the pure driven snow

"Do you guys understand now? Putin is the puppet of a few oligarchs, that fought against another faction of oligarchs." 
(source -- see comments)

March 2009:

Putin's retinue of loyal oligarchs—such as Oleg Deripaska, Vladimir Potantin, Igor Makarov, and others—are now beginning to realize that Putin, their protector for nearly a decade, will not be able to protect them much longer; and each man will have to fend for himself in order to survive, even if this involves stripping the assets of their own companies. (Jamestown Foundation)

March 2010:

Russia has more billionaires than any other country in Europe, according to Forbes’ annual list of the world's richest people. The number of billionaires in Russia has doubled in just over one year, from 32 to 62 persons.

50 of the 62 Russian billionaires live in Moscow which makes the capital of Russia #2 in the “billionaire city” list, with New York topping it with 60 of America’s super-rich and London in third position with 32 billionaires.

Vladimir Lisin, the Russian steel producer, was named Russia’s wealthiest man with US$15.8 billion dollars and has settled on the 32nd line of Forbes’ billionaire rating list He leapfrogged last year's winner, ONEXIM Group owner Mikhail Prokhorov ($13.4 billion), TNK-BP’s managing director Mikhail Freidman ($12.7 billion) and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich ($11.2 billion). (Russia Today)

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This is strictly my opinion, but Putin takes his job and the Russian people a lot more seriously than any American politican I've seen in my lifetime.

For evidence, please see this excerpt of his three four hour Q&A session in which he took questions from people all over Russia on a wide variety of topics and answered fully and thoughtfully from his head.

Question: Mr Putin, how do you relax after such marathons? Do you have any special relaxation techniques?

Vladimir Putin: I do not get that stressed, so I don’t need to do anything special to relax. This is part of my work, and it is a very useful part. Of course, it requires greater concentration, and you need to put extra time into the preparation. But in fact the preparation does not take that long, because my colleagues and I work hard throughout the year, dealing with all the problems mentioned today.

...Question: This is your tenth Question & Answer session on TV. I understand that when you actually visit the place, you have enough time to go into the problems in some depth. But this four-hour session requires immediate response from you. Isn’t that too much pressure?

Vladimir Putin: Certainly not. Let me repeat that I consider this kind of work extremely useful, especially in this new format. I was able to return to the companies I visited. I did not just study their problems on my visits, we sat down together and tried to find and draft solutions, to set goals for the federal and regional government bodies, and company shareholders. Then we tried to implement our plans together; and we keep trying now.

This is not the sort of thing people in The West hear about Putin. But he does his damn job and politicians in The West do not, so he makes them look bad, see? Therefore we shouldn't hear about it.

In any case, whether or not certain oligarchs toy with him and use him while other oligarchs busy themselves throwing him under the bus, it seems to me that he would not appreciate it either way.


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One of the oligarchs, Michael Cherney, is not one of "Putin's komanda." He lives in Israel.

This Website will discuss and examine Russian oligarchs. Who they are, their contributions to society and the harassment that many of them have suffered under the government of Vladimir Putin.

A Business oligarch is a synonym for a Russian "business magnate" or "tycoon." These are honest, intelligent and hard working individuals who have built up substantial financial resources and as such share many social responsibilities. Some oligarchs have political power while others may influence such power as a result of their potent roles in domestic and international trade and commerce. The term oligarch came into wide circulation after the collapse of the Soviet Union in application to the people that became extremely wealthy in some post-Soviet republics.

Russian oligarchs are business entrepreneurs who started under Gorbachev during his period of market liberalization. Oligarchs emerged as well connected entrepreneurs who started from nearly nothing and secured wealth through participation in the marketplace with democratically elected, government of Russia during the state's transition to a market-based economy. 

Mikhail Chernoy (Michael Cherney, Mikhail Chernoi, Mikhail Chorny) is one of the so-called Russian oligarchs. Cherney resides in Israel, where he established the Michael Cherney Foundation whose purpose is to aid the victims of Islamic terrorism.

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Last fall Lieberman reported to Israeli police investigators that a brown folder appeared on his desk with transcripts between him and his friend, Michael Cherney. This story is dated December 12, 2009.

The folder which Lieberman was surprised to see on his desk contained e-mail printouts, most of which in Russian. Having read them Lieberman was seized with the suspicion that a certain organized group was secretly tapping his telephone conversations with a close friend of his – Michael Cherney, a businessman and a multimillionaire.

“It was evident from those e-mail transcripts that attempts had been made to bribe politicians of Israel and Great Britain”, Lieberman said, “and it was clear to me that there was a connection between the organized group’s representatives and the police.”

...When the investigating authorities conducted searches in the suspects’ residences, it became clear that the main target tracked was not Avigdor Lieberman but Michael Cherney.

Reportedly, Cherney and Lieberman speak to each other every day by telephone and have since 1996.

Meanwhile Cherney and Oleg Deripaska are locked in a bitter legal battle over soured business dealings.

Deripaska belongs to "Putin's revenue of loyal oligarchs."

But Cherney really likes Lieberman. A lot. Cherney claims to be persecuted, demonized by Deripaska and his cohorts. His friend Lieberman is being dragged down into the mud too, because of Deripaska, who allegedly owes Cherney money, like three billion dollars. By the way.

“In the past 13 years, there have been no bigger enemies to The System than me and Lieberman. We are like Satan. Worse than terrorists even”, said Cherney angrily. “Just try to imagine yourself in my and Lieberman’s shoes in order to understand all that. It costs me even more dearly because someone believes that to do a great harm to a person, that person’s friend should be made to look like a wicked character, the biggest villain on earth”.
“And who, in your opinion, runs that puppet show?”
“I don’t know.”

Avigdor Lieberman (source)

...Cherney says that the image of a mafioso, which has been attached to him as a result of lies and compromising campaigns, created by former associates of the secret Soviet services. According to Cherney, the only thing he did was to avail himself of the situation. The economy was being born again: everything that was not forbidden was permitted.

And how is he supposed to defend himself from this onslaught?

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The Michael Cherney Foundation supports Israel Flying Aid. Remember that? Gal Lusky's organization.

As the Israel Defense Forces continued to care for and transfer the critically injured to other hospitals, they slowly began to pack their supplies and take down their green tents. The IDF had arrived within 3 days of the earthquake and within 8 hours were operating on patients.

But contrary to press reports that Israel is leaving this Caribbean nation, Israel Flying Aid has announced that it plans to move its tent camp to a nearby orphanage.

Yesterday, Israel Flying Aid and the Israel Defense Forces visited an orphanage in Haiti where they examined 50 children who were suffering from severe starvation. Many of the children had bloated stomachs, something that Jews had not seen since the Holocaust. An IDF Lt. Colonel and three nurses began to vaccinate the children, while professional clowns which were brought to Haiti by Israel Flying Aid, provided the children with treatment for trauma. The children quickly grabbed and ate the fish, rice, beans and fresh milk that IFA had brought to them – food that they had not seen for almost two weeks.

Israel Flying Aid and Orange Israel Telecommunications announced that they plan to aid humanitarian efforts in Haiti by creating an orphanage which will immediately accommodate 70 children. This will be the first of three stages of establishing an orphanage which is expected to absorb over 200 children in Haiti.

The above news story was edited and SEO optimized by the Leyden Communications Internet Marketing, Digital PR, New Media, Crisis Communications Group www.IsraelPr.com with sponsorship for coverage of the Haiti earthquake disaster by the Bernard Leyden Memorial Foundation, Michael Cherney Foundation and the Rochelle and Richard Maize Foundation.

The Michael Cherney (Mikhail Chernoy) Foundation renders help new arrivals to Israel, victims of catastrophes, terrorist acts and to low-income victims of terror in other countries. The Michael Cherney Foundation is also involved in the news, media and information effort with regards to providing facts on Israel democracy and Islamic terror.

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