Monthly Archives: January 2009

The New Year has brought little economic cheer to Russia. The estimated number of unemployed has hit 6 million. Industrial output has fallen by 10.3 percent. Car imports in the Far East have dropped by 95 percent in response to new tariffs. The ruble has slid to a new low costing Russia $200 billion or one third of its reserves (though the Russian government has announced that it will stop its further depreciation).

No doubt, Russia is feeling the economic pain but it isn’t alone. The US lost 71,000 jobs yesterday. Unemployment here in Golden State has hit 9.3 percent. Iceland’s government has become the first casualty of the economic crisis to riotous, window smashing, rock throwing protesters.  Mass protests have occurred in Greece, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuania. This is just the beginning warns Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the IMF. Political tensions in Europe ..read more

The British medical journal Lancet is no stranger to controversy. Many will remember how in 2004 and 2006 the journal published studies on Iraqi casualties resulting from the American invasion. Its estimate of 654,965 excess deaths related to the war caused a firestorm in the press.

Lancet is back in the media limelight with its recent study “Mass privatisation and the post-communist mortality crisis: a cross-national analysis.” The study’s authors, Prof. David Stuckler, Dr. Lawrence Kind, and Prof. Martin McKee, commit the sin of all sins by arguing that “Rapid mass privatization as an economic transition strategy was a crucial determinant of differences in adult mortality trends in post-communist countries; the effect of privatization was reduced if social capital was high.”  Namely, that the “shock therapy” of the mid-1990s led to 3 million premature deaths in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In Russia in particular rapid privatization was a ..read more

One reads a lot of weird and fanciful things about Russia. The place is such an enigma to some that attempts to understand it leads one to make all sorts of absurd connections. Take for example, Anthony Julius’ commentary “Dreams of Empire Strike Back” in the Guardian.  Julius, whose bio says that he’s a “highly-regarded litigation lawyer specializing in media law and defamation,” poses the rather calumniatory question: “What do Osama bin Laden and Vladimir Putin have in common?”  Those who think that the obvious answer is a resounding “nothing” will be surprised to find that Julius believes that the vozhd and the terrorist “have identical perspectives on one specific issue” i.e. the desire to recreate a past empire. He writes:

What is that issue? Bin Laden’s and Putin’s imperialist ambitions are novel because they are driven not by a desire to create something new, but to recapture something that has ..read more

The opening paragraph of Kommersant‘s article on Stanislav Markelov’s funeral reads:

Ostankinskoe cemetery where the jurist Stanislav Markelov was to be buried was heavily guarded.  OMON, police buses, and patrol cars. They asked mourners to show the contents of their bags and required them to show documents. There were whispers in the crowd that police feared a terrorist attack. They expected high state officials to be among the double murders’ mourners. But government officials didn’t come (However, there were public politicians from both government and opposition).  It’s notable that representatives of the Russian government also didn’t give any condolences. But yesterday Viktor Yushchenko send at telegram to his countrywoman.  (The journalist Anna Baburova, who was shot after the lawyer, is a native of Ukraine.)

Not a consolatory peep from the Russian government? Then what were all those Robocops supposed to represent?

A definitive narrative is forming in the Russian mainstream press about the Markelov-Baburova murders.  This narrative says that it is unlikely that Colonel Yuriy Budanov has any connection to the murder because he has the most to lose. In fact, the quick finger pointing at Budanov is exactly what those crafty killers want us to do! As Aleksandr Kots writes in Komsomolka:

It would be no surprise if the real murderers were actually counting on this reaction. Their aim was probably not so much the man’s death as the uproar that would follow. And there is no doubt that this crime will draw as wide a reaction as the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya — it was staged too “successfully” and professionally. “Russia releases a war criminal who, upon gaining his freedom, starts taking revenge,” they will begin to say in the West. “Here is the true demonic face of the ..read more

The human rights organization Memorial was victorious in the Dzerzhinsky district court on Tuesday when Judge Andrei Shabakov ruled that the police raid on their office was “unlawful.”

The key issue driving Monday and Tuesday’s hearing was whether Memorial was given the right to have their lawyer present during the raid. Chief investigator Mikhail Kalganov argued that the organization was given the right to have a lawyer present but didn’t take advantage of it.  Memorial’s lawyer Ivan Pavlov argued that Iosif Gabuniia arrived at the office to monitor the search, but the police refused to open the door. Gabuniia testified in court that “We don’t need lawyers here” was shouted through the door.  Kalganov claimed that he wasn’t aware of any of this.  Nevertheless, the judge found that Kalganov’s actions, or lack thereof, prevented the lawyer from representing his client during the search.

The case isn’t over yet.  Authorities have yet to ..read more