Posted on 12/25/2010 7:50:38 AM PST by devere
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed Russian tycoon, has lashed out at Vladimir Putin, describing his nemesis as a pitiable but dangerous leader steering his country towards degradation and chaos.
In a newspaper article published on Friday, three days before a judge begins reading the verdict in a fresh trial that could keep him in jail until 2017, Mr Khodorkovsky said the Russian prime minister was trapped in the cynical political establishment he had created, indifferent to the fate of its people.
“I suddenly realised I was sorry for this man – no longer young, but vigorous and horribly lonely in the face of a vast and unsympathetic country,” he said.
The latest trial reaches its conclusion before the expiry of an eight-year sentence handed down after a first trial for fraud and tax evasion. After his conviction in 2005, Yukos, the giant oil producer he founded, was confiscated and sold, mainly to state oil companies, to help settle alleged tax debts.
Critics say the new charges are aimed at keeping Mr Khodorkovsky, who emerged as a champion of democracy before his arrest, behind bars long after presidential elections in 2012.
Together with Platon Lebedev, his business partner, Mr Khodorkovsky is now being tried on fresh charges of embezzlement that even his critics have slammed as absurd. On Monday, a Moscow judge will begin reading out a verdict that is expected to hand the two men additional prison sentences of six years.
The publication of the stinging article comes after Mr Putin suggested during a nationwide phone-in with Russians last week that Mr Khodorkovsky could have blood on his hands after Yukos’ former security chief was convicted for murder.
Defence lawyers for Mr Khodorkovsky accused Mr Putin of putting pressure on the judge to pronounce a guilty verdict and threatened to take
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
“Mr Khodorkovsky said the Russian prime minister was trapped in the cynical political establishment he had created, indifferent to the fate of its people. “
Same could be said of Obama.
that certainly explains all his pr stunts of late.
In defeat, defiance
doesn't sound defeated in the way it counts.
If I was him, I wouldn’t be eating any sushi in my near future.
I VOTE FOR PITIFUL OVER PTITABLE.
Khodorkovsky is an international swindler. He belongs right where he is where Soros and others should be.
Good for Putin.
Don’t think for a second Obama would not do the same thing.
I ask a bunch of my Obama sycophant friends, why are we still in a recession? Typical response paraphrased ... Obama saved us from a depression, it’s all Bush’s fault.
My response, also paraphrased: unemployment was under 8% when Bush took office and gas prices were well under $2/gallon. Not only that, Christina Romer promised that unemployment would stay at 8.2% with the stimulus passed, but increase to only 9% without the stimulus. Unemployment with the stimulus has hovered around 10% for well over a year and gas is now $3/gallon. So was the Obama administration lying then, are they lying now, or are they just that frigging stupid?
The Obama sycophants usually start mumbling at this point. They respond with some crazy statement, “Obama’s only 1/4th of the way through his presidency.” I respond, “No he’s over 50% through; you think the American people are actually going to be dumb enough to reelect him.”
My point in telling this story is that one of my questions in this conversation is, “So what is Obama going to do now to fix the economy.” I usually get a response that is jumbled up, with something about more spending in there usually. I respond, “Obama has spent most of the last 2 years whining how the banks aren’t lending at companies are hoarding cash.” At this point, my Obama sycophant friends nod in approval, not knowing what I’m about to say next. I then say, “If Obama wants to make sure the banks lend or the companies hire, he has to threaten them with criminal penalties to force them to do so. Merely talking about it but not acting is not going to do anything.” At this point, they’re confused. Deep down, they do not oppose my modest proposal, but they’re not that dumb to agree with my modest proposal just yet.
Don’t think for a second Obama would not do the same thing that Putin’s doing. The only thing that’s different is that Putin does not go into a tizzy and cry racism if you call him a socialist or a communist.
“a pitiable but dangerous leader steering his country towards degradation and chaos”
Looks like we have something in common with Russia.
“Khodorkovsky is an international swindler.”
Your faith in Russian justice is difficult to fathom.
In any case since Kohodokovsky refused to flee Russia like so many others, he could only properly be accused of being a “national swindler”.
In my opinion whatever Khodorkovsky did to accumulate his fortune, he has been imprisoned for his efforts on behalf of democracy in Russia, and nothing else.
Doesn’t Putin sound like the kind of guy that you would trust enough to sign an arms control treaty with?
“Don’t think for a second Obama would not do the same thing.”
At least in my case, you are preaching to the choir.
You need to do some research on this criminal ... Khodo is a crook. The Khodorovsky PR machine seems to have infected your brain.
You need to start thinking more clearly about people and events-—don’t believe everything you read in the mass media. Democracy? what are you talking about?
The kind of corrupt oligarchy we have here in the US? If any nation needs a thorough cleaning job it’s us.
In order to make this happen he created a bank, using his ties with the mafia to make it "legal" on paper. He then moved IMF funds which had been given to Russia to help them become stable and to support their move from communism to a more free country, to the US, to banks here.
Citibank was right up there with him. Russia after the USSR collapse was a nation in trouble. I was there many many times in the mid-nineties. People were hungry.
IMF funds were supposed to help industries keep jobs so that people could eat. Khodorsky made sure they did not eat.
Let him rot, and go Putin, keep him put away forever. On behalf of every hungry dirty child I saw begging in the Metro in those days...
In my opinion whatever Khodorkovsky did to accumulate his fortune, he has been imprisoned for his efforts on behalf of democracy in Russia, and nothing else.
Devere——repeating the same mantra is silly.
The “Russian” oligarchs (like our own banker and political crooks) stole from the mouths of those children Marmema describes (I saw some to that too in 1994).
Those crooks some of whom hide out in the US and the UK along other places (we will not name them all) deserve to be hunted down and put away-—I hope Putin does that the sooner the better!
Russian is in quotation marks because these crooks like Khodo are the furthest thing from being Russain - they are amoral immoral criminals and I am being generous.
“Devere——repeating the same mantra is silly.”
Ignoring the real truth is even more silly.
A despotic government never tells you they want to take away your freedom for bad reasons. It’s always to help the poor, protect children, punish criminals, etc.
The despotic government of Russia never cared about Khodorkovsky or any of his alleged crimes before he took an interest in helping the political opposition to Vlad Putin. I’m surprised there are so many naive people to buy Putin’s nonsense, but that seems to be the way it is.
The Guardian? Yeah right...guarding the Leftist looters against those conservatives who want to stop them.
Thanks for the link Marmema... and Merry Christmas to you!
You too Devere.
Agreed. I don't agree with everything in this article, not at all, but this part is what he did wrong.
Additionally I believe Kodorski was pro-chechen or at least had leanings that way. In short he was the new ilberal and Russia was instead heading right, as I recall, at the time.
Nonetheless his fortune was stolen, so I have no pity for him in the hands of Putin.
Khodo was convicted as you know. Finally justice for the many people he ripped off. You and Obamba are saddened I know.
Now they need to go after the rest of the Communist criminal scum including Soros and Berezovsky.
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