The Policy of Personal Dislike

You’ll see: the main motive behind the bombing attack on Anatoly Chubais will soon be described as the “personal dislike” of a retired colonel, a pensioner, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, who tried to kill Chubais for “selling out the country,” as he would put it. But the shell-shocked pensioner was sane enough to see the trend: in today’s Russia, “personal dislike” is a good enough reason to destroy whatever it is you don’t like, because the government acts exactly the same.

Just to add that I have very negative view of Anatoly Chubais as an architect of Russian "privatization"--probably the most corrupt and dirty privatization in the modern history when bunch of Kremlin-connected "oligarchs" were essentially "appointed" by the regime to be the business tycoons. The Kremlin sold them lucrative state property (esp. oil and gas fields and equipment) for ridiculously low prices (5% or so of market value) in exchange for their support and cash payments to the regime whenever it wanted too or needed the money to re-elect Yeltsin in 1996.

However, I also believe that Chubais, should he ever be investigated for the 1990's privatization deals, deserves to have a fair trial in the court of law--not trial and execution by bombs or other means where someone acts like judge, jury and executioner. We can certainly speculate whether assassination attempt against Chubais was perpetrated by his business rivals at Russia's Unified Energy Systems, Putin Kremlin or just a personal revenge by one of the tens of millions disgruntled Russians (although I highly doubt the latest possibility--it looks too organized and too calculated and comes too late after the 1990's "privatization" scandals to be a simple revenge attack). Chubais and other top Yeltsin era officials who presided and implemented Yeltsin notoriously corrupt and criminal policies should be properly investigated for their activities, but right now it's simply impossible in Putin's Russia. With Putin regime, it will not be a fair investigation or trial of either Yeltsin or any Yeltsin-era official. It will be either physical elimination (through car accidents, bombs or bullets by someone who "personally-dislikes" the official, etc.) or "Khodorkovsky road". My point is that I don't want to see justice in the highest sense of the word replaced by terror-revenge either by individuals, groups or the government or Khodorkovsky-style show-trials.

"Ok, I personally dislike democrats. There, I said it and I feel proud."

-:) You are not alone. I bet millions "personally dislike" Ted Kennedy.

The point is that claiming that assassination attempt on the Russian Privatization Architect was a "personal dislike" looks ridiculous. Article is full of bitter sarcasm.

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