The Moscow Times often has notably funny and sometimes depressing combinations of front-page stories, but the issue of December 14 takes the prize for most depressing in quite a while. The two above-the-fold stories are visible in the graphic above, and the below-the-fold headline reads "Doctors: Yushchenko Was Poisoned."
To sum up: one of the major symbol's of Moscow's prosperity, the second Mega Mall, has had its opening substantially delayed because its Scandinavian managers will not play ball with the local bribe-seekers; the Prosecutor's office, far from being content to quietly orchestrate the transfer of Yukos' key assets to more state-friendly ownership, has aimed a gratuitous public broadside at the stricken company - in addition to the bon mot mentioned in the headline, the Prosecutor also declared in a rather judgement-pronouncing manner that "Now it's time to reap what you sowed"; and below the fold, the story, if true, is of one of the more sensationally foul "dirty tricks" in the history of modern electoral politics, and one in which the role of Russia or Russian agents is yet to be determined (hey, if the US can take flak for allegedly sending money the way of the Orangemen, we might as well not pull any punches when assessing Russia's possible role here).
Since the Moscow Times website is rather restrictive about letting you read the full text of articles, I'm not going to bother linking to the individual stories - in any event, the headlines alone are enough to capture the general mood. While the photo between the two articles (the banner reads "Russia for democracy, against dictatorship") might seem to strike an optimistic note, the page 3 story on the conference shown here talks about the concern and disarray in the ranks of the current Russian opposition, such as it is.
In the blue bar just under the masthead, the consequences of Putin's policies are becoming clear - "Washington Debates Putin" - can we possibly be nearing the end of five years of free passes for VVP? - and "Slowdown: Economic growth being undermined by climate of fear, officials say." The critical question is whether the officials raising red flags about the "climate of fear" will ultimately prove to be more powerful than the ones creating it.
3 comments:
In answer to your ponderings regarding Yushchenko's poisoning, it would appear that Russia might have had a hand in it. He was poisoned with dioxin and according to the article found at http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=592525
this is an old KGB trick.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was an operation sanctioned by Russia or perpetrated by people trained in the Russian secret services, but as far as I know there's been no direct evidence of that yet, so I try to retain the presumption of innocence.
What about another theory - Yuschenko was poisoned by Yulia Timoshenko herself. That way she 1. makes him very ill (but not dead) and more popular, 2. she becomes prime minister so when Yuschenko dies she becomes the head of the country, 3. Yuschenko will spend months and months abroad in different Austrian clinics and Yulia as a PM rules the country as she wishes.
All in all Timoshenko had more reasons to poison Yuschenko than Yanukovich or Putin.
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