EDITORIAL
Berezovsky 1, Putin 0
He laughs last laughs Berezovsky
When state-operated RTR TV accused Russian “oligarch” Boris Berezovsky of being involved in the assassination of KGB defector Alexander Litvinkenko, Berezovsky cried foul.
Claiming RTR went to press without a shred of evidence linking him to the killing, as part of a political smokescreen designed to deflect blame from the real killers who were Kremlin operatives, Berezovsky filed a libel lawsuit in Britain. It was Berezovsky against Putin, mano-a-mano, before an impartial arbitrator.
Last week, Berezvosky emerged the smiling victor. He was awarded £150,000 (a quarter of a million dollars) in damages after the High Court of Britain concluded that Putin’s minions at RTR had been lying.
Ouch.
The verdict is a direct condemnation of the Kremlin, similar to what Mikkhail Khodorkovsky is seeking in the European Court for Human Rights. The British court ruled that the Kremlin was directly complicit in RTR’s libeling of Berezovksy since RTT “had been assisted both before and during the trial by a team from the Russian prosecutor’s office.”
The Russian Kremlin is now under full-blown legal assault on many fronts in the courts of Europe, a process that has been in the making for some time. This devastating victory by the Kremlin’s Public Enemy #1 in Britain is just an appetizer for a main course being laid out before the European Court for Human Rights by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Putin’s second most-hated rival. Suing the Kremlin for nearly $100 billion, Khodorkovsky threatens to win a judgment condemning the entire Russian judicial system, just as Berezovsky has now won a repudication of the Russian media establishment.
The smirking arrogance of Vladimir Putin is wearing very thin indeed. Though he has jailed Khodorkovsky and driven Berezovksy out of the country, they continue to wage a brutal public relations and legal offensive against him, and they are clearly winning. And as we report in our lead editorial today, the likes of famous rockers like Yuri Shevchuk are openly speaking out against Putin, echoing the charges that Berezovsky and Khodorkovsky have been making for years now. Maybe the Russophile minions will claim this famous rock singer has been bought off by the oligarchs, but the tide continues to rise. Soon, it may wash away the Putin regime entirely.
We live in hope.
La Russophobe 
Я ненавижу Березовского.
I am sure he is no fonder of you.
Whether or not you like him is irrelevant, what is at issue is that he was the victim of a groundless smear campaign regards the horrible murder of his friend by what was most likely the FSB
There you go – was that so hard? As I mentioned in an associated editorial, domestic security services are now called the FSB, and the KGB is no more except for the Republic of Belarus. It doesn’t cost any extra to be accurate; well done, Andrew.
Mark, why do you continue to ignore the existence of the so-called “republic of South Ossetia” so hard? Seriously.
All right, all right ; the Republics of Belarus and South Ossetia. You are correct.
Как Вы можете такое говорить про этого красивого, богатого и умного еврея! Вы, наверное, антисемитка и мучаетесь от зависти.
Actually Ouch, you are showing your anti-semitism again.
I said nothing negative about Berezovsky, just that he was the victim of a smear campaign, and that the FSB most likely killed Litvinenko.
I wasn’t talking to you, clown.
Andrew,
I am happy that you thought that when Ouch wrote: “Вы, наверное, антисемитка” (“You probably are a female anti-semite“), he was talking not to Natalie but to you.
Is this the first time in this blog that you came out of the closet and admitted to being a woman?
No, missed the gender, never was good at Russian.
I prefer civilised languages that don’t require it.
Anyway Arthur/RTR/Whatever, you are the one that harped on about the wonders of Russia’s gay nightlife.
You are right, Andrew: you were never good at telling one gender from another. And I am sure you prefer languages that “don’t require gender”, so that you can hide your genderless identity.
But thanks your freudian slip here, you are out of the closet. Enjoy.
Never mind RTR, insults from scum such as yourself are a badge of honor really.
И *благородного*! И *честного*!
Да-да, самого честного и порядочного человека на Земле!
Неужто здесь найдутся подлые антисемиты, которые осмелятся это отрицать? :)
Thanks Natalie,
That’s really informative.
I went to your blog for more genius but I think you have a virus in it which is posting pathetic, child-like observations.
At least the blog is aptly named.
LOL. Very witty, Wal.
“You may not aim personal abuse at other commenters. If you do, your comment may be deleted”
Yes, that’s right Wal. Very witty. That’s another thing I love about this blog; the uniformity of enforcement.
Let me guess Mark, you’re either a bed wetter or a Coldplay fan.
Quoits anyone?
@Mark
A Russophile demanding ‘uniformity of enforcement’!
The difference between you and me Mark is that I know when I’m being funny.
Really? Are you being funny now?
That IS funny. Not many comedians with a tail could have pulled that off. Congratulations.
Well he claims to be a Canadian.
They always were a pathetic bunch of whiners.
For example, they always whine on about dieppe in 42 with the never ending refrain “The British always send in the colonials first”.
Being a New Zealander I always find this amusing, after all, from 1939-1944 they only fought at dieppe, whereas British, New Zealand, Australian, Indian, and South African troops fought in North Africa, Greece, Crete, Sicily, and Italy.
My uncle was in Korea, he described the Canadians as “Yanks with their brains kicked out”.
Seems Mark is an excellent example……
Canadians actually fought at Hong Kong.
http://www.hketo.ca/2009/08/children%E2%80%99s-orchestra-from-hong-kong-pays-tribute-to-canadian-soldiers/
http://canadianhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/canadians_in_the_battle_of_hong_kong
Thanks, Robert. I was in Hong Kong in 2008, and would love a chance to go back, it’s such a beautiful place. Part of our visit was indeed occupied with a bit of maintenance in the Canadian graveyard, and laying a wreath.
I’m glad it amuses New Zealanders – after all, our purpose is to entertain them – but one reason we didn’t have too many roles after Dieppe is that there weren’t too many of us left. Frontal assaults against heavily defended and dug-in positions often have that effect, I’m told.
Now Mark, the losses at Dieppe were fairly minor compared with the losses in Greece, Crete, North Africa.
Try again Mark.
Typical Canadian, always sitting in a pub while the others do the work….
I admire the famous fighting spirit of your nation, Andrew. How many Kiwi troops are there in Afghanistan, again?
Everything the Aussies say about you is true.
Well lets see.
The SAS (who got a presidential unit citation, and Cpl Apiata who got the VC there springs immediately to mind).
Then there are the troops in Banyaman province, and an RNZAF detatchment, proportionally a much higher deployment than Canada.
By the way, even the Australians admit we are better soldiers, so thanks for the compliment.
I understand your hate, Natalie. After all, it was Berezovsky, who was behind stupid plan to put evil bandit Putin into power :(((
Touche!
One of these days Putin and his cronies including his state controlled media, will finally wake up to the harsh reality that he can’t bully or intimidate, the British judicial system, Government, “free” press or public,
When this case went before the courts RTR had to prove the allegations they made linking Mr Berezovsky with the brutal murder of Mr Litvinenko were true the court asked for the source of the allegations. RTR could not provide any evidence to back their wild claims, so the court rightly found in Mr Berezovskys favour, considering the men were friends these despicable allegations were all the more painful for Mr Berezovsky.
No doubt Britain will again pay a price for its judicial impartiality; there is a history of this. After other high profile cases did not go the Russians way; for example Russia’s request for the extradition of Ahmed Zakeav and later Mr Berezovsky the Russians launched politically motivated attacks on British interests within Russia; BP with foreign staff being refused visas, the British council with 2 of 3 offices being forced to close due too allegations of tax evasion, later these claims were dismissed by a Russian court, the British embassy in Moscow besieged by Nasi thugs and embassy staff assaulted.
So we will see what Putin has up his sleeve this time, what ever he does will make no odds, Putin’s actions in the past have only stiffened British resolve too see off this ginger thug.
Too right, old chap. After all, the British Judicial System practically wrote the book on right and wrong, and certainly has its fans. Roman Polansky, for instance.
Wow Mark,
Drawing a long bow and shooting yourself in the foot is quite a feat in one sentence!
Criticizing common law now are you? Please continue… Moron.
Well, only because you asked so nicely. I was referring to the lawsuit brought in a British court in which Roman Polanski sued Vanity Fair magazine for running a story on his having raped a 13-year-old girl; something to which he had already pled guilty.
The British courts are consequently the subject of mockery everywhere, except in those circles that don’t see anything wrong with raping children. Sorry I didn’t spell it out.
Mark,
You are a liar.
The Polanski case to do with Vanity Fair publishing that he had propositioned a woman shortly after his wife was murdered.
Twisting this case to imply that the British legal system supports child rape is just another example of neo-soviet smear tactics which are obvious to anyone with half a brain.
Get your facts straight bucket mouth.
Have any of you read Paul Klebnikov’s excellent book Godfather of the Kremlin? If not, I would highly recommend it–it’s a great book, written by a great man.
I find it amusing to be called an anti-Semite because I am one of the most ardent supporters of Israel.
And Andrew, you have really outdone yourself! By your logic, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Serbian, Romanian, Portuguese, Norwegian, and countless other languages are also “uncivilised” because they also have gender.
Moreover, if you learn any of those languages, you have the structural fundamentals to much more easily learn any of the others. If you know only English, you know a handful of words that transcend nationality (such as “hamburger”) and a language whose structure is unpredictable and unhelpful in learning other languages.
Oddly, English speakers are often the most resistant to learning another language, and the most strident defenders of knowing only one.
@Mark, your peddling crap, as usual.
I am an English Speaker, retaining the Ukrainian language as well as Rashan and Polish. Ukrainian retention is the highest in Ukrainian American Immigration up to 3 generations.
The hated RaSSiyan “numb tongue” with the smallest vocabulary in Europe is quickly discarded. Ukrainian sounds better to the newcomers from Ukraine, and highly appreciated. I find they can hardly believe to find 3 generations in America speaking their language to them, and feel so welcome. They quickly “adjust” to Ukrainian as if RaSSiyan was never spoken.
Much more appreciated than Rashan, whom insist on their language and exclusively inflicting it on others.
The RaSSiyan Federation spends nothing on Ukrainian education as an example. Ukraine spends 60% of the educational budget on Rooshan Language Education on the murdering offspring of the Russian Murdering Cowards who once more succomb to an evil government.
Rashans pretend they cannot hear any other slavic language and understand it. Highly insulting and just lousy Chauvinism that is quickly picked up where ever mascals go.
Tymoshenko’s minister of education was Vakarchuk, but President Yanukovych the Kremlin Stooge made Ukrainophobe Tabachnyk his minister of education.
Tabachnyk is a Ukrainophobe, and as the minister of education, will instill in children a hatred of everything Ukrainian that he will force teach.
Neo Savok citizens to come? Imagine Moscal’s dirty criminal culture on EU border. There will be no joining Europe because Rashan indoctrinated Nashi’st Scumbags insult everybody. The latest moves, coming immediately after an unconstitutional parliamentary coalition, and illegitimate government formed.
The country of Ukraine has been hijacked to Kremlin Interests, and the political parties have no longer any say over individual ministers, elected on the party ticket. This was a Coupe D’etat by the hateful moscali scumlords that rule the Kremlin.
Oh, hi, Georg! Sorry I’m late – I was over at the Kremlin; I promised Uncle Volodya I’d paint his office. But then he got back early, and we got out the guitar and started singing some of our favourite songs, like “I’m a Kremlin Stooge” (he has a surprisingly warm tenor) and laughing, and I just sort of lost track of time.
But enough about me; let’s talk about you. Georg, old pillar of the peanut gallery, you’re missing the point. That’s all right – that’s all right, I’m accustomed to putting coloured ribbons on the point so you can find it. We were talking about gender-based languages, one of which – you may be surprised to find – is Ukrainian. English, by way of contrast, is genderless, and I’m told it is difficult to learn as a second language (I couldn’t say, as it is my mother tongue) for that reason. We were discussing the suggestion that if you know a gender-based language, the structure makes it easier to learn other gender-based languages. Russian and French, for example – rendered even easier because Russian contains a lot of French words. “Trottoir” means the same in both languages, and it’s an easy jump from “Bibliotheque” to “Biblioteka”. Or Russian to Ukraininan, since better than 80% of the alphabet is the same.
“Much more appreciated than Rashan, whom insist on their language and exclusively inflicting it on others.”
The Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire, Georg. I’m sorry to remind you, because I know that’s a sensitive subject with you, but that’s what Empires do. The British Empire, for example. When they conquered India, did they start teaching Punjabi in British schools? That’d be a little silly, don’t you think? They borrowed a few words (like “dhobey” and “pukka”, the Brits loved that one), but even on postings to India, they spoke English and insisted on being addressed in English. Likely the Indians privately called them “murdering offspring of the English Murdering Cowards who once more succomb to an evil government”, but it didn’t seem to affect their language policies much, and I’ve noticed it doesn’t excite much interest on this blog.
If I can be candid with you for a moment, and drop the mockery, I sympathize with you. It can’t be easy to have your native language suppressed by force, as indeed it was. Canada is home to the sixth-largest Ukrainian population outside the Ukraine. But the Russification of Ukraine is not something you’re going to change just by deliberately misspelling the word “Russia”. I don’t think that’s going to keep Putin awake nights.
@mark,
Did your “uncle volodya” Putin kiss your belly to?
Putler asked Yanukowych for more lard, and less trouble. Putler did say that all through Yush Presidency he did not get enough sleep over Ukraine. Maybe the Caucuses kept him awake as well.
If they did, he didn’t mention it.
The structure of the English Language is possibly the most predictable of any. Subject then verb then object. Ican’t say I see Mark point of view on this one.
And your mother tongue is…..?
English, not surprisingly, is not difficult to grasp for native English speakers. However, those who learn it as a second language find it difficult to reconcile – for example – why “tough” and “stuff” should rhyme. Why “billet” and “ballet” do not, or “towed” and “vowed”. There’s a verse that explains, in an amusing kind of way, the difficulties those learning English experience, called “English is tough stuff”, easily found on Google. Note also that letters in many languages have only one sound – unlike the English hard and soft “C” and “G”. There really is no rule that would help a student of English with, for example, the correct pronunciation of “circus”.
There’s quite a bit more to learning a second language than sentence structure.
My comment was on structure only. I am well aware that my native language has very interesting spelling arrangements. English has short sharp sounds compared to others which is possibly one reason unrelated words may rhyme commonly in our tongue but English is not alone I would imagine in odd word couplets rhyming. Thanks so much for your recommendation of “English is tough stuff.” I’ll definitely get around to reading it sometime!
Thanks for your courteous reply.
Mark, I thought you were smarter than joining a kindergarten-level discussion of which language is better. All languages are beautiful and the more you know the richer you are. The only reason English speakers are more resistant to other languages is that their own is today’s global lingua franca. Look at the French: their language lost this role almost a century ago, but they still believe deep inside that all decent, not to mention educated, people should speak it.
Oh, Hi, Kaktuss. I’m afraid someone has been feeding you erroneous information, but I certainly didn’t say at any point that one language was better than another. I said if you know only English, it is generally unhelpful toward learning gender-based languages, because the fundamental structure is different where gender-based languages are much the same. I absolutely agree that knowing more than one language is personally (not to mention professionally) enriching.
Although French indeed lost out to English, both were extremely influential, and it was THAT close (I mean Nintendo vs Sega, Beta vs VHS close) to tipping in favour of French. French is still widely spoken, and many official Russian forms (customs forms, for example) are still printed in Russian and flawless French.
Mark,
You are a boring, predictable little whiner.
‘flawless French’? ‘erroneous information’?
Do you know Chaucer’s most famous four letter word? That’s you.
That’s good. You must really be a hit at the “popular” table in your high-school cafeteria.
Well no, Mark, I know German, French, Georgian, and Classical Greek.
However I find that languages that have gender terms also seem to inspire misogynistic cultures (Russia is a particularly good example, as is France, Spain, Italy….)
Θέλεις τώρα να μας πεις ότι ξέρεις τα ελληνικά, μαλάκα; Δεν μπορώ να σε πιστέψω!
At least, you succeed in concealing it, your posts suggest you know an abusive variety of English only.
Well, one should address vermin such as yourself in terms they understand…..
Natalie darling you are very deeply confused. OUCH is a Russophile madman and he despises Berezovsky. He was agreeing with you, dimwit.
If you think Klebnikov was a a great man, you must believe Putin is an evil man for killing him rather than let him investigate and report on corruption in Putin’s Kremlin, don’t you? We agree with you!
And if Berezovsky is so evil, then you must believe Putin is an incompetent fool to be bested by him in a British court of law. We agree with you again! In fact, that was the point of this post.
We’re curious, though: Why are you so quick to believe those who attack Berezovsky and so reluctant to believe those who attack Putin? Isn’t it a rather ridiculous double standard?
Exactly. And also I must mention that Berezovskiy is smarter than 99.9% of Russians. This is just IQ, nothing personal.
Project Khlebnikov:
Paul Klebnikov, the 41-year-old top editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, was one of the few reporters working at the nexus of post-Soviet politics, big business and the global spread of multi-billion dollar organized crime conglomerates. His murder in Moscow on July 9th, 2004, was a brutal blow for investigative journalism in Russia. But as long as it remains a mystery, it also represents a threat to investigative journalism worldwide and a vicious attack on the rule of law.
The account of the first American reporter killed contract-style in Russia never got much traction in the West. It was a story without a Nielsen audience, and convoluted as well, set amid a tangle of Kremlin power struggles, corrupt oligarchs, military and intelligence cabals, embezzlement of foreign aid, Chechen terrorists and Russian organized crime elements ranging from Moscow to Chechnya to London and New York.
Klebnikov once wrote that the corrupt Yeltsin era was the worst disaster to befall the Russian people since the Nazi invasion of 1941. But the present era is as afflicted with secrets and intrigue as any that has come before it. Klebnikov spent his entire career working to expose the hidden interests controlling nearly every aspect of Russian society. The assassination not only silenced his voice but reinforced the idea that violence against journalists is an effective way of maintaining that control. Left unanswered, his death dims the prospect that a free media and revitalized civic institutions can help Russia meet the challenge of systemic corruption.
Few reporters and editors, however, are capable of telling such a difficult tale. The financial and physical risks are enormous. Any Western news organization or individual reporter taking on even one thread of Klebnikov’s material must contend with a pair of crippling disabilities: a steep learning curve of exceptionally complicated relationships and the extreme reluctance of sources, whose cooperation could prove fatal. Meanwhile, the otherwise talented and courageous Russian media have witnessed the assassination of a dozen of their colleagues over the past five years. They have yet to see a single killing solved.
So who will take up where Paul Klebnikov left off? The task seems to have fallen to those of us based outside Russia, who can speak out, write and broadcast freely.
http://www.projectklebnikov.org/
Putin […] for killing him
Gosh, Putin also seems to have killed your brain. Altogether.
I plead for Putin’s innocence!
There was nothing much to kill – initially.
About this “Pyotr” character (Vladimir Terluk):
The judge noted in his ruling that Mr Terluk “had been assisted both before and during the trial by a team from the Russian prosecutor’s office”.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9f5426e4-2c53-11df-9187-00144feabdc0.html
Berezovsky is the ugliest kike rat in the history of Russian kikedom.
And here as usual come the anti-Semitic scum. No way to spend 48 hours in Russia, or on Russia, without encountering one. Sad, but characteristic of the country in general and Putin’s Russia in particular.
Not really, I’m Jewish myself. (no kidding!) It’s just that I don’t follow the tendency of Jew-worship as prevalent in the US.
And most Russians do not suffer from the trend of Jew-worship either, realizing how obnoxious a lot of Jews are.
Yes, honestly, you could call me a self-hating Jew.
Why hello there, Vladimir Zhirinovsky!
Rats are much more smarter than drunken bears.
Rats are gentle, kind and sociable animals. Well, actually many bears also look much more better comparing to some Russians… You hate Berezovskiy because you are poor and stupid. Poor and stupid will never respect rich and smart.
Of course, those ugly creatures are all envious of handsome, rich, smart and honest people like Berezovsky.
LR:
Извините за ошибку. Я не осторожно читала.
Павел Хлебников ненавидел Ельцина (я тоже). А он любил Путина. Вы читали книгу Хлебникова? Вы читали статью Хлебникова в журнале Forbes? Вы должны читать перед тем, как писать о Хлебникове.
Natalie, would you please post in English next time – out of respect for those visitors who do not read Russian, but also because your English seems to be better than you Russian (неосторожно is spelled in one word).
I also want to suggest Natalie to read some other books, because I can see she likes to read books.
Several nice books:
Then check references in these books. Check sources. Read slowly. Come back here.
The amazing part of all this is how unsophisticated the kremlin crowd is. Direct murder is so dumb. Fortunately they have the Russian people to deal with rather than a smarter population.
Well, if Berezovsky really wants this money — he know, what he must do, doesn’t he?
I guess, he know, where in Moscow offices of RTR are? (Ul. Korolyova, 12 — or somewhere nearby.)
If he is going to pay them a visit — no problem. I’m almost sure, he’ll have a little welcome meeting just in the airport. :)
The United Kingdom exported its legal system to the Commonwealth countries during the British Empire, and many aspects of that system have persisted after the British withdrew or granted independence to former dominions. English law prior to the Wars of Independence is still an influence on United States law, and provides the basis for many American legal traditions and policies. Many states that were formerly subject to English law (such as Australia) continue to recognise a link to English law – subject, of course, to statutory modification and judicial revision to match the law to local conditions – and decisions from the English law reports continue to be cited from time to time as persuasive authority in present day judicial opinions. For a few states, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council remains the ultimate court of appeal. Many jurisdictions which were formerly subject to English law (such as Hong Kong) continue to recognise the common law of England as their own – subject, of course, to statutory modification and judicial revision – and decisions from the English Reports continue to be cited from time to time as persuasive authority in present day judicial opinions. Sorry that English common law is not good enough for you Mark, maybe you should complain to you own Canadian prime minister as your system is still based on English common law.
Maybe to please Mark we should rip up 8 hundred years of English common law and adopt the Russian system, the same inadequate system that has not convicted any of the murderers of the 19 human rights workers/ journalists assassinated during the Putin era, the same inadequate legal system that thousands of Russian abandon too seek justice in the European court of human rights over internal issues, payment of old age pensions is just one example.
bedlam,
LaRussophobe gives us a voice, even if we are not Baltic nationalists. Just maybe new to NATO or going there, 28 nations plus those that are desperately trying to protect themselves from Moskovia Kremlin Inc.
“Real Russian Patriots” are paying the price, as Journalists, and Lawyers interested in human rights. Even legitimate, law enforcement agents such as Lytvynenko. So screw off, start your own blog, see how much attention you get.