<DIV>Doug, first of all, little or anything concerning the attack on Yukos and Khordorkovsky involves Putin. Russia's political economy is undergoing a significant systemic change in terms of property rights. The focus on Putin is a Kremlin-invented and controlled media ploy - the western media is either too lazy or simple-minded to report on Russian beyond a few personalities. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Second, is this class conflict? Class analysis is not hard here. I am far from being a Marxist, but interpreting Russia through a classical Marxist prism is very easy, even compelling if that is your thing  - why the Communists can't make it compelling demonstrates its lacks any ideological commitment. It seems to me that the major players involved in this pardigm shift are indifferent to class analysis or any particular ideology (actually what seems to motivate most of these players is greed, pride, and resentfulness). I have not come across anything that would make me believe the oligarchs or the security forces care anything for the average Russian or Russia for that matter. I would employ the term "intra-clan" conflict over intra-class conflict.     </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Anti-semitic campaign - the fact that Khordorkovsky is a Jew plays into the yellow press coverage of this conflict - Jew-bating is popular. I have lost track of what the ILO has settled on concerning how anti-semitic Russia is.  My take is that anti-semitism is very strong in Russia, though not really threatening. It is better to be a Russian Jew than a Russian Chechen, or have dark skin in general. Russia is slowly, but surely, adopting the west's odious skin color difference to determine "we" and "them". </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>BTW, the -sky ending of a name does not connote Jewish origins here. In fact, many Poles and Russians "inspect" "suspected" people believed to be Jewish having -sky last names. The -sky ending is suppose to be "pure slavic blood" - not false a name "protecting outsiders." </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I remember living in Poland in the 1980s hearing hardcore Solidarity supporters tyring to convince me that Jaruzelski was not his real name -- it was Jarul!!  (with the horns and tails to boot). Racism is so common here that when confronted with it I ask if anyone needs anyother shot of booze. I always take up my own suggestion. <BR><BR><B><I>Doug Henwood <<A href="mailto:dhenwood@panix.com">dhenwood@panix.com</A>></I></B> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Peter Lavelle wrote:<BR><BR>>The more I think about the focus on Khordorkovsky, the more it makes <BR>>perfect sense. The security forces are going after the hardest (and <BR>>richest) to topple.<BR><BR>Why? Because they're a rival power center (rivals, that is, to <BR>Putin)? Some intra-class conflict? Does the fact that most are Jewish <BR>(that's what the -sky ending to a name implies, right?) matter?<BR><BR>Doug<BR>___________________________________<BR>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</BLOCKQUOTE><p><hr SIZE=1> Do you Yahoo!?<br> Exclusive Video Premiere - <a href="http://launch.yahoo.com/video/?1093432&fs=1&redirectURL=http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/">Britney Spears</a>