Posted on 10/27/2005 12:09:50 PM PDT by sergey1973
Russia (Khodorkovsky) Ping !
Everybody please keep the discussion to a point without personal attacks and insults. Thanks.
What's to discuss. The man is irrelavent. He thought he could do what he wanted and sell off the oil fields to anyone he pleased....ended badly. Then he thought with his down fall he'd take the whole economy with him...just a blip. Now he's a criminal in a penal colony and his political ratings are less then 3% votes and about 10% sympathy in general. I could probably get that much support if I moved there and had $10 million to throw around.
No more then Al Capone's deserved any "respect". I don't give respect that easily. Lemonov made his stand too, shall we give that nazi respect?
Limonov and Khodorkovsky is a false analogiy. Khodorkovsky statements have nothing in common with Communism, Nazism or any other totalitarian ideology.
Russia/Khodorkovsky PING ! Folks--any thoughts ?
State Capitalism which he represents is a form of socialism by corporate monopolies.
The man has a ridiculously-inflated opinion of himself, to compare himself to the 1825 Decembrists. (I pay homage to my Penn State education that I know that term and have some awareness of Russian history).
The thief must be in jail.
I think Mr. Khodorkovsky is just pursuing international sympathy with such statements. Secondly, I don't share the widely distributed opnion that he's Russia's best entrepreneur. High margin in oil business allows a fool to be successful here.
Anyway, his political activity in colony is not bad for Russia. We need pluralism.
Sure. Mr. Khodorkovsly is doing a prison term.
moreover--it tried to exterminate me physically
Such statements should be well-based. When is he going to file an official compaint?
“We must formulate the program of Russian development in the 21st century. We must build again the army and the judicial system.We must build from the scratch bureaucracy that will be interested in the well-being of the country and the society--not in it's own boundless personal enrichment”
Amen. BTW who’d say otherwise?
We must move away from the destructive policies of turning Russia into an energy colony and make a U-Turn toward the "economics of knowledge".
Strange to hear it from a former owner of a oil-drilling company who never invested in something like that.
Demagogy.
I think Russia need politician of new generation - nationalist conservatives.
"I think Russia need politician of new generation - nationalist conservatives."
I think Khodorkovsky statement comes very close to this.
He speaks like a politician who is both pro-Western and Russian Patriot. I could be wrong, but I respect him nevertheless. His refusal to flee the country and fight Putin regime deserves utmost respect regardless of his shady past during Yeltsin era.
I think there should be somebody else. Not Mr. Khodorkovsky. A person who has a record of work for Russia. Mr. Khodorkovsky lacks it.
Very good knowledge of Russian History--5 stars to Penn State !
However, I would disagree that Khodorkovsky has inflated opinion of himself. I think he simply noted the fact that he was sent to the same place where a lot of Decembrists and political prisoners were once sent. Whatever we may think of Khodorkovsky past, I still believe he deserves a respect for standing up to the Putin regime and refusing to continue paying protection money or do other favors to the Kremlin officials in exchange for their benevolence. He tried to play by civilized rules and got severely punished for that by the current regime.
Lack of record of work for Russia ? First of all, anybody who tried to do business honestly by paying clearly defined taxes instead of paying protection money to the Kremlin officials, already did something important for Russia.
Second, Khodorkovsky created Open Russia Foundation that sponsored a number of educational and cultural projects inside and outside of Russia. Is it a lack of work for Russia ? See the link for Open Russia Foundation and judge for yourself.
I extend my sympathy to anyone who plays by civilized rules. We don't live in a civilized world, unfortunately; it's just a veneer, and people have to find a way to survive within the systems and old-boy-networks that are in place around them.
Please add me to this ping list, thanks.
I don't have a formal Ping List Yet--I think I'll create one soon. In a meantime, I'll remember to include you in my posts--Thanks !
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