Interesting developments in Moscow

You probably have already seen the horrified news reports in the Western corporate media about the "crackdown" on Russian "dissidents" in Moscow.  If not, check this one by AP for a more sober tone.  What is really taking place?

Putin = Stalin

Is Russian really going back to Stalin's year 1937 as the local tweeter-freedom-fighters have been posting?  Not quite.

What happened is this.  The authorities were investigating the violent demonstrations which had taken place in Moscow on May 6th.  In the course of their investigation, they decided to look a little deeper into the activities of some well known figures of what I call the Moscow  "dissent jetset":

• Alexey Navalny (ex-Yabloko)
• Sergei Udaltsov (Left Front)
• Ilya Yashin (ex-Yabloko)
• Kseniya Sobchak (Russia's "Paris Hilton" or "Kim Kardashian")
• Boris Nemtsov (Union of Rightist Forces)

This is quite a combination.  If I 'translate' all these labels what we really have is 3 ex-Eltsenites, rabidly pro-US (Navalny, Yashin and Nemtsov), one nutcase (Yashin) and one "career slut", literally (Sobchak).  Now remove the two "fig-leaf dummies" (Yashin and Sobchak) and what are you left with in terms of brains behind the movement?  Three hardcore US puppets.

Most people in Russia understand all that perfectly.  But still, there was no proof of that.  Until today that is.  Guess what?  According to official Russian sources, the cops found over 1'000'000 Euros (one million!) in spread out in about 100 envelopes in the apartments of Yashin and Sobchak.  And before anybody begins to suspect that this money was planted, Russian law forbids any searches without witnesses which, in this case, participated in the entry and search of the apartments (grant you, the money could have been planted sometime *before* but considering how public these individuals were, I just don't see FSB goons covertly coming in two apartments to deliver packs on money).

The main guy in all this drama is Boris Nemtsov.  He is a very good speaker, he is charming, charismatic and has a great sense of humor.  By far the smartest of all of these dissidents and the most valuable to the CIA.  He is also the only one who was tipped off and managed to hide from the authorities which prevents them from legally searching his apartment.  Interestingly, since Nemtsov never was served a search warrant, he is not even breaking the law by not showing up.  Still, he contacted a local radio station, admitted that he is hiding in the Moscow region, declared these searches an "act of intimidation, total lawlessness and arbitrariness", and announced that he will show up at tomorrow's demonstrations.

Yup, there is another "march of the millions"  is scheduled tomorrow.  Last time around, the march of the millions only got 10'000 people in the streets.  It will be interesting to see how many come out tomorrow. 

Media hounds 'cover' each search

This all looks very good for Putin and very bad for the pro-US camp. Now that there is a money-trail labeled in US dollars and Euros, the public opinion in Russia will not need much further proof of who exactly was behind the attempt at a color-coded revolution in Russia. This is also why State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland immediately declared that "the U.S. is deeply concerned by the apparent harassment of Russian political opposition figures on the eve of the planned demonstrations on June 12.  Taken together, these measures raise serious questions about the arbitrary use of law enforcement to stifle free speech and free assembly". 

In other words, expect yet another Russia-bashing media-firestorm for tomorrow and the following days (with footage of Nemtsov being arrested).

The Saker