Hands up...

... all who are getting a little fed-up with this stop-and-start show trial? 1, 2, 3... oh you too? 4... will somebody just go on trial already?? Puh-lease. May-this, May-that, June 8th/16th/23rd, July blah blah blah... is this some kind of ruse to bore people to death before the trial starts so that no one will actually care what happens... if anything?? Working well so far. I'm currently losing the will to live waiting for this show to hit the road. I mean, I have a life, you know... hurry it up for goodness sake. Let's get this sucker started, shall we!? The sooner they bang him up the sooner he's out.

On an altogether different note. I am starting to like Putin. Well, that's a bit strong. "Like"... I mean, I "like" Formula 1 Grand Prix. Putin isn't on nearly the same level as that. No... I mean, I see where he's coming from and if I was him I think I'd have done things exactly the same.

And to be honest, I think he's playing pretty much the same game as MBK did when he diluted all those shares and screwed Dart... MBK saw the big picture and took a scorched-earth policy to investors, shareholders and loan companies, shaking everyone off his tail and regaining total control of YUKOS which he'd paid *ahem* good money for *embarrassed silence*. It was a two-pronged approach - destroy the opposition and get the company back on track. With PR companies working on the corporate image they figured within 5 years everyone would have forgotten about the whole sorry incident. And they did! Within 5 years MBK had gone from bad boy to Corporate Crusader - being the only guy investors would actually trust in Russia!
Playing dirty paid off.

And I think Putin is playing pretty much the same cards - shake off the opposition, calm investor fears and then smile a lot. Within 5 years this will all be forgotten.

It's still a shame that rule of law means nothing and personal liberties have had to be sacrificed, but you know, when you're in the big leagues you play to win. MBK knows that. And if you live by the sword then you may die by it. What goes around comes around. If you can't take it then don't dish it. I can't think of any more lame cliches right now but if I do I'll get right back to you.

Maybe rule of law doesn't mean an awful lot to a country full of people living below the poverty line. What do they care about property rights when they don't have anything to steal? Who cares about lofty notions of civil rights when they are too exhausted just trying to live?