As predicted - naked greed should not be punished

Mr. Khodorkovsky's prosecution by Vladimir Putin's government and the dismantlement of his Yukos oil company has . . . become the centerpiece of Mr. Putin's rollback of Russia's freedom.

[...]

[I]t confirmed Mr. Putin's Russia as a place where power is exercised arbitrarily, courts are a mere instrument, and private capital, media and civil society are tolerated only if they dodge the displeasure, or the avarice, of the ruling elite.

putin is no prize but the west simply has no idea of the scale of thievery and looting of national wealth that has taken place at the hands of the oligarchs in the former communist countries since the 1989 breakup... this kind of sanctimoniousness is disingenuous in the extreme... putin himself has acknowledged that pulling in the reins on such untrammeled avarice abridges freedoms... but how the hell else can you send a message that the rootin' tootin' days of plunder are over...?

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