[H]e explained, the real lesson of Peter the Great was tragic, not heroic. "We have to remember that under Peter the Great there were 24 million Russians and 300,000 of them died building St Petersburg.
There were 2 million fewer Russians when Peter the Great died than there had been when he became tsar. We have developed quickly, and we have developed slowly, but in all this time, human life in Russia has not been worth even a kopek."
[W]hich force is more powerful in shaping Khodorkovsky's conduct today: the hubris of a man surrounded by fanatically devoted workers who routinely compare him to Peter the Great, or the idealism of a man who remembers that Peter the Great was a murderous autocrat? Is Khodorkovsky a crooked and vainglorious businessman who sought to undermine Russia's elected president, or is he a brave billionaire willing to risk his freedom and his fortune to stop Russia's slide into authoritarianism?
June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 April 2007
Best New Blog finalist - 2003 Koufax Awards
A non-violent, counter-dominant, left-liberal, possibly charismatic, quasi anarcho-libertarian Quaker's take on politics, volleyball, and other esoterica.
Lo alecha ha-m'lacha ligmor, v'lo atah ben chorin l'hibateyl mimenah.
Cairo wonders when I'll be fair
and balanced and go throw sticks...