Putin joins OJ in a legal system

Russia Today, another bluff?

Back in the those evil days of the Soviet when we all thought they were the biggest and baddest Super Power on the block, those days when our slithering liberal establishment operated on tough sounding appeasement slogans like "Better Red than Dead," we paid quick attention whenever a Kremlin big shot threatened. Then, in the early 80s an ex-spook named Herb Meyer departed for the Soviet Union to just "look around" like a tourist. He didn't hide anywhere, he just walked around Moscow, St.Pete, and a couple of other Marxist Paradises and concluded from the the pot holed streets, apartment buildings that were falling apart, lack of food in shops, and the collapse of infrastructure that Russia was broke and ready to fall. He communicated his observations to Reagan as he launched the phony "Star Wars" campaign, the one which lured the Soviet into an impossibly expensive endeavor, the one which broke them.

Two essays on the web today tell of a today's Russia completely out of synch. Putin is stealing money and depositing same into European banks (as much as one billion dollars); the gangsters controlling almost all enterprises are looting the country too and also shipping their money out, and the capitalism operates with no rules save those laid down by their Mafia. So it's not all that surprising that Putin's bluffs are being called all over Europe as the lawsuits against Russia and Russians in various European courts threaten to topple the "new and improved" Russia. You can do anything to the Europeans except steal their money or what they think might be their money. Even Saddam knew that if he kept paying them off they would leave him in peace.

Well, as Russia renigs on contract after contract, shuts down twelve of fifteen Brit Consulates, and interferes with European business, some Europeans are actually suing him. Suing Russia? Are you mad? Don't you know they might cut Europe off from their oil? They might only if they get terminal stupidity. You see it turns out that Putin has no market for his oil other than Europe because he can't transport it anywhere else. As the EU courts start to squeeze him we may see another Russian collapse real soon. Russia is now faced with European lawsuits by the former shareholders of Yukos Oil, verdicts of state-sponsored murders in Chechnya, thwarted attempts to undermine Georgian democracy, and plans to shut down the British Consulates all over the country. And that's just for starters. This stuff is going all the way to the Hague (whatever the fuck that is).

This coming November, an arbitration proceeding will commence in The Hague before a panel of three respected international jurists. At issue are claims against the Russian government for illegal nationalization of corporate assets, bilking foreign investors in the now-defunct YUKOS oil company to the tune of $100 billion. Understandably, they want their money back

The two essays are HERE and here.