Poisoned vacation

Litvinenko was poisoned at the moment when I, happy, crossed the States on the Northern Road from Washington to San Francisco. Exactly at a time when I enjoyed the landscapes of Ayov and Nebraski and the gloomy power of Wyoming, who sent the current US Vice President Richard Chaini.

Thoughts about Polonia-210, prickly an umbrella of the Bulgarian dissident Georgy Markov and the Kremlin’s unsuccessful attempt to poison the KGB agent Nikolai Khokhlov did not occur to my head when, surprised at my own stupidity, I stopped with an empty tank at the end of the honeycomb desert of Uta. Waiting for help from only 17 kilometers of a small town of a vendover, the first settlement in Nevada, who was on my way to California.

With difficulty digesting the murder of Politkovskaya, I could not even think that the second political crime would happen so quickly. In the end, I am not a fortuneteller and not a clairvoyant. In general, the vacation was partially poisoned by work. Kommersant was interested in the American assessment of the murder in the UK and some details of the incident that I could get, knowing people in London.

The death of Litvinenko, as well as stories with the unsuccessful poisoning of Yushchenko, suspicion of Schokochikhin’s poisoning and the murder of Politkovskaya, forced the media to look almost all over the world towards the Kremlin. The authorities, like its predecessor in the USSR, naturally declared its non -involvement, calling the accusations “absurd” and offering her version voiced by Mr. Yastrzhezhem

This part of the history of the Kremlin’s body with the “enemies” is of little interest to me. It is predictable and takes place against the backdrop of a serious backstage clarification of relations between governments in London and Moscow.

I am curious to listen to those who are behind the wall, who over the past six years have actively invented various expensive projects to raise the image of Russia abroad. For example, those who hired the American Ketchum agency before the Eight Summit in St. Petersburg.

It is clear that they could not do anything good with the image of Russia in a few weeks. With him and for a five -year plan, little can be done. After the events of September 11, 2001, the Saudis did not try to do in the States, but could not change the shitty attitude towards themselves. Even based on the old friendship of George Bush and Richard Chaini.

Or successful attempts by the leadership of the RIA Novosti agency to knock out more money from Mr. Surkov for a deliberately ineffective and dubious (from the point of view of the US legislation) PR activity of this structure in Washington and New York. The unwillingness of the White House administration to quarrel with Moscow for such trifles, most likely, hold the State Department from the closure of the "image" part of this state union in the United States.

It is worth recalling an unsuccessful attempt to create a Russian “brain center” in Washington. As well as the inhuman efforts of the Kremlin in the person of Mr. Pavlovsky and others like him, spent on the election of Mr. Yanukovych by the President of Ukraine.

For six years and a mountain of money spent, they gave birth to a non -image mouse, but a large dung pile. Her monstrous smell attracts all flies to the Kremlin, regardless of whether they were released from the Spassky Gate or from somewhere else.

Obsession by the idea of ​​Great Russia played a cruel joke with the country's leadership. It is not enough to convince yourself or part of the country's population that it is better and more powerful than others. Unless, of course, this state is not in the airless space.

It is also necessary to prove this outside the boundaries of their patrimony, where the slogans, posters and search for enemies believe much less than observing human rights, an increase in the level of income per capita, increasing the number of jobs or the rapid development of new technologies.

The Kremlin, in my opinion, went a completely different path. It is excellent even from the one that Mikhail Gorbachev chose for himself when the President of the USSR. Mr. Gorbachev, whom I consider responsible for the blood and suffering of people in the countries that were part of the Union, nevertheless, created the image of the liberal and the liberator in Europe and the USA, thanks to his foreign policy.

Vladimir Putin coped himself the image of a tough and stubborn to the madness of the ruler, trying to prove Russia's right to a place at the main table. In this case, neglecting almost all the basic principles inherent in the democratic state.

I believe that fear is the basis on which the Kremlin builds its own path of entering world space. Fear, both within the country and beyond, should show other states that it is better to talk to Russia quietly. And often nod your head in agreement, and not wind it in different directions, showing your dissatisfaction.

There is nothing fresh in this “new” policy of the Russian leadership. It seems that the extremely notorious Ivan the Terrible, Peter and Joseph Stalin behaved. Just like many of those who ruled the country in the interval between these world -famous monsters, to which Vladimir Putin is quite far away.

However, the Kremlin knows what he is doing. Therefore, I do not want to lower all the dogs on it. Part of the flock should run to the offices of large Western companies, no matter what business in Russia. It has always been so and, unfortunately, will always be so.

The principle proclaimed by foreigners even under Peter, or Armand Hammer during the reign of Leonid Brezhnev, has not changed at all: “A bad but familiar king is always better than a new and worst.” While the business brings good income, no warfare or White House will take action to American companies.

The governments of many countries, including Europe and the same United States, and many international organizations also behave. Richard Perl, who told me that "cooperation with Russia should be built based on its behavior." I do not think that such a political line can become a reality in Washington in the near future.

Therefore, it remains only with surprise to observe the beginning of the 2008 medieval election campaign in Russia. Kill or be killed. Sit in the castle and be afraid to leave the throne room without a crown. Sow fear and reap it in full. The future looks so colorful that at the time to put on dark glasses.