MAY 2005

From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 5/6/2005 4:20 AM
4.05.2005
Easy to persuade

It seems the security service of “president” Akhmad Kadyrov has finally got down to its direct duties. Frankly speaking, they will not guard Kadyrov himself, his monument only, which is to appear in August – when the statute by Zurab Tsereteli will be delivered to Grozny. Nonetheless, “the security service” has started working: they are guarding “the memorial complex” which is being rapidly built. In fact, such safety measures have caused large traffic jams in almost totally ruined Grozny. You have to produce a special permit (issued after special examinations) to get to the construction site.

However, regardless of all these “special measures,” there is a strict control at the entrance gate. And even after all the necessary precautions the guards are on the alert inside it. So far, no incidents have been reported, but “the security service” awaits the end of the construction with horror, because, according to the authors, the complex of 4 hectares ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 5/11/2005 3:19 AM
10.05.2005
An open letter

Dozens of personalities in Britain have criticized the choice of Moscow as the venue for celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory. The 71 signatories of a letter published in the Financial Times newspaper include Soviet-era dissident Elena Bonner, Lithuania’s first post-Soviet president Vytautas Landsbergis, politicians, former diplomats and international affairs analysts.

The letter was drafted by the US-based Project on Transitional Democracies, which is seeking to step up reforms in Russia and speed up its integration with the West. Apart from Ms Bonner, who is the wife of Nobel peace prize-winning Andrei Sakharov, and Mr Landsbergis, the letter was signed by the former prime ministers of Estonia and Bulgaria, Mart Laar and Philip Dimitrov. Former Czech president Vaclav Havel is also named, but he told the Czech news agency CTK that he had not signed the letter and had not been contacted about it, although he expressed understanding for its content.

«While the anniversary ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 5/15/2005 4:31 AM
12.05.2005
Outer signs of lasting peace

Ramzan Kadyrov promised to fulfil a number of tasks by May 9: to finish with Basayev and to name the assassins of his father. However, instead of a solemn report about the job done by May 9, two days later “first vice premier” made a vague and hollow statement: “The rebels pose no serious threat to security in the republic and can organize small raids only… If previously there were thousands of members of illegal armed formations, now there are only dozens of them.”

We can easily guess what forced Kadyrov to make such victorious reports and why he kept silence for two days, speaking out only on May 11. According to mass media reports, on May 9 fighters of the Chechen Resistance attacked the native village of Kadyrov (which looks today more like a fortress). Clearly enough, the attacked were scattered and pursued. “Chief of the Kurchaloy district department of interior” Roman Edilov ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 5/15/2005 5:23 PM

No Greed Without Power
Monday, May 16, 2005
By Yevgenia Albats
The other day, a journalist from a foreign newspaper, whose country has had a long history of military coups, asked me a question about the Mikhail Khodorkovsky case: What is the real motivation of those currently in the Kremlin, and of the chekists in particular, greed or power?

It was a good question, and the answer could define the nation's future for at least a decade to come.

The greed theory suggests that the Yukos-Khodorkovsky case was a one-time affair aimed at constraining the power of money over the state and creating new oligarchs loyal to President Vladimir Putin. Sources close to the Kremlin have reported something that Putin himself has stated. Apparently, Putin believes Russia needs about 24 oligarchs, as opposed to the mere six or so who emerged during Boris Yeltsin's presidency.

If this is the case, after cutting the Yukos giant into pieces and then biting off some other ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 5/16/2005 12:12 PM
16.05.2005
What drives support for this torturer

Oil and gas ensure that the US backs the Uzbek dictator to the hilt

The bodies of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in Uzbekistan are scarcely cold, and already the White House is looking for ways to dismiss them. The White House spokesman Scott McClellan said those shot dead in the city of Andijan included «Islamic terrorists» offering armed resistance. They should, McClellan insists, seek democratic government «through peaceful means, not through violence».

But how? This is not Georgia, Ukraine or even Kyrgyzstan. There, the opposition parties could fight elections. The results were fixed, but the opportunity to propagate their message brought change. In Uzbek elections on December 26, the opposition was not allowed to take part at all.

And there is no media freedom. On Saturday morning, when Andijan had been leading world news bulletins for two days, most people in the capital, Tashkent, still had no idea anything was happening. Nor are demonstrations in ...
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