The latest sentence given to Khorokovsky has been the pretext for yet another immense outpouring of Western hypocrisy. Just to quote a recent BBC article:
US state department spokesman Mark Toner said Washington was concerned by the apparent "abusive use of the legal system for improper ends, particularly now that Khodorkovsky and [former business partner Platon] Lebedev have been sentenced to the maximum penalty". Later an unnamed senior US administration official, quoted by Reuters news agency, said the sentencing might complicate Russia's expected entry to the World Trade Organisation in 2011.
(...)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "disappointed" by the sentence. "The impression remains that political motives played a role in the trial," she said in a statement.
(...)
And UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was deeply concerned and urged Russia "to respect the principles of justice and apply the rule of law in a non-discriminatory and proportional way". "In the absence of this the UK and much of the international community will regard such a trial as a retrograde step," Mr Hague added.
What the hell is going on here?! Khodorkosky is just one of many so-called 'oligarchs' who stole money from the Russian nation like all of them did. And like most of them, he is a Jew. And like most of them, he tried to mess with Putin and his power base. So? Why is he deserving of so much crocodile tears?
The European Court of Human Rights does not see a problem, neither does Amnesty International, or HWR, or anybody in Israel for that matter (at least that I am aware of). Yet the West is whining and whining about Khodorkovsky...
Gone and forgotten are the accusations about 'Putin' ordering the poisoning of Yushchenko, the poisoning of Litvinenko, the killing of Politkovskaia and all the rest of the idiotic "Putin the KGB murderer" narrative. Now its "Putin is crushing his political opponents". Fine. But is that big news? Let's look at the record here:
1) General Lev Rokhlin, one of the best Russian military commanders who single handedly rescued Eltsin's regime for total failure in Chechnya: killed by his "insane wife" as soon as he openly opposed the "United Russia" Party.
2) General Gennady Troshev, another of the very best Russian military commanders, credited with winning the 2nd Chechen war. Conveniently dies in a rather bizarre air crash as soon as he became too popular.
3) General Alexander Lebed, not a favorite of mine for sure, but popular for a while in Russia for saving the Trans-Dniester Republic from a Moldavian assault and for stopping the 1st Chechen war (a disastrous decision in my opinion).
4) General Vladimir Shamanov, became extremely popular for his capable performance in Chechnia and for protecting the Russian Airborne Forces from the so-called "reforms". Miraculously survives a more than bizarre traffic accident.
5) Colonel Vladimir Kvachkov: former Spetsnaz Brigade commander. Charged twice (!) with attempting to murder Anatoly Chubais, acquitted in a jury trial twice (!) and now charged with no less than armed insurrection. Conveniently for the Kremlin, this accusation is not tried in a jury trial, but by professional judges.
I will end my list here (and before I continue, please note that I put the Wikipedia links only for your general info, not because I consider the Wikipedia entries about these generals are remotely trustworthy. In fact, all of Wikipedia is hopelessly biased and has a clear political slant - in this case, against the aforementioned generals). My point is that a long list of Russian generals die or are otherwise clearly crushed by the Kremlin but nobody shows any concern about them. Could it be because, unlike Khodorkovsky, they were trying to make Russia stronger?
All these military men had one thing in common: they were perceived as a threat to the Kremlin and they were simply (but very skillfully) murdered (or jailed, or seriously injured). This is how Putin and his clique of ex-KGB and "nouveau Mafia" thugs deal with their political opponents - ruthlessly. Yet, in this case, nobody whines. But when an undisputed thief and crook like Khodorkovsky gets slapped with a medium prison sentence the West is whining to high heaven. Why?
The answer is simple: like Berezovsky, Politkovskaya or Yushchenko, Khorodkovsky was a de-facto agent of Western political and oil interests. What he did besides embezzling money was actively assist the West in the plunder of Russian natural resources. In this sense, Khodorkovsky committed the same mistake as another notorious thief, Dzhokhar Dudaev, who was the Kremlin's darling until he dared to defy Moscow and seek to keep Chechnya's resources for himself. Then the Kremlin started a full-scale war to get rid of him.
The fact is that Putin, Medvedev & Co. are ruthless politicians who do crush their enemies in one way or another. When Eltsin his Jewish oligarch bosses were in power they were even more ruthless, much to the West's delight. Remember how Eltsin's tanks shot at the Russian Parliament building? Over 5'000 people died in this 'democratic coup', way more than on 9-11, yet the West applauded with both hands. And how many people died in the Chechen war?
Under Putin and Medvedev the oligarchs were finally given the boot by the ex-KBG officer and ex-Gazprom boss who, unlike Eltsin and the oligarchs, at least managed to return Russia into a semi-powerful position in just one decade. This is why the West is really whining: Khodorkovsky is not only a Jewish oligarch, he is the last vestige of a bygone era when Russia was a Western colony open to pillage, political manipulation and utterly incapable of standing up for itself.
This is why the sentencing of Khodorkovsky is great news for Russia - it sends a very simple message to the West: Russia is no longer your colony.
The Saker
