U.S. Hawk Wants Russia Out of G-8; Richard Perle has called for Russia to be expelled...

Moscow Times ^ | 10-30-03

[Brian S]

By Simon Saradzhyan

Staff Writer Richard Perle, a hawkish policy adviser whose voice is heard in the Pentagon, has called for Russia to be expelled from the Group of Eight industrialized countries over the arrest of Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

"Russia should be excluded from the G-8. No [other] G-8 country is allowed to treat its leading businessmen the way Russia treated Khodorkovsky," Perle was quoted as saying in Russian translation in the Thursday issue of Kommersant. "I believe Russia is moving fast in the wrong direction."

Perle, who believes that the White House should contain the Kremlin rather than cooperate with it, has criticized the campaign against Yukos shareholders from the beginning.

"It's possible already to say that real damage is being done to the prospects for future Russian economic growth and development by what appears to be an arbitrary, capricious and vindictive campaign against a private company," he said during a Moscow seminar in July after the arrest of Yukos shareholder Platon Lebedev.

Although he resigned as chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, Perle retains strong influence on U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and is one of the leaders of the neo-conservative camp in Washington.

The influence of this camp on President George W. Bush has waned somewhat, but it is still strong when it comes to shaping U.S. defense policy, according to Alexander Pikayev, a military specialist at the Carnegie Moscow Center. The conservatives, however, can do little to influence Washington's relations with Russia, according to both Pikayev and Ivan Safranchuk, Moscow representative of the Washington-based Center for Defense Information.

Thus, Perle's appeal alone to exclude Russia from the G-8 will probably have little practical impact on the Bush administration's policy toward Russia, the experts said. However, it may set off a new round of criticism of President Vladimir Putin's domestic policies in the U.S. Congress, Safranchuk said.

Perle may be using the Yukos affair to push his vision of foreign policy that would contain Russia rather than elevate it to the status of a strategic partner, Safranchuk said.

"One player cannot have full control of such a game," he said, referring to those carrying out the attack on Yukos. "Other players start spinning this affair to advance their interests."

Perle also criticized the campaign in Chechnya and said he hoped that Russian oil companies would be denied contracts in postwar Iraq. He said the White House should be under no illusions that the Kremlin will help to end alleged development of nuclear weapons by Iran.

Perle was forced to step down as chairman of the Defense Policy Board last spring because of a potential conflict of interest between his duties on the Pentagon board and his defense-related business activities. He remained a board member.

He is not known to have any business ties with Yukos, Safranchuk said.

[marron]

Its odd, but even us neo-con-straussians, as much as we like Perle, are willing to give Putin the benefit of the doubt. Or at least some of us are.

There's just something about an Aqua Velva man...

[oceanview]

cash is king.

Perle has exposed himself with this.

[1rudeboy]

I'd imagine getting tossed in jail and waiting until December to find out what charges the State wishes to bring would garner some sympathy.

[clockwork]

I'd imagine getting tossed in jail and waiting until December to find out what charges the State wishes to bring would garner some sympathy.

I believe he has been charged with six counts of fraud and tax evasion....

[RussianConservative]

Actually they tap same fields that Soviet did not one new field.

[RussianConservative]

He has, wait is for trail.

[FreedomCalls]

It's very much like if we gave NASA to a businessman who stripped off a lot of its assets, and now wants to sell whats left to the Chinese.

[1rudeboy]

I think he has been told what the charges against him might be. This is Russia, and not an episode of Law & Order.

[clockwork]

Saturday October 25, 7:59 PM Russia charges YUKOS boss with fraud, tax evasion MOSCOW, Oct 25 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's biggest oil firm YUKOS , Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was charged on Saturday with six counts of fraud and tax evasion, a spokeswoman for the General Prosecutor's office said.

You probably don't know what the meaning of "is" is either. By the way I don't watch Law & Order.

[1rudeboy]

Contrary to what RussianConservative says, no trial date has been set. He has a pre-trial hearing on Dec. 30th. As for the charges he faces, lets just say that they can be "adjusted" at the whim of the prosecution. Meanwhile, he sits in jail.

[1rudeboy]

Anton Drel, Mr Khodorkovsky's lawyer, said seven charges against him, including fraud and tax evasion totalling $1bn, had been presented, though not in the usual form of a legal document, and said elements of these demonstrated that their action was politically motivated.
Financial Times, October 27, 2003

Mr. Drel, you will remember, had his office raided and his documents seized by the FSB. There is a whole lot more going-on here than both of us know, and certainly more than the state-run media in Russia is reporting.

[clockwork]

no trial date has been set.

First you said there were no charges, now its no trial date...quit moving the goal posts. No trial date has been set in the Kobe Bryant case either...what's your point.

[1rudeboy]

My point is that you assume that the legal system in Russia is similar to that of the US. It's difficult to imagine someone comparing Khodorovsky's case with Bryant's without bursting-out in laughter. (Unless Bryant has made the argument that his prosecution is politically-motivated, his lawyer's office has been raided, and he's sitting in jail without being formally charged).

[Spartano]

He is not the only one. John McCain has to be excluded as well.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec03/mccain_11-06_a.html

[illumini]

I think Richard P is a nutball.

[zinochka]

Russia is the only country to treat oligarchs like that? I guess Perle did not see trial of Martha Stewart, right?

[Sam's Army]

Hmmmm...

[JohnGalt]

Perle on the same side with Soros and the Russian Oligarchs?

Hmmm, indeed.

Thanks for the ping.