VITRUVIUS TECHNOLOGOS

Lara Logan Discusses “Terror” Of Egypt with Charlie Rose Before Sexual Assualt as she was brutally and repeatedly raped while a crowd of 200 celebrated the February 11 resignation of 30-year Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Logan was in Tahrir Square with her “60 Minutes” news team when Mubarak’s announcement broke. Then, in a rush of frenzied excitement, some Egyptian protesters apparently consummated their newfound independence by sexually assaulting the reporter:
Just 4 days before, the brave journalist discussed her previous detention in the country on “Charlie Rose”, in an eerie interview she discusses the “terror” of being in the country and pain she put her family through, but vowed she would return because covering the story was “in her blood”.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/lara-logan-egypt-5219471

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  • Khodorkovsky Interviews To International Media

Mikhail Borisovich, you always said that you don’t anticipate a verdict of acquittal. How do you evaluate the extent of the sentence? In your opinion, what were the political forces that influenced Judge Danilkin? You always pinned your hopes on the President Medvedev, a jurist. Are you now disappointed?
“Pressure was being put on judge Danilkin all the time. However, it became severe and unconcealed right before the verdict was issued. He was unable to withstand the pressure, and so he signed the text that they had prepared for him. I am genuinely disappointed that President Medvedev has so far not managed to demonstrate the execution of his promise about the “rule of law”.”

If you compare the conduct of the case, the hearing of evidence and the examination of the witnesses in this second trial with the first trial: Were there any differences and if so, what was different?
“I will admit that in form, the “second trial” was closer to a normal trial than the first one. They allowed us to have our say and the press was given access. However, the same as in the first trial, the defence was more than restricted in the right to call witnesses and to present evidence, while the party of the prosecution was openly intimidating those who did come. It got to the point where the investigation directly refused to hand over material evidence to the court. All this, of course, was in direct contravention of Russian legislation.”

Your lawyers mentioned proposals made by the Kremlin following your arrest that promised your release if you had left Russia, whereas you have always denied that such proposals had been made. Could you please clarify this once again?
“I think my lawyers must not have been understood correctly. No offers came to me after the arrest in 2003. Before the arrest, they were indeed trying to “squeeze” me out of the country, but I refused to leave.”

The Russian press talked about you having been tried “as a representative for all oligarchs” - which also means that all of them operated in a grey area. Could you comment on that?
“I don’t want to speak about something I don’t know about for certain. It is a fact that they charged me in the first trial with using a tax planning practice that is universally accepted (even to this day). I.e. they convicted by way of selective application of the law.
The second charge is just plain absurd. According to the verdict, it wasn’t YUKOS that was the purchaser of the oil from its subsidiary units, but I personally, “as an individual”. Well, in that case, why was 30 bln. dollars in taxes demanded from YUKOS? And even more fundamentally - where did YUKOS get 15 bln. dollars in profit from then? The court was not able to explain.”

In your closing words in court as well as in interviews, articles or correspondence, you outlined your vision of a different Russia - like many other political prisoners or people that were exiled - from the Decembrists to Sakharov - had done before you. Do you maybe see yourself in the tradition of these people?
“Any normal person who enters into a direct dispute with the current power obviously has his own vision of the future of his country. I - am no exception. To what extent my views and my fate can be put in the same rank with the fates of these remarkable people from Russian history - only time will tell. At any rate, they - are those who are for me a model of commendable behaviour.”

In the courtroom as well as outside, many people see you as the representative of a different, better Russia - and maybe one day even as an important politician. What is your perception of this great hope nurtured by the people when you are inside prison walls?
“My example is important for the authoritarian power as a way to intimidate various and sundry opponents. Like a public execution. However, such public carnage has another side as well: it turns ordinary people into a symbol of the struggle with arbitrariness. Which is exactly what is happening in my situation.”

You said that you would like to serve your country after your release. Can you expand on that and make it slightly more concrete? Would you once again get involved in politics, social or economic affairs and if so, in which area?
“It is hard for me to imagine that I will get out, when V. Putin has directly declared that I “must sit in jail”. At the same time, both in jail and at liberty I am going to continue civic activities. Business - a thing of the past; however, if my country needs my professional skills, and even my life, - it will get them. I - am a Russian. That is just how we are.”

At the time of your arrest, you were a highly successful businessman, the “richest man in Russia”. You have been financing a large team of lawyers and a boarding school for orphans - for example from Beslan - over the last years. For how long will you still be in a position to do so?
“Preparing for my possible arrest, I created a special fund, not dependent on my status, which helps the Lyceum exist. Besides this, there are other people helping the Lyceum as well, people who are not indifferent to the fates of the children.”

• Read the Interview, in German, here

Corriere Della Sera

In the past you have said that Russia had a democratic future and was in line with the other modern countries. Would you revise your statement on the eve of the forthcoming judgment?
“I believe in a democratic future for my country. But the road will not be simple and easy. The verdict has shown where we find ourselves today. And society’s reaction to it shows our near-term prospects.”

The prosecutor says that the crimes you are charged with would result in 20 years imprisonment in other countries, such as the United States. Are those false accusations?
“The court found me guilty of having personally stolen 350 mln. tn of oil from YUKOS. This is 20 mln. tn more than YUKOS produced. The source of YUKOS’s 15 bln. dollars in profit and the grounds for reclaiming 30 bln. dollars in taxes from YUKOS are something neither the prosecutor nor the court were able to explain. I suspect that such an absurdity in a democratic country would have led to serious consequences for its authors.”

You have called the process “absurd” and Kafka-esque. Why would they keep you in prison, in your opinion?
“Perhaps V. Putin understands better than we outside observers do just how weak his power is in reality, and what will constitute enough of a push to topple it. Or, perhaps, it’s just that the officials who have lined their pockets on the plundering of YUKOS are really good at manipulating him.”

You are the only “oligarch” in jail. Some have fled abroad and others who have stayed have not been touched. Do you think you are to blame or does the establishment consider you the most dangerous of all of them?
“It is obvious that those who can truly be called “oligarchs”, i.e. people who have combined state power and big business in one individual, were created by none other than V. Putin, and are his comrades-in-arms. The rest of the “Forbes faces” - and indeed, a significant part of small business as well - have agreed to pay tribute to the bureaucracy in one form or another. And some of them are being prosecuted. I’m far from the only one, unfortunately.”

Considering what has happened to you, would you turn back the clock and change what you have done if you could?
“My civic position would have been even more active and open. And also I would have been better able to protect the interests of YUKOS’s investors. That the company would be totally destroyed and disemboweled, - this was something I couldn’t even have imagined. Taken away from me - yes, that I could expect. But not completely destroyed. Such a move for the power was an obvious mistake. On the other hand, many well-known personages have personally lined their pockets quite nicely indeed.”

Considering that you have never openly criticised the President, do you believe there is there any difference between Medvedev and Putin? Are Medvedev’s political programs credible?
“For me, President Medvedev is much more understandable. He - is a political pragmatist, having certain ideals that are compatible with democracy. I understand his situation well, and therefore rarely criticise him. However, we do have a right to expect certain actions from him. Can we believe him? His desires - no, his promises - yes. It is important to make a clear distinction between the two.”

Did you expect more support from Western governments and the international community?
“I expect that the international community will realise how much recognition on its part is important for the domestic legitimacy of the regime in Russia. I expect that western countries will realise: Russia’s democratic prospects - are not empty words of no importance that can be sacrificed for the sake of present-day interests. People are living for a long time these days. The current generation of western politicians is going hear the gratitude or the damnation of its own descendants in its lifetime still. And to those who are supporting me, my colleagues, and other victims of arbitrariness - I am grateful. Everybody is doing what he can.”

What are your plans for the time after you have served your sentence?
“I am going to continue to fight for my freedom and for the freedom of my colleagues, as well as engaging in civic activity.”

On 16 December Putin has referred to the homicides for which the former security chief of Yukos Pichugin has been convicted. Are you worried that the next step will be to open a criminal case against you for having instigated those homicides? Do you believe that you will be ever released?
“For seven long years now V. Putin has been indirectly - and for the past three years, directly - calling me guilty of murders. At first this was a strong PR move, now - just one of the possible ways of keeping me imprisoned endlessly. The second verdict has shown: the courts are ready to execute anything he desires. What does this threaten me with? Even more severe conditions of detention in jail. For example, now I am allowed a whole 4 visits with family per year, but then there will be - one. Am I afraid? Not much any more. A person can’t be afraid all the time. Do I believe that they will release me? I believe, just like I believe in the democratic future of my country.”

The Mayor of Nefteyugansk, Mrs. Korneyeva. Putin said Khodorkovsky could not have known it… what has really happened?
“What has really happened? The situation in Russia isn’t very simple. Around 30 criminal deaths per 100,000 population annually (besides accidents). The murders of mayors, deputies, governors, well-known journalists - not a rarity. It is enough to recall A. Politkovskaya. Or the deputy Yamadayev, murdered right under the windows of our White House. It is easy to guess how many such criminal events took place over the years of my work “around” YUKOS, where just the employees alone - were over 100 thousand people, while the company was “city-formational” [virtually the only employer and taxpayer and reason for existence-Trans.] for some 20 towns. After all - this is those same cities in that same country. The rest, i.e. the choice of objects for falsification and the actual process thereof, - are described in detail in the research (a book) of the author and courthouse journalist Vera Vasilieva «Kak sudili Alekseya Pichugina» [How they tried Alexey Pichugin]. A whole series of people, currently found in jail, declared to the court about how they had been coerced into giving false testimony against other persons with promises of release and references to “state interests”. The High Court of Justice of Israel, having examined the documents of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the RF in relation to the so-called “organiser”, ruled that they were insufficient to even start a judicial investigation.”

Le Monde

Vladimir Putin said to Kolesnikov in an interview in August that he certainly had not driven you into a corner and that he is not conducting this case. Nevertheless, he has let it be understood several times that he is accusing you of killing several people. What would you say to him if you were to have such an opportunity.
“What is there for me to speak about with a person who, a week before the court’s verdict (its proclamation was specially rescheduled), not only publicly gives a command to keep me in jail, but also explains to the court in detail exactly what I am supposed to be found guilty of. It is characteristic that in his speech, V. Putin quoted one of V. Vysotsky’s movie heroes who plants a piece of evidence in a suspect’s pocket and justifies his actions by saying that this person must sit in jail.”

You were speaking about how stagnation has once again begun in Russia, the stagnation of the Putin era. In your opinion - who is the main enemy of Russia’s development? What needs to be done for people to wake up from their dormancy?
“Without a doubt, the main enemy of Russia’s development is - our apathy. Putin and his compradorian elite - are nothing but a consequence of the absence of a civil society. However, one can not deny that they personally did much to eliminate the young shoots of civic self-organisation and to destroy democratic institutions (ones like an independent judiciary or the electoral system), having replaced them with fictions. People can be awakened by telling them the truth and showing an example.”

What are you waiting for from the countries of the West? What are you waiting for from people in Russia who support you?
“Western public opinion plays a huge role in our country. References to the West - are a common technique our power uses to legitimise its actions. I welcome the fact that today many respected people both in Russia and in the West have cast aside illusion political correctness and are directly calling what is taking place “barbarism and savagery”.”

In what is your main message to readers in France?
“I am deeply grateful to French society for the attention and support. Your country’s unique historical experience shows: European events rarely remain isolated. A Realpolitik philosophy and a refusal to defend values are not only amoral, - they lead to strategic mistakes. Russia must become and will become a democratic European country. Any other result is unacceptable.”

How do you explain that Danilkin gave you the maximum penalty, asked by the prosecutor? Could you say that it’s the proof that the President Medvedev is not able to insure the inependance of the judiciary authorities today in Russia?
“Putin has shown directly that he considers me his personal opponent. I am in agreement with this. However, a dependent court is no better than a bandit’s club. Both “tools” are equally unacceptable for settling grievances in a civilised society. President Medvedev, evidently, is in agreement with this, and carries full personal responsibility for such failures of judicial reform.”

After such a sentence, should people believe in the promises of modernization and liberalization coming from President Medvedev?
“I call [on people] to believe in the sincerity of president Medvedev’s attempts, but not to accept desires and simulacra in the place of clearly defined obligations and working institutions. Everything needs to be bluntly called by its rightful name and to receive the corresponding assessment - things like “not-quite-courts”, and “not-quite-freedom of speech” and “not-quite-elections” and the criminal bureaucracy. Russia - is a sovereign state, but to help, to support deception, to demonstrate respect for its corrupt officials - is amoral.”

There have been some strong statements in your favor coming from outside, especialy Europe. What could european countries do to promote the rule of law in Russia?
“A similar independent judicial assessment has been given in recent times in many countries to different aspects of the YUKOS affair. Trials have taken place in Cyprus, in Great Britain, Switzerland, in Germany, in Holland, Lithuania and so forth. The YUKOS affair has been recognised everywhere as political persecution, and the bankruptcy of YUKOS - as not legal. Recently the Stockholm arbitration [institute] confirmed that the charges of non-payment of taxes were the result of an obviously discriminatory application of the law. The Israeli prosecutor’s office assessed the claims of acts of violence under which a company employee was sentenced to life imprisonment as “inconsistent with the standards of evidence” to even commence court proceedings. The ECHR has recognised as torture the methods applied towards another company employee, my lawyer, whom they were trying to force to testify against me. They deprived him of medical treatment for a deadly disease, they chained him to a bed. Yet another company employee - a Spanish citizen - was permanently disabled during an investigation.I want to note - these and all the other courageous men and women who worked at YUKOS, incl. after being thrown in jails, did not strike a deal with their conscience, they did not become false witnesses. This is important. It is hard for us, but we did not retreat.
We are fighting for our honour and dignity, for the rule of law in our country. And we are grateful for any help. But the question is different: how should Europeans react to those who are doing such things? This is a matter for every person’s own conscience too.”

Daniel Ellsberg On Wikileaks Whistleblower Bradley Manning political jailbird status.
Today David Chase was prevented to visit Army Pfc. Bradley Manning who is in solitary confinement discusses on NBC Julian Assange claim that the imprisoned soldier is a http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40797738/ a political prisoner and undergoing psychotorture treatment to break him to sing.
MIT researcher david house twits on latest attempt to visit Manning http://twitter.com/#!/davidmhouse @janehamsher Quantico Marine brass don’t want Manning 2 have
sole visitor now. Isolation & enforcement of solitary confinement complete.
Panel on wikiLeaks, the Internet and Democracy moderated by Paul Jay with Daniel Ellsberg, Clay Shirky, Neville Roy Singham, Peter Thiel and Jonathan Zittrain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMzEdkiz5tY  Manning military lawyer complaint petition on his client mistreatment at prison by http://bit.ly/fHZ0lP

cyberlogos:

Liu Xiaobo Nobel Peace prize Norwegian Nobel Committee restored it’s own legacy credibility and moral authority leadership tarnished by nominatiing Obama with a prize last year as advance to his future peace initiatives http://www.xmail.net/technologos/ALAMA.html Obama, in his statement, also brought up his own Nobel Peace award last year, repeating his belief that other laureates had done more. “That list now includes Mr. Liu, who has sacrificed his freedom for his beliefs” http://www.xmail.net/technologos/Aobama.html The first Human Rights advocate who won prize was Russian academician dissident Andrey Sakharov http://www.xmail.net/technologos/ADS.html and http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/jan/15/chinas-charter-08/ Liu’s Charter 08, modeled on Charter 77 that clled for reform in then-Czechoslovakia and helped prompt the Velvet Revolution. (Among those pushing for Liu to get the peace prize this year was Czech dissident-turned-president Vaclav Havel.) The document has been posted and removed from the Internet several times, but more than 10,000 people were nonetheless able to sign on.  

Journalist Albats has published a defiant letter of Moscow Mayor Luzhkov challenging Kremlin President Medvedev that provoked his dismissal http://bit.ly/bObH1k in russian http://newtimes.ru/articles/detail/28111 View Sakharov at http://www.xmail.net/technologos/ADS.html & http://www.xmail.net/technologos/ANNA.html focused on KREMLIN HUMAN RIGHTS JOURNALISTS TERROR IN RUSSIA View INVESTIGATIVE FILM ON TERROR WAY TO POWER FALL 1999 IN RUSSIA BY PUTIN with cinematic portrait of Medvedev http://www.xmail.net/technologos/APUT2.html & http://www.xmail.net/technologos/APUT.html

Journalist Albats has published a defiant letter of Moscow Mayor Luzhkov challenging Kremlin President Medvedev that provoked his dismissal http://bit.ly/bObH1k in russian http://newtimes.ru/articles/detail/28111 View Sakharov at http://www.xmail.net/technologos/ADS.html & http://www.xmail.net/technologos/ANNA.html focused on KREMLIN HUMAN RIGHTS JOURNALISTS TERROR IN RUSSIA View INVESTIGATIVE FILM ON TERROR WAY TO POWER FALL 1999 IN RUSSIA BY PUTIN with cinematic portrait of Medvedev http://www.xmail.net/technologos/APUT2.html & http://www.xmail.net/technologos/APUT.html

Revolution That Wasn’t film by Aliona Polunina that features modern Russian demons of revolt as opposition leaders EDUARD LIMONOV and GARRY KASPAROV LEADING OPPOSITION MARCHS TO PROTEST POLICE RULE View her full docfilm on revolution demons http://www.xmail.net/technologos/ADS3.htm as ‘KASPAROV GAMBLeR CHESS VS POLITICS’ ENDING HIS CHESS TRIUMPH WITH POLITICAL OPPOSITION TO KREMLIN RUSSIAN ROULETTE TERROR GAMBLE RISKING ASSASINATION OR POISONING http://www.xmail.net/technologos/AGK.html & http://www.xmail.net/technologos/Anna.html focused on assasinations media voices in Russia Alyona Polunina’s film “The revolution that was not” is a story told from inside of the Russian radical opposition.

FBI nubs LANL nuke scientist Pedro Mascheroni as spy in a sting malpractice operational tradition leading to the arrests a controversial dissident nuclear scientist Pedro Mascheroni, and his wife, Roxby Mascheroni, former employees of  Los Alamos National Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM. He had sued the lab for firing him biasly in 1994 http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F3/28/1554/581475/. “Leo is a gullible nut,” said Hugh E. DeWitt, his a California physicist peer collegue and he had testified before a grand jury. “He is a nut, but he has dug his own grave,” Dr. DeWitt said. The 22-count indictment http://media2.krqe.com/_local/pdf/Mascheroni%20Indictment%20EF.pdf was returned Thursday by a New Mexico federal grand jury http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/ex-lanl-couple-charged-in-nuke-case
View Russian nuke dissident of USSR Andrey Sakharov at http://www.xmail.net/technologos/ADS.html along with technologos digital media  archives  http://www.xmail.net/technologos/AAA.html

Unfoldind 9/11 WTC Twin Towers Collapse tragic events reel shooting Ground Zero webcinema technologos on WTC http://www.xmail.net/technologos/AWTC.html twins destruction and original WTC architect Yamasaki http://www.xmail.net/technologos/Ayama.html and anew creative designs by the competing architects at http://www16.brinkster.com/technologos/aagrid.html and http://www16.brinkster.com/technologos/adesign10.html & american architect genius Lloyd Wright http://www.xmail.net/technologos/Awright.html