Topic: Russia

President Putin's dismissal of his entire
government just under three months
before parliamentary elections on 2
December is eerily like Yeltsin's
manuevers in his last years in office.
His choice for Prime Minister was
startling to both Russian political
insiders and observers of the Russian
political scene outside the Federation -
one Viktor Zubkov, presently the head
of the agency that investigates money
laundering (hard to say how well he's
been at *that* job, as a sizable amount
of money coming out of Russia is
laundered somewhere by somebody).

The claim last week by a Russian submarine
to “own” the Arctic Ocean, and the North Pole,
plus Russia's stated renewal of flying military
missions with airplanes in both a “spying” and
“offensive mode” posture are both worrisome
and deplorable. One nation cannot claim a
whole ocean or region, and the Arctic should
have the same status as the Antarctic – shared
by everyone, owned by no one, agreed upon by
treaty amongst all the nations of the planet.

Russia appears on a course that grows in
hostility towards the West, and leans to
greater and greater authoritarianism and
militarism at home. Many analyses seem
to suggest that Russia's boom in oil wealth
has brought about their willingness to
re-arm, as they announced two weeks ago
that they would resume production of
heavy weapons - tanks, planes, artillery
and helicopter gunships "without limits."
At the same time, they renounced the CFE
treaty limiting conventional forces, and,
presumably, plan a big buildup in this
direction also.

Vladimir Putin blasted the United States last
weekend at a security conference in Munich
in unusually harsh terms. It brought a
response that day from Gordon Johndroe,
Bush's spokesman for national security, and
the following day from Robert Gates, the US
Secretary of Defense - both basically claiming
that Putin was wrong in his accusations. Putin
was reported as saying that the US was
"attempting to create a unipolar world"
(I think they have been operating from that
framework since 9/11 at least) wherein it found
itself willing to ignore international law (one
would suppose he's referring to the Geneva
Conventions at the least) and impose its will
on whomever. He was quoted as saying that
"unilateral, illegitimate actions have not
managed to solve any problems, but made
them worse. The wars, local and regional, have
only grown in number." He also accused the
US of "fostering a new arms race," and that it
had "overstepped its national borders in every
way," to which Johndroe was quoted as saying
"his accusations were wrong."

A snippet from "Talk of the Nation" stated that
a decree in Moscow has banned the use of
foreign currency by "common citizens." I tend
to agree with Marshall Goldman that this may
not be enforcable, and it is not clear what
penalties might be evoked.

I just heard US Ambassador Pickering
interviewed in Moscow. He reports that an
American was killed Sunday night at the
Ostianko TV center, a man trying to rescue
a badly wounded journalist who apparently
survived. Sniper fire is apparently continuing,
though sporadically, and new firing has been
reported by NPR in the vicinity of the TV
station. Snipers have also reportedly been
firing randomly at pedestrians, vehicles and
soldiers.

Several hundreds of people were taken into
custody at about 1800 Moscow time, including
Khasbulatov and Rutskoi. There is no word on
whether anyone remains in the Parliament
building. Buses came to the front of the building
while sunlight still was available, as a few
hundred filed out of the front of the White House
and surrendered. Apparently, Rutskoi got
assurances from an unnamed European embassy
that he would not be killed if he surrendered.

It has been reported on NPR that a military aide
to Yeltsin has reported 500 have been killed in
the White House. No word is available on the
numbers killed nearby, or the number of troops
slain attempting to subdue the "rebellion."

This will be my last bulletin until noon CDT,
maintenance begins here in 20 minutes, and
I have been up all night, and need a few
hours rest. NPR is reporting that EC ministers
have announced support for Boris Yeltsin,
as have individual governments of Japan,
Australia, the UK, Germany, France, and
the US. Most of the European support is
reportedly contingent on Yeltsin keeping
his pledge to hold "free" elections in
December. It was reported on CNN that a
car with a white flag had come to the White
House, then they reported that some people
had left the building, some under white flags,
many were reported wounded.

I will be forced offline by "routine maintenance"
in 45 minutes, for about five hours. The Russian
White House defenders have allegedly been told
"surrender or be destroyed." Spetznatz troops
are fighting in the building, some 7 and 1/4 hours
after the battle began, and Itar-Tass is quoting
Yeltsin as having said the building will be cleared
by dusk Moscow time (about eight or nine hours
from now).