Randy McDonald ([info]rfmcdpei) wrote,
@ 2004-02-09 10:57:00
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Unpleasant News from Russia
Murder inquiry into missing politician dropped
Russia's prosecutor general has cancelled a murder inquiry into the disappearance of presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin less than an hour after it had been opened.

Asked about a report that the national prosecutor general's office had overturned the formal opening of an inquiry into premeditated murder, a spokeswoman said: "Yes. That's right. The case has been cancelled."

Mr Rybkin, 57, has been missing since last Thursday.

He is a political rival of President Vladimir Putin, who is challenging him in the March 14 election.

Read more.

UPDATE: Another article, going into more depth on other events. Lebed's helicopter crash seemed like an awfully big surprise.


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[info]lifein2x3
2004-02-09 09:01 am UTC (link)
Dateline: Berlin, 1934.

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(Anonymous)
2004-02-09 11:03 am UTC (link)
Dateline: Berlin, 1934.

I'm a tad more optimistic than that. Putin seems to be an authoritarian, not a totalitarian, at heart, and there certainly is no reason to expect Death Camps in Russia's future.

On the other hand, offing your political opponents is beyond the pale. A decent authoritarian dictator does it by manipulating the media and, if necessary, tampering with the election boxes. Since Putin clearly is going to win the election without need to resort to the later, there is no reason to resort to anything even cruder. Hopefully this turns out to be one of those bizarre examples of political theater so common to the more backwards parts of Eastern Europe.

At least we've pushed NATO's borders eastwards, more-or-less to the interwar frontiers, limiting the damage. We've just got to make a concerted effort to get Ukraine to tip our way, rather than Russia's. With the partial exception of Georgia, the Caucuses are probably unsalvageable.

Alexander

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[info]lifein2x3
2004-02-09 11:37 am UTC (link)
On the other hand, offing your political opponents is beyond the pale. A decent authoritarian dictator does it by manipulating the media and, if necessary, tampering with the election boxes.

Sounds like he could use a lesson or two from your friendly neighborhood Republican Party.

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(Anonymous)
2004-02-09 01:54 pm UTC (link)
Sounds like he could use a lesson or two from your friendly neighborhood Republican Party.

Or Democratic. After all, it was a Democratic machine that got Chicago its reputation, a reputation that was well earned.

Alexander

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[info]nire_nagaf
2004-02-09 10:58 am UTC (link)
That is . . . profoundly chilling.

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[info]rfmcdpei
2004-02-09 11:55 am UTC (link)
Don't worry. Apparently he's just doing it for a publicity stunt.

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(Anonymous)
2004-02-09 01:52 pm UTC (link)
Don't worry. Apparently he's just doing it for a publicity stunt.

So, my hope that "this turns out to be one of those bizarre examples of political theater so common to the more backwards parts of Eastern Europe" was right?

Alexander

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[info]rfmcdpei
2004-02-09 01:56 pm UTC (link)
Sorry, that was an attempt at sarcasm on my part.

Seriously, I was quite surprised to learn of Lebed's helicopter crash at the time. I wonder if it was entirely accidental.

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(Anonymous)
2004-02-09 02:56 pm UTC (link)
Sorry, that was an attempt at sarcasm on my part.

Oh, O.K.

Seriously, I was quite surprised to learn of Lebed's helicopter crash at the time. I wonder if it was entirely accidental.

However, I *would not* call Lebed a democrat by any stretch of the imagination. If it wasn't entirely accidental, it'll come out sooner or later. Certainly a pattern of "accidental deaths" will lead many of us to think that they weren't so accidental after all.

Alexander

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[info]rfmcdpei
2004-02-09 03:46 pm UTC (link)
I quite agree about Lebed, given his record in Moldova. Still, if Putin is going after any opposition, Lebed might have made a good start.

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(Anonymous)
2004-02-10 02:44 pm UTC (link)
Well, it wasn't a publicity stunt, but with his re-emergence it qualifies as bizarre nonetheless.

Alexander

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[info]schizmatic
2004-02-09 05:00 pm UTC (link)
Eck. This is also quite disturbing. On the one hand, Putin seems to know that the only way he can get Russia up and running is to have a genuine free market. On the other hand, he also seems to have the idea that he can do this by fiat, and so doesn't have quite the respect for democratic norms (that's my daily understatement) necessary for a market to thrive.


I think, though, that the worst-case scenario is that if he's dead, a shady actor in Russian politics in something of an "eager to please" mode went to far. An execution-style killing seems a bit inelegant for a former KGB agent.

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[info]rfmcdpei
2004-02-09 06:06 pm UTC (link)
True. It seems like he might have done that with the apartment bombings back in 1999, though.

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[info]schizmatic
2004-02-09 06:26 pm UTC (link)
On the 1999 bombings, I'm going to withhold judgment. I remember that even though B. Garid rather went off the deep end concerning certain things, I rather trusted him when he made the point that Basayev (or Khattab, I forget) had said the apartment bombings were the work of "Dagestani Patriots" but then changed his tune when speculation that Putin was behind things surfaced. So I'm not sure.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
He's Alive!
[info]schizmatic
2004-02-10 01:20 pm UTC (link)
He's Alive! This makes me breathe a little bit more easily.

(Reply to this)

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