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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (291645)	7/24/2004 10:35:20 AM
From: Pogeu Mahone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Group Offers to Pay Yukos Tax Debt Kremlin Silent on British Bid To Save Russian Oil Giant By Peter Baker Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, July 24, 2004; Page A14 MOSCOW, July 23 -- A British-based consortium of investors offered Friday to pay the beleaguered Yukos Oil Co.'s crippling tax debts in exchange for control of the company, the latest bid to head off the collapse of Russia's largest oil producer. The offer heartened jittery investors but met with the same silent response from the Kremlin that greeted 11 settlement proposals made by Yukos. The government has indicated no interest in resolving the politically charged battle amicably and moved this week to strip the energy giant of its main production unit. The British proposal, however, seemed to intrigue Yukos's imprisoned chief shareholder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who instructed one of his attorneys to tell reporters that he welcomed any constructive ideas for saving the company and dispatched another attorney to London to meet with the investors. The group includes a former Yukos board member, Konstantin Kagalovsky, who served as an aide to President Vladimir Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. In a letter to Putin, the group offered to pay all of Yukos's tax liabilities, estimated at $10 billion once all pending audits are complete, and then buy Khodorkovsky's controlling interest in the company. It was not disclosed how much the group would pay for that. The offer was made as Khodorkovsky suffered another setback in his criminal trial on fraud and tax evasion charges in a Moscow court. Attorneys for Khodorkovsky and his billionaire partner and co-defendant, Platon Lebedev, petitioned the court Friday to dismiss fraud charges stemming from the 1994 privatization of a fertilizer company, claiming the 10-year statute of limitations had expired. The three-judge panel rejected the motion without ruling on its merits, agreeing with the prosecutor that he should be allowed to finish presenting all his evidence first. Lebedev, addressing the court from the cage where he and Khodorkovsky sit, mocked the decision even before it was made. Citing an old proverb, he said, "Any matter that makes sense has its end, and nonsense can continue endlessly. So you can see who is doing what here." The legal campaign against Khodorkovsky and his company is widely interpreted here as a political struggle between Putin and the country's richest tycoon. In the process, the government has driven Yukos to the brink of bankruptcy. After visiting Yukos to meet with its American chief executive, U.S. Ambassador Alexander R. Vershbow told reporters Friday that the United States was troubled "by the implications of the case for the rule of law and the solidity of property rights." The British ambassador also expressed concern. Investors abandoned Yukos stock in droves after an announcement by the government Tuesday that it would seize and sell the company's main subsidiary, whose worth has been calculated at as much as $30.4 billion, in order to pay off an overdue $3.4 billion back tax bill. The British consortium's bid halted the slide and pushed share prices up 6 percent on Friday. © 2004 The Washington Post Company

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (291645)	7/24/2004 11:30:35 AM
From: Secret_Agent_Man	Respond to of 436258

sad but, true Of course, they could also invade Iran, start a shooting war with China or simply declare martial law after faking a couple of terrorist attacks. They will probably do something of that sort. There is no chance they kicked out during a real war or terrorist attack. Capturing Bin Laden might or might not be enough to save them.

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (291645)	7/25/2004 2:44:27 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

On Thursday Secretary of State Colin L. Powell offered his answer: "The burden for this, for providing security, rests fully on the shoulders of Sudan's government." This view conveniently absolves outsiders of responsibility for getting a civilian protection force into Darfur and reassures Security Council members such as China and Russia that Sudan's sovereignty will be respected. But it is naive. Sudan's government has attacked civilians with helicopter gunships. It has armed a militia that burns villages, slaughtering the men and raping the women. It has spent months obstructing humanitarian access to the resulting refugee camps, denying aid workers visas and impounding their equipment in customs, condemning tens of thousands of people to die for lack of food and medicine. Even the recent ramping up of diplomatic pressure, which has allowed relief to flow more freely, has not distracted Sudan's government from its purpose. Its commandants have been closing down refugee camps and sending inhabitants off into the torched countryside, where there is no food, no protection and no foreign witnesses. washingtonpost.com ============================================================== That statement in bold is the equivalent of putting the burden for providing security to Jews on Hitler. What a pathetic statement from Powell. Obviously Bush feels we can not spare any troops and probably need more in Iraq. What a tragedy. Can someone tell me wht this is all about anyway? How does killing tens of thousands of peasants and burning their villages accomplish anything? What exactly is this genocide over? Mish