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Thank you for the effort. That is a somewhat different issue, though it may be connected to kick- backs, of course. The accusation is that cronies of the president were given preferential treatment in the acquisition of privatized assets. The likelihood is that this was done primarily for political support, rather than financial gain. Although corrupt, it is not quite the same as pilfering, since the assets were generally put to productive uses. Rather, it is like insider trading, gaining advantage over competitors through special relationships. I respect Solzhenitsyn, but he is somewhat reactionary about capitalism and modern Western society, and therefore is not wholly reliable as a source of information on the issue. Anyway, the grant of immunity, even if wrong, has effectively ensured that a full accounting of wrongdoing will not occur, and therefore that we may never quite know what went on. I say "if wrong" because it is arguable that, at this point in Russian life, the political chaos that would attend such probes would make them dangerous, as opponents of democracy use allegations to discredit the last decade........ |
