Some thoughts

OK, some thoughts from the last few days.

Boris Berezovsky staged a demonstration in London by having 100 limousines drive in a convoy around the capital bearing placquards emblazoned with slogans in Russian and MBK's image. Now, I haven't really followed the life and love's of BB but I have a hunch that he only staged this to get up Putin's nose - I mean, the irony of a man the Kremlin is eager to have back in it's grip standing in front of one of it's embassies and blowing raspberries cannot have been lost on him and must have amused him no end.

And it does give him some extra ammunition. He is quite vocal and passionate about his opposition to Putin. Who can blame him. He has allegedly had several assination attempts made on his life whilst in exile.

In this book, "The Oligarchs: Wealth & Power in the New Russia" by D. Hoffman BB comes across as a rather melodramatic doomsmonger - in nearly every chapter with nearly everyone he meets he seemed to have been forecasting Civil War. Funnily enough, only when opposition to his wishes occurred.... Check it out for yourself. You will begin a counting game of the times he is alleged to have predicted Civil War... you will find yourself thinking "is he going to say it now??".

When will the words 'civil war' appear first?

What else? Well, obviously the closed pre-trial hearing and the postponement til June 8th... another hoo-har over a predictable outcome. Of course the question is - if the prosecutors have now finished their investigations into the allegations then why is MBK still being detained? And why are all these human rights organisations not raising hell?

Finally, the co-inciding of the squeeze on YUKOS - who have announced they may go bankrupt should the government* decide to demand full payment of 'taxes' (you'd have thought those nice guys at the world famous PriceWaterhouseCoopers might have found something amiss after years of auditing Yukos??**), refuse to unfreeze assets, and call back its loans - is surely a conincidence? No? You don't think that this could be part of the personal attack on MBK, do you? You are so cynical - not for one minute have I even entertained the notion that this is a deliberate action instigated to send a signal to MBK that his demise will be crushing - a signal that when he leaves prison (oops there I am assuming the impartial courts will find him guilty) he will have nothing to come back to; no empire to build upon; no money to launch any political or societal challenge with. Or, should the impartial courts (muffles laugh) find him 'not guilty' MBK would have a Pyrrhic victory, he would win but be released to nothing. Nor have I entertained the notion that the boys at the Kremlin are instigating nationalisation-by-the-backdoor and/or they want to bag the booty for themselves. Not for one minute. Uh-uh. Not me. No sir-ee. As IF....

It looks as if we are going to witness the tanks rolling without the tanks rolling - this is what it looks like to see somebody crushed under the heel of a boot. And for what? Putin's ego?



* Question: What is the difference between Putin's government and the Russian mafia?

Answer: The Russian mafia don't have heavy artillery.


** YUKOS have this to say in a statment issued May 27th 2004, Moscow:


In view of the foregoing, we cannot find any explanation for the fact that after three years of numerous inspections and the PriceWaterhouseCoopers audit the government agency has found, and the court after a short trial has confirmed, outstanding tax arrears to the federal budget exceeding twice the average industry figures. According to the tax service and the court, YUKOS should have paid 59% of its sales revenues or 107% of its profit confirmed by the international auditor as profit tax in 2000.