The Curious Case of Alexander Litvinenko

[Stavros]

I saw the interview with Khodorkovsky at the time and was not impressed. It is fairly well known how the Russian mafia emerged during Soviet times and took advantage of the breakdown in law and order in the 1990s, and that it has become useful to a diverse group of people with or without connections to the highest levels to the state, blurring the lines when it comes to activities like money laundering. And I don't doubt they like London because it is a relatively easy place in which to live, though I note too that the richer the Russia the greater the likelihood that they never go anywhere without a bodyguard or two, being most in danger from other Russians, rather like the tepid drama that was on the BBC recently, McMafia -based on a factual account of crime and politics in Russia by Misha Glenny. I don't know how anyone can live like that, but I guess they are used to it. All that money for so little personal freedom.

I don't see how this can prove Putin is either isolated or controlled in the way Khodorkvsky implies. On one level Putin cannot know everything that happens beneath him, and may approve of some things that do, such as the murder of Litvinenko and if he doesn't then he has the power to deal with those responsible. The point is he is the Head of State and we are always being told how powerful he is. That in reality he may not be so powerful does not remove the point that he is ultimately responsible even if his government is riddled with crooks. It was as if Khodorkovsky was trying to find a reason to excuse the man who almost ruined his life. But then it may also be a benefit to Russia that Khodorkovsky's political ambitions were crushed, even if his prison term was an excess of punishment, albeit done to prove to anyone else the risks of challenging Putin's grip on power.

[peejaye]

I'd just like to congratulate Vladimir on his Landslide victory & giving the 77% of Russian citizens what they wanted.

His intolerance to "do-gooders" for me makes him The Worlds most powerful man. How about that COMRADE !

[Jericho]

Another view of recent events.
another angry voice

[Stavros]

Another view of recent events.
another angry voice

Some good, concise points in this link (esp. on Williamson and Johnson) -but offers no alternative to the origin and use of the nerve agent used in Salisbury.

[Stavros]

I'd just like to congratulate Vladimir on his Landslide victory & giving the 77% of Russian citizens what they wanted.
His intolerance to "do-gooders" for me makes him The Worlds most powerful man. How about that COMRADE !

This has to be satire. And I thought 'do-gooders' were the kind of bleeding heart residents of Islington who vote Labour? Hw is your campaign against the Bolshevik Broadcasting Company proceeding?

[filghy2]

I'd just like to congratulate Vladimir on his Landslide victory & giving the 77% of Russian citizens what they wanted.

At the risk of sounding like a cliche, if things are so good in Russia and so bad in the UK then why don't you migrate to Russia? Maybe you could claim political asylum as a member of a political movement being suppressed by a deep state conspiracy.

Given one of Putin's main claims to success is that he turned around the economy after the post-Soviet collapse, it's interesting that the Russian economy has been stagnant since the previous election. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Russia

Could the economy be Putin's achilles heel, as it was for the Soviet Union in the end? The combination of a military build-up, confrontation with the West, rampant corruption and political repression is hardly the recipe for a dynamic economy. In addition, privatisation has been reversed under Putin and the state now controls 3/4 of the economy according to this article - again, not a recipe for a dynamic economy. https://www.project-syndicate.org/co...-sonin-2018-02

[peejaye]

I'm going to take your advice as you "trolled" & stay away from you two maniacs. I've seen the drivel on other threads you two idiots are wallowing in.
You can stick all these far right websites up your arses, I've lived in Russia on & off for six years & I'm far more qualified than you will ever be on what's happening there. I spoke with my "ex" only yesterday.
Personally, I'm more concerned about sorting the country out where I live although it's so far gone now it's becoming impossible.
You two should be propping up a fucking flyover somewhere!

[Stavros]

I'm going to take your advice as you "trolled" & stay away from you two maniacs. I've seen the drivel on other threads you two idiots are wallowing in.
You can stick all these far right websites up your arses, I've lived in Russia on & off for six years & I'm far more qualified than you will ever be on what's happening there. I spoke with my "ex" only yesterday.
Personally, I'm more concerned about sorting the country out where I live although it's so far gone now it's becoming impossible.
You two should be propping up a fucking flyover somewhere!

I have not linked any 'far right websites' so I would appreciate a list. It is a pity that you don't set aside your anger and debate the issues with at least some evidence to hand, even if the evidence in this case has yet to be published in full for reasons that the government must know.

I also want to see concrete action taken to address the problems we have in the UK, but do not see them as impossible to deal with, that is the cry of the desperate who are inclined to reject the existing mechanisms we have in this flawed democracy as being part of the problem, and thus call for more 'drastic measures' which will only make things worse. It goes without saying that Brexit remains the greatest opportunity or threat to our future, and you know on which side of the fence I am.

It is also the case that in the aftermath of Napoleon's domination of French politics many Europeans believed France could only be run by a dictator; the same fear was expressed of Germany after 1945; and again of the USSR when Stalin died -and since, and enough Russians seem to agree to enable the latest version to run in an election unopposed. Putin saw the way in which the USSR 'deteriorated' into a Russia run by party apparratchiks suddenly awash in cash, gangsters, foreign investors -some legal, some not- and how Russia's international profile appeared to decline, and one can at least understand his desire to clean up the yard.

Except he has not 'drained the swamp' so much as deepened it, while engaging in foreign adventures that prove how influential Russia can be and that have drawn admiration from people who should know better. But this influence has lumbered Russia with a commitment to Syria that shows no sign of ending, and is thus as potentially damaging as the USSR's 'assistance' to the Communist regime in Afghanistan in 1980.

Now may be the time for Russians to ask how much longer their military is going to remain in Syria. Bashar al-Asad is in effect, dependent on the Russians for his personal safety and that of his family business, aka the Syria Government. But the war is not over, Syria has been invaded by Turkey which has occupied Afrin and will use it as a base to harass if not exterminate as many Kurdish 'terrorists' as it can, using former members of al-Qaeda and Daesh to do it. What is Russia or NATO going to about this? Syria is ungovernable as a country, the cost of re-building shattered towns and cities runs in the Billions -are the Russians going to pay for that while their economy is unable to grow because of the country's interference in the domestic affairs of Europe and the US?

Russia has attacked the west because it wants to break up NATO, the EU seeing these processes as a means whereby it can regain the super-power status it once had. But in doing so with the actions it is taking, it is alienating itself from the very people who would rather Russia was our friend and partner, because for all my criticism of the Putin regime, I want to live in a world where I can visit St Petersburg any time I like and not be worried about some political spat making it a risky trip -and I think that is what the Russians want too.

[peejaye]

[buttslinger]

As an American, I'm qualified to talk about Trump, even if I'm not qualified. It's my Constitutional Right!!!
But I can't talk about England, I remember when Liberty Harkness and her TS-Friend used to talk "Benny Hill English" and I couldn't understand a word they said.
If PeeJaye gets tired of arguing, it'll get pretty boring around here, I don't even go on Twitter, the back and forth there is so intoxicating, I might get lost in there like the Bermuda Triangle and waste even more of my already wasted days........sigh.