Lifting the veil behind Putin (Part 2)

On 28 June 1991, Putin was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations (the KVS) of the Saint Petersburg Mayor's Office, with responsibility for promoting international relations and foreign investments. As Karen Dawisha points out, from this time,

"..Putin occupied one position after another [in St. Petersburg] that regulated and controlled the privatization process, becoming indispensible in legalizing what otherwise would have been illicit activities. He relied not only on friends and coworkers in the former KGB, but also on those who shared his desire to develop capitalism in Russia, including both economists and businessmen who were willing to take the extraordinary risks required to build something from nothing in post-Soviet Russia. For this they needed and initially relied on criminal elements from the Russian underworld." (Putin's Kleptocracy (PK). Who owns Russia p39) (my emphasis) Let it particularly be noted that Dmitri Medvedev was Putin's legal advisor at the time. (PK p. 65)
 

Part of Putins members of the Ozera Dacha 
                                                          Consumer Co-operative. Some members of           his 'pakhan' regime.

During this time, also,Putin set up the Ozera Dacha Consumer Co-operative. More than anything else, this dacha complex cemented the relationships between Putin and his choosen 'pakhan'.

A Russian ' pakhan' is similar to a Mafia 'capo'. A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to just a capo, is a term used in the Mafia for a high-ranking made member of a crime family who heads a "crew" of soldiers and has major social status and influence in the organization.

One could translate this into Putin's criminal group as,

" A 'pakhan' is a high-ranking made member of Putin's crime family who heads a "crew" of FSB 'soldiers' and has major political status and influence in Russia."

Unlike the Italian Mafia, however, Putin's 'caporegime' is fully trained and experienced in KGB  tactics (except Dmitri Medvedev) and bound by Checkism i.e. loyalty to the idea of an unbroken chain of security services, from Lenin's Cheka through the KGB to Russia's new FSB, (PK p.29).

As an indication of the continuing close links between Putin and Russia's criminal mobsters since his time in St. Petersburg; Sergei Mikhailov, widely believed to be a leader of the powerful Solntsevo organized crime group ....is claiming that the Russian leader recently honored him with a presidential wristwatch. [He is claiming] on his website that Putin awarded him the prestigious timepiece on May 14.[2014]

Sergei Mikhailov and the presidential wristwatch

A Kirkus review quoting from Karen Dawisha's book sums up Putin rather neatly.

"In his first 100 days, Putin clamped down on the media, surrounded himself with loyalists, (read 'pakhan') shoved out opponents, changed the symbolism of the country (returning to prominence a version of the old Soviet national anthem), embraced international organized crime, enriched those who supported him, impoverished and even imprisoned those who didn’t, avoided prosecutions on earlier corruption charges, and forced the media to portray him as “the undisputed Leader of his People.” He continues to misinform and deceive the public about international events." (my emphasis)

Western governments are fully knowledgeable about Putin's past and current criminality. Why, then, do so many members of the EU establishment choose to ignore the fact that Putin is a dyed-in-the-wool criminal ? How can they not be aware of Putin's current and past criminal activity with all that information at their fingertips? Karen Dawisha's exceptionally detailed book outlines the origin, nature, and continuing criminal exercise of the power of Putin's kleptocracy over the Russian people in particular, and its current attempt to extend their power over the Ukrainian people by waging war against them. Yet Karen Dawisha cannot tell the whole story because of the secrecy surrounding the added information that Western governments have and rather conveniently define as "secret".

On July 25, 2014, rather presciently,  Alexander Motyl  posed the question,

"Is Putin evil? His actions certainly are, if by evil we understand behavior that willfully, consciously and purposely destroys human life. Perhaps we can call his actions undeniably evil and Putin himself "evil enough." Evil enough for what? Evil enough for condemnation by people of good will."

Alexander Motyl

He further stated that,

"Ultimately, France and Germany, as well as all countries that aid and abet Russia's destructive capabilities, have to decide whether they care more about values or about money. Dictatorships can answer that question easily: Their leaders [like Putin] are indifferent to values."

Yet yesterday Gorbachev gave a press  interview in Germany, arguing in part that ALL sanctions against Russia should be dropped.Why? So that we can all step back from the brink of a nuclear war. Has he not heard Putin threatening nuclear war? Did he not say (Aug 31 2014) that,

"“I want to remind you that Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations,” he said. “This is a reality, not just words.” Russia, he told listeners, is “strengthening our nuclear deterrence forces.” (my emphasis)

Who, therefore, is pushing the world towards the brink of nuclear war?

 Added to which, fear and despair is mounting amongst the people of Ukraine as Putin accellerates his invasion of eastern Ukraine by sending in dozens of tanks. ( Greg Botelho CNN Nov 7 2014)

Today, the 9th of November 2014, whilst Gorbachev is being given pride of place during the celebratory festivities in Germany about the fall of the Berlin wall, Britain is today commemorating 'Armistice Day', a day of remeberance of the fallen in WW1, WW2, the Korean War, and more recently the war in Afghanistan.

(to be continued)