The faculty of economy of the university "La Sapienza" in Rome decided to award Vladimir Putin of an academic prize. They were going to confer him a doctorate in economy honoris causa. According to the original plans, during his next visit on November 5 2003, in Rome, Putin would have personally attended the ceremony at the university "La Sapienza" (which means "The Wisdom"...) in order to receive his prize. The Council of the faculty received lately, from the side of the Italian Radical party, the material documenting Russian war crimes in Chechnya. Thereafter it modified somewhat its attitude and added a clause where the respect of human rights and the end of the military operations in Chechnya was asked, but decided nevertheless to proceed with its intention. According to some (the Italian newspaper "Il Corriere della Sera") prime minister Silvio Berlusconi himself stands behind this marvelous idea. The Radical party continued with the protest against this decision. Finally this ceremony was postoponed to a an idefinite date because of "security reasons" (and officially, this means that the university still believes Putin deserves such recognition).

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Comment: The Western complicity with a criminal regime has apparently no end and the abyss of its cynicism is simply bottomless. Independently of what kind of results the economic policy of Putin might have achieved for Russia (e.g. with his attacks on business like in the Khodorkovsky case?!?), it is simply a shame that someone's worst possible war crimes are not only passed over silence, but that he is now even awarded with an academic recognition! They understood that perhaps next time they should get a somewhat smarter idea to whom confer a honoris causa!! M.M.

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Los Angeles Times November 1, 2003

Russian Events Leave White House Wary

Turmoil in Kremlin stemming from an oil tycoon's arrest is met withdismay. U.S. seeks to encourage Moscow to change course.

By Maura Reynolds, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Just a few weeks ago, Bush administration officials wereupbeat about relations with Russia, holding a chummy Camp David summitwith President Vladimir V. Putin that both sides said put tensions overChechnya and Iraq to the side.

But the arrest of Russia's most powerful oil magnate a week agotriggered turmoil in the Kremlin that has left official Washingtonsearching for a response to a Russian power struggle with potentiallyfar-reaching consequences.

Administration officials said they were still trying to understand howthe arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky — head of Russia's largest oilcompany and the country's richest man — caused a crisis in the Kremlinthat led to the resignation of Putin's chief of staff and raised thespecter of a KGB resurgence at the highest levels of the government.

Disappointment with Russia was palpable in Washington.

"After Camp David, there was hope the relationship could take on a moreconcrete basis," one administration official said. "What happened thisweek is not going to help that in the least."

Russia watchers have long been fixated on the Kremlin rivalry betweentwo camps loyal to Putin — former KGB officials on one hand and cronycapitalists allied with the chief of staff, Alexander S. Voloshin, onthe other. It has often been seen as a kind of struggle for Putin'ssoul, with both sides cast as devils: one side seeking a return ofpolice-state controls and the other promoting the interests of corruptoligarchs.

"There are no white hats," said Fiona Hill, a Russia scholar at theBrookings Institution in Washington.

Understanding that, U.S. policymakers have long steered clear ofthematic goals like promoting democracy or free markets and focusedinstead on concrete U.S. interests, including anti-terrorism cooperationand improving the climate for business investment in Russia.

Administration officials were still debating whether Bush shouldtelephone Putin for a heart-to-heart, and suggested that such a chatmight be in the offing in the near future. But they have not been idlein the interim. Several sources said the administration has repeatedlycommunicated with Russian officials in recent days, including someoccupying high posts in the Kremlin, to express concern about theKhodorkovsky case.

The official language has been cautious.

"The manner in which this case is being handled has raised significantconcerns about the state of the rule of law and the investment andbusiness climate in Russia," said National Security Council spokesmanSean McCormack. "It is important for Russian authorities to dispelconcerns that this case is politically motivated."

U.S. officials said privately that the language was carefully chosen tosuggest that the administration does, in fact, believe Khodorkovsky'sarrest and the seizure of his assets were politically motivated.

U.S. interest in the development of Russian democracy has waned inrecent years, but at least three constituencies remain: human rightsadvocates, the nuclear nonproliferation community and investors.

Of those, the first two see Russia as a problem; only the investmentcommunity has viewed Russia as it wishes to be viewed — as a partner. Inthat light, several officials said Putin miscalculated, believing that acrackdown on Khodorkovsky would stir little interest outside Russia.Instead, it threatens to undermine the nation's strongest supporters inthe United States.

"It is much easier to destroy than to build investor confidence," EugeneLawson, president of the U.S.-Russia Business Council, warned pointedly.

Another council official, Executive Vice President Blake Marshall, saidseveral business deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars have beenheld up in the last week because of concerns about Khodorkovsky.

"The much bigger concern is whether any of this might mean some kind ofrenationalization," Marshall said. "Uncertainty is the worst enemy offoreign investors."

Among many Russia watchers, there has been frustration in recent yearsthat the U.S. government — the Clinton as well as Bush administrations —has made security and business concerns such high priorities that theysoft-pedaled matters of principle such as establishing the rule of lawand protecting human rights.

Some observers are now arguing that the United States should take astrong public stand criticizing Russia.

Richard Perle, a former Reagan administration official whoseneoconservative views have been influential behind the scenes inWashington, called Friday for Russia to be excluded from the Group of 8industrialized nations.

"If the G-8 have any standards at all, Russia no longer qualifies formembership," Perle said.

The Khodorkovsky case "shows they are prepared to seize assets andpersecute entrepreneurs for their political behavior. That falls belowthe standards of the other members."

But officials within the Bush administration said they were not yetconsidering anything so drastic.

Instead, they said it was important to respond in a way that would notback the Kremlin into a corner, but instead encourage it to shift course.

"All hasn't been lost," another administration official said. "Theirinitial reaction has been terrible. But the important thing is to act togalvanize events in a way that sets up the next step forward."

U.S. officials expect to follow their existing schedule of contacts withtheir Russian counterparts, he said. The agenda "is moving forward.There is nothing that has happened in the last week that has moved thatbackward."

At least, he suggested, not yet.

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Comment: Why is the USA so concerned about Khodorkovsky's case? Certainly not because of humanitarian principles. They should stop with their hypocrisies and tell us what they are really concerned about. Because the entire transformation of the Russian Federation in a new aggressive police state and its imperial appetites in Chechnya didn't refrain Bush & co. to continue to call Russia for years long a "new emerging democracy". This time however Putin touched their economic interests. And that changes a lot, of course. Khodorkovsky's empire is one of the biggest oil companies in the world and furnishes 25% of the energy needs for Russia. If there will be an alliance with the American Exon oil, as previously foreseen, this would mean that the USA will be able to control a good part of the Russian energetic network. What happened did obviously blow these plans up. But on the other side it was easy to expect since years that all this would happen. And it is probably only the beginning. Their hope to "galvanize events in a way that sets up the next step forward" is doomed to failure. To late Mr. Bush! M.M.