<< By the way, what's the background of this Kagarlitsky guy?
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Boris K is a leading light of the independent non-Communist Russian far left. We wasa democratic socialist dissident under Brezhnev, wrote, among other things The Thinking Reed, while in the slam, arguing for "revolutionary reform" of the old system. In the Gorby era he was a Moscow City Council member, wrote an entertaining book, Square Wheels, about the experience. He's quite prolific and very personable. He has been associated with a number of Moscow-Federation of Trade Union-based attempts to get a real Russian Labor Party going. In general, he's a good guy.
--jk