russian oil magnate forced to sell to putin loyalist, he says.

new york times ^ | july 31, 2007 | andrew e. kramer

[ken21]

Mikhail S. Gutseriev, who was once in the tight coterie of Russian billionaires known as oligarchs but has since fallen from favor, accused the government of President Vladimir V. Putin of forcing him out of the company using trumped-up tax claims.

The critical letter was the first significant public challenge to Mr. Putin from an influential businessman since the imprisonment four years ago of Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the former chairman of Yukos Oil, who is serving an eight-year sentence in Siberia. The development left analysts wondering what the future holds now for Mr. Gutseriev.

[Jack Hammer]

“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new?’ It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.”

Ecclesiastes 1:9-12 NIV

Russia is Russia, now as it has ever been. Santayana, wherever you are, take note.

[Joe Boucher]

Dead man walking.
Criticize Mr. Putin or his policies and he has you whacked.
Nothing new here, just the old K.G.B. in action.

[martinidon]

Wait until Hillary and the dims take over the white house. The same will happen to the bad oil execs in the US!

[ken21]

for your review.

[spanalot]

Wow - never saw that coming.

[B-Chan]

Russians prefer a centrally-run oligarchy with a strongman at the top, I guess. Different cultures, different ways of governing. As long as Russians are free to leave, and Putin doesn’t try strongarming Ukraine or the Baltics, let them have their KGB “czar”.

The return of the Romanovs would be the ideal fix, but, oh, no, we have to have “democracy”, don’t you know.