So Boris Berezovsky, larger than life datapoint in the answer to the question of where it all went horribly wrong in post Soviet Russia has been found dead in his bath in London. His relatives say it was suicide. Good obituary here. Obviously, one should always be a bit suspicious of wikipedia, but Berezovsky’s wiki has what looks like a solid account of his rise and fall, containing this wonderful line:
Three months later Listyev was assassinated amid a fierce struggle for control of advertising sales
And here is a glimpse of Boris’ personal philosophy:
As for undue influence, our critics should not forget that a strong civil society and the middle class that serve to protect democratic liberties in the West do not exist in Russia. What we have are communists - still too powerful - and ex-KGB people who hate democracy and dream of regaining lost positions. The only counterbalance to them is the new class of capitalists, who, under extraordinary circumstances, find it acceptable - indeed, necessary - to interfere directly in the political process.
Well, it’s a bit hard to generate a ‘strong civil society’ in a place where seven oligarchs control over half of GDP. It also apparently didn't stop him trying to fund the Russian Communist Party, at least if you believe Eduard LImonov. But there you go. Limonov continues:
Abroad, in Great Britain, he is forced to exist without conflict, in order to preserve himself from a Russian prison. He wants badly to go out of that golden cage of London, again go to exciting life of conflicts in Russia.
He certainly litigated a lot while he was here, but that must hve been kid's stuff by comparison. So who knows, maybe he did eventually give up and kill himself.
Then again, that's just Limonov's Comedy D'Annunzio shtick. Has he gone around to being a regime loyalist yet or did I just cynicaldream that?
Posted by: Alex | March 24, 2013 at 12:18 PM
Public talk in Manchester:
Inequality, Crime and the Banks: a talk with former Scotland Yard Fraud Squad Officer Rowan Bosworth-Davies
Thursday 4th April, 7pm @ Friends Meeting House
Rowan will focus on:
- the changes in the financial sector's culture following the era of the 1986 Big Bang deregulation
- the dangerous disconnect between those who invest money and those who handle it
- how greed has become a badge of honour for City financiers
- how bankers have significantly increased their take of the wealth created in the UK, and how these developments have led to a significant increase in the gap between the obscenely rich and the ordinary citizen
- how the regime of extreme inequality being created will lead to greater social unrest, public disorder and civic disobedience
and most importantly how simply enforcing the law can stop it
Book tickets here:
http://robbingbanks.eventbrite.co.uk/#
Posted by: Phil (Mcr) | March 24, 2013 at 07:49 PM
Just watched Eddie Mair cause our first Boris some discomfort.
Posted by: seeds | March 24, 2013 at 08:56 PM
@seeds And then I watched various people on Twitter explaining how they'd watched it and found themselves liking Boris and thinking what a humourless old scold Eddie Mair was.
I suppose they're the kind of people who think that, secretly, what Boris wants is what they want, he's a good chap, a bit like them, and somebody has to do the ugly work of charming the masses. Depressing.
Posted by: a3t | March 24, 2013 at 10:08 PM
Then again, that's just Limonov's Comedy D'Annunzio shtick.
...was my first thought too.
Posted by: ajay | March 25, 2013 at 10:33 AM