> the FSU is overwhelmingly committed to egalitarian and communitarian
> values
Is this something that can be demonstrated by any of their policies?
> Of course Putin is serving the interests of a group of highly
> priviliged Russian bureaucrats and wealthy citizens; but the best
> that can be hoped for Russia at present is that the government serve
> the interests of that segment of the elite that is interested in
> economic and social stability; and I think that is what he is doing. I
> will take authoritarian Putin, who actually cares about his approval
> ratings and actually does try to be improving the economy and
> stemming capital flight, over the "loot the stae" regime of Yeltsin
> and his circle of toadies.
He seems to be using the of fear of terrorism to institute a "strong state," for which I remember (don't have the quote on hand) that he said he would be taking his lessons from modern China. Is this the "best that can be hoped for"?
-- Shane
*** The Guardian Take care Tony, that man has blood on his hands Evidence shows secret police were behind 'terrorist' bomb
John Sweeney Sunday March 12, 2000
The photograph below of a detonator pre-set to explode a bomb calls into question Russian leader Vladimir Putin's line - endorsed by Tony Blair during his visit to Russia yesterday - that Chechen terrorists were responsible for the explosions that killed more than 200 Russians last year.
Two bombs went off in Moscow, but a third bomb planted in Ryazan, 100 miles south, was defused by bomb squad officer Yuri Tkachenko who said: 'It was a live bomb.' It was made of the same explosive, Hexagen, and planted in a similar target - a working-class block of flats.
The third bomb did not go off because the bombers were caught red-handed. They were Russian, not Chechen, and when they were arrested by local police they flashed identity cards from the FSB - the new styling for the KGB, the secret police Putin headed before he became Russia's acting President. Two days later the FSB announced that the third bomb had only been 'a training exercise'.
The Kremlin's evidence that Chechen terrorists bombed Moscow is extremely thin. After the bomb outrages, secret police in the FSB handed out Photofit pictures of unnamed Chechens. No suspects were arrested and no convincing explanation was given to the public.
The third bomb was found in the basement of the flats on the night of 22 September at around 9pm. Tkachenko said: 'It was a live bomb. I was in a combat situation.' He tested the three sugar sacks in the basement with his MO-2 portable gas analyser, and got a positive reading for Hexagen, the explosive used in the Moscow bombs.
The timer of the detonator was set for 5.30am, which would have killed many of the 250 tenants of the 13-storey block of flats. The sacks were taken out of the basement at around 1.30 am and driven away by the FSB. But the secret police forgot to take away the detonator, which was left in the hands of the bomb squad. They photographed it the next day.
The bombers were discovered by the people they meant to kill. Vladimir Vasiliev, an engineer com ing home for the night, noticed three strangers acting suspiciously by the basement of his block of flats at 14/16 Novosyolov Street, literally New Settlers Street.
Vasiliev noticed that the number plate at the front of the car had been covered up with a piece of paper, on it '62', the Ryazan regional code. At the back of the car the plate had the Moscow regional code.
Vasiliev, puzzled, decided to call the police. 'As we were waiting for the lift, one of the young guys got out of the car and the girl asked: "Have you done everything?" '
Vasiliev observed the three in the car: 'They were Russian, absolutely, not Asiatic. The girl was a blonde.'
The local police arrested two men that night, according to Boris Kagarlitsky, a member of the Russian Institute of Comparative Politics. 'FSB officers were caught red-handed while planting the bomb. They were arrested by the police and they tried to save themselves by showing FSB identity cards.'
Then, when the headquarters of the FSB in Moscow intervened, the two men were quietly let go.
Police Inspector Andrei Chernyshev was the first to enter the basement. He said: 'It was about 10 in the evening. There were some strangers who were seen leaving the basement. We were told about the men who came out from the basement and left with the car with a licence number which was covered with paper. I went down to the basement.
'This block of flats had a very deep basement which was completely covered with water. We could see sacks of sugar and in them some electronic device, a few wires and a clock. We were shocked.
'We ran out of the basement and I stayed on watch by the entrance and my officers went to evacuate the people.'
The following day, on 24 September, the FSB in Moscow announced that there had never been a bomb, only a training exercise. Vasiliev said: 'I heard the official version on the radio, when the press secretary of the FSB announced it was a training exercise. It felt extremely unpleasant.'
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2000
http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/observer/international/story/0,3879,145909 ,00.html ***
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