By John Helmer, Moscow
Mother Hubbard, one of the most popular old English nursery rhymes, was a hard-luck case. Her kindliness and generosity were ruthlessly exploited by her conniving dog, who played dead for sympathy and then took her for everything she was worth.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
Moscow commercial court documents, filed on December 29 and 30, reveal that Franco-Swiss bank BNP Paribas is suing leading Russian grain trader RosInterAgroservis (RIAS) for $20.1 million. The claim, formally lodged against the RIAS subsidiary ZAO Kubankhleboprodukt, as well as its parent OOO RosAgroInterservis, refers to loans made earlier which remain unpaid.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
In its 20-year history, the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has been notoriously slow to process borrower applications and disburse funds. Insiders say this reflects the problems of adjusting the commercial imperatives of the bank’s €53 billion project financing book, to the political realities and demands of the 63 shareholders who were on opposing sides of the Cold War until 1991.
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“The president promised to tear off the heads of those who attacked me” said Russian journalist Oleg Kashin, who was severely beaten last November.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
Suppose, just suppose that Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia (image far left), and Igor Sechin, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of resource concessions (image far right), were stakeholders somehow of United Company Rusal, the state aluminium champion. And suppose, just suppose they decided that the hostile takeover strategy of Rusal CEO, Oleg Deripaska (second left), against Norilsk Nickel, state nickel, copper and platinum champion, has gone too far, and is now depressing both companies’ share values. Accordingly, just suppose they have invited Deripaska, along with the controlling stakeholders of Norilsk Nickel, Vladimir Potanin (second right) and CEO Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, to come up with enough fresh cash to suit everyone, and enable Norilsk Nickel to buy back the 25% stake Deripaska purchased from Mikhail Prokhorov in better times, three years ago, for roughly $14.5 billion. And suppose, just suppose Deripaska has been in to chat with Putin and Sechin, and between them they have come up with a price Potanin and Strzhalkovsky say they can’t afford.
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The greeting card looks happily auspicious. But as many Russians know, or should remember, the month of January 1937 saw the second of Stalin’s show trials against alleged Trotskyists, the epitome of evil in Russia in those days. That was followed in June of 1937 by the trumped-up trial and execution of Marshal Tukhachevsky and seven other Red Army commanders. Stalin had gulled Hitler and his men into forging evidence against Tukhachevsky and the others in case torture didn’t produce their self-incrimination. It did.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
When a man of quality like Robin Lane Fox finds beauty in a row of cabbages, it’s churlish to do anything but admire his acuity and taste. And if the cabbages are in the kitchen garden of Jacob Rothschild, the 4th Baron Rothschild (left) and father of Nathaniel Rothschild (right), let the vegetables not be blamed for the manure which enriches them.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
Oleg Deripaska is running out of friends who stick up for him, especially at the Finance Ministry in Moscow and the Federal Tax Service.
Deripaska doesn’t deny that the practice of tolling, through which his United Company Rusal has saved at least $5 billion in tax payments to the Russian treasury over the past decade, is a boon. But he claims this is lawful. More, he claims it is approved by the Russian government. On the other hand, for the first time this month, the alignment of domestic political forces in Moscow has approached the point where officials dare to say aloud that Rusal’s tolling is a form of stealing.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
Tod Browning was an American filmmaker of the early 20th century who suffered from circus obsessions, alcohol, wife and career troubles, which distracted him from showing an interest in the Russian revolution. While the Bolsheviks were planning their takeover of the Kerensky government, Browning made his first feature film. Called Jim Bludso, the story line was about a riverboat captain who sacrificed himself to save the lives of the boat passengers during a fire. It was a hit of sorts.
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