September 13, 2007 — Contents

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 13 CONTENTS

(1) EDITORIAL: Annals of Charles Ganske, Servant of the Beast

(2) Annals of Putin’s Failure: He’s Killing the Russian Language

(3) Neo-Soviet Russia is So Lame, it’s Beyond Pathetic

(4) Annals of “Pacified” Chechnya

(5) Latynina on the Horror of Russian Corporatism

NOTE: Check out La Russophobe‘s latest installment on Publius Pundit, where she reviews “President” Putin’s recent governmental shakeup, and feel free to add your comments as to what Putin’s arbitrary, irresponsible behavior means for Russia’s future.

NOTE: La Russophobe has just been informed that an article she submitted to Russia! magazine was published therein, in the Fall 2007 issue. Check it out!

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

September 13, 2007 — Contents

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 13 CONTENTS

(1) EDITORIAL: Annals of Charles Ganske, Servant of the Beast

(2) Annals of Putin’s Failure: He’s Killing the Russian Language

(3) Neo-Soviet Russia is So Lame, it’s Beyond Pathetic

(4) Annals of “Pacified” Chechnya

(5) Latynina on the Horror of Russian Corporatism

NOTE: Check out La Russophobe‘s latest installment on Publius Pundit, where she reviews “President” Putin’s recent governmental shakeup, and feel free to add your comments as to what Putin’s arbitrary, irresponsible behavior means for Russia’s future.

La Russophobe has just been informed that an article she submitted to Russia! magazine was published therein, in the Fall 2007 issue. Check it out!

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

EDITORIAL: Annals of Charles Ganske, Servant of the Beast

EDITORIAL

Russia Blog Sinks Further into the Abyss

We genuinely did not think it could be possible for Russophile scumbag Charles Ganske of Russia Blog to sink any deeper into the muck of dishonesty and treachery to the United States, but he’s outdone himself.

In a naked propaganda gesture so shameless and vile as to be offensive even to the ridiculous “standards” Russia Blog has set for itself, Ganske has attempted — on the September 11th anniversary itself, mind you — to equate the 9/11 terror attack on New York City with the Beslan tragedy, implying that Russians and Americans are in the same boat and therefore Americans should give Russians pretty much whatever they want. He doesn’t have the guts to actually do this in words, so instead he just posts a bunch of pictures. If you look at them and think only a little, you will feel your stomach turn as you hear the fetid whispers of Stalin.

Here are just some of the reasons that Beslan and 9/11 have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with each other:

1. Russia has been repeatedly convicted in international tribunals of gross human rights abuses against the people represented by the Beslan terrorists. Russia Blog has totally ignored all these convictions, a continuation of its outrageous propaganda campaign on behalf of the Kremlin (instead, the only critical reporting Russia Blog ever does on Russia are insignificant points designed to distract attention from bigger problems and create the illusion of objectivity — take for example Yuri Mamchur’s pathetic comments about a traffic collision he thinks could have been avoided). No such convictions have been entered against the United States in connection with any peoples represented by the 9/11 terrorists.

2. The Kremlin has brutally silenced the Beslan truth movement, as we’ve repeatedly reported on this blog. Again, Russia Blog has totally ignored these reports as its frenzied, pathological propaganda campaign moves into high gear. This movement argues that the Kremlin’s own negligence was as responsible for the loss of live at Beslan as were the terrorist raiders. No such statements can be made about the 9/11 attack, nor would the U.S. government be able to squelch such an investigation as the Kremlin has easily done.

3. Far more people were killed on 9/11 (2,974) than at Beslan (334) — almost ten times more. Russians always bristle whenever “ignorant” Americans dare to compare U.S. casualties during World War II with those of Russia, which were far greater, yet their Russophile shils like Gankse have no problem comparing Beslan and 9/11. That’s an outrage.

4. Perhaps most important of all, Russia is actively supporting radical Islam against the United States, including providing nuclear technology and missiles to Iran, weapons to Syria, and huge pots of cash and diplomatic cover to Hamas and Hezbollah. Russia is encouraging future acts of terror against the United States by taking these actions. No such acts are being taken by the US in places like Chechnya. Again, Russia’s outrageous support for these groups, which is contrary even to its own basic security interests and motivated by a blind contempt for the United States, has been completely ignored by Russia Blog.

We’ve grown used to the way in which Russia Blog ritualistically perverts the truth as it seeks to assist the rise of dictatorship in Russia. But this 9/11 post is an escalation, a direct attempt to undermine the national security of the United States by lulling it into the ridiculous view that Russia is a sympathetic nation similarly being victimized by terrorist aggression. This is exactly the same tactic that was employed by Soviet spies during the original Cold War, and it is shocking to see it so nakedly on display in our modern times. We condemn Russia Blog for its outrageous propaganda and call upon the blogosphere to strike down this outrage.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Annals of Putin’s Failure: Russian is Overwhelmed

The Telegraph reports that English is slowing taking over the Russian language. Will Putin be willing to use Stalin tactics to stop it? Perhaps he intends to step aside for a few years and let Mr. Ivanov handle the bloody work, then return when it is over.

First came Franglais. Then there was Spanglish. Now start getting used to Runglish, the English-laced argot of “kool” young Russians that has traditionalists weeping into their borscht. To the horror of their parents, Russia’s ‘Koka-Kola’ generation has developed a vocabulary that has more to do with MTV than Pushkin. By mobile phone text message or on the internet, young Russian men invite their “friendessi” (female friends) for a “drrink” at the “Pab”. And if you don’t understand what they are talking about, you are clearly a “loozer”.

First coined by cosmonauts in 2000 to describe the language spoken with their American counterparts on the International Space Station, “Runglish” is increasingly viewed by nationalists as a Western assault on the purity of one of the world’s great languages. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Anglicism spread rapidly – in part because there was a dearth of vocabulary to describe the technicalities of market capitalism but also because of an exposure to international travel and foreign television. “The internet brought a lot of words from foreign languages,” said Vladimir Dolgov, the head of Google Russia. “But the jargon is now moving into the press and advertising. This is the way language develops and it is a process that can’t be stopped.”

Concerned by the growing influence of English, the Kremlin declared 2007 the Year of the Russian Language. The linguists, however, say the fear of English is misplaced. “Young people always develop fashionable ways of communicating,” said Yuri Prokhorov, head of the Pushkin State Institute of Foreign Luanguage. “It is Russian words used incorrectly that damages the purity of the language not the introduction of foreign words,” he added.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Annals of Putin’s Failure: Russian is Overwhelmed

The Telegraph reports that English is slowing taking over the Russian language. Will Putin be willing to use Stalin tactics to stop it? Perhaps he intends to step aside for a few years and let Mr. Ivanov handle the bloody work, then return when it is over.

First came Franglais. Then there was Spanglish. Now start getting used to Runglish, the English-laced argot of “kool” young Russians that has traditionalists weeping into their borscht. To the horror of their parents, Russia’s ‘Koka-Kola’ generation has developed a vocabulary that has more to do with MTV than Pushkin. By mobile phone text message or on the internet, young Russian men invite their “friendessi” (female friends) for a “drrink” at the “Pab”. And if you don’t understand what they are talking about, you are clearly a “loozer”.

First coined by cosmonauts in 2000 to describe the language spoken with their American counterparts on the International Space Station, “Runglish” is increasingly viewed by nationalists as a Western assault on the purity of one of the world’s great languages. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Anglicism spread rapidly – in part because there was a dearth of vocabulary to describe the technicalities of market capitalism but also because of an exposure to international travel and foreign television. “The internet brought a lot of words from foreign languages,” said Vladimir Dolgov, the head of Google Russia. “But the jargon is now moving into the press and advertising. This is the way language develops and it is a process that can’t be stopped.”

Concerned by the growing influence of English, the Kremlin declared 2007 the Year of the Russian Language. The linguists, however, say the fear of English is misplaced. “Young people always develop fashionable ways of communicating,” said Yuri Prokhorov, head of the Pushkin State Institute of Foreign Luanguage. “It is Russian words used incorrectly that damages the purity of the language not the introduction of foreign words,” he added.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Annals of Putin’s Failure: Russian is Overwhelmed

The Telegraph reports that English is slowing taking over the Russian language. Will Putin be willing to use Stalin tactics to stop it? Perhaps he intends to step aside for a few years and let Mr. Ivanov handle the bloody work, then return when it is over.

First came Franglais. Then there was Spanglish. Now start getting used to Runglish, the English-laced argot of “kool” young Russians that has traditionalists weeping into their borscht. To the horror of their parents, Russia’s ‘Koka-Kola’ generation has developed a vocabulary that has more to do with MTV than Pushkin. By mobile phone text message or on the internet, young Russian men invite their “friendessi” (female friends) for a “drrink” at the “Pab”. And if you don’t understand what they are talking about, you are clearly a “loozer”.

First coined by cosmonauts in 2000 to describe the language spoken with their American counterparts on the International Space Station, “Runglish” is increasingly viewed by nationalists as a Western assault on the purity of one of the world’s great languages. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Anglicism spread rapidly – in part because there was a dearth of vocabulary to describe the technicalities of market capitalism but also because of an exposure to international travel and foreign television. “The internet brought a lot of words from foreign languages,” said Vladimir Dolgov, the head of Google Russia. “But the jargon is now moving into the press and advertising. This is the way language develops and it is a process that can’t be stopped.”

Concerned by the growing influence of English, the Kremlin declared 2007 the Year of the Russian Language. The linguists, however, say the fear of English is misplaced. “Young people always develop fashionable ways of communicating,” said Yuri Prokhorov, head of the Pushkin State Institute of Foreign Luanguage. “It is Russian words used incorrectly that damages the purity of the language not the introduction of foreign words,” he added.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Annals of Putin’s Failure: Russian is Overwhelmed

The Telegraph reports that English is slowing taking over the Russian language. Will Putin be willing to use Stalin tactics to stop it? Perhaps he intends to step aside for a few years and let Mr. Ivanov handle the bloody work, then return when it is over.

First came Franglais. Then there was Spanglish. Now start getting used to Runglish, the English-laced argot of “kool” young Russians that has traditionalists weeping into their borscht. To the horror of their parents, Russia’s ‘Koka-Kola’ generation has developed a vocabulary that has more to do with MTV than Pushkin. By mobile phone text message or on the internet, young Russian men invite their “friendessi” (female friends) for a “drrink” at the “Pab”. And if you don’t understand what they are talking about, you are clearly a “loozer”.

First coined by cosmonauts in 2000 to describe the language spoken with their American counterparts on the International Space Station, “Runglish” is increasingly viewed by nationalists as a Western assault on the purity of one of the world’s great languages. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Anglicism spread rapidly – in part because there was a dearth of vocabulary to describe the technicalities of market capitalism but also because of an exposure to international travel and foreign television. “The internet brought a lot of words from foreign languages,” said Vladimir Dolgov, the head of Google Russia. “But the jargon is now moving into the press and advertising. This is the way language develops and it is a process that can’t be stopped.”

Concerned by the growing influence of English, the Kremlin declared 2007 the Year of the Russian Language. The linguists, however, say the fear of English is misplaced. “Young people always develop fashionable ways of communicating,” said Yuri Prokhorov, head of the Pushkin State Institute of Foreign Luanguage. “It is Russian words used incorrectly that damages the purity of the language not the introduction of foreign words,” he added.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Annals of Putin’s Failure: Russian is Overwhelmed

The Telegraph reports that English is slowing taking over the Russian language. Will Putin be willing to use Stalin tactics to stop it? Perhaps he intends to step aside for a few years and let Mr. Ivanov handle the bloody work, then return when it is over.

First came Franglais. Then there was Spanglish. Now start getting used to Runglish, the English-laced argot of “kool” young Russians that has traditionalists weeping into their borscht. To the horror of their parents, Russia’s ‘Koka-Kola’ generation has developed a vocabulary that has more to do with MTV than Pushkin. By mobile phone text message or on the internet, young Russian men invite their “friendessi” (female friends) for a “drrink” at the “Pab”. And if you don’t understand what they are talking about, you are clearly a “loozer”.

First coined by cosmonauts in 2000 to describe the language spoken with their American counterparts on the International Space Station, “Runglish” is increasingly viewed by nationalists as a Western assault on the purity of one of the world’s great languages. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Anglicism spread rapidly – in part because there was a dearth of vocabulary to describe the technicalities of market capitalism but also because of an exposure to international travel and foreign television. “The internet brought a lot of words from foreign languages,” said Vladimir Dolgov, the head of Google Russia. “But the jargon is now moving into the press and advertising. This is the way language develops and it is a process that can’t be stopped.”

Concerned by the growing influence of English, the Kremlin declared 2007 the Year of the Russian Language. The linguists, however, say the fear of English is misplaced. “Young people always develop fashionable ways of communicating,” said Yuri Prokhorov, head of the Pushkin State Institute of Foreign Luanguage. “It is Russian words used incorrectly that damages the purity of the language not the introduction of foreign words,” he added.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Neo-Soviet Russia is so Lame, It’s Beyond Pathetic

It’s just amazing that we now routinely see stories coming out of modern Russia that are not one bit different from what we saw in Soviet times. The barbaric people of Russia are apparently oblivious not only to the fact that these neo-Soviet tactics cannot succeed, but also of how totally ridiculous their leaders are making them seem before the slack-jawed faced of the world. The alternative, of course, is that they know these things full well but are too cowardly and pathetic to stop it, which would be even worse. Will they ever take responsibility? Will they ever intervene? Or will they simply watch as Russia goes the way of the USSR? The Moscow Times reports:

Ulyanovsk’s governor wants citizens to go forth and multiply. Governor Sergei Morozov has declared Wednesday “Family Contact Day” as part of an initiative under which prizes are awarded to families that have babies on Russia Day. Wednesday is precisely nine months before the June 12 holiday, prompting some newspapers to dub the celebration “Conception Day.” The Ulyanovsk initiative, called “Give Birth to a Patriot on Russia Day,” is in line with President Vladimir Putin’s call to fight the demographic crisis by increasing the birthrate. Russia has experienced a steep population decline since the Soviet collapse. “The initiative is directed at improving the demographic situation in the region,” said Morozov’s spokeswoman, who declined to give her name in accordance with her office’s policy. Morozov has encouraged employers to give people the day off Wednesday, she said, although she denied that the goal was to make couples go home and have sex. Instead, she said, the authorities are organizing events to promote family values, including concerts, exhibitions and an “agit-train” that will travel around the region with gynecologists and psychologists dispensing advice. The term agit-train was used by the Bolsheviks to describe trains that traversed the countryside showing propaganda films. Families who have children on June 12 will win “valuable prizes,” the spokeswoman said. In June, one couple won a UAZ sport utility vehicle for having a Russia Day baby, and similar contests have been held since 2005. Not everyone is enthused about the initiative. “This is evidently the pinnacle of Governor Morozov’s creative thinking so far,” one local, identified as Reksa, wrote in an Ulyanovsk web forum. Ulyanovsk is best known as the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Neo-Soviet Russia is so Lame, It’s Beyond Pathetic

It’s just amazing that we now routinely see stories coming out of modern Russia that are not one bit different from what we saw in Soviet times. The barbaric people of Russia are apparently oblivious not only to the fact that these neo-Soviet tactics cannot succeed, but also of how totally ridiculous their leaders are making them seem before the slack-jawed faced of the world. The alternative, of course, is that they know these things full well but are too cowardly and pathetic to stop it, which would be even worse. Will they ever take responsibility? Will they ever intervene? Or will they simply watch as Russia goes the way of the USSR? The Moscow Times reports:

Ulyanovsk’s governor wants citizens to go forth and multiply. Governor Sergei Morozov has declared Wednesday “Family Contact Day” as part of an initiative under which prizes are awarded to families that have babies on Russia Day. Wednesday is precisely nine months before the June 12 holiday, prompting some newspapers to dub the celebration “Conception Day.” The Ulyanovsk initiative, called “Give Birth to a Patriot on Russia Day,” is in line with President Vladimir Putin’s call to fight the demographic crisis by increasing the birthrate. Russia has experienced a steep population decline since the Soviet collapse. “The initiative is directed at improving the demographic situation in the region,” said Morozov’s spokeswoman, who declined to give her name in accordance with her office’s policy. Morozov has encouraged employers to give people the day off Wednesday, she said, although she denied that the goal was to make couples go home and have sex. Instead, she said, the authorities are organizing events to promote family values, including concerts, exhibitions and an “agit-train” that will travel around the region with gynecologists and psychologists dispensing advice. The term agit-train was used by the Bolsheviks to describe trains that traversed the countryside showing propaganda films. Families who have children on June 12 will win “valuable prizes,” the spokeswoman said. In June, one couple won a UAZ sport utility vehicle for having a Russia Day baby, and similar contests have been held since 2005. Not everyone is enthused about the initiative. “This is evidently the pinnacle of Governor Morozov’s creative thinking so far,” one local, identified as Reksa, wrote in an Ulyanovsk web forum. Ulyanovsk is best known as the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Neo-Soviet Russia is so Lame, It’s Beyond Pathetic

It’s just amazing that we now routinely see stories coming out of modern Russia that are not one bit different from what we saw in Soviet times. The barbaric people of Russia are apparently oblivious not only to the fact that these neo-Soviet tactics cannot succeed, but also of how totally ridiculous their leaders are making them seem before the slack-jawed faced of the world. The alternative, of course, is that they know these things full well but are too cowardly and pathetic to stop it, which would be even worse. Will they ever take responsibility? Will they ever intervene? Or will they simply watch as Russia goes the way of the USSR? The Moscow Times reports:

Ulyanovsk’s governor wants citizens to go forth and multiply. Governor Sergei Morozov has declared Wednesday “Family Contact Day” as part of an initiative under which prizes are awarded to families that have babies on Russia Day. Wednesday is precisely nine months before the June 12 holiday, prompting some newspapers to dub the celebration “Conception Day.” The Ulyanovsk initiative, called “Give Birth to a Patriot on Russia Day,” is in line with President Vladimir Putin’s call to fight the demographic crisis by increasing the birthrate. Russia has experienced a steep population decline since the Soviet collapse. “The initiative is directed at improving the demographic situation in the region,” said Morozov’s spokeswoman, who declined to give her name in accordance with her office’s policy. Morozov has encouraged employers to give people the day off Wednesday, she said, although she denied that the goal was to make couples go home and have sex. Instead, she said, the authorities are organizing events to promote family values, including concerts, exhibitions and an “agit-train” that will travel around the region with gynecologists and psychologists dispensing advice. The term agit-train was used by the Bolsheviks to describe trains that traversed the countryside showing propaganda films. Families who have children on June 12 will win “valuable prizes,” the spokeswoman said. In June, one couple won a UAZ sport utility vehicle for having a Russia Day baby, and similar contests have been held since 2005. Not everyone is enthused about the initiative. “This is evidently the pinnacle of Governor Morozov’s creative thinking so far,” one local, identified as Reksa, wrote in an Ulyanovsk web forum. Ulyanovsk is best known as the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Neo-Soviet Russia is so Lame, It’s Beyond Pathetic

It’s just amazing that we now routinely see stories coming out of modern Russia that are not one bit different from what we saw in Soviet times. The barbaric people of Russia are apparently oblivious not only to the fact that these neo-Soviet tactics cannot succeed, but also of how totally ridiculous their leaders are making them seem before the slack-jawed faced of the world. The alternative, of course, is that they know these things full well but are too cowardly and pathetic to stop it, which would be even worse. Will they ever take responsibility? Will they ever intervene? Or will they simply watch as Russia goes the way of the USSR? The Moscow Times reports:

Ulyanovsk’s governor wants citizens to go forth and multiply. Governor Sergei Morozov has declared Wednesday “Family Contact Day” as part of an initiative under which prizes are awarded to families that have babies on Russia Day. Wednesday is precisely nine months before the June 12 holiday, prompting some newspapers to dub the celebration “Conception Day.” The Ulyanovsk initiative, called “Give Birth to a Patriot on Russia Day,” is in line with President Vladimir Putin’s call to fight the demographic crisis by increasing the birthrate. Russia has experienced a steep population decline since the Soviet collapse. “The initiative is directed at improving the demographic situation in the region,” said Morozov’s spokeswoman, who declined to give her name in accordance with her office’s policy. Morozov has encouraged employers to give people the day off Wednesday, she said, although she denied that the goal was to make couples go home and have sex. Instead, she said, the authorities are organizing events to promote family values, including concerts, exhibitions and an “agit-train” that will travel around the region with gynecologists and psychologists dispensing advice. The term agit-train was used by the Bolsheviks to describe trains that traversed the countryside showing propaganda films. Families who have children on June 12 will win “valuable prizes,” the spokeswoman said. In June, one couple won a UAZ sport utility vehicle for having a Russia Day baby, and similar contests have been held since 2005. Not everyone is enthused about the initiative. “This is evidently the pinnacle of Governor Morozov’s creative thinking so far,” one local, identified as Reksa, wrote in an Ulyanovsk web forum. Ulyanovsk is best known as the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Neo-Soviet Russia is so Lame, It’s Beyond Pathetic

It’s just amazing that we now routinely see stories coming out of modern Russia that are not one bit different from what we saw in Soviet times. The barbaric people of Russia are apparently oblivious not only to the fact that these neo-Soviet tactics cannot succeed, but also of how totally ridiculous their leaders are making them seem before the slack-jawed faced of the world. The alternative, of course, is that they know these things full well but are too cowardly and pathetic to stop it, which would be even worse. Will they ever take responsibility? Will they ever intervene? Or will they simply watch as Russia goes the way of the USSR? The Moscow Times reports:

Ulyanovsk’s governor wants citizens to go forth and multiply. Governor Sergei Morozov has declared Wednesday “Family Contact Day” as part of an initiative under which prizes are awarded to families that have babies on Russia Day. Wednesday is precisely nine months before the June 12 holiday, prompting some newspapers to dub the celebration “Conception Day.” The Ulyanovsk initiative, called “Give Birth to a Patriot on Russia Day,” is in line with President Vladimir Putin’s call to fight the demographic crisis by increasing the birthrate. Russia has experienced a steep population decline since the Soviet collapse. “The initiative is directed at improving the demographic situation in the region,” said Morozov’s spokeswoman, who declined to give her name in accordance with her office’s policy. Morozov has encouraged employers to give people the day off Wednesday, she said, although she denied that the goal was to make couples go home and have sex. Instead, she said, the authorities are organizing events to promote family values, including concerts, exhibitions and an “agit-train” that will travel around the region with gynecologists and psychologists dispensing advice. The term agit-train was used by the Bolsheviks to describe trains that traversed the countryside showing propaganda films. Families who have children on June 12 will win “valuable prizes,” the spokeswoman said. In June, one couple won a UAZ sport utility vehicle for having a Russia Day baby, and similar contests have been held since 2005. Not everyone is enthused about the initiative. “This is evidently the pinnacle of Governor Morozov’s creative thinking so far,” one local, identified as Reksa, wrote in an Ulyanovsk web forum. Ulyanovsk is best known as the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Annals of "Pacified" Chechnya

The Moscow Times reports:

In a new splash of violence in Ingushetia, unidentified gunmen killed a Gypsy family in their house minutes after midnight Tuesday. This is the fourth attack on non-native residents amid a wave of violence over the past two months. Chechen rebels have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, and one report Tuesday suggested that there might be an al-Qaida link as well. In the latest attack, Vasily Lyalikov, 55, and his two sons, Pyotr, 26, and Yanysh, 19, were shot dead in their house in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Itar-Tass reported. Unknown assailants killed two ethnic Koreans in the same village Sept. 7 and the family of an ethnic Russian schoolteacher there July 16. The husband and two sons of another Russian teacher, Vera Draganchuk, were killed in the town of Karabulak on Aug. 31. “I would not classify these murders as being driven by ethnic hatred,” said Nikolai Silayev, an analyst at the Center for Caucasus Studies at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. “They are more of a provocation aimed at inciting a brutal reaction from Moscow.”

About 100 fighters led by Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov have infiltrated Ingushetia from Chechnya, Interfax reported Monday, citing a law enforcement source. Umarov has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on police and military personnel in Ingushetia in the past three months in statements on a rebel web site. Vremya Novostei reported Tuesday that three al-Qaida emissaries of Arab origin were behind the latest violence. The newspaper, citing an Ingush special services source, said the emissaries were paying rebels $3,000 to $5,000 per attack. Sergei Markedonov, a Caucasus analyst with Institute for Political and Military Analysis, said al-Qaida involvement was highly unlikely. “There are many other and more prospective places to fight a jihad — Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East,” he said. “By blaming al-Qaida, Ingush officials are trying to dodge flak over their own failures.” Wariness about Ingushetia is mounting. Sergei Glotov, a State Duma deputy with Rodina, urged his peers Tuesday to hold a special session on the murders of civilians in Ingushetia. The Public Chamber rebuked Ingush authorities in an open statement Monday for “not using all [their] strength to prevent crime, to find and punish all those who are guilty and to demonstrate once and for all who holds the power in the republic.”

Ingush President Murat Zyazikov told Noviye Izvestia in an interview published Monday that he would ban protests over police action in Ingushetia.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Latynina on the Horror of Russian Corporatism

Writing in the Moscow Times, hero journalist Yulia Latynina exposes the horror of creeping Russian corporatism, a venal bacterial sapping the nation’s already feeble blood supply like million toxic leeches:

The parties are all ready for the upcoming campaign season. I’m not talking about those running in the elections made official by President Vladimir Putin’s decree in Rossiiskaya Gazeta. I mean the more important parties in the endless campaigns to win money and influence.

Moscow’s Tverskoi District Court, for example, froze the assets of oil company Russneft on Aug. 9. Why? Two people were trying to get hold of Russneft — Igor Sechin, deputy chief of the presidential administration and chairman of state-owned oil major Rosneft, and Oleg Deripaska, the Kremlin-friendly tycoon who heads the holding company Basic Element. With Putin’s blessing, Deripaska wants to buy Russneft.

Deripaska would likely sell Russneft to the state later. So why arrest the shares?

One reason may have been concern that, should either of the first deputy prime ministers, Dmitry Medvedev or Sergei Ivanov, become president, Deripaska might turn around and sell Russneft to a company controlled by Sechin. Preventing Deripaska from selling after the elections could diminish Sechin’s political clout.

This analysis suggests that the battle for Russneft is not just commercial in nature: At stake is the political influence of people within Putin’s political circle — influence measured in the billions of dollars.

There was also the arrest of Vladimir Barsukov, a wealthy businessman and reputed former crime boss, in August in St. Petersburg. The city deserves the epithet “the criminal capital” not because it is full of bandits, but because bandits comprise the city’s business and political elite. Judging by the composition of the group that orchestrated Barsukov’s arrest, it looks like a major victory for Sechin’s siloviki over those of his enemies’ clan.

Not just businesses but entire regions are being snapped up: Putin installed a governor with connections to Gazprom in the Sakhalin region and one with ties to state monopoly arms exporter Rosoboronexport in the Samara region.

New state corporations are hastily being created, complete with generous perks and privileges for their managers. Putin is handing state corporations to his friends at about the same pace that Catherine the Great handed out estates.

This is the real campaign where the battle is not for votes but for billions. Nobody knows who Putin’s successor will be, but everybody understands that under any successor there will be a fundamental change in the way property and influence are distributed. Ahead of this, each Kremlin clan is trying to pocket as many assets from state and private sources as possible, acquiring those seized by the government in the hope that they will add to their political clout –measured in billions of dollars. Thus, regardless of who the next president is, he will have to reckon with this imposing force capable of squashing, buying and even destroying.

And the leaders of the official political parties, like A Just Russia’s Sergei Mironov and United Russia’s Boris Gryzlov, have no more place in this high-stakes campaign than the gaudily dressed women of 19th-century palace balls had in the Battle of Austerlitz. What has to be understood is that the State Duma has become a cipher: not because it does not include any opposition parties, but because powerful clans don’t do business there. Having accrued their wealth and status clandestinely, they despise publicity — even in the form of operating through the political parties they have in their pockets. Whether Rosneft gains control of Russneft will not be decided by United Russia. Similary, Mironov will not determine if Rosoboronexport acquires the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works.

If you want to know the real political lay of the land, don’t look at the Duma. Better to look at who was recently jailed in Lefortovo prison or the verdicts passed down by Moscow’s Basmanny District Court.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !