Fragments of a blog
Fragments of a blog
Nothing new on the Eastern front, writes Gabriel Syme at Samizdata (see also his previous entry). What I prize the most about Gabriel’s opinions is his historical-cultural approach, as opposed to a-historical or even anti-historical approaches. However, I don’t agree…
Not that Russians, skeptics as a rule, expect their Duma deputies to take care of their constituents’ interests, but voters hope that their representatives will serve them by staying true to the party line as it existed on election day.…
What’s wrong with the messenger? There are two well-known “liberal”, “democratic” parties in Russia: the URF and Yabloko. Judging by its official program, the URF is both politically and economically neo-liberal, and socially/culturally liberal. Yabloko pays more attention to safety…
Putin Revels in Election; Others See Flaws, reports the New York Times. I, too, saw flaws of great proportions, but I didn’t notice Putin reveling; on the contrary, he did not even look happy at the government meeting after the…
I hope I won’t be misunderstood: my reservations about Putin’s regime are not the same as the WaPo‘s. His KGB past doesn’t please me, but there’s nothing wrong about being an intelligence officer. He’s no anti-Semite, either: no one has…
I voted for the Union of the Right Forces in the Duma election today, but it doesn’t look they’re going to break the 5% line. They deserve what’s coming to them: a party that holds strong, winning views on key…
I swear I was going to comment on Aaron Haspel‘s poetical philippics. As Bismarck said, Russians harness slowly but ride fast. My problem is, preparations sometimes make action impossible. The bottom line is, while I was procrastinating, a revolution happened…
It’s unusual to read an article “bullish“ on Russia in a conservative US newspaper. No, I don’t think Putin is to Khodorkovsky what Theodore Roosevelt was to J.P. Morgan. Too much wishful thinking in this picture. Still, John B. Roberts…
Khodorkovsky Denied Bail by Court. The judge who presided at the hearing at the Moscow City Court is known to have never reversed the Basmanny Court, which initially sanctioned Khodorkovsky’s arrest and has been dubbed the Prosecutor General’s pocket court.…
Russia Is Mostly Unmoved by the Troubles of Its Tycoons, according to the title of a recent article in the NYT, which is an example of a good point being supported by shaky arguments. Ostensibly, one of the author’s intentions…
A while ago, Mike Pechar asked me to comment on the mood of common Russians regarding the YUKOS-Khodorkovsky affair. When I do not reply to a request like that, it surely means I cannot do it right away and need…
American Named to Head Russian Oil Giant Mikhail Khodorkovsky resigned as CEO of YUKOS, Russia’s top oil company. Semyon Kukes, a Soviet-born US citizen who made a successful career with Amoco and went on to manage TNK, the Russian oil…