A while back I was at Barnes a & Nobel and I saw this blue book 'Putin's Russia.' I picked it up and thumbed through it and it was plain to see that Russia was going back into darkness. I was surprised that the woman who wrote the book was able to do so and still be free or still be in Russia.
It looks like I don't have to be surprised anymore.
Here is the last paragraph of a review by Robert Chandler on Ann's book 'Putin's Russia'
"There are at least two good reasons for buying this book. One is that Politkovskaya only just survived a recent attempt on her life by the security services. Unless there is whole-hearted support for her from Western journalists, politicians and the general public, she is likely to be assassinated. The other is that the cataclysm that has engulfed Russia concerns us all; today's depraved and defeated Russia may be a greater danger to the world than the 'evil empire' of the past."
From the website for expressing condolences
http://politkovskaya.fastbb.ru/?0-0- 80
Ella Kesayeva (today 00:38 Moscow time)
Anna Politkovskaya was the conscience of Russian journalism. It is intolerably hard to speak about her with the word 'was'...
We mourn her together with entire world. The life of a writer, a journalist on the very peak of her of talents, has been cut short. Courageous and daring, Anna lived a special life without compromise, and because of her the peoples of the Caucasus still had faith. Frail, and, at first glance, defenseless, the power of her unlimited courage was the hope of many inhabitants of the Caucasus, a simple people who desire to live in peace. She was their mouthpiece. From her, society learned about the scandalous cruelty of the authorities show its own citizens.
Anna was not just a well-known journalist, but a human rights activist, and the pride of the whole Russian community. The motive for this crime was her courage, and the crystalline purity of her soul.
In Russia, human rights advocates pay the price for the government's talentless politics. There is no doubt whatsoever that this is a political murder. Anna simply could not remain indifferent, even though she understood better than anyone that they would have no mercy on her. She did not step back, she dashed off to save the Beslan children, and would have saved many, had they not poisoned her. Back then, in Beslan, they were frightened of her courage.
She participated in the investigation of the Beslan tragedy, of 'Nord-Ost', in exposing the crimes in Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan. All the various levels of government feared these disclosures, but Anna could simply not be forced to fall silent.
Who dared carry out this this terrible crime? One way or another, Anna Politkovskaya's murder is the result of the government's cruelty and immoral policies, which more and more is revealing its true nature. It should be a matter of honor for the law-enforcement agencies to fully investigate this villainy, and find the killers. If this crime is not solved, if this crime is not investigated, and the killers never stand before a court of law, then will be abundantly clear who profits from this murder. Standing behind such great crimes, which are uninvestigated and unsolved, are the authorities, whose limitless irresponsibility generates them.
In Russia, they do not only arrest and imprison people for human rights activities, and for telling the truth; they kill them. The truth, which Anna Politkovskaya carried for the sake of peace on our long-suffering earth, we will not let them silence.
The Voice of Beslan community organization offers its condolences to all of Anna Politkovskaya's relatives and loved ones, and to all who know and who worked with her, including the staff of Novaya Gazeta. Anna was always an example of surprising purity and courage, and will remain so, forever.
The Voice of Beslan community organization