XPost: uk.politics.misc, uk.media, alt.politics.british   
   XPost: soc.culture.russian   
   From: banana@REMOVE_THIS.borve.demon.co.uk   
      
   In article <1134707955.228731.117650@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,   
   Freddie Freeloader  writes   
      
   >So tell me, banana, if Khodorkovsky is such a big mafia boss and   
   >criminal, why did he leave his assets and his person in Russia, knowing   
   >full well that anything might happen? Why didn't he do an Abramovich?   
   >Do you think he's completely stupid? Or is there perhaps a little bit   
   >more to it?   
      
   Sure I'll tell you Freddie :-)   
      
   First, many assets directly associated with Khodorkovsky's business did   
   leave Russia (hello Mr Nevzlin). Taking billions of dollars of assets   
   out of a country is sometimes not as simple as taking a briefcase onto   
   an aeroplane... Even when they are weightless in the way that financial   
   accounts are! :-) I'd quote Abramovich's latest sale of a large amount   
   of assets to the Russian government - it has been reported that part of   
   the deal was that most of the funds thereby accrued would have to be   
   invested internally.   
      
   Second, this mafia business is competitive. Sometimes bosses make   
   misjudgements or overplay their hands, or end up in jail or whacked.   
   Hell, even General Lebed got whacked.   
      
   Third, re. Abramovich, well...we'll just have to see how it plays out...   
   Some people make it sound as though his money is safe in the West. As   
   safe as Rothschild's, shall we say? :-) He's obviously chums with both   
   Putin and the British elite crime-gang at the moment (unlike Berezovsky,   
   who is protected by the British elite but isn't welcome in Russia),   
   but...well...let's just see what happens... I would not like to predict   
   where Abramovich will be in say 2-3 years time.   
      
   (As for Berezovsky, he is involved with the Bush family, and it wouldn't   
   surprise me if he ended up getting a fair percentage of the financial   
   turnover of the British 'educational' system. OTOH, it wouldn't surprise   
   me either if he got whacked - but while we're here, the same could also   
   happen to a Bush or two).   
      
   Fourth, no, of course I do not think Khodorkovsky is completely stupid,   
   or even stupid. Apologies if for some reason you got the impression that   
   I was saying this. Mafia bosses aren't stupid...   
      
   --   
   banana     "The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you   
               give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy-bear to   
               Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the   
               rest of your frigid life." (Mick Travis, 'If...', 1968)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)