RUSSIA CONTINUES TO SPIRAL INTO THE PAST

With every day that passes Russia is looking more and more like the old Soviet Union: its anti-protest laws, its unqualified support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and its arbitrary imprisonments, such as that of the lovely Mikhail Khodorkovsky whose sentence keeps creeping up, the closer it gets to his planned release. How can Putin get away with it? This week saw the approval of another oppressive law which would increase censorship and control of the internet. With hallmark hypocrisy, the law was marketed as a weapon against sites that promote child pornography, suicide or drugs. In reality it will give the government powers to pick and choose which sites it deems safe (for its own political survival).

Mikhail Khodorkovsky

The clearest sign of a Russian Spring, will be the release of Khodorkovsky, who has been languishing in prison since October 25, 2003. Prior to his arrest, he was the head of the oil company Yukos and one the richest man in the world, but his downfall was his his opposition to Putin.

The good news is that this brilliant mind is still allowed to write and he does so, with insight, in various publications around the world, as well as in his own website: www.khodorkovsky.com

Khodorkovsky's final words at his second trial on November 2, 2010, are a lasting testimony to his resolve and integrity and will continue to be a blemish on the justice system in his country, for as long as he is kept behind bars:

"I am ashamed for my country.

Your honour, I think we all perfectly understand the significance of our trial extends far beyond the fates of Platon [Lebedev] and myself. And even beyond the fates of all those who have innocently suffered in the course of the reprisals against YUKOS that have taken place on such a huge scale, those I found myself unable to protect, but about whom I have not forgotten. I remember every day.

Let's ask ourselves, what does the entrepreneur, the top class organizer of production, or simply an educated, creative individual, think today looking at our trial and knowing that the result is absolutely predictable?

The obvious conclusion a thinking person would come to is chilling in its simplicity: the bureaucratic and law enforcement machine can do whatever it wants. There is no right of private property. No person who conflicts with the "system" has any rights whatsoever.

Even when enshrined in law, rights are not protected by the courts. Because the courts are either also afraid, or are part of the "system". Does it come as a surprise that thinking people do not strive to realize themselves here in Russia?

...I am far from being an ideal person, but I am a person with ideals. For me, as for anybody, it is hard to live in prison, and I do not want to die here. But if I have to, I will have no hesitation. What I believe in is worth dying for. I think I have shown this."