Trying to read Russia's power struggle

[Rob Schaap]

Uh-oh - turns out the only TV channel with a spare transmitting facility is
Gusinsky's NTV!  And apparently, the advertising industry is telling
everyone that without its normal quota of enlightening and wheel-oiling
works, the Russian economy is gonna tank 1997-style.  I wonder ...

Cheers,
Rob.


>G'day again,
>
>Now, I've been pulling an allnighter, and I realise conspiracy theories are
>not at all the mode around these parts ... but a couple of days ago I was
>quoting Putin thusly, "The television has people who have been destroying
>the state for 10 years."
>
>And thusly, "They have been thieving money and buying up absolutely
>everything. Now they are trying to discredit the country so that the army
>gets even worse."
>
>In short, he was sinking the slipper into messrs Boris Berezovsky, who
>controls the main state channel, ORT, and Valdimir Gusinsky, head of the
>biggest private
>station, NTV.
>
>And today, Moscow's enormous television tower was burned to a cinder,
>rendering it entirely possible that no TV would be transmitted for weeks to
>come.
>
>Am I over-tired, or does this add up?
>
>Cheers,
>Rob.