Subject: [euroliberty] PUTIN JUST CHARGED NAVALNY WITH THEFT OF TIMBER! |
From: "basil.venitis" <basil.venitis@yahoo.com> |
Date: 7/31/12, 07:02 |
To: euroliberty@yahoogroups.com |
Reply-To: euroliberty-owner@yahoogroups.com |
Putin has just charged dissident blogger Alexei Navalny with theft of timber! Putin has gone bananas! Vladimir Ashurkov published a list of the top donors to a fund set up by anticorruption blogger Alexei Navalny, after persuading some tycoons, whom he dubbed the brave ones, to break a taboo against overt support of Putin's adversaries. Ashurkov's strategy is to gather a critical mass of supporters who would openly enlist in an anticorruption revolt.
Navalny gained fame on Russia's blogosphere investigating minority shares in Russian state companies to expose corruption, a major source of middle-class disgruntlement and the Achilles heel of Putin's government. Discontent is growing throughout the entire population, and of course more so among the elite, who are used to travelling to the West and understand that Russia deserves a much higher standard of living and freedom than it has now.
Navalny says: I have been charged and ordered not to leave. This is really quite absurd and very strange because they have completely changed the essence of the accusation, compared to what it was before.
The recent moves are part of a crackdown on dissent include passage of a law increasing fines for protesters who step out of line, blacklists of blogs, and registrattion of foreign-funded NGOs as foreign agents. Navalny has been detained and served brief terms in jail several times over administrative offences linked to the protests.
Putin and his men proudly declare that they have returned Putinland to
strength. In truth, they have hijacked it. Putinland 's constitution is little more
than an empty shell that does a poor job of concealing the neofeudal regime of
Czar Putin.
Once a powerful oil tycoon and Russia's wealthiest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky ran foul of the Kremlin after funding opposition groups and condemning high level corruption. He remains in prison on politically motivated charges of tax fraud and theft.
Bill Browder's tax attorney Sergei Magnitsky was tortured to death in Moscow's notorious Matrosskaya Tishina detention center. Magnitsky died in jail awaiting trial on fabricated charges of tax evasion and tax fraud. He was jailed after he accused Russokleptocrats of a sophisticated swindle to obtain a $230 million tax rebate from the Russian treasury. Magnitsky died after he was denied medical care and beaten by the guards. However, those involved have not been punished, but have remained in power, and some have even been decorated or promoted!
The case has turned a spotlight on Putin's harassment of businesses and investors. Putin has thrown over 200,000 businesspeople in jail. Browder had a Damascene conversion, becoming a human rights crusader in addition to a hedge fund manager. The US Senate introduced a bill and OSCE issued a recommendation to impose harsh sanctions against Russia, forbidding those officials responsible for Magnitsky's death from entering Occident, and freezing their bank accounts.
Putin dismisses the street protesters, branding them chattering monkeys and pointing to their lack of a clear leader. The Kremlin has embarked on only limited political reforms in response to recent demonstrations, which attract 100,000 people on the streets of Moscow. But the protest movement has deprived Putin of his aura of invincibility, and Ashurkov hopes going public with Navalny's sponsors will inspire others to join his cause, despite the risk that their businesses could come under state pressure. Their message is that these people are not afraid, and you shouldn't be afraid either.
Faced with a simmering, underground opposition, Putin and Medvedev expanded the powers of Putinland's Federal Security Service (FSB). The security services issue individuals of whom they are suspicious with official warnings, inviting them to precautionary talks with the FSB to prevent the possibility of the citizen committing a criminal act against the country's security in the future. Refusing or failing to attend these precautionary talks lead to a fine of 1,500 euros or detention for as long as 15 days.
There is a big difference between the Soviet era and today's Putinland. The Soviet
state spread the atmosphere of fear to prevent emergence of politics and
people's participation in it. Today, the key for the state authorities is to
make sure people are not interested in politics. A person who doesn't care about
politics or the situation with human rights in Putinland may live a comfortable
life without ever encountering an FSB officer. What suffers the most is
democracy in Putinland; the Kremlin is interested in stability, not democracy.
The double-headed eagle of Putin and Medvedev has become increasingly authoritarian. Despite numerous commitments under international law, the government has tightened controls on political life, civil society, and the media. Disruption of political opposition's activities, restricting access to state-controlled TV, human right violations, such as the beating of demonstrators who support the Russian
constitution, murder of journalists and anti-corruption activists, disappearance
and torture, abuse of the legal system for monetary and political gain, all
illustrate this negative trend. Putin, a former penniless KGB agent, is now
billionaire, thanks to kickbacks!
In April 2010, Putin signed a decree that suspended the publication of information about the assets, revenue, and expenditure of Russia's two oil funds. This allowed him to manipulate government's finances, while launching a pre-election spending spree, siphon off money for friends and allies, and camouflage bribes, kickbacks, and hush money. He boosted military and police spending by 33 percent, and promised future pay and pension increases for the armed forces, teachers and doctors. Putinlandians have been fleeced, pure and simple.
One of Putin's palaces is on a thickly wooded mountainside overlooking Russia's Black Sea coast. It was built with massive and illegal use of funds. The palace boasts swimming pools, a magnificent columned facade reminiscent of the country palaces of Russian czars. The massive wrought-iron gates into the courtyard are topped with a golden imperial eagle. Outside are formal gardens, a private theatre, a landing pad with bays for three helicopters, and accommodation for security guards.
Moscow's Kremlin, a fortress of red walls and high battlements, has been a
symbol of strict hierarchy and absolute power since the Middle Ages. Czars and
General Secretaries ruled from here - followed, after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, by presidents whom the Russian constitution endowed with even
greater powers than the American president.