Saturday, July 10, 2004

Russian Mafia:

This is a stick up
Our freedom or your life
Lord, I wish I could be peacful
But there can be no sequel
Now freedom must be fundamental
In Johannesburg or South Central
---Know your Enemy, Rage Against the Machine

Killing strikes fear into Russian media

Carolynne Wheeler in Moscow
Sunday July 11, 2004
The Observer

The assassination of the US-born editor of Russia's Forbes magazine, which has sent chills through an already wary media, will be personally investigated by the Prosecutor General, it was announced yesterday.
Paul Klebnikov, 41, the New York-born journalist who had been investigating organised crime among Russia's wealthy, was shot four times at point-blank range as he left his Moscow office late last Friday, in what is being treated as a contract killing.


This is becoming way too common in Russia, notice the "professional" job that this was.

'It's a message to the entire journalistic class - don't do investigative journalism in Russia,' said Savik Shuster, the former host of Svoboda Slova (Free Speech), a recently cancelled talk show on Russia's last semi-independent television channel.


The trade off with Putin was supposed to be "autocracy" for "stability and economic prosperity". I think half this equation is missing.


No comments: