surrender anything to any one. And the stormtroopers’ disproportionate zeal is a preview of the future, plain and simple, something that both the dissenters inside the country and democracy’s advocates in the West must keep in mind. There will be no repeat of 1991, when these guys were shaking in their boots behind the [KGB HQ] <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Lubyanka</span> walls, having been given an order to fire for effect should any one try to storm the building, and watched full of anxiety, fear and loathing how the kids, young as they are today, were pulling down the Iron Felix TN: Felix <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Dzerzhinskiy</span>, the KGB’s first chairman] from the pedestal. They have no intention to tremble, they are in no mood to yield to any one, they do not intend to go anywhere. Whatever the price. The line has been drawn! During the last weekend the Russian authorities stopped following the etiquette that is the norm in the civilized world.<br /><br />Whether this was the result of desperate shamelessness or brought about by another foolish act by the PR hacks, but on Monday, of all days, The Guardian ran a story by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Dmitriy</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Peskov</span>, President Putin’s deputy press secretary. Who wrote that Russia had finally become an effective constitutional state [governed by rule of law]—different from what she was under Yeltsin—and that we had excellent economic growth and stability, and that our middle class was expanding and civic society growing stronger. At this point the bewildered western reader who had it explained to him so well by Mr. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Peskov</span> looks back at the front pages, and he is perplexed because there is a real dissonance in his western mentality. Because the front pages of all western papers of note without exception show—perfect timing with [Mr.] <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Peshkov</span>—how the constitutional state is beating the civic society, together with a segment of the middle class, over the head with the nightstick in Moscow and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Piter</span>. Against this backdrop Mr. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Peshkov</span>’s narration about the bad Russian oligarch <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Berezovskiy</span> who is fond of talking about the use of force in politics loses any sense at all because Mr. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Peshkov</span> represents that very government which—literally as we speak—has just applied selfsame force without uttering a word, or engaging in any live on-air debates for the sake of the same West. On the other hand, had the PR hacks servicing the Kremlin been smarter and had they published Mr. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Peshkov</span>’s article, e.g., today, it would have had to “compete” with information about the search on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">InerNews</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">NGO</span> office in Moscow. And had they published this fabulous text, e.g., yesterday, it could have been run side by side with a story about how the achievements of Putin’s Russia were being strengthened by introducing censorship on the radio. I think that Mr. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">Peshkov</span> would do better by not writing stories for western media outlets for the time being because selecting a right moment for their publication is becoming well-nigh impossible.<br /><br />And what’s your word?La Russophobehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05672264388217953086noreply@blogger.com0