Dossier Anna Politkovskaya

Jasmina Tesanovic RSS / 29.08.2007. u 08:54

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nikson nikson 09:19 29.08.2007

.

Dosije Majkl Mur

Nietzsches Aprentice Nietzsches Aprentice 13:43 29.08.2007

.,.

.
TijanaMC TijanaMC 09:42 29.08.2007

Hvala za prilog

Jedan alternativni pogled i glas manje na svetu, ucutkan slepom silom i kukavickim strahom od istine. Citajuci deo o ruskim majkama, pokusavala sam da zamislim koliko majki i udovica u Srbiji (i naravno, bivsoj Jugoslaviji) iz poslednjih ratova cuti i krije svoj bes i ljutnju od sebe samih, rezignirane i smorene od svih tih trabunjanja o patriotizmu, naciji i srpstvu, dok 30% glasaca (mnogo!) i dalje ostaje verno partiji koja i dalje huska na rat i ciji je lider optuzen za ratne zlocine. I koji naravno veruju da je nas "spas" u Putinovoj Rusiji.
adam weisphaut adam weisphaut 09:49 29.08.2007

blaring silance

What are those tales and facts she is talking about in her work? The letters of a Chechnian father whose son was abducted and killed, to Putin and Kofi Anan. These are the questions of the father:

- who insulted, tortured my son and according to what law?

- what was he guilty of?

- why is there no enquiry about it and no criminal charges?

One mother of a dead Russian soldier refused to bury him (she kept it under her window sill for 15 days) while demanding an official report of his death. Thus the authorities were forced to do it, and other Russian mothers followed her example to find the truth. Breaking the general rule: You have your son's body, shut up, you should be grateful.

Instead of saying: thank you for my dead son, they asked: Why, for what noble cause?

The case of a young Chechnian woman who disappeared preemptively, accused by the Russian authorities as a potential kamikaze. And her mother asking both sides: why? Sometime I think that I am put here in the middle in order to see if I can survive all of them, says the mother, reflecting Anna's own standpoint as a reporter.


Sometimes we hear questions to which can give no intelligent answer, for all logic shatters in the face of them. AP heard those question and did not dread to repeat them, only to have the fate of becoming one of them. And again we are faced with a great why to which we can offer nothing in return but mournful silence
Belial Belial 13:06 29.08.2007

Putinova Rusija..

Mali offtopic:

Meni je fascinantno to razmisljanje o Putinovoj Rusiji. Kada je bio Jeljcin na celu Rusije, kada se sve raspadalo (u Rusiji) kada je zemlja tonula kao Srbija za vreme Milosevica, ta je Rusija bila "demokratska, zemlja koja se oslobodila gresaka proslosti, zemlja koja ide napred..." Sada kada je dosao Putin, kada Rusija ponovo staje na noge, ekonomski jaca, trazi da se njen glas cuje... sada je Rusija "na putu u proslost, nedemokratska, zemlja koja zvecka oruzijem..." Zar vam se ne cini da prpagirate necije tudje stavove, a cak niste ni pare dobili za to. Anna je bar uzela kesh!
Jasmina Tesanovic Jasmina Tesanovic 13:12 29.08.2007

Re: Putinova Rusija..

Ana je poznata po tome da NIJE htela da uzme kes, priznao i Putin i njegovi ljudi a jos poznatija po tome da je izgubila glavu...
Belial Belial 13:30 29.08.2007

Re: Putinova Rusija..

Nije ovde rec o Anni, nego o potpuno selektivnom gledanju na ideju demokratije. Kada u Rusiji ubiju novinara, to je pucanj u demokratiju, a kada Amerika bombarduje nekoga i pobije hiljade ljudi, to je borba za demokratiju. To sto je Putin izjavio (posle njene smrti) da nije uzela pare za svoje pisanje, to je samo rezultat marketinga, da ne kazem PR-a. Kada neko izgubi glavu zbog neke ideje (kakve kod), ako je iskreno bio za nju, njemu moze da sluzi samo na cast, ali jos vise na sramotu ljudi koji tu smrt posle koriste u politicke svrhe.

ps.

Od sada imas moje puno postovalje, s obzirom da si na post odgovorila, a ne obrisala.
TijanaMC TijanaMC 14:08 29.08.2007

Re: Putinova Rusija..

Ruisija uopste ne jaca ni ekonomski ni demokratski. Ono sto je u Rusiji jako je mafija i jaz izmedju bogate mafiije i sve bednijih i siromasnijih gradjana je svakim danom sve veci. U Moskvi mozete dati citavo bogatstvo za ekskluzivan nocni klub ili kupiti sat sa dijamantima Swarowskog, ali samo obican gradjanin zna kako je tesko u javnom prevozu doci na posao i kako je opasno setati nocu. Smrtnost usled alkoholizma i zime je najvisa u Evropi. Meni to ne lici na prosperitet i demokratiju.
Belial Belial 14:47 29.08.2007

Re: Putinova Rusija..

U pitanju je proces. Ne moze se ocekivati da zemlja koja je bila potpuno slomljena odmah postane divno mesto za zivot. Cilj svakog politicara morao bi da bude da zemlju ostavi u boljem stanju nego sto je ona bila na pocetku njegovog mandata. Mislim da je Putin i te kako ispunio taj cilj.

PS.

Kada smo kod smrti na ulici, sta raditi sa ogromnim brojem ubistava svake noci u predgradjima velikih Americkih gradova, u tom leglu demokratije?
vlada dvm vlada dvm 14:59 29.08.2007

Rusija ipak jaca

Nekome se to ne svidja, nekome se svidja, nekome je sasvim sve jedno, ali cinjenica je da Rusija ekonomski jaca.Sto se kriminala tice, to nije specificno za Rusiju. Sto se niko ne upita, kako to u Avganistanu, sad kada je dosla "demokratija", proizvodnja opijata dostize rekordne vrednosti ! ! ! ! Kao, Amerikanci ne mogu da lociraju proizvodnju droge i da je eliminisu?!?! A sto bi kada je to tako dobra zarada. Na zalost, autorka ovog bloga to nece pomenuti, kao sto kada se pomenu desavanja u bivsoj SFRJ i zlocini drugih naroda i narodnosti, njen odgovor je: " Mi se bavimo nasim zlocinima, mi cistimo u nasoj kuci...." Zasto je ovo izuzetak, zasto se ne bavite ubistvom Curuvije, Pantica, Dade Vujasinovic......Primecujem selektivnost i to mi se ne dopada.
TijanaMC TijanaMC 15:01 29.08.2007

Re: Putinova Rusija..

Ne secam se da sam spomenula Ameriku, ali kad ona bude predmet kritike, rado cu se ukljuciti.

Uostalom, niko ne kaze da bi Rusija trebalo istog momenta da prosperira. Ovde se medjutim radi o sistematskom nazadovanju koje ne prestaje. Jedna stvar je uvoditi promene polako i uz odricanja, ali ih ipak uvoditi, a nesto sasvim drugo je rat i potpuna nebriga o stanovnistvu. Uostalom, pogledajmo Cesku i Slovacku. Cudi me da nikad te zemlje nismo uzeli za svoj uzor: raspad teritorije bez oruzanog sukoba i zrtvi i ekonomski prosperitet i otvaranje ka svetu gotovo kao da nikad nije bilo gvozdene zavese. Samo da smo hteli, mogli smo da prodjemo bar isto tako, s obzirom da smo imali i bolje polazne uslove. No, ovo vec pomalo izlazi iz okvira teme.
TijanaMC TijanaMC 15:07 29.08.2007

Re: Rusija ipak jaca

Meni bi se zaista svidjalo da Rusija jaca. Nemam nista protiv necijeg blagostanja i prosperiteta. Ali to se prosto ne desava.
nikson nikson 15:34 29.08.2007

Re: Rusija ipak jaca

Tijana ajde malo argumentuj ne moze sve da se govori uopsteno. kako rusija ne jaca, pa nemoj molim te da se igramo...

uostalom to da li rusija jaca ne zavisi od naseg pisanja ovde, nego od drugih stvari.... RACUNAJTE I TO!
TijanaMC TijanaMC 15:45 29.08.2007

Re: Rusija ipak jaca

Niksone, ajde malo argumentuj ti (kad smo vec na Ti). Ja sam par argumenata vec navela, a gde su tvoji?
nikson nikson 16:03 29.08.2007

Re: Rusija ipak jaca

rec je o ekonomskim pokazateljima, te cinjenici da je rusija danas jedina zemlja u svetu koja sme da se suprostavi SAD-u. naravno meni je neopisivo drago zbog toga, ne zato sto nesto volim rusiju ili ne volim SAD, nego ne volim kada se neko ponasa bahato i primitivno kao SAD. drago mi je da se primitivnima i bahatima neko suprostavlja, ali obrazac jelene karleuse u srbije je poprimio vece razmere pa mnogi vole takvo ponasanje
dezelin dezelin 16:37 29.08.2007

Re: Rusija ipak jaca

nikson
rec je o ekonomskim pokazateljima, te cinjenici da je rusija danas jedina zemlja u svetu koja sme da se suprostavi SAD-u. naravno meni je neopisivo drago zbog toga, ne zato sto nesto volim rusiju ili ne volim SAD, nego ne volim kada se neko ponasa bahato i primitivno kao SAD. drago mi je da se primitivnima i bahatima neko suprostavlja, ali obrazac jelene karleuse u srbije je poprimio vece razmere pa mnogi vole takvo ponasanje


USA se ne ponasa bahato, nego promisljeno i lukavo.
nikson nikson 17:31 29.08.2007

Re: Rusija ipak jaca

i ja ih obozavam, a i bus je sladak
dezelin dezelin 18:26 29.08.2007

Re: Rusija ipak jaca

nikson
i ja ih obozavam, a i bus je sladak


Lepo.
vlada dvm vlada dvm 14:08 31.08.2007

USA nije bahata?!?!

Promisljeno i lukavo?!?!? Pobogu ! ! ! ! !
Urosh Urosh 11:12 08.09.2007

Re: Putinova Rusija..

Belial
Mali offtopic:Meni je fascinantno to razmisljanje o Putinovoj Rusiji. Kada je bio Jeljcin na celu Rusije, kada se sve raspadalo (u Rusiji) kada je zemlja tonula kao Srbija za vreme Milosevica, ta je Rusija bila "demokratska, zemlja koja se oslobodila gresaka proslosti, zemlja koja ide napred..." Sada kada je dosao Putin, kada Rusija ponovo staje na noge, ekonomski jaca, trazi da se njen glas cuje... sada je Rusija "na putu u proslost, nedemokratska, zemlja koja zvecka oruzijem..." Zar vam se ne cini da prpagirate necije tudje stavove, a cak niste ni pare dobili za to. Anna je bar uzela kesh!

Putinova Rusija je paternalisticka i fasisticka.
Jeljcinova Rusija jeste bila demokratska i bila je u tranziciji od konzervativnog i primitivnog drustva ka civilnom drustvu.
U demokratiji su ljudi onakvi kakvi jesu, a ne onakvi kakvi bi vlast zelela da oni/e budu.
Zato Jeljcinova Rusija i jeste bila demokratska.
Puna podrska onima koji zele da otkriju istinu o ubistvu Ane Politkovskaje i Borisu Berezovskom, Leonidu Nevzlinu, opoziciji na celu sa Yablokom i Ujedinjenim Gradjanskim Frontom.
Posebna podrska Michaelu Chodorkovskom.
Rusija zasluzuje bolje od paternalisticko-fasistickog rezima Vladimira Putina.
Nietzsches Aprentice Nietzsches Aprentice 13:45 29.08.2007

...

Putin ftw!

Moze mu se svasta pripisati. Ok, nista novo. Koji politicar je uspeo da napravi nesto od neke zemlje bez kriminalnih poteza u toku karijere? Hm... ni jedan? Stvari posmatrane iz neke vise perspektive poprimaju drugaciju sliku. Ali to je svet. Neistomisljenika je 6 milijardi, i jace. Politicari nemaju nikakvih pretenzija na titulu sveca. Samo naivan covek veruje u takvu pricu. Nekada je "peglanje" nesuglasica krvavije nego obicno. Ne kazem da to nije uzasno. Jeste. Ali ne vidim cemu sablaznjavanje pred tom cinjenicom? Ko da je to juce izmisljeno...
TijanaMC TijanaMC 14:01 29.08.2007

Re: ...


Samo naivan covek veruje u takvu pricu



Ne kazem da to nije uzasno. Jeste. Ali ne vidim cemu sablaznjavanje pred tom cinjenicom?


Dokle god je ljudi koji se jos uvek "naivno" zgrazavaju i sablaznjavaju nad prljavim i nemoralnim potezima politicara, ima nade za ovaj svet. Bojim se medjutim da je sve vise onih ljudi koji, iz straha da ne ispadnu "naivni", cak "ismejani", zauzimaju konformisticki stav tipa "nije to nista novo ili juce izmisljeno". Time medjutim ne pokazujemo koliko smo "pametni" i "iskusni" vec samo pristajemo na zlo i kriminal koji nam se serviraju u raznim pakovanjima i sa nebrojeno mnogo izgovora i opravdanja.
Nietzsches Aprentice Nietzsches Aprentice 14:17 29.08.2007

...

Time medjutim ne pokazujemo koliko smo "pametni" i "iskusni" vec samo pristajemo na zlo i kriminal koji nam se serviraju u raznim pakovanjima i sa nebrojeno mnogo izgovora i opravdanja.


Pa, realno, efekat tog "naivnog zgrazavanja" kroz istoriju reflektovan je i u tome sto se konkretne teme zgrazavanja nisu promenile tokom nje. Mozemo da se zgrazavamo ceo zivot, a mozemo i da se trudimo da zivimo maksimalno dobro i maksimalno van kruga efekta tih stvari. Imamo, ipak, samo jedan zivot...

Moj licni stav. Ja imam ideale ali ne u vezi politike i ne u vezi sa citavim drustvom. Sebicno? Mozda. Lose? Ne.
TijanaMC TijanaMC 14:41 29.08.2007

Re: ...

Bravo. Ja sam ipak naivno politicko bice. Sebicno? Ne. Lose? Ko to moze da zna?
dezelin dezelin 16:39 29.08.2007

Re: ...

Ne znam sta ce Rusija da radi za 50 godina kad budu prodali svu naftu. USA puni svoje busotine kupljenom naftom.
nikson nikson 17:30 29.08.2007

Re: ...

te napunjene busotine ce biti za nas problem, a ne za rusiju. uostalom svi koji tvrdite da rusija svoju moc zasniva samo na prirodnim resursima setite se da je rusija bila i mnogo ranije sila, vekovima unazad, kada su ta bogatstva bila nebitna.

ali ajde sve mi je jasno, ali kako moze neko da se raduje sto ce USA imati jedine naftu (iako mislim da ce to tada biti nebitno). to mi je nejasno
dezelin dezelin 18:27 29.08.2007

Re: ...

nikson
te napunjene busotine ce biti za nas problem, a ne za rusiju. uostalom svi koji tvrdite da rusija svoju moc zasniva samo na prirodnim resursima setite se da je rusija bila i mnogo ranije sila, vekovima unazad, kada su ta bogatstva bila nebitna.

ali ajde sve mi je jasno, ali kako moze neko da se raduje sto ce USA imati jedine naftu (iako mislim da ce to tada biti nebitno). to mi je nejasno


Pa zato sto planiram da se preselim tamo.
Srki Srki 15:37 30.08.2007

Re: ...

Pogresno izvucen zakljucak. Teme se nisu promenile kroz istoriju ne zbog toga sto su se nad njima zgrazavali naivni nego zbog one vecine koju interesuje samo da zivi maksimalno dobro.
Srki Srki 15:39 30.08.2007

Re: ...

Gde ste ovo culi? Zvuci kao urbana legenda penzionera koji igraju sah na Kalisu .
Fiorina Fiorina 14:39 29.08.2007

Economist: The making of a neo-KGB state

The making of a neo-KGB state

Aug 23rd 2007 | MOSCOW
From The Economist print edition


Political power in Russia now lies with the FSB, the KGB's successor

AFP






Get article background

ON THE evening of August 22nd 1991—16 years ago this week—Alexei Kondaurov, a KGB general, stood by the darkened window of his Moscow office and watched a jubilant crowd moving towards the KGB headquarters in Lubyanka Square. A coup against Mikhail Gorbachev had just been defeated. The head of the KGB who had helped to orchestrate it had been arrested, and Mr Kondaurov was now one of the most senior officers left in the fast-emptying building. For a moment the thronged masses seemed to be heading straight towards him.

Then their anger was diverted to the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the KGB's founding father. A couple of men climbed up and slipped a rope round his neck. Then he was yanked up by a crane. Watching “Iron Felix” sway in mid-air, Mr Kondaurov, who had served in the KGB since 1972, felt betrayed “by Gorbachev, by Yeltsin, by the impotent coup leaders”. He remembers thinking, “I will prove to you that your victory will be short-lived.”

Those feelings of betrayal and humiliation were shared by 500,000 KGB operatives across Russia and beyond, including Vladimir Putin, whose resignation as a lieutenant-colonel in the service had been accepted only the day before. Eight years later, though, the KGB men seemed poised for revenge. Just before he became president, Mr Putin told his ex-colleagues at the Federal Security Service (FSB), the KGB's successor, “A group of FSB operatives, dispatched under cover to work in the government of the Russian federation, is successfully fulfilling its task.” He was only half joking.

Over the two terms of Mr Putin's presidency, that “group of FSB operatives” has consolidated its political power and built a new sort of corporate state in the process. Men from the FSB and its sister organisations control the Kremlin, the government, the media and large parts of the economy—as well as the military and security forces. According to research by Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist at the Russian Academy of Sciences, a quarter of the country's senior bureaucrats are siloviki—a Russian word meaning, roughly, “power guys”, which includes members of the armed forces and other security services, not just the FSB. The proportion rises to three-quarters if people simply affiliated to the security services are included. These people represent a psychologically homogeneous group, loyal to roots that go back to the Bolsheviks' first political police, the Cheka. As Mr Putin says repeatedly, “There is no such thing as a former Chekist.”

By many indicators, today's security bosses enjoy a combination of power and money without precedent in Russia's history. The Soviet KGB and its pre-revolutionary ancestors did not care much about money; power was what mattered. Influential though it was, the KGB was a “combat division” of the Communist Party, and subordinate to it. As an outfit that was part intelligence organisation, part security agency and part secret political police, it was often better informed, but it could not act on its own authority; it could only make “recommendations”. In the 1970s and 1980s it was not even allowed to spy on the party bosses and had to act within Soviet laws, however inhuman.

The KGB provided a crucial service of surveillance and suppression; it was a state within a state. Now, however, it has become the state itself. Apart from Mr Putin, “There is nobody today who can say no to the FSB,” says Mr Kondaurov.

All important decisions in Russia, says Ms Kryshtanovskaya, are now taken by a tiny group of men who served alongside Mr Putin in the KGB and who come from his home town of St Petersburg. In the next few months this coterie may well decide the outcome of next year's presidential election. But whoever succeeds Mr Putin, real power is likely to remain in the organisation. Of all the Soviet institutions, the KGB withstood Russia's transformation to capitalism best and emerged strongest. “Communist ideology has gone, but the methods and psychology of its secret police have remained,” says Mr Kondaurov, who is now a member of parliament.



Scotched, not killed
Mr Putin's ascent to the presidency of Russia was the result of a chain of events that started at least a quarter of a century earlier, when Yuri Andropov, a former head of the KGB, succeeded Leonid Brezhnev as general secretary of the Communist Party. Andropov's attempts to reform the stagnating Soviet economy in order to preserve the Soviet Union and its political system have served as a model for Mr Putin. Early in his presidency Mr Putin unveiled a plaque at the Lubyanka headquarters that paid tribute to Andropov as an “outstanding political figure”.

Staffed by highly educated, pragmatic men recruited in the 1960s and 1970s, the KGB was well aware of the dire state of the Soviet economy and the antique state of the party bosses. It was therefore one of the main forces behind perestroika, the loose policy of restructuring started by Mr Gorbachev in the 1980s. Perestroika's reforms were meant to give the Soviet Union a new lease of life. When they threatened its existence, the KGB mounted a coup against Mr Gorbachev. Ironically, this precipitated the Soviet collapse.

AP


But Iron Felix bounced back

The defeat of the coup gave Russia an historic chance to liquidate the organisation. “If either Gorbachev or Yeltsin had been bold enough to dismantle the KGB during the autumn of 1991, he would have met little resistance,” wrote Yevgenia Albats, a journalist who has courageously covered the grimmest chapters in the KGB's history. Instead, both Mr Gorbachev and Yeltsin tried to reform it.

The “blue blood” of the KGB—the First Chief Directorate, in charge of espionage—was spun off into a separate intelligence service. The rest of the agency was broken into several parts. Then, after a few short months of talk about openness, the doors of the agency slammed shut again and the man charged with trying to reform it, Vadim Bakatin, was ejected. His glum conclusion, delivered at a conference in 1993, was that although the myth about the KGB's invincibility had collapsed, the agency itself was very much alive.

Indeed it was. The newly named Ministry of Security continued to “delegate” the officers of the “active reserve” into state institutions and commercial firms. Soon KGB officers were staffing the tax police and customs services. As Boris Yeltsin himself admitted by the end of 1993, all attempts to reorganise the KGB were “superficial and cosmetic”; in fact, it could not be reformed. “The system of political police has been preserved,” he said, “and could be resurrected.”

Yet Mr Yeltsin, though he let the agency survive, did not use it as his power base. In fact, the KGB was cut off from the post-Soviet redistribution of assets. Worse still, it was upstaged and outwitted by a tiny group of opportunists, many of them Jews (not a people beloved by the KGB), who became known as the oligarchs. Between them, they grabbed most of the country's natural resources and other privatised assets. KGB officers watched the oligarchs get super-rich while they stayed cash-strapped and sometimes even unpaid.

Some officers did well enough, but only by offering their services to the oligarchs. To protect themselves from rampant crime and racketeering, the oligarchs tried to privatise parts of the KGB. Their large and costly security departments were staffed and run by ex-KGB officers. They also hired senior agency men as “consultants”. Fillip Bobkov, the head of the Fifth Directorate (which dealt with dissidents), worked for a media magnate, Vladimir Gusinsky. Mr Kondaurov, a former spokesman for the KGB, worked for Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who ran and largely owned Yukos. “People who stayed in the FSB were B-list,” says Mark Galeotti, a British analyst of the Russian special services.

Lower-ranking staff worked as bodyguards to Russia's rich. (Andrei Lugovoi, the chief suspect in the murder in London last year of Alexander Litvinenko, once guarded Boris Berezovsky, an oligarch who, facing arrest in Russia, now lives in Britain.) Hundreds of private security firms staffed by KGB veterans sprang up around the country and most of them, though not all, kept their ties to their alma mater. According to Igor Goloshchapov, a former KGB special-forces commando who is now a spokesman for almost 800,000 private security men,

In the 1990s we had one objective: to survive and preserve our skills. We did not consider ourselves to be separate from those who stayed in the FSB. We shared everything with them and we saw our work as just another form of serving the interests of the state. We knew that there would come a moment when we would be called upon.

That moment came on New Year's Eve 1999, when Mr Yeltsin resigned and, despite his views about the KGB, handed over the reins of power to Mr Putin, the man he had put in charge of the FSB in 1998 and made prime minister a year later.



The inner circle
As the new president saw things, his first task was to restore the management of the country, consolidate political power and neutralise alternative sources of influence: oligarchs, regional governors, the media, parliament, opposition parties and non-governmental organisations. His KGB buddies helped him with the task.

AFP


The flowers fade, the Lubyanka stands



The most politically active oligarchs, Mr Berezovsky, who had helped Mr Putin come to power, and Mr Gusinsky, were pushed out of the country, and their television channels were taken back into state hands. Mr Khodorkovsky, Russia's richest man, was more stubborn. Despite several warnings, he continued to support opposition parties and NGOs and refused to leave Russia. In 2003 the FSB arrested him and, after a show trial, helped put him in jail.

To deal with unruly regional governors, Mr Putin appointed special envoys with powers of supervision and control. Most of them were KGB veterans. The governors lost their budgets and their seats in the upper house of the Russian parliament. Later the voters lost their right to elect them.

All the strategic decisions, according to Ms Kryshtanovskaya, were and still are made by the small group of people who have formed Mr Putin's informal politburo. They include two deputy heads of the presidential administration: Igor Sechin, who officially controls the flow of documents but also oversees economic matters, and Viktor Ivanov, responsible for personnel in the Kremlin and beyond. Then come Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the FSB, and Sergei Ivanov, a former defence minister and now the first deputy prime minister. All are from St Petersburg, and all served in intelligence or counter-intelligence. Mr Sechin is the only one who does not advertise his background.

That two of the most influential men, Mr Sechin and Viktor Ivanov, hold only fairly modest posts (each is a deputy head) and seldom appear in public is misleading. It was, after all, common Soviet practice to have a deputy, often linked to the KGB, who carried more weight than his notional boss. “These people feel more comfortable when they are in the shadows,” explains Ms Kryshtanovskaya.

In any event, each of these KGB veterans has a plethora of followers in other state institutions. One of Mr Patrushev's former deputies, also from the KGB, is the minister of the interior, in charge of the police. Sergei Ivanov still commands authority within the army's headquarters. Mr Sechin has close family ties to the minister of justice. The prosecution service, which in Soviet times at least nominally controlled the KGB's work, has now become its instrument, along with the tax police.

The political clout of these siloviki is backed by (or has resulted in) state companies with enormous financial resources. Mr Sechin, for example, is the chairman of Rosneft, Russia's largest state-run oil company. Viktor Ivanov heads the board of directors of Almaz-Antei, the country's main producer of air-defence rockets, and of Aeroflot, the national airline. Sergei Ivanov oversees the military-industrial complex and is in charge of the newly created aircraft-industry monopoly.

But the siloviki reach farther, into all areas of Russian life. They can be found not just in the law-enforcement agencies but in the ministries of economy, transport, natural resources, telecoms and culture. Several KGB veterans occupy senior management posts in Gazprom, Russia's biggest company, and its pocket bank, Gazprombank (whose vice-president is the 26-year-old son of Sergei Ivanov).

Alexei Gromov, Mr Putin's trusted press secretary, sits on the board of Channel One, Russia's main television channel. The railway monopoly is headed by Vladimir Yakunin, a former diplomat who served his country at the United Nations in New York and is believed to have held a high rank in the KGB. Sergei Chemezov, Mr Putin's old KGB friend from his days in Dresden (where the president worked from 1985 to 1990), is in charge of Rosoboronexport, a state arms agency that has grown on his watch into a vast conglomerate. The list goes on.

Many officers of the active reserve have been seconded to Russia's big companies, both private and state-controlled, where they draw a salary while also remaining on the FSB payroll. “We must make sure that companies don't make decisions that are not in the interest of the state,” one current FSB colonel explains. Being an active-reserve officer in a firm is, says another KGB veteran, a dream job: “You get a huge salary and you get to keep your FSB card.” One such active-reserve officer is the 26-year-old son of Mr Patrushev who was last year seconded from the FSB to Rosneft, where he is now advising Mr Sechin. (After seven months at Rosneft, Mr Putin awarded Andrei Patrushev the Order of Honour, citing his professional successes and “many years of conscientious work”.) Rosneft was the main recipient of Yukos's assets after the firm was destroyed.

The attack on Yukos, which entered its decisive stage just as Mr Sechin was appointed to Rosneft, was the first and most blatant example of property redistribution towards the siloviki, but not the only one. Mikhail Gutseriev, the owner of Russneft, a fast-growing oil company, was this month forced to give up his business after being accused of illegal activities. For a time, he had refused; but, as he explained, “they tightened the screws” and one state agency after another—the general prosecutor's office, the tax police, the interior ministry—began conducting checks on him.



From oligarchy to spookocracy
The transfer of financial wealth from the oligarchs to the siloviki was perhaps inevitable. It certainly met with no objection from most Russians, who have little sympathy for “robber barons”. It even earned the siloviki a certain popularity. But whether they will make a success of managing their newly acquired assets is doubtful. “They know how to break up a company or to confiscate something. But they don't know how to manage a business. They use force simply because they don't know any other method,” says an ex-KGB spook who now works in business.

Curiously, the concentration of such power and economic resources in the hands of a small group of siloviki, who identify themselves with the state, has not alienated people in the lower ranks of the security services. There is trickle-down of a sort: the salary of an average FSB operative has gone up several times over the past decade, and a bit of freelancing is tolerated. Besides, many Russians inside and outside the ranks believe that the transfer of assets from private hands to the siloviki is in the interests of the state. “They are getting their own back and they have the right to do so,” says Mr Goloshchapov.

The rights of the siloviki, however, have nothing to do with the formal kind that are spelled out in laws or in the constitution. What they are claiming is a special mission to restore the power of the state, save Russia from disintegration and frustrate the enemies that might weaken it. Such idealistic sentiments, says Mr Kondaurov, coexist with an opportunistic and cynical eagerness to seize the situation for personal or institutional gain.

Reuters


Ivanov, Putin and Patrushev: the agency marches forward



The security servicemen present themselves as a tight brotherhood entitled to break any laws for the sake of their mission. Their high language is laced with profanity, and their nationalism is often combined with contempt for ordinary people. They are, however, loyal to each other.

Competition to enter the service is intense. The KGB picked its recruits carefully. Drawn from various institutes and universities, they then went to special KGB schools. Today the FSB Academy in Moscow attracts the children of senior siloviki; a vast new building will double its size. The point, says Mr Galeotti, the British analyst, “is not just what you learn, but who you meet there”.

Graduates of the FSB Academy may well agree. “A Chekist is a breed,” says a former FSB general. A good KGB heritage—a father or grandfather, say, who worked for the service—is highly valued by today's siloviki. Marriages between siloviki clans are also encouraged.

Viktor Cherkesov, the head of Russia's drug-control agency, who was still hunting dissidents in the late 1980s, has summed up the FSB psychology in an article that has become the manifesto of the siloviki and a call for consolidation.

We [siloviki] must understand that we are one whole. History ruled that the weight of supporting the Russian state should fall on our shoulders. I believe in our ability, when we feel danger, to put aside everything petty and to remain faithful to our oath.

As well as invoking secular patriotism, Russia's security bosses can readily find allies among the priesthood. Next to the FSB building in Lubyanka Square stands the 17th-century church of the Holy Wisdom, “restored in August 2001with zealous help from the FSB,” says a plaque. Inside, freshly painted icons gleam with gold. “Thank God there is the FSB. All power is from God and so is theirs,” says Father Alexander, who leads the service. A former KGB general agrees: “They really believe that they were chosen and are guided by God and that even the high oil prices they have benefited from are God's will.”

Sergei Grigoryants, who has often been interrogated and twice imprisoned (for anti-Soviet propaganda) by the KGB, says the security chiefs believe “that they are the only ones who have the real picture and understanding of the world.” At the centre of this picture is an exaggerated sense of the enemy, which justifies their very existence: without enemies, what are they for? “They believe they can see enemies where ordinary people can't,” says Ms Kryshtanovskaya.

“A few years ago, we succumbed to the illusion that we don't have enemies and we have paid dearly for that,” Mr Putin told the FSB in 1999. It is a view shared by most KGB veterans and their successors. The greatest danger comes from the West, whose aim is supposedly to weaken Russia and create disorder. “They want to make Russia dependent on their technologies,” says a current FSB staffer. “They have flooded our market with their goods. Thank God we still have nuclear arms.” The siege mentality of the siloviki and their anti-Westernism have played well with the Russian public. Mr Goloshchapov, the private agents' spokesman, expresses the mood this way: “In Gorbachev's time Russia was liked by the West and what did we get for it? We have surrendered everything: eastern Europe, Ukraine, Georgia. NATO has moved to our borders.”

From this perspective, anyone who plays into the West's hands at home is the internal enemy. In this category are the last free-thinking journalists, the last NGOs sponsored by the West and the few liberal politicians who still share Western values.

To sense the depth of these feelings, consider the response of one FSB officer to the killing of Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist whose books criticising Mr Putin and his brutal war in Chechnya are better known outside than inside Russia. “I don't know who killed her, but her articles were beneficial to the Western press. She deserved what she got.” And so, by this token, did Litvinenko, the ex-KGB officer poisoned by polonium in London last year.

In such a climate, the idea that Russia's security services are entitled to deal ruthlessly with enemies of the state, wherever they may be, has gained wide acceptance and is supported by a new set of laws. One, aimed at “extremism”, gives the FSB and other agencies ample scope to pursue anyone who acts or speaks against the Kremlin. It has already been invoked against independent analysts and journalists. A lawyer who complained to the Constitutional Court about the FSB's illegal tapping of his client's telephone has been accused of disclosing state secrets. Several scientists who collaborated with foreign firms are in jail for treason.

Despite their loyalty to old Soviet roots, today's security bosses differ from their predecessors. They do not want a return to communist ideology or an end to capitalism, whose fruits they enjoy. They have none of the asceticism of their forebears. Nor do they relish mass repression: in a country where fear runs deep, attacking selected individuals does the job. But the concentration of such power and money in the hands of the security services does not bode well for Russia.



And not very good at their job
The creation of enemies may smooth over clan disagreements and fuel nationalism, but it does not make the country more secure or prosperous. While the FSB reports on the ever-rising numbers of foreign spies, accuses scientists of treason and hails its “brotherhood”, Russia remains one of the most criminalised, corrupt and bureaucratic countries in the world.

During the crisis at a school in Beslan in 2004, the FSB was good at harassing journalists trying to find out the truth. But it could not even cordon off the school in which the hostages were held. Under the governorship of an ex-FSB colleague of Mr Putin, Ingushetia, the republic that borders Chechnya, has descended into a new theatre of war. The army is plagued by crime and bullying. Private businessmen are regularly hassled by law-enforcement agencies. Russia's foreign policy has turned out to be self-fulfilling: by perpetually denouncing enemies on every front, it has helped to turn many countries from potential friends into nervous adversaries.

The rise to power of the KGB veterans should not have been surprising. In many ways, argues Inna Solovyova, a Russian cultural historian, it had to do with the qualities that Russians find appealing in their rulers: firmness, reserve, authority and a degree of mystery. “The KGB fitted this description, or at least knew how to seem to fit it.”

But are they doing the country any good? “People who come from the KGB are tacticians. We have never been taught to solve strategic tasks,” says Mr Kondaurov. The biggest problem of all, he and a few others say, is the agency's loss of professionalism. He blushes when he talks about the polonium capers in London. “We never sank to this level,” he sighs. “What a blow to the country's reputation!”


Belial Belial 14:57 29.08.2007

Re: Economist: The making of a neo-KGB sta

Za zasto niko ne pokrene pitanje o potrebi da se razmontira CIA. Npr. otvorite "Economist" i procitate "Klinton je propustio priliku da demontira CIA kada je dosao na vlast". Ali pak je ta CIA Borac za demokratiju, zar ne?
Jasmina Tesanovic Jasmina Tesanovic 15:00 29.08.2007

Re: Economist: The making of a neo-KGB sta

nije CIA borac za demokratiju
nije joj cak ni u opisu radnog mesta
e bar o tome ima literature za vreme Busa, pukla je i CIA
vlada dvm vlada dvm 15:01 29.08.2007

Cia borac za demokratiju?!?!

Pretpostvaljam da je ovo sarkasticna opaska ?!
Jasmina Tesanovic Jasmina Tesanovic 15:09 29.08.2007

Re: Cia borac za demokratiju?!?!

pa rekla sam da NIJE
sad ja ne razumem
adam weisphaut adam weisphaut 16:20 29.08.2007

Inteesantno je kako

patoloski rusofili rastrce kada se spomene sexy Putin, ruska neo kgb mafijaska oligarhija i FSB. Svaki spomen ovih totema nakaradnog srpskog pravoslavnog panslovenizma, izaziva buku i bes kojim bi se trebala pokriti istina o kakvoj se drzavi kada govorimo o Rusiji danas radi, i na koji model drzave se oni ugledaju, glorfikuju i nude kao osnovu buducnost preko RTS-a, Poitke, Nina i NSFM. Takodjje je intersentno da im ne bode oci je jedan od osumnjicenih za Anino ubistvo Putinov fah klolga, visoki oficir FSB-a.
nikson nikson 16:29 29.08.2007

Re: Inteesantno je kako

sta sada znaci nakaradni srpski pravoslavni panslavizam. ti kao da si na berlinskom kongresu
adam weisphaut adam weisphaut 16:35 29.08.2007

Re: Inteesantno je kako

Odi na Politikin site i malo pregledaj kolumne Djokice i Antonica, pa ce ti see samo javiti.
Belial Belial 07:11 30.08.2007

Re: Inteesantno je kako

Nije u opste poenta u tome. Poenta je u glupom gledanju na Rusiju. I kao sto ste stvorili termin "rusofil", zar ne mislite da vi zasluzujete naziv "rusohejter" ili tako nesto. Tolika mrznja prema svemu sto dolazi sa istoka. Nego da napravimo malu analogiju. Putin je diktator zato sto je obnovio strukturu FSB-a. Jeljcin je bio dobar, borio se protiv te strukture, mada, propustio je priliku da je demontira na samom popcetku. Sada obrnimo situaciju. Kada bi u Americi neko udario na CIA-u to bi neminovno bio akt terorizma i drzavnog udara, a ne borba za demokratiju. Znaci Jeljcin je dobar i borac za demokratiju (za zapadne politicare) zato sto je udario na svoju zemlju i njenu bezbednost. Posto ta ideja dolazi sa Zapada, to nije nista cudno, ali ne mogu da shvatim da se i vi ovde lozite na tu pricu i da verujete da je glup onaj koji ne uvidja da je Rusima bilo bolje za vreme Jeljcina nego sada.
adam weisphaut adam weisphaut 08:31 30.08.2007

Re: Inteesantno je kako

Dakle, vi prevdjate namerno ili ne da ja nisam govorio o rusofilma vec o patoloskim rusofilima, ljubiteljima i apologetama jednog deficijentnog siistema. Ja licno nemam protiv ruskog naroda niti ruske kulrure, imam protiv sadasnje ruske drzave i nejne oligarhije proiv koje je pisala i Ana P.sto je gle cuda platila zivotom, sto neodoljivo podseca na neke slicne dogadjaje iz nase recentne proslosti. Razlika izjedju mene i patoloiskih rusofila je da ja ruskoj kulturi ne prilazim sa ideoloskim opredeljenjem koje unapred odedjuje moj dozivljaj iste, ja ne razmatram Dostojevskog ili Tarkovskog s skrivenom politickom agendom, i samim time ne profanisem njihovo delo i vulgarizujem moj dozivljaj istog. a sto se tice ruskog sitema sam cinejnica da postoje ljudi koji su relevantni politicki cinioci koji mu se dive bi bil zbrinjavajuca, a kada su ti ljudi na vlasti i kada popularizuju taj sistem i nude ga kao najbolju alternativu preko maistream medija je prava katastrofa.
Praviti analogije izmedju Rusije i Amerike iz doba hladnog rata je nemoguce jer je Amerika, uz sve mane koje joj se mogu spocitati , bila demokratska drzava sto SSSr nije bila, samim tim pricati o odnosu prema njihovom sluzbama bezbednosti na isti nacin je nemoguce i smesno.
Poboljsanje kvaliteta zivota pod Putinom dolazi kao posledica naglog rasta cena nafte na svetskom trzistu a ne kao posledica nekakve Putinove ingenioznosti. Oko Putina koji su je inace ista ona mafijaska oloigarhija koja je i popljackala Rusiju u Jelcinovoj eri.(uz izuzetak Hodorovskog i Bezerovskog, koji su pali iz milosti Kremlja zato sto su se politicki suprostavili )
Belial Belial 09:57 30.08.2007

Re: Inteesantno je kako

E upravo je problem u toj dogmi "Amerika je demokratska zemlja".. PA ŠTA! Ta demokratska zemlja je imala više vojnih intervencija širom sveta nego sve ostale, nedemokratske i demokratske zemlje zajedno. Ta demokratska zemlja je slala svoje bombardere širom sveta sa seju smrt, pardon, demokratiju, a sada dižu buku oko toga što Ruski avioni izlaze van granica Rusije. Ta demokratska Amerika... ali čemu, ljudima kao što ste vi draži je američki bombarder, nego ruski kanader. A da, taj kanader je povredio vazdušni prosto demokratskih zemalja evrope i pretio da ugrozi njihovu mladu demokratiju, zar ne?
adam weisphaut adam weisphaut 10:08 30.08.2007

Re: Inteesantno je kako

Ta demokratska Amerika... ali čemu, ljudima kao što ste vi draži je američki bombarder, nego ruski kanader.

Hm ruski avion je bio iljusin, kanaderi su kanadski, inace imali smo ih u svom vlasnistvu pa su ih 90-ih prodali ispod realne cene patoloski rusofili (konkretno onaj koji je izvrsio prodaju je u sheveningenu ali naravno ne zbog kandera nego hladnjaca, imala je Jasmina blog posvecen tome pre nekh mesec dana), isti oni zbog kojih su nam koju godinu kasnije kasnije ti americki bombarderi leteli iznad glava.
Srki Srki 16:01 30.08.2007

Re: Inteesantno je kako

Ovo nema veze sa zivotom: "Jeljcin udario na bezbednost svoje zemlje", kako jel' time sto je posle Gorbacova doprineo okoncanju hladnog rata? Pa vi ste zaista zaslepljeni "rusofilnim panslovenizmom" ili generalno pojma nemate.
Nego, da li vas zapravo svrbi to sto prosecni Amerikanac ili zapadni Evropljanin zivi daleeeeeko normalniji zivot od prosecnog Srbina ili Rusa, i pored svog tog kriminala u predgradjima, tihog rasizma, straha od terorizma (izuvanja na aerodromima) frustracije od predsednika i poteza tekuce administracije? Ako je tako, onda problem valjda nije u Amerikancima, nego u vama koji ste tako odabrali da zivite (kad za razliku od nekih drzava imate uspostavljenu kakvu-takvu demokratiju i mogucnost da birate vlast).

Normalno da bi napad na drzavni organ (CIA) bio akt terorizma, kao i u svakoj normalnoj drzavi. Ali za razliku od Rusije gde vas nahrane polonijumom ako nanjusite neke nepravilnosti, u Americi ako postoji dokaz ili samo ozbiljna indicija da je CIA ili sam predsednik uradio bilo sta ilegalno organizuje se saslusanje u kongresu, koje je javno, pa tamo par nadrndanih senatora naguzi i samog gospoda boga ako se ogresio (setite se samo bivseg predsednika CIE-e Teneta kako se znojio kad su ga trtili zbog one mucke sa informacijama pred rat u Iraku. Istina je da nisu nasli nista protivzakonito, inace bi ga FBI vec poslao da malo broji brojanice u supermaxu u Florence-u .

Licno, daleko bih vise voleo da sve drzave budu kao USA, pa da onda USA po problemima bude najgora medju njima i da je onda ovde opletemo. Ovako svako poredjenje je potpuno besmisleno, nesto kao babe i zabe. Jedva cekam neki blog na tu temu, a ne da citam ove zamene teza.

Badenac Badenac 16:55 29.08.2007

.........

Jasmina, hvala na za prilog.
Ana Politkovska je bila hrabra žena,predstavnica prave Rusije,Rusije zbog zbog koje vredi postati rusofil.Verujem da će njeno delo inspirisate mnoge žene i muškarce širom sveta,a naročito u Srbiji da postanu pravi novinari za koje nijedna tema nije tabu.
Jasmina,ne slažem se sa vama da Ana nije bila plaćena.Nju je isplatila ona "patriotska",narko-tajkunska Rusija,a ona isplaćuje u olovu one koji su joj protivnici.Naravno,to će negirati generalni tužilac Ruske Federacije, izvesni gospodin Čajka koji je već ocenio da ovo ubistvo nije napad na slobodu govora već,citiram,"...organizatori ubistva imali su za cilj ...,da diskredituju rukiovodstvo zemlje i promene ustavni poredak zemlje."Ispada kao da je Putin žrtva a ne novinarka koja je stala na rep njegovim pulenima u Čečeniji.Žalosno je štoće buduće sudjenje izgleda pre biti sudjene ubijenoj novinarki nego njenim navodnim ubicama.Ali takve pokušaje smo videli i u Beogradu,na sudjenju za ubistvo premijera Đinđića.
Branislav J. Ćirić
adam weisphaut adam weisphaut 08:36 30.08.2007

Re: .........

Badenac, pottpisujem sve sto ste rekli!
Pozz
bladerunner bladerunner 12:48 30.08.2007

Jasmina

this post has nothing to do with the subject
just was wondering - today is international missing people day . Shouldn't you and your organisation Women in black mark this day somehow? Maybe with story on your blog? There are lots of mothers in black in Serbia whose children are missing since last few wars. Aren't you helping them too?
dunjica dunjica 13:29 30.08.2007

Rizik ostaje velik

Od devedesetih naovamo u Rusiji je ubijeno 30tak novinara prilikom, ili zbog, (savjesnog) obavljanja svog posla, od toga 10 u vrijeme rata u Čečeniji. Na žalost, ova profesija je i dalje jedna od najrizičnijih u Putinovoj "demokraciji".

PS Prvi link, boingboing, ne mogu otvoriti

Brana Brana 14:07 30.08.2007

Bolji svet/blog

Kada bi bilo mnogo više ljudi koji svoj posao rade kao što ga je radila Ana Politkovskaja, svet bi bio mnogo bolje mesto.
Kada bi bilo više ljudi koji sebi dozvoljavaju da komentarišu samo ono o čemu znaju dovoljno, ovaj blog bi bio mnogo bolje mesto.

http://www.netnovinar.org/netnovinar/dsp_page.cfm?pageid=449&articleid=8503&urlsectionid=1375&specialsection=ART_FULL
vdd vdd 10:37 31.08.2007

Transkripcija sa ruskog

Ne razumem zašto se umesto direktne transkripcije sa ruske ćirilice (Анна Степановна Политковская) na srpsku latinicu koristi veoma indirektan način (ruski-engleski-srpski)? Zašto se prezime Политковская ne transkribuje kako je po našem pravopisu uobičajeno, Politkovska? Kad članak počne ovako nepismenim naslovom, ma kako kasnije interesantan bio, ostaje mučan utisak. Nadam se da razlog ovome nije apsolutno nipodaštavanje ruskog jezika, što bi zaista bilo vrlo primitivno.
RELAX RELAX 15:46 01.09.2007

Borba za naftu

Slaba Rusija = jeftina nafta

Zato je B.J. demokrata a V.P. diktator. Pod prvim predsednikom Rusije zapadne kompanije su pocele da kupuju akcije ili dogovaraju poslove oko kupovine ruskih naftnih kompanija. V.P. je to blokirao. E sada zamislite na sta bi Rusija licila da je B.J. ostao na vlasti jos par par godina. Nafta u rukama zapada (SAD i V.B.) cene nafte skocile a Rusija od toga videla sipak. A zapadne kompanije bi ostvarile enorman profit jer bi ruske naftne kompanije kupile za sicu. E pa to se nije dogodilo zeznuo ih za velike pare i zato su kivni i zato igraju svoje prljave igre.

Prostije ne moze biti.

Nije Rusija cvecka ali kao sto znamo ko se ponasa kao cvecka ne moze da bude bitan igrac na svetskoj sceni. Nego jel se secate slucaja ubistva u nekoj ex-sovjetskoj republici dva opozicionara koje je presednik drzave naredio da ubiju KUVANJEM u loncu. E pa to je Foreign Office pokusao da zatraska jer je covek saveznik zapada. A pre toga je bilo jos gomila brutalnih ubistava. Kao sto vidite tada ljudska prava se ne gledaju. Nazalost je tako.

Inace isti taj Foreign Office dize frku zbog sumljivog ubistva ex-KGB-ovca. I pruza azil kriminalcima koji su dobili azil samo zato sto su protiv V.P. E to vam je licemerstvo na delu. Kada si njihov friend mozes kuvati ljude a ako to nisi nemoj slucajno da ti padne napamet da trazis izrucenje. A sto je najsmesnije VB trazi izrucenje onog Rus koji osumljicen za trovanje. E jesu vickasti. Da li azil tolikim sumljivim Rusima i Rusija trazi izrucenje vec godinama i jok ne moze. A sada su besni sto Rusi ne izruce tog lika. Lepo rece V.P.:"Britanija misli da smo mi njihova kolonija"
Urosh Urosh 11:13 08.09.2007

Re: Borba za naftu

RELAX
Slaba Rusija = jeftina nafta

"Slaba" Rusija-JAK POJEDINAC U NJOJ!
Votazi Votazi 05:17 07.09.2007

Vijesti

Procitas li nekad "Vijesti".Podgorica!
Ivanovic
P.S.
Kako si Ti "naivna"!
Pisi malo o tome!

Arhiva

   

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