Mike Nova's starred items
5:20 PM 3/5/2013
via Russia and The West's Facebook Wall by Russia and The West on 3/1/13
3.1.13 - Russia News Review - Mike Nova's starred items
Mike Nova's starred items
Борис Немцов: Путина посадят
via Uploads by leonidmart2 by leonidmart2 on 2/26/13
Борис Немцов: Путина посадят
Борис Немцов: Не завидую Путину. Как можно …
3.1.13 - Russia News Review - Mike Nova's starred items
Mike Nova's starred items
Борис Немцов: Путина посадят
via Uploads by leonidmart2 by leonidmart2 on 2/26/13
Борис Немцов: Путина посадят
Борис Немцов: Не завидую Путину. Как можно …
3.1.13 - Russia News Review - Mike Nova's starred items
via Russia and The West's Facebook Wall by Russia and The West on 3/1/13
RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД: 3.1.13 - Russia News Review - Mike Nova's starred items: The f
east-and-west-org.blogspot.com
via Russia and The West's Facebook Wall by Russia and The West on 3/1/13
Начальник космической обороны РФ отстранен из-за гигантской свалки - РБК - RBC.Ru
Mike Nova comments: Svalili na "svalku". Nashli "krainego". Smeshali s musorom. Tak derzhat, tovarischi!
Начальник космической обороны РФ отстранен из-за гигантской …
Начальник космической обороны РФ отстранен из-за гигантской свалки - РБК - RBC.Ru
Mike Nova comments: Svalili na "svalku". Nashli "krainego". Smeshali s musorom. Tak derzhat, tovarischi!
Начальник космической обороны РФ отстранен из-за гигантской …
Начальник космической обороны РФ отстранен из-за гигантской свалки - РБК - RBC.Ru
via Russia and The West's Facebook Wall by Russia and The West on 3/1/13
RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД: This is one of the best documentaries on the subje...
RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД: This is one of the best documentaries on the subje...: Mike Nova: This is one of the best documentaries on the subject …
RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД: This is one of the best documentaries on the subje...
RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД: This is one of the best documentaries on the subje...: Mike Nova: This is one of the best documentaries on the subject …
RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД: This is one of the best documentaries on the subje...
via Russia and The West's Facebook Wall by Russia and The West on 3/5/13
10 пунктов отсутствия. О первом годе
russ.ru
Никогда ранее не было такого широкого зазора между Путиным и его администрацией и нижними этажами бюрократии. Этот зазор в 2012 г. представлял собой пространство, в котором могло состояться или не состояться многое.
via Russia and The West's Facebook Wall by Russia and The West on 3/5/13
Сталин с ними!
Около двухсот человек во главе с руководством фракции КПРФ почтили память Иосифа Сталина в 60-ю годовщину его смерти. http://grani.ru/Society/History/m.212272.html
via Russia and The West's Facebook Wall by Russia and The West on 3/5/13
Timeline Photos
Саша Духанина. Обвиняется в "умышленном преступлении против государственной власти" на Болотной. Может оказывать давление на свидетелей (омоновцев) и продолжить преступную деятельность. Продление домашнего ареста до 27 мая. Саша говорит, что в январе по разрешению следователя не раз самостоятельно посещала врача и никуда не скрылась. Она хочет поступать в институт и сейчас начать подготовительные занятия. Следователь Быков не согласен отпустить ее под залог потому, что "Духанина действовала в составе группы лиц".
via Russia and The West's Facebook Wall by Russia and The West on 3/5/13
утомились
amoro1959.livejournal.com
Чувствуется общее истощение к марту. социальные сети всем надоели, в СМИ читать нечего. Даже хорошие тексты собирают маленькую аудиторию. Все устали. …
via Russia and The West's Facebook Wall by Russia and The West on 3/5/13
Дагестанские банки достигли небывалой фиктивности // Следствие и ЦБ обнаружили в их отчетности беспр
kommersant.ru
Масштабы фальсификации в дагестанских банках таковы, что нарисованы в них не только вклады граждан, но и кредиты, и ценные бумаги, и касса, кража которой тоже подделана. Даже аресты в рамках уголовного дела накладываются на несуществующее имущество. Проблема системная, а малообеспеченное население о...
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via NYT > Europe by By ANDREW ROTH on 3/5/13
Prime Minister Vlad Filat’s governing coalition failed a no-confidence motion on Tuesday, shattering an alliance that had put the former Soviet republic on a path toward integration with the European Union.
via - Europe RSS Feed on 3/5/13
Harrowing descriptions of how the 32 victims of the Costa Concordia disaster met their deaths have been presented to an Italian judge.
via World news: Russia | guardian.co.uk by Luke Harding on 3/5/13
A Soviet soldier who disappeared more than 30 years ago on the battlefield in Afghanistan has been found alive and well and living under the name of Sheikh Abdullah in the western Afghan city of Herat.
Russian officials attempting to trace soldiers still missing from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan said they had discovered Bakhretdin Khakimov, last seen in September 1980. Khakimov - then aged 20 - had been serving with the 101st motorised rifle unit, stationed near Herat. He was seriously wounded during a battle near the city and presumed dead.
A black-and-white photo from the time shows Khakimov as a fresh-faced draftee, dressed in Soviet army uniform and with the hammer and sickle badge on his furry hat. He now looks rather different, with a wispy beard, lined features and a large turban. A widower, he had been living as a nomadic sheikh and working as a traditional healer.
According to officials, local residents rescued Khakimov from the battlefield and treated his wounds with herbs. The Soviet soldier remained with the man who helped him, and acquired medical skills. Khakimov - an ethnic Uzbek, originally from Samarkand - married a local Afghan woman and settled in the Shindand district. His wife later died. The couple had no children.
The extraordinary story follows a dogged decades-long hunt by the Committee for International Soldiers, a Moscow-based organisation largely made up of Soviet Afghan war veterans. The organisation made little progress during the 1990s, when Afghanistan was convulsed by civil war, and then ruled by the Taliban. It resumed the search following the US-led invasion of Aghanistan in 2001, stepping up its efforts in recent years.
The committee's deputy chairman, Alexander Lavrentiev, said contact was made with Khakimov two weeks ago, on 23 February. "Helpers from the local community brought him to Herat," Lavrentiev said. Khakimov - who was born in 1960 - could still understand Russian but spoke it very badly. He had no identification documents, Lavrentiev said, and had been living under the assumed name of Sheikh Abdullah.
"He was just happy he survived," Lavrentiev said, who personally met Khakimov in Herat in late February.
The Soviet soldier could still recall the names of his mother, brothers and sisters, as well as the place where he was first drafted into the Red Army. "In the words of Khakimov, he would very much like to meet his relatives, if they want to and if this isn't damaging for them," Lavrentiev told a press conference in Moscow on Monday.
Khakimov - now in his early 50s - had reportedly been living a semi-nomadic life and still has a nervous tic from his head injury. Intriguingly, he also recognised a photo of two other Soviet veterans who disappeared in Herat without trace. Khakimov told Russian investigators that both were alive and that he had met them in Afghanistan, now occupied a quarter of a century after the Soviets left by US, British and Nato forces.
Some 264 Soviet soldiers who fought in the 1979-1989 war in Afghanistan are still missing. Half are from Russia, with the other half from now-independent former Soviet republics including Ukraine. Most are assumed dead. Over the past decade the Kremlin's Committee for International Soldiers has tracked down 29 former soldiers. 22 have gone back to Russia, while seven opted to stay in Afghanistan.
Ruslan Aushev, a decorated Afghan veteran who has been leading the hunt, said the search would continue until the last man had been accounted for, Russian news agencies reported. Representatives from his committee have made dozens of trips to Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries in the region, and have exhumed the graves of more than 15 soldiers. Forensic tests using DNA from relatives have identified five of them, including three in 2012, Aushev said.
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
via Russia News Headlines - Yahoo! News on 3/5/13
GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations' torture investigator Juan Mendez said on Tuesday the Obama administration showed no sign of reversing its position and allowing him access to terrorism suspects in long-term detention at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. Mendez, whose predecessor was also denied access to Guantanamo prisoners, said the latest Washington response indicated there would be no let up in U.S. insistence he could tour the facility but could not interview detainees. ...
via Russian news, all the latest and breaking Russia news by Tom Parfitt on 3/5/13
Russian police arrested three men including a top dancer in connection with the acid throwing attack on the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet.
via World news: Russia | guardian.co.uk by Miriam Elder on 3/5/13
Police have arrested three men suspected of carrying out the acid attack on the director of the Bolshoi ballet, including a leading dancer, in a scandal that has exposed the treacherous dramas unfolding behind the theatre's famed stage.
Dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko was detained on Tuesday and was believed to have ordered the attack on his director, Sergei Filin, police said in a statement. Two other men, Yury Zarutsky, identified as the suspected attacker, and Andrei Lipatov, suspected of being the getaway driver, were also detained.,
The stunning turn of events came nearly two months after the attack, which left Filin fighting for his sight and Moscow's cultural world questioning the sanctity of its stages.
A masked attacker approached Filin when he was returning home late on the evening of 17 January and threw the contents of a jar filled with sulphuric acid at his face. Filin suffered severe burns to his face and neck and underwent several operations to restore his eyesight and repair his skin. He is currently undergoing further treatment in Germany.
From the beginning, Filin insisted the attack was linked to his work at the theatre. Filin, backed by the Bolshoi leadership, had clashed publicly with several dancers. Some wanted his job, others wanted more dancing roles, he said.
Katerina Novikova, spokeswoman for the theatre, said earlier on Tuesday that she knew of "no bitter rivalry" between Filin and Dmitrichenko.
Dmitrichenko, a strong dancer with a shock of blonde hair, has been with the Bolshoi since 2002. He has made a name for himself by dancing the role of villains, including the role of tsar Ivan the Terrible in the ballet of the same name and the evil sorcerer Von Rothbart in Swan Lake.
Police did not suggest a motive for the attack.
Dmitrichenko is reportedly close to Nikolai Tsiskaridze, the flamboyant principal dancer against whom the Bolshoi leadership had directed much of its wrath as the police investigation unfolded. The theatre's general director, Anatoly Iksanov, accused Tsiskaridze of creating a poisonous atmosphere inside the theatre. Tsiskaridze had repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack on Filin.
Although long plagued by behind-the-scenes drama and intrigue, the Bolshoi theatre had, until January, managed to avoid the violence that has marked conflicts in Russia's business world.
The scandals have been growing ever more dirty and public in recent years, however. Filin's predecessor quit after erotic photos of him were leaked online.
The arrests came after a series of spectacular raids that lasted throughout the day on Tuesday. Police carried out a pre-dawn raid in the Moscow suburb of Stupino, home to a compound of dachas, or summer homes, that belongs to the Bolshoi. They then searched a flat that belongs to Dmitrichenko in the same block of flats in central Moscow where Filin lives and in whose courtyard the attack took place.
The suspected attacker, 35-year-old Zarutsky, was later detained in the Tver region, around 100 miles from Moscow. Police said he had a previous criminal record. Russian media reported that Lipatov, the suspected driver, was unemployed.
Novikova, the Bolshoi's spokeswoman, declined to comment on the arrests. Earlier on Tuesday, before the news of Dmitrichenko's arrest emerged, she said the theatre was "glad" that the police investigation had led to an arrest.
She also said she hoped that Filin, whom doctors believe will recover his eyesight, would be back at the Bolshoi in time for the theatre's summer tour to London.
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
via Russia - Google News on 3/5/13
 BBC News |
Magnitsky case: Russia accuses Browder over Gazprom
BBC News Russia is preparing new charges against UK-based fund manager Bill Browder, whose lawyer died in a Russian jail but now faces tax evasion charges. Mr Browder will be accused of illegally buying shares in Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom, the interior ... Russia to charge Magnitsky's ex-employerHuffington Post Russia Announces New Fraud Charges Against BrowderFox Business Russia Opens Case Into Browder's Hermitage Buying Gazprom StockBloomberg Financial Times -GlobalPost all 37 news articles » |
via Russia News Headlines - Yahoo! News on 3/5/13
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian police said Tuesday they arrested three men in the acid attack that nearly blinded the artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet, including a star dancer suspected of masterminding the plot.
via The Moscow Times Top Stories by By Ivan Nechepurenko <moscowtimes@themoscowtimes.com> on 3/4/13
Ballet soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko, who had danced for the Bolshoi Theater since 2002, was detained on Tuesday in connection with the Jan. 17 acid attack on Bolshoi director Sergei Filin.
via The Moscow Times Top Stories by By Natalya Krainova <moscowtimes@themoscowtimes.com> on 3/4/13
Russia saw virtually no increase in life expectancy from 1990 to 2010 and lagged behind more than 100 countries in the key health statistic over that period, according to a global study released Tuesday.
via The Moscow Times Top Stories by By Howard Amos <moscowtimes@themoscowtimes.com> on 3/4/13
Hong Kong, which recently marked 15 years since its annexation with China, is seeing a boom in its economic relationship with Russia, officials said Tuesday.
via The Moscow Times Top Stories by <moscowtimes@themoscowtimes.com> on 3/4/13
A rise in February in the annual consumer price inflation rate to its highest in 18 months lends weight to the Central Bank's argument to wait with monetary easing, despite strong signals that the economy is slowing.
via The Moscow Times Top Stories by By Ezekiel Pfeifer <moscowtimes@themoscowtimes.com> on 3/4/13
Anti-corruption lawyer and opposition leader Alexei Navalny published documents on his blog Tuesday showing that Pskov Governor Andrei Turchak's wife owns real estate in France that Turchak didn't declare.
via The Moscow Times Top Stories by By Yekaterina Kravtsova <moscowtimes@themoscowtimes.com> on 3/4/13
Lawmakers, ministers and representatives of 40 ethnic groups from the far north, Far East and Siberia said Tuesday that the state should change its approach to save Russia's ethnic minorities, some of which number less than 300 people.
via Russia News Headlines - Yahoo! News on 3/5/13
When life hands you lemons, according to the proverbial saying, make lemonade.
via The Moscow Times Top Stories by By Yeugenia Kleiner and Peter Spinella <moscowtimes@themoscowtimes.com> on 3/4/13
Synthetic marijuana, commonly sold under the genericized trademark Spice, offers a high that may be hundreds of times more intense than that of the drug it's designed to mimic - and it may kill you. But, most likely, it's legal.
via The Moscow Times Top Stories by By Irina Filatova <moscowtimes@themoscowtimes.com> on 3/4/13
Billionaire Alexei Mordashov's Severstal saw a 63 percent drop in net profit last year to $762 million as a result of weak metal prices and a decline in domestic sales volumes, the steel giant said Tuesday.
via Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan on 3/5/13
The U.S.-led military command in Afghanistan says it will no longer publish figures on Taliban attacks.
via Russia News Headlines - Yahoo! News on 3/5/13
MOSCOW (AP) — Devotees of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, whose brutal purges killed millions of innocent citizens and made his name a byword for totalitarian terror, flocked to the Kremlin to praise him for making his country a world power Tuesday, while experts and politicians puzzled and despaired over his enduring popularity.
via Russia - Google News on 3/5/13
 ABC News |
Gulags Were a Horrific Cornerstone of Stalinist Russia
The Atlantic It was an enormous economic empire, controlling factories and whole areas of Russia. Northeast Russia was settled by the Gulag -- prisoners and guards. Some of the Far Northern cities were effectively built by the Gulag -- Vorkuta, Norilsk, cities like ... Russia Marks 60th Anniversary of Stalin's DeathABC News Dead 60 years, Stalin's influence lingers in Putin's RussiaReuters Russia divided on Stalin 60 years onThe Australian The Hindu -BBC News all 25 news articles » |
via Russian Politics - Российская Политика's Facebook Wall by Russian Politics - Российская Политика on 3/5/13
Experts criticize human rights violations of Russian president - Washington Free Beacon
Experts criticize human rights violations of Russian president
Washington Free Beacon
The United States and other Western nations should be doing more to respond …
Experts criticize human rights violations of Russian president - Washington Free Beacon
Experts criticize human rights violations of Russian president
Washington Free Beacon
The United States and other Western nations should be doing more to respond …
Experts criticize human rights violations of Russian president - Washington Free Beacon
Vlad the Violator
Experts criticize human rights violations of Russian president
Vladimir Putin / AP
BY:
Read more at
The United States and other Western nations should be doing more to respond to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s human rights violations, members of Congress and foreign policy experts said Monday during a United States-Russia relations event hosted by the Foreign Policy Initiative, Freedom House, and the Institute of Modern Russia.
Rep. James McGovern (D., Mass.) said the current trial of dead Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky represents a “malevolent move” that makes “it clear that Russian leaders recognize that they no longer have the support of the people they govern, and so they must resort to scare tactics to try and keep the lid on dissent.”
Magnitsky was killed while in a Moscow detention center in November 2009 after being imprisoned by Russian authorities. He claimed to have uncovered massive tax fraud that involved Russian government officials.
The Senate passed in December 2012 the Magnitsky Act, which applies visa sanctions to Russians who are believed to be engaged in human rights violations.
Senator Ben Cardin (D., Md.), who sponsored the Magnitsky Act, said the “objective is not to ban Russians from visiting the United States or using our banking system.”
“The objective is to get Russia to do what is right for its citizens,” he said.
The Russian government, led by President Putin, recently banned Russian children from being adopted by American parents in response to the Magnitsky Act.
The FPI event also featured two panels of Russian experts who analyzed the current situation in Russia and proposed how the West should respond to the humanitarian crisis since Putin’s reelection.
Putin has passed several resolutions since his reelection that suppress political dissent and negatively affect Russians, including the jailing of the band Pussy Riot, the decision to end cooperation with USAID, and approval of a new clamp down on pro-democracy groups and nonprofits.
The first panel, which consisted of two Russian politicians and a leading humanitarian, discussed the situation from a Russian point of view.
Dmitri Gudkov, a current member of the Duma, said he was “very grateful” for all American families who adopt Russian children. Gudkov was one of only eight Duma members to vote against the adoption ban.
Ludmila Alekseeva of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a Nobel Peace Prize candidate, talked about the difficulty that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are facing in Russia since Putin’s reelection.
Any NGO in Russia must declare itself as a foreign agent, which denies them access to bank accounts and office space in Russia.
Mikhail Kasyanov, the former prime minister of Russia, said Russian media and propaganda outlets work to equate the term “foreign agent” with “foreign spy.” As a result, Russians are often unwilling to work with such groups.
Opposition to Putin is difficult due to the nation’s propaganda machine, said Kasyanov.
Gudkov, of the Duma, commented that the rise of the Internet is helping to spread non-propaganda news. However, this is leading to a crackdown of bloggers who write critically of the Russian government.
All the members agreed at the end of the first panel that the Magnitsky Act was speeding up change in the Russian government and that it is easy for the Russian people to understand.
The second panel said the West must take a firmer stance against Russia.
Kristiina Ojuland, a member of the European Parliament, suggested a trans-Atlantic system of targeted sanctions against the Russian government that would not hurt the Russian people.
Vice President of the European Parliament Edward McMillan-Scott said there must a strong working relationship with the U.S. Congress in fighting for human rights in Russia.
Lilia Shevtsova, of the Carnegie Endowment, suggested a transactional relationship with the Russians that would guarantee desirable results because Russians do not want to be preached to from the West.
Shevtsova also took the opportunity to criticize the Obama administration’s recent change to a so-called “patient diplomacy” that emphasizes a hands off approach to Russia.
President Barack Obama’s claim of “leading from behind” is the “perfect definition of this administration,” Shevtsova said.
Rep. James McGovern (D., Mass.) said the current trial of dead Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky represents a “malevolent move” that makes “it clear that Russian leaders recognize that they no longer have the support of the people they govern, and so they must resort to scare tactics to try and keep the lid on dissent.”
Magnitsky was killed while in a Moscow detention center in November 2009 after being imprisoned by Russian authorities. He claimed to have uncovered massive tax fraud that involved Russian government officials.
The Senate passed in December 2012 the Magnitsky Act, which applies visa sanctions to Russians who are believed to be engaged in human rights violations.
Senator Ben Cardin (D., Md.), who sponsored the Magnitsky Act, said the “objective is not to ban Russians from visiting the United States or using our banking system.”
“The objective is to get Russia to do what is right for its citizens,” he said.
The Russian government, led by President Putin, recently banned Russian children from being adopted by American parents in response to the Magnitsky Act.
The FPI event also featured two panels of Russian experts who analyzed the current situation in Russia and proposed how the West should respond to the humanitarian crisis since Putin’s reelection.
Putin has passed several resolutions since his reelection that suppress political dissent and negatively affect Russians, including the jailing of the band Pussy Riot, the decision to end cooperation with USAID, and approval of a new clamp down on pro-democracy groups and nonprofits.
The first panel, which consisted of two Russian politicians and a leading humanitarian, discussed the situation from a Russian point of view.
Dmitri Gudkov, a current member of the Duma, said he was “very grateful” for all American families who adopt Russian children. Gudkov was one of only eight Duma members to vote against the adoption ban.
Ludmila Alekseeva of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a Nobel Peace Prize candidate, talked about the difficulty that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are facing in Russia since Putin’s reelection.
Any NGO in Russia must declare itself as a foreign agent, which denies them access to bank accounts and office space in Russia.
Mikhail Kasyanov, the former prime minister of Russia, said Russian media and propaganda outlets work to equate the term “foreign agent” with “foreign spy.” As a result, Russians are often unwilling to work with such groups.
Opposition to Putin is difficult due to the nation’s propaganda machine, said Kasyanov.
Gudkov, of the Duma, commented that the rise of the Internet is helping to spread non-propaganda news. However, this is leading to a crackdown of bloggers who write critically of the Russian government.
All the members agreed at the end of the first panel that the Magnitsky Act was speeding up change in the Russian government and that it is easy for the Russian people to understand.
The second panel said the West must take a firmer stance against Russia.
Kristiina Ojuland, a member of the European Parliament, suggested a trans-Atlantic system of targeted sanctions against the Russian government that would not hurt the Russian people.
Vice President of the European Parliament Edward McMillan-Scott said there must a strong working relationship with the U.S. Congress in fighting for human rights in Russia.
Lilia Shevtsova, of the Carnegie Endowment, suggested a transactional relationship with the Russians that would guarantee desirable results because Russians do not want to be preached to from the West.
Shevtsova also took the opportunity to criticize the Obama administration’s recent change to a so-called “patient diplomacy” that emphasizes a hands off approach to Russia.
President Barack Obama’s claim of “leading from behind” is the “perfect definition of this administration,” Shevtsova said.
via anti-americanism in russia - Google News on 3/3/13
US and Russia Team Up in Bid to Aid Polar Bears
New York Times Russia's decision to cooperate with the United States not only defies a recent wave of anti-Americanism here, but it also reverses Moscow's opposition to a similar American proposal at the endangered species conference three years ago. The impetus for ... and more » |
Published: 3/3/2013
via anti-americanism in russia - Google News on 3/2/13
Putin's government clings to strategy
Toledo Blade A meteor streaked across the Russian sky and exploded over a populated area with the force of a nuclear bomb last month, injuring hundreds of people and casting the light on the world's largest country that has failed to put anti-Americanism in the ... and more » |
Putin’s government clings to strategy of the Big Lie
A meteor streaked across the Russian sky and exploded over a populated area with the force of a nuclear bomb last month, injuring hundreds of people and casting the light on the world's largest country that has failed to put anti-Americanism in the rearview mirror despite more than two decades of post-Soviet development.
Once dashboard-camera video footage of the phenomenon spread across the Internet, Vladimir Zhirinovsky — the founder and leader of Russia's ultra-nationalist LDPR party and a former vice chairman of the lower house of the country's legislature — announced that it was not a meteor falling but a secret U.S. weapon being tested.
A showman of Russian politics, Mr. Zhirinovsky is notorious for making outrageous public pronouncements aimed at pleasing Russian President Vladimir Putin. The latter uses Mr. Zhirinovsky as a scare for those in the Russian middle class who are unhappy with the country’s systemic corruption and his autocratic regime that perpetuates it.
Unfortunately, many uneducated Russians believe Mr. Zhirinovsky and support him and Mr. Putin, bringing to mind a propaganda technique that Adolf Hitler termed the Big Lie — a lie so preposterous that people believe it to be the truth because they can’t imagine anybody making it up. According to opinion polls, close to half the Russians do not believe the United States is a friendly country.
Until recently it was not that important for us in the U.S. because the livelihood of the Russian elite depended in part on the goodwill of the West, and its leader, the United States.
Not anymore.
Because there are no guarantees in Russia that you won’t be falsely accused of fraud and jailed with all your accounts seized, Russians prefer to keep assets abroad, preferably in Europe or the United States. But now that Russia is starting to feel the consequences of the world recession and its profits from selling natural resources — primarily crude oil and natural gas — are running thin, the Kremlin is pushing laws that don't allow government officials and parliamentarians to hold bank accounts abroad.
This policy shift is designed to seal the control Mr. Putin exerts over his vassals, bringing to heel those who stray from his flock, lured by guarantees of personal freedom and property rights protection that we in the United States often taken for granted.
Some political experts in Russia say this policy change stems from Mr. Putin’s reaction to the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, a bill signed into law in December. It replaces the Jackson-Vanik Amendment — an old law the Kremlin considered anti-Russian — and is loathed by the Kremlin even more.
The old law denied Russia normal trade relations but used to be routinely waived by U.S. presidents following the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The new law — prompted by a notorious quarter-billion-dollar corruption scandal in Russia — denies American visas to corrupt officials and human-rights violators and freezes their U.S. bank accounts, covering all foreign nations.
Mr. Putin apparently considers the new law a personal affront and an attempt to make him soften his grip on Russia.
But his decision to tighten that grip is nevertheless primarily dictated by his fear that he may soon be unable to afford to continue to increase police and military wages and maintain social programs that have let him get away with his dictatorial practices and a mere pretense of fighting corruption.
However, Mr. Putin has little choice. He has painted himself into the corner by leading the secret-police-dominated elite that has amassed enormous wealth through corruption and now simply can't afford to let him go and face public scrutiny and likely jail.
He is doomed to the fate of a dictator whose only hope is that the Big Lie may work for a while.
Contact Mike Sigov at: sigov@theblade.com, 419-724-6089, or on Twitter @mikesigovblade.
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