In Russia, bad old days are back

Chicago Tribune ^ | November 26th, 2006 | Alex Rodriguez

[M. Espinola]

SMOLENSK, Russia -- The era of brutal score-settling is far from over in Russia, especially in this hard-bitten western city where the nexus of business and politics usually yields volatile results.

Eduard Kachanovsky, a freshman city councilman who rankled city officials and their moneyed business allies with investigations into shady real estate deals and missing cash, recently learned that lesson. The officials had warned him for months to stop digging. Each time, he ignored them.

On the morning of Oct. 17, Kachanovsky was walking through his apartment building lobby on the way to work when two men dressed as laborers blocked his way. Before Kachanovsky could move, one of the men threw a container of sulfuric acid at his head. The attack burned much of his face and blinded him for several days.

"Unfortunately, I never paid much attention to the threats I was getting," said Kachanovsky, who now lives in hiding.

"Now I understand it's a pity that I didn't pay more attention to them." With disturbing frequency, Russia's intersection of politics and business is spawning the kind of coldblooded payback that characterized 1990s Russia under Boris Yeltsin.

So far, the magnitude of the violence does not match the gangland frenzy that made Russia's first post-Soviet years internationally notorious. Still, a recent wave of attacks and contract killings reinforces doubts among Russians that their country has edged closer to an era of stability and rule of law.

In many cases, today's targets are reformers hunted because they tried to fix the system and thought the country had matured enough to allow change to happen.

[M. Espinola]

[operation clinton cleanup]

[spanalot]

maybe the world is finally waking up to this madness

lots of msm condemnation of russia

http://www.russophobe.blogspot.com/

[Porterville]

With this Islamic extremism threat, Russia is taking action.

[ClaireSolt]

They understand these things in Chicago.

[JasonC]

Right, it is arming Iran to the teeth and helping their nuclear program every way they can, while also working diplomatically to make sure nothing is done about it. The action Russia is taking is creating the threat. Of course Putin also enjoys pounding Chechens as a means of popularity. But the bottom line is taking the US down a peg by tying us up in wars in the periphery, and seeing that those become as expensive as possible.

[M. Espinola]

"With this Islamic extremism threat, Russia is taking action."

This type of action?

Report: Russia Supplying Iran With Advanced Defense System

[M. Espinola]

From the link:

"The KGB is already trying to minimize the public relations nightmare it has created by attempting, in pathetic fashion, to claim that Litvinenko was too small a fish to interest them and the gutless, lemming-like Russian media (mostly state-owned) is falling right in line.."

The fact that the vast majority of the Russian based news media remains controlled and very closely monitored by the Kremlin is something many people may no even be aware of.

Also:

The West is losing patience with Putin

Putin's new secret weapon

(Putin's Russia controls 30% of the world's gas supply)

[GAB-1955]

Yes, but it's not merely Islamic extremism. Russia, if you haven't noticed, is using its energy policy to try to influence Eastern European states and Germany. Russia has tied Belarus tightly to its government, although the Belorussians aren't unhappy at the prospect). Moves towards a pro-Western policy in Ukraine and Georgia have been fought with covert operations and overt threats.

The Russians felt that they had lost all the gains they had made since the 1800s, let alone 1922, with the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Let us also remember that the Russians have little experience with parliamentary democracy, and prefer strong leaders, since their social and governmental institutions are set up to receive instructions from above. They will retain a measure of freedom and democracy. Soviet dictatorship will not come back, but Russian autocracy has already done so.

The issue with Islam is only part of the story. The rest is the rise of Russia as a Great Power once again.

[cousair]

My thoughts exactly! Muslim Islamic Terrorism has given Putin headaches..to be sure, but Putin is the supply line to terrorists in the Middle East and I doubt there is any question about it when the whole story airs.

[M. Espinola]

I agree with your comments.

Putin mistakenly thought he could continue playing everyone off against each other plus publicly assassinate vocal Russian critics of his ruthless neo-Soviet régime and the world would ignore his two faced brutality. Now he is being questioned and hates it, as the photo indicates below.

[MarMema]

Sickening. Sulfuric acid.

For a brief time, there was hope for Russia. Probably during the years I was there so often.

But the Russians seem intent on proving their stereotype to the world after all.

[M. Espinola]

The Russian public could reverse Putin's obvious mounting totalitarianism, if they so desired. Maybe they are still numb from 70 years of communism and also post neo-Sovietism to fathom what real freedom means. Or, maybe it's Russians being Russians?

[Scotsman will be Free]

Russians have been dragged by their noses and kicked in their rear ends by their leadership since the beginning of time. I doubt they would know freedom if it reared up and slapped them upside the head.

[MarMema]

something else I found

[M. Espinola]

I believe you are right.

If one has never known true freedom one does not understand it, nor how to attain it & more important, retain freedom.

[M. Espinola]

(Film footage) Russian spies in Georgia's capitol, caught red handed.

[MarMema]

You're good! That must be what I like about you. :-)

Hope you're having a better weekend than we are. Windstorms and power outages here.

[RusIvan]

lots of msm condemnation of russia

http://www.russophobe.blogspot.com/==

Maybe better to say the lot of russophobic condemnations? Russoaphobes hates all Russians. So no wonder if these enemies condemn us. It would be dangerous if the russophobes began to praise Russia:).

[GarySpFc]

It amazes me that the Russophobes hatred will not allow even the remote possibility that someone else might be guilty of the murder. They are totally ignorant to the identity of the Godfather of the Kremlin, and the evil of this person.