Posted on 01/03/2006 4:54:25 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
THE RESIGNATION of Russian President Vladimir Putin's top economic adviser, Andrei Illarionov, was an uncommon gesture of integrity....
He described as ''swindles of the year" recent notorious takeovers of private energy companies by state-owned outfits. He also crossed a red line by praising the Ukrainian government of President Viktor Yushchenko for annulling the fraudulent sale of a state-owned steel plant to the son-in-law of his corrupt predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, for only $800 million. The plant was then sold to a German firm for $4.82 billion.
Illarionov had to know that spotlighting the Putin clique's particular shady deals, and lauding Yushchenko's contrasting honesty, were intolerable transgressions against a Kremlin code of ''omerta." Such knowledge renders his action all the more admirable. As too few office-holders in Western democracies are willing to do, Illarionov was ready to cede his high post for the sake of principle.
When he formally announced his resignation Tuesday, Illarionov used the occasion to warn that the Kremlin insiders' drive to take possession of Russia's oil and natural gas assets has made possible ''the selective use of energy as a weapon outside Russia."
He was alluding to punitive price increases for natural gas that Russia had been selling to Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia -- former Soviet republics that are now independent countries aligning themselves with the democracies of Europe and America. Putin has also been siting natural gas pipelines to bypass Ukraine and Poland and to bolster a strategic partnership with China.
The Western democracies need to pay careful attention to Illarionov's warning about the Kremlin's ''new corporatist model for political, economic, social, public, and international life."
He knows what he is talking about, and it sounds like a combustible mixture of nationalism, fascism, and gangsterism.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
A Good Man - Its sad to think that Illianorov might commit suicide with multiple gunshots to the head
it sounds like a combustible mixture of nationalism, fascism, and gangsterism.
We have seen that combination before, throw in religious
hegemony and you have Iran.
ping
The best and the safest thing he could do would be to undertake a long foreign travel.
Putin acting like a commie again...
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