THE CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS

CATHERINE P. HENRY'S ELECTRONIC BLACKBOARD

AND HER OPTIONAL OPINION-NEWSLETTER ON RUSSIA,

THE CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS

THE CHRONICLE LOOKS AT THE QUESTION

IS AMERICA "ENGAGING" RUSSIA OR "MARRIED TO THE MOB"?

MERRIAM WEBSTER ON-LINE DICTIONARY <http://www.m-w.com/mw/dictionary.htm> THIS SITE WILL SAVE YOU HOURS OF HOMEWORK AND IS FUN. BOOK MARK THIS SITE/PUT IT IN YOUR FAVORITES.

RAMBLER RUSSIAN-ENGLISH/ENGLISH-RUSSIAN DICTIONARY http://dict.rambler.ru/dict/scripts/relay-ruen.cgi?query=%F1%EE%FE%E7&where=ruen&start=0&count=15

RAMBLER--RUSSIAN SEARCH ENGINE http://www.rambler.ru/

YANDEX--RUSSIAN SEARCH ENGINE http://www.yandex.ru:8081/index.html

A RFE/RL ARTICLE THAT ORIENTS READERS ABOUT THE FOCUS OR BIAS OF VARIOUS RUSSIAN WEBSITES http://www.rferl.org/nca/special/rumedia5/babitsky2.html

RUSSIAN NEWS SITES http://www.svoboda.org/ (RFE/RL Russian language service) www.lenta.ru and http://allnews.ru/ (English version) and www.gazeta.ru and www.polit.ru and www.vesti.ru, and www.deadline.ru and www.apn.ru and www.utro.ru

HOMEWORK HEAVEN http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/haven/

SAT AND PSAT SITE http://www.collegeboard.org/

SHOULD YOU GUESS? WRONG ANSWERS ARE PENALIZED A FRACTION MORE THAN BLANK ANSWERS ON THE SAT. ON THE OTHER HAND, IF YOU DON'T ANSWER A QUESTION, YOU WILL CERTAINLY LOSE/NOT EARN A POINT JUST LIKE YOU WOULD ON A TEST IN SCHOOL. THE SAT BOOKLET ADVISES THAT IF YOU CAN ELIMINATE SOME ANSWER CHOICES, IT IS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE TO TAKE AN EDUCATED GUESS. IF YOU ARE PRESSED FOR TIME OR "CLUELESS" PERHAPS IT IS BEST TO LEAVE THE ANSWER BLANK. DON'T BE TOO AFRAID TO GUESS. THE ODDS ARE PRETTY GOOD. ON QUESTIONS WITH FIVE ANSWER POSSIBILITIES, YOUR ODDS OF GUESSING CORRECT ARE ONE IN FIVE. IF YOU GUESS WRONG FOUR TIMES AND ARE PENALIZED ONE POINT, YOU MAY GUESS RIGHT ON THE FIFTH ATTEMPT AND GET YOUR POINT BACK. HERE'S WHAT THE SAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT SCORING http://www.collegeboard.org/sat/html/students/scrpt018.html

SAT QUESTION OF THE DAY http://cbweb9p.collegeboard.org/tqod/bin/question.cgi

ANALOGY TUTORIAL http://www.collegeboard.org/sat/center/tutor/anyl000.html

Work on practice questions for the verbal http://www.collegeboard.org/psat/student/html/verb001.html and writing sections http://www.collegeboard.org/psat/student/html/ws001.html of the PSAT. Check your answers and then go to the next question.

SAT questions and answers from the January 2000 test http://www.collegeboard.org/sat/center/html/ansjan.html

SAT questions and answers from the May 2000 test http://www.collegeboard.org/sat/center/html/answer.html

NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP CORPORATION--EXPLAINS THAT THE TOTAL OF YOUR MATH, VERBAL AND WRITING SECTIONS DETERMINES YOUR ELIGIBILITY FOR NATIONAL MERIT AWARD http://www.nationalmerit.org/

HISTORY CHANNEL IQ http://www.historychannel.com/historyiq/index.html COMPETE FOR $25,000 IN PRIZE MONEY!

VISITORS TO THE CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS ARE INVITED TO SCROLL DOWN PAST THE LINKED SITES.

PUTIN'S MILLENIUM SPEECH TO RUSSIA OUTLINING HIS VISION AND STATING HIS GOALS: http://www.pravitelstvo.gov.ru/english/statVP_engl_1_txt.html

EXTRACTS OF KHRUSHCHEV'S SECRET SPEECH PART I AND PART II http://www.pagesz.net/~stevek/europe/khrushchev.html http://home.mira.net/~deller/bs/1956nk.htm

FILIPP BOBKOV'S TESTAMENT: SATIRE OR PSYCHOPATHY?/YOU DECIDE http://www.globalspy.com/kgbbobkov.html

COMMUNIST-ERA POSTER ART http://nic.funet.fi/pub/culture/russian/html_pages/posters1.html

OFFICIAL INTERNET SITE OF THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT AT http://www.government.gov.ru/english/

PUTIN SEARCH ON YAHOO: http://search.asia.yahoo.com/search/news_asia?p=PUTIN&n=10

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE SITES:

MUELLER'S ENGLISH-RUSSIAN DICTIONARY http://www.sw.com.sg/cgi-bin/wwwdic?dom

AUDIO VISUAL DICTIONARY OF COMMON RUSSIAN WORDS http://www.visi.com/~swithee//dictionary/menus/mainmenu.html

MULTILANGUAGE PICTURE DICTIONARY http://metalab.unc.edu/yiddish/Vort/index.htm

RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH LITERATURE--CLICK ON WORD TO TRANSLATE!! http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~leong/

RUSSIAN LITERATURE ON LINE/IN RUSSIAN http://koi.www.online.ru/sp/eel/russian/

RUSSIAN LITERATURE/BUCKNELL http://coral.bucknell.edu/departments/russian/ruslit.html

CHILDREN'S STORIES/THIS WORKS FOR ME IF I GO INTO FONTS AND SELECT CYRILLIC FOR WINDOWS http://www.machaon.ru/kuski/sol/

INTRA CENTER SITE; INCLUDES CHILDREN'S MAGAZINE; EASY TO READ http://www.intra.ru/defaultx.asp?cp=koi8-r

ARTICLE ON FOREIGN BORROWINGS IN RUSSIAN LANGUAGE http://eleaston.com/history.html

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY RUSSIAN SITES: http://www.american.edu/research/CCPCR/websites.htm

RUSSIAN GRAMMAR: http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/language/

RUSSIAN EDUCATIONAL WEBSITES : http://libweb.sdsu.edu/scidiv/russlav.html

RUSSIAN AREA STUDIES LINKS: http://www.websher.net/inx/link.html

RUSSIA TODAY http://www.russiatoday.com/

RUSSIA POST http://www.russiapost.com/

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY IN ENGLISH AT http://www.rferl.org/

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY IN RUSSIAN LANGUAGE USING KOI: GENERAL INDEX http://koi.svoboda.org/index.shtml AND TOP NEWS STORIES AT http://koi.svoboda.org/news/default.asp

CDI'S RUSSIA WEEKLY http://www.cdi.org/russia/

RUSSIAN NEWSROOM http://www.wps.ru/chitalka/en/index.shtml

CENTRAL EUROPE REVIEW http://www.ce-review.org/

BBC RUSSIAN SERVICE http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/

POLITICAL NEWS CHANNEL IN ENGLISH AT http://www.polit.ru/english/fullnews.html?date=1999-12-31 RUSSIAN KOI AT http://www.polit.ru:8083/news.html

YAHOO RUSSIA NEWS http://headlines.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/World/Russia/

STRATFOR ANALYSIS ON RUSSIA AT http://www.stratfor.com/

VERSIYA (SOVERSHENNO SEKRETNO) http://www.bfg.ru/topsecret/src/topsecret/Frontpage.cfm?rel=1943&id1=41

CIA OFFICIAL TELLS CONGRESS THAT RUSSIAN PRESIDENT PUTIN LAUNDERED MONEY FROM PUBLIC FUNDS IN RUSSIA WHILE HE WAS A KGB SPY http://www.house.gov/banking/92199pal.htm

PUTIN'S PETERSBURG DEALINGS EXAMINED http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2000/03/26/001.html

PUTIN'S PATCHY PAST PROBED--NOT EXACTLY STERLITZ (THE RUSSIAN JAMES BOND) http://www.bu.edu/iscip/vol10/Waller.html

VLADIMIR PUTIN TERMED MONEYLAUNDERER http://www.security-policy.org/papers/2000/00-F3.html

PUTIN SHUTS DOWN INVESTIGATIONS INTO CRIMINAL ACTIVITY AND POLITICAL ASSASSINATION OF GALINA STAROVOITOVA http://www.security-policy.org/papers/2000/00-F3.html

POLITICAL ANALYSIS AT http://www.stratfor.com

CHECHNYA MAPS: http://www.russiatoday.com/frames/frames.php3?url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/Chechen.html

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH PUBLISHES REPORT ON POLICE TORTURE IN RUSSIA AT http://www.hrw.org/press/1999/nov/torture1110.htm

ON-LINE ARTICLES BY CATHERINE P. HENRY: http://www.nfobase.com/html/forced_bead_labor_.htm (a serious research article) and http://www.nfobase.com/html/zhili_byli.htm (a satire or lampoon) Halloween satire that's full of Russian spooks! http://www.nfobase.com/html/trick_or_treat.htm Two commentaries on missing IMF money sent to help Russia http://www.globalspy.com/stolenmoney1.htm and http://www.globalspy.com/stolenmoney2.htm

SAFE SCHOOLS--A GOVERNMENT STUDY AT http://www.air-dc.org/cecp/guide/files/executivesummary.htm

FACTS ABOUT DRUGS (DEA SITE) AT http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/straight/cover.htm

PARTNERSHIP FOR A DRUG-FREE AMERICA AT http://www.drugfreeamerica.org/

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH) http://www.nih.gov/

US GOVERNMENT RESOURCES INDEX AT http://usgovinfo.miningco.com/blindex.htm

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY'S THE WORLD FACT BOOK ABOUT THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD AT http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

SUMMER READING FOR FALL, 2000

REQUIRED: CYRANO DE BERGERAC by Edmond Rostand--TEST DATE IS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 ftp://beta.ulib.org/webRoot/Books/_Gutenberg_Etext_Books_NEWEST/etext98/cdben10.txt

ALSO READ ONE OF THE FOLLOWING--TEST DATE IS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11

CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY by Alan Paton

SIDDHARTHA by Herman Hesse

FATHERS AND SONS by Ivan Turgenev

THE INSPECTOR GENERAL by Nikolai Gogol

CLASSROOM POLICIES AND IMPORTANT QUARTERLY INFORMATION:

THE QUARTERLY OUTSIDE READING FOR THE FIRST QUARTER IS A SEPARATE PEACE BY JOHN KNOWLES. THE TEST WILL BE SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19. LIKE SUMMER READING, THIS BOOK IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. I WILL NOT DISCUSS IT IN CLASS, BUT I WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH A STUDY SHEET YOU MAY USE AS YOU READ THE BOOK.

MISSED TESTS ARE TO BE MADE UP AFTER SCHOOL WITHIN TWO DAYS UNLESS OTHER ARRANGEMENTS ARE MADE WITH ME.

DISCLAIMER: VISIT THIS SITE OFTEN. WHAT IS ON THE SCHOOL BLACKBOARD OR WHAT I SAY IN CLASS TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER WHAT IS POSTED HERE, BECAUSE SOMETIMES PLANS CHANGE A BIT. HOWEVER, IF I UPDATE THE BLACKBOARD AND CHANGE MY PLANS, I WILL MAKE EVERY ATTEMPT TO UPDATE THIS SITE, TOO.

ALWAYS BRING PENS, PENCILS, NOTEBOOK AND ASSIGNED BOOK. IF YOU ARE SICK, CALL A FRIEND AND CHECK THIS SITE. IN GENERAL, BEING SICK IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT HAVING THE ASSIGNED BOOK. WHEN IN DOUBT, CHECK THIS SITE OR CALL A RELIABLE CLASSMATE. NOT BRINGING ANY BOOK "BECAUSE YOU ARE SICK" IS A POOR STRATEGY.

COPYING HOMEWORK IS CHEATING. IT IS A FORM OF PLAGIARISM. DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK AND LEARN.

WEBSITE FOR VOCABULARY IS <http://www.m-w.com/mw/dictionary.htm> THIS SITE WILL SAVE YOU HOURS OF HOMEWORK AND IS FUN. BOOK MARK THIS SITE/PUT IT IN YOUR FAVORITES.

COLLEGES RANKED BY U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/corank.htm

WORD OF THE DAY SITE :< http://www.m-w.com/wod>.

WEATHER FORECAST AT http://www.weather.com/twc/homepage.twc

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION http://www.si.edu/

BABYLONIAN RESOURCES:

GILGAMESH IN MODERN "STORY" FORM http://faust.cs.nott.ac.uk/~dps/gilgamesh.html

ESSAY ON STORYTELLING AND THE MEANING OF GILGAMESH-EXCELLENT AT http://eawc.evansville.edu/essays/brown.htm

ENTIRE EPIC OF GILGAMESH ON-LINE: SCROLL DOWN THIS SITE TO VIEW LINKS TO TRANSLATIONS OF THE TWELVE TABLETS OF THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH AT http://www.piney.com/BabIndex.html

ENTIRE EPIC OF GILGAMESH ON-LINE (COMPARE TO ABOVE; WHICH DO YOU PREFER?) http://sunbird.usd.edu/~dpryce/Gilgmsh.htm

OUTLINE OF GILGAMESH EPIC, BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LINKS TO ON-LINE TRANSLATIONS AT http://www.hist.unt.edu/ane-09.htm

GILGAMESH SITE: FEATURES PHOTOS OF HUMBABA AND THE TWELVE CLAY TABLETS FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM AT http://users.moscow.com/craigs/Gilgamesh.asp

THE BRITISH MUSEUM http://www.british-museum.ac.uk/ CHECK THIS SITE TO SEE THE LOCATION OF THE GILGAMESH TABLETS AND OTHER INTERESTING ARTIFACTS.

ARCHAEOLOGY RELATED TO NINEVEH WHERE THE GILGAMESH TABLETS WERE DUG UP http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~welli/archaeology/bible/nineveh.html

ENCYCLOPAEDIA SMITHSONIAN http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/start.htm

ENGLISH HOMEWORK WEBSITE--INCLUDES GRAMMAR, SHAKESPEARE, LITERARY CRITICISM;CHECK IT OUT AT <http://tristate.pgh.net/~pinch13/frameenglish.htm>.

PROJECT GUTENBERG (ON-LINE LITERATURE) AT http://promo.net/pg/; GUTENBERG AUTHOR INDEX AT http://promo.net/pg/_authors/_A_index.html ; TITLE INDEX AT http://promo.net/pg/_titles/_A_index.html

THE ON-LINE BOOKS PAGE http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/

LISTING OF WEBSITES FOR ON-LINE TEXTS http://classics.mit.edu/other.html

INTERNET PUBLIC LIBARARY http://www.ipl.org/ref/

ON-LINE CLASSICS: http://classics.mit.edu/cgi-bin/search.cgi?gowork=others (You can look up authors we have read to see other stories, plays, epics, and poetry that they have written.)

GREAT BOOKS INDEX: http://books.mirror.org/gb.links.html

GREAT BOOKS AUTHOR INDEX--A REALLY GREAT RESOURCE! http://books.mirror.org/gb.home.html

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND--CLASSICS DEPARTMENT http://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/Faculty/links.html

ON-LINE LITERARY CRITICISM AT < http://www.ipl.org/ref/litcrit/> AND http://www.ipl.org/cgi-bin/ref/litcrit/litcrit.browse.pl?ti=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

THE TEMPEST STUDY UNIT AND KEY AT http://www.globalserve.net/~glamont/Tempkey.htm

MONTAIGNE'S "OF CANNIBALS" http://www.library.adelaide.edu.au/etext/m/m76e/m76e4.html

ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY [MAINLY GREEK] SITES AT:

ART ABOUT THE TROJAN WAR AT http://www-lib.haifa.ac.il/www/art/troyan.html

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT TROY AND THE ILIAD http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/2471/Troy.html

TROY'S LOST TREASURE AND HEINRICH SCHLIEMANN http://www.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/archive/1996/dom/960422/archaeology.html

SEARCH ENGINE SITE FOR CLASSICS http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/PR/pecs.ann.html

PRINCETON CLASSICS http://www.princeton.edu/~rhwebb/myth.html,

LINKS TO CLASSICS http://www.webcom.com/shownet/medea/grklink.html

PERSEUS PROJECT, TUFTS UNIVERSITY http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/

SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/

DOSTOYEVSKY RESOURCE STATION: http://stange.simplenet.com/dostoevsky/contents.html

THE PUSHKIN PAGE http://falcon.jmu.edu/~gouldsl/Pushkin/

RUSSIAN ON-LINE REFERENCE GRAMMAR http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/language/

BUCKNELL RUSSIAN RESOURCES http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/index.html

DO A SEARCH USING THE EXACT PHRASE "HOMEWORK HELPER" ON <www.hotbot.com> HERE ARE LISTED MANY GOOD SOURCES FOR STUDENTS. PICK A FEW YOU LIKE. BOOKMARK THEM/PUT THEM IN YOUR FAVORITES. ONE I FOUND IS <http://www.hlv.k12.ia.us/homework.htm>. ANOTHER GOOD SITE IS <http://tristate.pgh.net/~pinch13/>.

THE FOLLOWING SITE HAS AN EXTENSIVE LIST OF SEARCH ENGINES THAT WILL HELP YOU WITH RESEARCH PROJECTS <http://tristate.pgh.net/~pinch13/framesearch.htm>.

POPULAR SEARCH ENGINES INCLUDE: <www.altavista.com> , <www.northernlight.com> (some selections on this site cost money, but many are free), <www.hotbot.com>, <www.mamma.com> < www.google.com >

RUSSIA TODAY http://www.russiatoday.com/

RUSSIA NEWS SERVICE (MOSCOW) http://www.fednews.ru/

MAIN SITE FOR RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY <http://www.rferl.org>.

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY LINKS <http://www.rferl.org/links/index.html>.

YAHOO RUSSIA NEWS http://headlines.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/World/Russia/

ISCIP- INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF CONFLICT, IDEOLOGY, AND POLICY http://www.bu.edu/iscip/index.html

TRANSITIONS--A MAGAZINE ABOUT THE CHANGES OCCURING IN THE FORMER COMMUNIST COUNTRIES http://www.transitions-online.org/

.U.S. MILITARY RESEARCH/RUSSIAN STUDIES http://call.army.mil/call/fmso/RESRCHLK.HTM

AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY COUNCIL <http://www.afpc.org/index.htm>.

JAMESTOWN FOUNDATION/ RUSSIAN RESEARCH http://www.jamestown.org/index.htm

MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE RUSSIAN ARTICLES http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/russia.htm

FOR A RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE NEWS TRY ITAR-TASS <http://companies.newspage.com/stories.cfm?co=10012729>.

RUSSIAN AND EAST EUROPEAN NEWSPAPERS ONLINE <http://www.ijt.cz/newsstan.html>, and http://www.ipl.org/cgi-bin/reading/news.out.pl?co=Russia

MONITORS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN POST-COMMUNIST COUNTRIES <http://www.keston.org/>.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: http://www.hrw.org/

ONLINE NEWSPAPERS: <www.washingtonpost.com> <http://www.washtimes.com/> <http://www.nytimes.com/>.

CNN INTERACTIVE: http://www.cnn.com/index.html

BBC WEBGUIDE http://www.bbc.co.uk/webguide/

SEARCH ENGINE FOR 11,000 ONLINE NEWSPAPERS: <http://www.cjr.org/database/papers.asp>.

SEARCH BY COUNTRY FOR ON-LINE NEWSPAPERS: http://www.ipl.org/reading/news/

ANOTHER LISTING OF ON-LINE NEWSPAPERS,PERIODICALS, AND POLITICAL COMMENTARY CAN BE FOUND AT <http://www.drudgereport.com/>.

LISTING OF SOME MAJOR NEWSPAPERS [REPUBLICAN PARTY SITE] http://www.rnc.org/NewsRoom_Action.asp?FormMode=NewsOrgs&LinkType=Section&Section=4

POLITICAL PARTIES AND GOVERNMENT SITES <http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/polpoints.html>.

POLITICAL POLICY ISSUES http://www.policy.com/

DAVE BARRY FANS: <http://www.sacbee.com/voices/national/barry/>

A DOLL'S HOUSE ON-LINE: http://www.triton.cc.il.us/undergrad_ctr/files/dollshse.html (This translation from the Norwegian may be a bit different than what is in your book.)

INTERNET STUDY GUIDES/LECTURES ABOUT OEDIPUS :

http://diogenes.baylor.edu/thorburn.bk/ot.html

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/introser/oedipus.htm

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/3449/oedipus.html

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/myth.htm

http://www.temple.edu/classics/oedipus.html

HOMEWORK/PLAN FOR CURRENT WEEK FOLLOWS:

CONSIDER HIGHLIGHTING AND PRINTING OUT THE HOMEWORK. BE CAREFUL YOU DON'T ACCIDENTALLY PRINT THE WHOLE SITE! OR, COPY AND PASTE INTO WORD. OCCASSIONALLY, I MAY CHANGE THINGS A BIT, BUT I'LL LET YOU KNOW.

******************************************************************************************

THE CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS

BY

CATHERINE P. HENRY

ISSUE #1

STARTED ON DECEMBER 5, 1998

AND PERIODICALLY UPDATED

This year in my classroom, we are reading Homer's The Illiad. In Book XXII, the Trojan warrior, Hector, emerges from Troy to face his implacable Greek foe, Achilleus. Knowing that no compromise is possible with Achilleus, Hector is determined to stand and fight, but when he sees the armored and seemingly invulnerable Achilleus bearing down on him like the Terminator, the Trojan hero is discouraged; he panics and runs for his life. Homer observes that although Hector is a brave man, he is no match for Achilleus.

Hector flees and Achilleus gives chase. The two men race round and round the walls of Troy on a road that in peacetime does double-duty as a Trojan "outerbelt" for carts and as a racetrack. Standing on their wall, the horrified Trojans have a bird's eye view, and watch the whole spectacle unfold, just as they would have watched two contestants race for a prize.This time, Homer observes, the prize is the life of Hector. In vain, Hector tries to take cover under the outcropping above the closed gate of the city so that his countrymen on the wall can "cover" him and get off a few shots at Achilleus, but Achilleus maneuvers him farther and farther away from the wall.

Before Achilleus can kill Hector, he is going to have to catch up with him. To get Hector to stop, the goddess Athene, who is an ally of Achilleus, appears to Hector in the form of Hector's favorite brother, Deiphobos. Beguiling Hector, the goddess says, "Let us stand fast against [Achilleus] and beat him back." Encouraged by his "brother," Hector turns, faces his pursuerer and casts a spear. Not surprisingly, the spear is deflected off of Achilleus' spectacular armor, because it has been fashioned for him by a god. All the gods are on Achilleus' side, so Hector doesn't have a chance. Hector calls to his "brother" to hand him a new spear, but when he turns around, Deiphobos is nowhere to be found. With a sinking heart, Hector realizes the truth and knows he is doomed.

This is the story of a brave man, the greatest hero of the Trojans, who was discouraged by fear and then encouraged by commradeship only to be destroyed by treachery. How terrible for Hector, a brave man, a hero, realize he has been duped by a vengeful god when he thought his dear brother was standing "right behind" him. How terrible that the Trojans, convinced that the best military strategy was to lock the gates and huddle behind their wall, watched but did nothing to assist their greatest patriot. The Trojans continued to watch as Achilleus tied Hector's feet to the back of his chariot and defiled his body, dragging it around and around the walls of Troy to take his revenge, to humiliate, and to terrorize. Still, Hector surely did not die in vain, because the story of his valor in the face of impossible odds has inspired readers for thousands of years, and in our own time real heroes continue to come forward and face impossible odds.

Sometimes, I find my heroes in Russia, a place that Americans usually think of as the enemy camp. When Communism fell in 1991, most people were very excited. They expected that Russia would suddenly become a free country. However, the political situation in that country turned out to be more complicated and difficult than most people expected. I feel really discouraged when I look at what has happened since the overthrow of Communism in the USSR because I had such high hopes. I feel "had." I feel duped by an invincible "enemy" that masqueraded as a "brother." Sometimes I feel cynical and think that helping the Russians is a waste of time, that in the end, I will be tricked and bitterly disappointed. I feel discouraged. Think about that word. It means dis-couraged, or to lose courage. When I get discouraged, I try to remember the story of Hector--because the lesson of this story is that even in the face of miserable failure and degrading death there is inspiration, hope and new courage. Certainly that is the Christian message, too.

I am sure many Russian people feel similarly discouraged, and with far greater cause, by how the anti-communist revolution has been "kidnapped" by gangsters and corrupt politicians. They are also being told by some of their leaders that American policies are responsible for the dismal economic picture, and that after having made a big mess of Russia, the Americans have abandoned the Russians to their fate. Increasingly, the Americans and Russians are pointing their fingers and casting aspersions on each other for the "mess" Russia is in, while the guilty parties are literally GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER! Still, we must not be discouraged or barricade ourselves behind walls, because even in our time new Hectors emerge alone to take the field, encouraged and hopeful in the face of arrogant, rapacious, duplicitous, well-armed, well-financed and seemingly invulnerable barbarians, the Russian mafia and corrupt, extremist politicians.

One of these "Trojan" heroes is the late Galina Starovoitova, a middle-aged woman, an elected member of the lower house of the Russian parliament, the Duma. Mrs. Starovoitova, Russia's outspoken defender of democracy, human rights, and interethnic cooperation, was gunned down on November 20, 1998, against the wall near the doorway to her home. Commentators have focused on sensitive "information" about government corruption Starovoitova may have been developing and on her criticism of anti-semitic politicians. She had recently criticized Communist Duma member Albert Makashov for advocating that Jews be arrested, imprisoned and liquidated.

In fact, probably the biggest motive for the murder was simply to terrify, to discourage, to make people believe it is no use to resist the mobsters that are attempting to take over the country. There are loads of web sites on the Internet about Russia's most famous woman politician. She is a great hero to millions of Russian people. She and other weariless heroes of the former USSR have sacrificed their health, their leisure, their careers, their friends, their families and even life itself, to bring human rights and dignity to their homelands.

One of my Russian students who has lived in Russia told us that these gangsters spray-paint slogans on the walls of Russian cities claiming, "WE HAVE ALL POWER." These spray-paint barbarians want to be free to vandalize entire nations. They want everyone to be convinced that it is useless to "stand fast and beat them down." These mobsters expect civilized people to believe that their only chance is to hide behind a wall and that anyone "stupid" enough to stand up to their thuggery will die for nothing. As if to underscore their spray-painted slogans, these criminals have now sprayed the walls of St. Petersburg with Starovoitova's blood.

Discouraged Americans once took courage from the words Abraham Lincoln gave to an exhausted and bloodied nation in the midst of the Civil War when he dedicated the cemetery at Getteysburg:

It is for us the living...to be dedicated...to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain---that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish.

Americans were very discouraged by President Lincoln's "senseless" death and took comfort in the words of the poet Walt Whitman who eulogized Lincoln and all the fallen heroes of the American Civil War in an elegy: "Here coffin that slowly passes,/ I give you my sprig of lilac. /Blossoms and branches green to coffins all I bring,/For fresh as the morning thus would I chant a song for you/ O sane and sacred death."

Sane and sacred? Only an eternal optimist like Walt Whitman could have termed a bloody political killing and the terrible carnage of the Civil War "sane and sacred," but perhaps he had a point, because his elegy, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," gave encouragement to a discouraged nation. In spite of, or possibly because of his grisly and shocking murder, Lincoln has come to epitomize all that is "sane and sacred" for our country.

I am calling my site THE CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS after the famous unofficial publication that existed in Russia during the communist era and that inspired and encouraged Russians to fight for their human rights. This much-persecuted unofficially circulated "samizdat" or self-published, journal was the most famous clandestine journal in the former USSR. I hope that by taking the name of this famous journal I will eventually learn to emulate its honest dispassionate style. THE CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS always let the facts speak for themselves. That is my goal, too. However, it is a long-term goal, because most of the facts are unavailable. In the meantime, I will undoubtedly sometimes resort to satire.

I will be writing my observations, opinions and questions about troubling public issues such as political corruption, organized crime, powerful banks, narcotics and chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. I will update my chronicle as I gather new evidence or refine my ideas. In my first issue, I want to write about Russian banks.

"ABSENT JUSTICE, WHAT ARE KINGDOMS BUT VAST ROBBERIES?"

THE CASE OF THE MEDIA TYCOON, BANKER, AND OLIGARCH, VLADIMIR GUSINSKY

Throughout its history, Russia has had many laws, but it has never had the rule of law. The law was always the weapon of the ruling elite. Saint Augustine's question, "Absent justice, what are kingdoms but vast robberies?" describes the Russian state. One of the biggest problems is that Russia has never had a tradition of private property. Under the Czars, aristocratic landlords typically held their land because they served the members of the ruling elite. Landlords did not hold their estates in their own right. When the industrial era arrived, selected industrialists were granted state monopolies to run large industries. Under communism, of course, all property belonged to "the state," but in fact, often public wealth was used not to benefit the many---as socialism promised---but to enrich important politicians and their families. Sadly, in the post-communist era, large businesses still exist primarily to serve the ruling politicians, much as they did in the Czarist and communist eras.

This symbiotic arrangement has always fostered corruption. Ambitious people compete with each other for the privilege of serving---or rather corrupting---government officials. Russian humor and literature are full of amusing stories about the clever con-men that corrupt government bureaucrats and cheat the government in order to obtain or keep their privileges or monopolies. The most famous story on this theme is Gogol's Dead Souls. Russians love these stories and sometimes even admire the clever swindler who bilks the purblind government official. However, both the con-man and the corrupt official are part of what today we call the Russian Mafiya, and this mafiya is cheating the Russian and American taxpayer. Specifically, the IMF money the American taxpayer sends to help the Russian people is being used to pay off political favors. Our tax dollars are facilitating Russian graft.

The classic example of privileged property owners in today's Russia are the banks. These banks are "privileged" because they receive goverment deposits and/or advance warning of currrency devaluations so that they can unload their short-term, high-yield government bonds [GKOs] for dollars. However, as a quid pro quo, these banks are not independent and must serve the ruling politicians to keep their privileges and stay in business. The list of these privileged banks that both give special favors to and receive special favors from the ruling politicians probably corresponds pretty much to the eighteen Russian and foreign banks that are account holders at the Bank of New York [BONY] and that received IMF money for GKOs right before the ruble---and consequently the GKOs---were devalued in August, 1998. We know these banks are privileged because they undoubtedly received advance notice [insider information] from their government that the short-term, high-interest government bonds [GKOs] were going to be devalued. As a result, they all cashed in their GKOs for IMF dollars before the crash in August 1998.

After the August 1998 financial crash, some banks lost their registration (ie their priveleged/protected status) and failed, while others merged. In many cases, however, the owners walked away unpunished and personally wealthy from the failed institution, because they had looted public funds and had moved the money elsewhere. The fortunes of these so-called "bankers"---who are really con-men and parasites---are not really tied to the success of their institution. They have no legal obligations to the institution. Their real fortunes depend on maintaining corrupt relationships, not on the prudent management of a particular bank. The banks are like sponges that soak up money that can later be squeezed out. The banker can simply toss away the "sponge" and walk away. Provided he continues to enjoy important ties to public money, the "banker" can simply pick up (a new sponge) where he left off.

Actually, this process of looting followed by a currency devaluation or "crash" in effect constitutes an update of the Stalinist purge. In the communist era, if the government wanted to close down a certain category of organization, such as churches, it would have a purge. In the case of churches, for example, a congregation might fail to meet some flimsy government criteria during one of the many "reregistrations" [purges]. Some phony excuse having to do with fire or safety codes was often given to provide a legal pretext. In a more subtle approach, the parish council---the members of which had to be approved by the Council for Religious Affairs---would be pressured or infiltrated by agents from the outside. Then this parish council [dvadtsatka] would vote to "merge" the congragation with a distant church. Although church closings sometimes involved violence, the government's hand would often be gloved by the vote of the parish council dvadtsatka. The closing of churches was mendaciously depicted in the media in this light: "Life is life...in a certain village of .....there were only a few believers and the parish council voted to merge the church with one in a nearby village." The congregation's property would revert to the state, providing greedy officials the opportunity to enrich themselves.

To my mind, the "failure" and "merger" of Russian banks has analogies with the Stalinist church purges and closings, and the owners and management of these so-called "failed" or "merged" banks are like the government agents infiltrated into the parish council. They do not have the interests of the institution and the depositors [the Russian and American taxpayers] at heart.

If any Russian banks actually failed in August 1998, their "failure" was in reality "purge by failure to qualify for re-registration" to use the church analogy. Any non-privileged bank---if any exist---would almost certainly be "de-registered" because it would automatically lose the necessary capitalization to be licensed when the government pulled the plug on the currency [after letting their friends cash in on the IMF money instead of using it to support the currency]. There would be little chance that an unprivileged or independent bank could survive such devaluation.

The cynical declaration of "bankruptcy" by privileged banks such as Menatep and Incombank simply conceals the theft of deposits by the bank officials [like dvadtsatka agents], although any ordinary depositors [the congregation] were probably cleaned out [purged]. Such purges are the reason that ordinary Russians prefer to keep their cash under the mattress and are understandably chary about using their country's banks.

Privileged banks, like the churches, were also "merged" by their owners, supposedly in order to "survive" as their deposits moved "offshore." One mechanism for this was to trade in the GKOs for IMF dollars. The IMF dollars were placed in the Russian Central Bank's Bank of New York [BoNY] account in order to support the Russian ruble. From the Russian Central Bank's BoNY account, the money was distributed by BoNY officials to the accounts of privileged Russian banks at the BoNY and then disappeared in a series of electronic transfers. I may not have this exactly right, but it is pretty close, and as more information becomes available, this site will be updated.

The word "bank" is confusing. These "banks" are not really banks as we understand them in the west; they are money laundries and political slush funds. Our American banks are not allowed to have correspondant relationships with money laundries, and it would seem that this list of Russian banks that put their "windfall" GKO profits into their BoNY accounts would provide a working list of Russian "banks" that are in reality money laundries and thus not entitled to banking privileges in the United States. The Financial Times has observed that these privileged banks "siphon off their assets while leaving their liabilities to their creditors - a practice hard to distinguish from theft" http://afpc.org/rrm/rrm615.htm

In his September 21, 1999 testimony to the Banking Committee of the U.S. Congress, former CIA official and money laundering expert Richard Palmer elaborated on just how the theft "goes down":

"The bulk of the IMF money was used by eighteen large Russian and foreign banks to convert their GKO's (bonds that were used as debt instruments) into dollars just days before the Russian government defaulted on them. These bonds had yielded as much as 200 percent per annum in interest. Any educated investor would have taken this as indicator that the rate was unlikely to last over a long period of time and that only the extremely high risk of this investment tools could justify these unusually high yields. Several Western banks and investors lost amounts up to $ 2 billion dollars each when the Russian government defaulted. However, the 18 banks that did receive the IMF funds and could cash in their GKO's just days in advance of the Russian government's default included the largest and most powerful banks in Russia, also known as the "privileged" group because of their supporters in high places in the Russian government....

What my sources tell me as the most striking fact about these transactions is that the Russian Central Bank account in which the $ 4.8 billion in IMF funds were deposited and were distributed was their account in the Bank of New York. These funds were then allegedly distributed to correspondent accounts held by these 18 Russian and foreign banks within the Bank of New York. The Bank of New York then helped these "privileged" banks to transfer these funds out to other accounts. Only the most gullible would argue that these 18 banks did not receive special treatment and illegal advance warning of the upcoming default on the GKO's....

This provides the US Treasury and Justice Departments with the opportunity to prove or disprove these allegation regarding the "misuse" of these IMF funds. As these transactions took place in the Bank of New York, which is under US jurisdiction, a review of these accounts would seem to provide a list of the "privileged" Russian and foreign banks. This may even include US banks which could be further investigated as to their roles in this matter. If, once again, the US government fails to investigate this matter, it would be following the policy that it has established over the last seven years and which is encouraging and facilitating the continued growth of Russian Organized Crime, looting of the Russian state and at the cost and to the detriment of the impoverished Russian people." [Corrected Testimony of Richard Palmer before the House of Representatives on September 21, 1999].

The IMF continues to give the Russian government money even though the Russians don't have laws to prevent misuse of the money. Indeed, the head of Russia's Central Bank has termed western conditions "nonsense," and on September 29, 1999, the Russian newspaper Kommersant has even claimed that the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Summers used his position to help his former employer, Goldman Sachs, avoid disaster when the Russian GKOs defaulted. Kommersant is owned by the robber baron Boris Berezovsky, who is also the target of law enforcement interest, so this may just be an attempt to extort America's Secretary of the Treasury. http://www.jamestown.org/pubs/view/mon/005/181_003.htm

How did these banks come to dominate Russian politics and the economy? According to a summary of a speech given by David Satter, the so-called Russian oligarchs came into being during the rigged "public" auctions (ie thefts) of valuable state property:

The real theft of the state's most valuable enterprises began with money privatization in 1994. At "public" auctions for state property, the bidders for the most desirable enterprises were well-connected to local officials, with the results of these auctions being largely determined in advance. The loans-for-shares program, in which the government exchanged shares of enterprises for loans, greatly benefited the banks empowered by Yeltsin in 1993 to handle government accounts. These banks used government money to make short-term loans at extremely high rates of interest. Then, having made a profit using the government's money, the banks were able to loan it back to the government in exchange for valuable enterprises. This is how the much-talked-about oligarchy came into being and eventually began to dominate the political and economic scene, explained Satter. http://wwics.si.edu/WHATSNEW/NEWS/SATTER.HTM

Most is a major "bank" and part of a financial industrial group (FIG) in Russia. It is one example of a privileged "bank." The oligarch behind this bank is named Vladimir Gusinsky. If you look him up on the Internet, you might try the alternate spellings Gusinskii, Gusinskiy, or Gousinsky. Mr. Gusinsky seems to have a background as a leader in the Komsomol (the youth arm of the communist party) and an education in drama and theater management. According to news reports, he, along with other privileged bankers who hold large government deposits in exchange for political collaboration, purportedly provided financial support to the increasingly feeble President Yeltsin in the last presidential election when Yeltsin was opposed by the communists and right-wing nationalists. Although Gusinsky billed his largesse as a case of the capitalist entrepreneur supporting democracy and capitalism against the communist and facist alternatives, a different perspective on the real direction of the money-flow---and how our IMF money is being squandered---has been provided by the writer and researcher Ann Williamson in her September 21, 1999, testimony to the Congress:

Weren't Americans told that Russia's financial oligarchy paid for Yeltsin's re-election? To the contrary, Russia's bankers made serious money on Yeltsin's electoral weakness by buying government bonds at distressed prices using cheap money handed over from government deposits. The lion's share of the domestic bonds' high yields have always been paid with IMF loans. Russia's first representative to the World Bank, Leonid Grigoriev, explained, "Of course, the government was to return this money and that is why the yields on 3-month paper reached as much as 290%. The government's paying such huge, impossible rates on treasury bills, well, it's completely unbelievable. It had nothing to do with the market and therefore such yields can only be understood as a payback, just a different method." http://www.house.gov/banking/92199wil.htm

Gusinsky gives money to Jewish organizations, is a vice president of the World Jewish Congress, and depicts himself as a human rights activist. With these credentials, Gusinsky can claim that his critics are communists or anti-semitic fascists. For example, on Wednesday October 27, 1999, Gusinsky, disguised as a champion of human rights, an expert on anti-semitism and a successful Russian "entrepreneur," will address Congressional staffers at a breakfast sponsored by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. People who question his credibility will be dismissed as circulators of communist or fascist rumors.

According to an October 27, 1999 article in The Washington Post, Gusinsky builds political influence in America with the help of former Congressman Bonker of the APCO lobbying firm http://www.apcoassoc.com/palette.html [The Washington Post 10-27-99, A1].

Mr. Gusinsky undoubtedly uses his public relations firm and his political contacts to locate respectable western investors. According to a December 24, 1999 article in "The Moscow Times," Gusinsky has just sold some shares of Media-Most to an American fund. According to Moscow Times, "The buyer is 'a mutual fund within The American Funds Group, which is advised by Capital Research and Management Company, and is the third largest group of mutual funds in America,' according to a Media-MOST statement." http://www.moscowtimes.ru/24-Dec-1999/stories/story15.html

The article reveals that Gusinsky also exploits his western ties to boost the prestige, legitimacy, and credibility of Media-Most as a news organization. For example, according to the article, "The purchase announced Thursday is further proof that NTV is a 'news' rather than a 'propaganda' company, said Igor Malashenko, another of Gusinsky's deputies."

Gusinsky's polished persona was recently tarnished by an article in the Russian publication, Parliamentskaya Gazeta. The paper's March 3, 1999 cover story alleged that Gusinsky had ties with leading Russian gangsters and that he had worked for the KGB against Russian Jews. Gusinsky retaliated with a libel suit ---a response calculated to drain his less well-heeled opponents financially---although as a media mogul he could have easily defended his honor by challenging his opponents' facts in one of his many media outlets. According to Dr. Michael Waller:

"Parliamentskaya Gazeta accused Gusinsky of working as a KGB tool to penetrate Jewish refusenik and human rights groups in the 1970s; acting as a "krysha" [roof/cover] to shelter the Otari Kvantrishvili criminal organization; laundering money for the Ivankov (Yaponchik) criminal organization; creating a false holding company for launching a commercial satellite for criminal fronts; bribing and intimidating Russian state officials; and pressuring and harassing American journalists who had obtained information about criminal activity within Gusinsky's Most-Bank empire." http://afpc.org/rrm/rrm632.htm

One might also add that the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and former congressmen paid to lobby on Gusinsky's behalf are also providing Gusinsky with a "krysha" of respectability in the United States.

Although Gusinsky sued Parliamentskaya Gazeta, a classified CIA report on Russian banks has also reportedly characterized Most Bank as controlled by organized crime [Bill Gertz, The Washington Times. 3-13-95 p. 17]. One reporter witnessed platoons of young, camoflaged, gun-toting toughs lounging in Most Bank's public areas watching cartoons[David Remnick, The New Yorker. 2-20-27, 1995, p. 132]. Gusinsky does seem to need his own "goon" squad, however. In 1994, as he travelled on the freeway into the office, he was attacked by some other commando-types sent by the former head of Yeltsin's "praetorian guard," Korzhakov. Korzhakov's commandos beat up Gusinsky's guards and tried to search the bank. Perhaps they thought Gusinsky had something that they should have, instead. It would be interesting to know what Korzhakov wanted that he thought Gusinsky had.

Mr. Gusinsky is rumored to be linked to the disappearance of Bolshevism's crown jewels, the so-called "Communist Party gold." Another rumor is that his bank has possession of the records of the KGB's Fifth Chief Directorate. This is the branch of the KGB (secret or political police) that controlled dissent in the former USSR and supervised the media. However, in Russia people make up all sorts of false rumors about their political enemies, so who knows the truth. It is true, however, that the former head of the Fifth Chief Directorate, Filipp Bobkov, is associated with the bank and reportedly maintains an "analytical service."

There is evidence that, in the years before the collapse of communism, Communist Party money and, in fact, many of the country's commercial assets were used to set up banks covertly controlled by the Communist Party and KGB. Money was also laundered out of Russia and used to set up private bank accounts and businesses abroad. Some of this money then returned to Russia as western "investments." This way, the important communists had a "golden parachute" when communism crashed and burned. Mr. Gusinsky's Most Bank was probably one of these banks that was set up with covert assistance and money from the KGB and the Communist Party. Dr. J. Michael Waller and Victor Yasman quote KGB Colonel Viktor Kichikhin who served in Bobkov's Fifth Chief Directorate and witnessed the theft of government funds firsthand: "In 1989-1990 most of the Soviet-Western joint venture enterprises were created by [the Fifth directorate of the KGB], except those which were established directly by the Central Committee of the CPSU" http://afpc.org/issues/crimrev.htm

Here is how the former CIA official, Richard L. Palmer, testifying in the U.S. Congress on September 21, 1999, described the central role of the odious and corrupt KGB Deputy Director, Filipp Bobkov, as well as Yeltsin's heir apparent, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and other Communist officials in creating commercial firms and financial establishments [the footnotes are Mr. Palmer's and can be accessed by going to his testimony]:

"In October 1990, several KGB First Directorate (Foreign Intelligence collection ) workers were shifted to work in the Party Central Committee Property Directorate, so that a structure that was capable of coordinating the Party's economic activities could be established. The basis for this new group was an agreement between deputy General Secretary of the Central Committee, Vladimir Ivashko; the Central Committee Treasurer Nikolai Kruchina; KGB chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov; and, KGB deputy director Filipp Bobkov. Bobkov later became the chief of Security for MOST Bank. Also in October of 1990, Bobkov sent a directive to selected overseas KGB residencies stating that they should immediately begin to submit proposals for the creation of covert KGB commercial firms and financial establishments. (This is approximately the time when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin "left" the KGB and began to play a role in helping to loot Russia.) In addition, the KGB office chiefs were to propose trusted "friends" with a clandestine relationship to the KGB who would be able to either found such enterprises on behalf of the KGB or allow KGB officers to enter their firms to oversee the management of funds or low cost raw materials that the KGB would provide. This latter list was to include even consideration of the "illegals" network. KGB and Party money, more precisely oligarchy money, which made up almost 80 % of the amount invested in the new banks, stock exchanges, and businesses in 1990-1991. ^" [pages 11-12 of Mr. Palmer's testimony at http://www.house.gov/banking/92199pal.htm ]

The banker, Mr. Gusinsky, often threatens libel suits against his critics, such as the scholar Dr. Michael Waller, who has written a very interesting three-part article called "Russia's Great Criminal Revolution." It is on Internet. You can go to <www.hotbot.com> , type in Michael Waller and do a name search or type in the title and do a search under the exact phrase. Gusinsky is fabulously rich; he owns newspapers and other media in a company called Media-Most, yet feels the need to sue his critics for slander instead of using his media outlets to defend himself from charges that his bank is a criminal organization http://members.tripod.com/JMichael_Waller/KGB_and_Organized_Crime/mafiya.html . If he responds at all to these allegations it is not with clear information to explain his disturbing relationship with the notorious Bobkov or to elucidate his controversial business activities, but rather with lawsuits, blackmail, countercharges in his media outlets and the false claim that nobody should pay any attention to his critics since they are all communists.

The truth is, some of Gusinsky's closest associates were big-time communists. One notes only that Mr. Gusinsky employed the eminence gris of the KGB--- General Filipp Bobkov---the USSR's chief ideologist, its number two man in the KGB, and a full member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. In Russia, this is like hiring "The Boogeyman"; it raises eyebrows. Some writers suggest that the elderly "security specialist" Bobkov is actually Gusinsky's KGB patron and the real power behind the meteoric rise of Most Bank and the Media-Most empire. Gusinsky has claimed that Bobkov is "only" looking after security for Most Bank, as if this shadowy presence were a glorified bank guard. However, "security" probably means one thing to us and something quite different to the former head of the USSR's political police. Because of the terrible crimes they have committed, such people never feel secure and are always violating everyone else's security.

In one example that has come to light, Gusinsky relied on his "security service" in a blackmail attempt against the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a writer for Obshchaya Gazeta, a paper that Gusinsky contributes money to. On March 6, 1997, Politkovskaya published an article exposing how another banker had accumulated huge cash reserves in order to take advantage of government budget shortages for speculative purposes. Gusinsky called Politkovskaya on the carpet and gave her exactly the same kind of "prophalactic chat" that independent-minded writers were subjected to by the KGB's Fifth Directorate under the communist regime. He threatened to have her fired and, in an obvious blackmail gambit, revealed knowledge of her personal life that his security service had gathered http://www.jamestown.org/pubs/view/com_001_009_001.htm .

Not much is reliably known about Filipp Bobkov; he is a shadowy figure who, like a mafia godfather, always operated behind the scenes, via proxies, and who served the secret police from Stalin's time until he fell from grace in 1991 after orchestrating a clumsy attack that killed Lithuanians defending their television station from KGB commandos. Before their assault on the Lithuanians, the KGB had even written up a press release describing the incident and had passed it to a television news commentator. However, because somebody forgot to take into account a time zone change, the story was aired in Russia before it actually happened, exposing KGB manipulation of cooperative newsmen.

Following this public relations disaster for the KGB, Bobkov reportedly was discredited, lost his KGB position, and hired the Komsomol theater director, Gusinsky. However, Bobkov may still be toiling in obscurity behind the scenes. It is odd that a person who was so high in the KGB is so little-mentioned on the Internet. Quite possibly Bobkov's relative annonymity reflects his continuing backstage manipulation of information, money, KGB stooges, and force.

According to the Russian writer Yevgenia Albats, "during the 1970s and 80s, General Bobkov effectively became the KGB's real chairman, although officially he held the post of first deputy." A former CIA official with long experience in the former Soviet Union also stated to this writer that Bobkov ran the KGB on a day-to-day basis. The fact that the head of the domestic side of the KGB, the Fifth Directorate, would be able to orchestrate international money laundering from the USSR's foreign embassies, would tend to confirm the view that Bobkov, although not formally the head of the KGB, did indeed run the KGB on a day-to-day basis.

Bobkov is a covert political operator, not a financial analyst and certainly not a bank guard. After Communism progressed beyond mass-murder to more subtle methods of control, Filipp Bobkov's Fifth Chief Directorate enforced ideological conformity in the USSR. This branch of the KGB spied on, blackmailed, and persecuted political dissidents, nonconformist writers, scientists, nationalist movements, and religious believers. Religious people, for example, were often punished for teaching children religion in clandestine Sunday schools.

A popular anti-dissident legal charge Bobkov once levelled against the regime's domestic critics was "Anti-Soviet Agitation and Propaganda," or slandering the Soviet Union (ie telling it like it is). These days, Bobkov's "modus operendi" (bringing a libel suit) can still be observed in the young actor-tycoon, Gusinsky, who shamlessly imitates his mentor's political repertoire when he takes his show on the road.

Through his agents in the admissions offices of prestigous universities, Bobkov reportedly also procured acceptances for politically well-connected or promising (from the KGB's point of view) students. He reportedly also excercized broad ideological control over journalists and, often using other cooperative writers as proxies, hounded Russian writers such as the famous Alexander Solzhenitzen, who exposed the horrors of the USSR's concentration camp system.

Mr. Bobkov's Fifth Directorate also worked alongside collaborating psychiatrists to put dissidents in psychiatric hospitals for "sluggish schizophrenia," a mental illness unique to the communist world. Then Bobkov's psychiatrists abused these dissidents by injecting them with powerful psychotropic drugs. This "cure" for "anti-soviet" ideas left some people unable to talk or walk. Of course, official spokesmen would admonish the "gullible" not to pay any attention to these "crazy" people. Some people believed this KGB lie, but many were just intimidated and kept their politically-incorrect thoughts to themselves. These days, Gusinsky has added the same Bolshevik stratagem to his black bag of tricks except that his critics are discredited as "communists" instead of "lunatics".

During the Soviet Era, Bobkov hatched plots against dissidents and manipulated a dense web of informers and collaborators, but lately he has emerged, repackaged on the world wide web, as a "health worker." There is a very ironic article floating around on the web, proportedly written by Bobkov but possibly a brilliant satire. I think that Bobkov actually does get the credit for this devastating self-parody because, like the legendary 007, "Nobody Does It Better." The author, employing the not-very-sincere tone for which he is infamous, complains pathetically that everyone is "picking on" the KGB and, to balance the picture, publicizes the unsung role of KGB medical successes in combatting childhood Polio and Cholera!

Whoa! In his dotage, it has slipped Bobkov's mind that the KGB doctors gave people medicine to cripple their bodies and spirits, not to cure their polio. The author blames not thievery, but Perestroika (the reforms that toppled communism) for the reemergence of contagious diseases, although quite possibly Perestroika precipitated Bobkov's Alzheimer's.

No doubt the appearance of Bobkov's Internet ravings signals that he is going to mount a "defense 'a la Gigante." Vincent "Chin" Gigante, the reputed head of the Genovese crime family, tried to "beat the rap" for his crimes by feigning insanity and wandering through the West Village of New York City in his slippers and bathrobe babbling nonsense to the trees.

"Bobkov" concedes that some KGB policies were wrong, and he is far from defending wild repressions, but suggests vaguely (only partly because the translation is poor) that the responsibility for these injustices lies at a higher level of authority, presumably with the Communist Party. Higher than Bobkov? That's quite an admission! The KGB General seems to have also "forgotten" that, in addition to his "medical" responsibilities as head of the Fifth Directorate, he was a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee. The theme of "Bobkov's" article is that "the KGB isn't all bad and gets no credit for all its really great accomplishments for the Soviet people." However, since Filipp Bobkov---world-class thug, bully, hypocrite, and "financial analyst"---is the putative author, this theme is a really hard sell.

"Bobkov's" defense of the KGB reminds me of a short story by Dostoevsky called, "Bobok, or a Nasty Story." In this parable, a group of dead people in a cemetery are having a conversation. Although they are dead and buried, God is still giving them a bit of time to repent and see the light. However, they don't change. Their concerns and conversation remain petty and mean-spirited until all they can say is, "Bobok...bobok...bobok...bobok....

The site that carries the "Bobok defense" of the KGB describes itself as an international "detective agency" that employs former spies from both the East and West. This site even plays sinister spy music! Can you find the ludicrous article supposedly written by Filipp Bobkov at http://www.globalspy.com/kgbbobkov.html and see the former head of the KGB's Fifth Directorate exercise the freedom of speech he denied others by threatening them, blackmailing them, drugging them, committing them or imprisoning them in the name of national security.

"Bobkov's" defense of the KGB was posted, until recently, without the antidote of any editorial rebuttal. After you read the article, you can click back to the January 1999 issue of this peculiar newsletter (skipping the part about hovering UFOs and dead aliens) and read what Bobkov's incensed critic(s) say(s) about him. When you read "Bobkov's" article, just remember, KGB doctors are better remembered for "curing" critical thinking, not Polio. Because of the policies of the KGB, people were afraid to see a psychiatrist, although most Russian psychiatrists never had anything to do with this contemptable form of political persecution.

Filipp Bobkov's record of medical abuse using narcotics has been long-established by western scholars and by professional associations of psychiatrists. More recently, some sources have even made the sensational claim that Most Bank's Filipp Bobkov is the kingpin of a narcotics trafficking organization. As "proof" of this, witnesses of dubious reliability have come forward and claim to have observed the former First Deputy of the KGB wandering the Arbat in his slippers and robe babbling, "Bobok...bobok...bobok.

Actually, a clandestine group (possibly of disgruntled security officers) called the Feliks Group (named for the first head of the soviet secret police, Feliks Dzerzhinsky and also spelled Dzerzhinskii or Dzerzhinskiy), has documented these narcotics trafficking allegations in some detail. However, these accusers go by pseudonyms and don't come forward in public with their criticisms. They have unattractive nationalist and anti-semitic prejudices. They have threatened to unleash death-squads on their enemies, and they want to discredit all reformers by focusing on corrupt opportunistic "capitalists" like Bobkov. Mr. Bobkov is an unsavory individual with equally unattractive enemies. On the other hand, a Bobkov protege claims that the Feliks Group doesn't really exist and that it is a "provocation" fabricated by former KGB General Korzhakov, who used to be President Yeltsin's bodyguard.

According to the Feliks sources, Mr. Bobkov is involved in both Asian and South American drug trafficking. Of course, if one is a drug trafficker, owning a bank and privatizing a branch of the KGB makes it easy to launder money. Respected western commentators, while critical of the political orientation and some outlandish claims of the Feliks Group, seem to give some credence to the drug trafficking allegations, although I have not read anything from our CIA, FBI or DEA about these very disturbing allegations. Although some security officers have been arrested on narcotics charges, the main source of domestic drug sales and distribution appears to be the military construction battalions. About 40% of the young soldiers in these units have criminal records.

One of the most informative articles I have read on Mr. Gusinsky is called "The Mafia in Uniform" by Dr. Graham Turbiville, an internationally respected writer who works for the U.S. military. In particular, Dr. Turbiville explores Mr. Gusinsky's relationship with a Russian arms trading company and his affiliation with Mr. Bobkov. This site is really tricky to get to. I had to go in to an army site first and get the article from them. I couldn't seem to get the article just by doing an author or title search. Can you find it? It is still on-line, although some of the links are dead.

Another scholar, Dr. Michael Waller, was threatened with an expensive lawsuit in England after he published a June 22, 1994 article on Gusinsky in The Wall Street Journal International. In America is is difficult for powerful public figures to sue ordinary people, but in England it is easier. Russian language students should check out Dr. Michael Waller's interesting website that explains the ties between organized crime and the KGB. It is called "Russia's Great Criminal Revolution." He says that law enforcement and the security agencies are the criminals in Russia. His opinion is that "the fox is guarding the hen house."

When he gave a 1995 speech in Washington D.C. at Georgetown University before a think tank called CERES, Mr. Gusinsky seemed chatty and affible about non-essentials but vague about his past. He claimed that criticism of him comes from the communists and their sympathizers, admonished his audience for their gullibility, and suggested that his critics be ignored. I don't think only communists are critical of Mr. Gusinsky. I would like to know what these critics say, but Mr. Gusinsky controls so many newspapers, lawyers, and "security experts" that I suspect people are afraid to say what they think about him.

In his 1995 book, Comrade Criminal, the American writer, Stephen Handleman, reveals how much Gusinsky is feared in Moscow. Handleman recounts how the Russian journalist, Yuri Shchekochikin, noticed that when tenants of some downtown Moscow buildings asked the municipal authorities for repairs, their requests went unheeded. The writer investigated and found that when a building gets run down it is listed at a lower real estate value and can be sold to developers at an enourmous profit. Shchekochikin published an article based on his investigation of Gusinsky's real estate firm.

The informants Shchekochikin interviewed for his 1992 Literaturnaya Gazeta article acted like they lived under Stalin. Tenants met the reporter in empty offices. They were too scared to give their names or talk on the 'phone. They burned up evidence as soon as they showed it to the journalist. Shchekochikhin concluded, "It is reminiscent of the days when the KGB was all powerful in our society...mafiya structures have come to power on the back of our young democracy, structures which have already divided Moscow into spheres of influence, and have already sold the best parts of the capital...behind the smokescreen of democracy..." (145).

There is a reason that the tenants are so terrified. Many elderly people living in Moscow's city center may have been the victims of unscrupulous real-estate swindles. According to a 1994 report from Moscow, the police identified fourteen people who had been slain for their apartments. Many of the one-thousand unclaimed corpes in Moscow's morgue are thought to be victims of gangsters' privatization schemes.[NOTE: Shchekochikin subsequently testified before the House Banking Committee on September 22, 1999, but his testimony is not posted on the internet yet. One hopes that his testimony will be made public. Shchekochikhin, the deputy editor of Novaya gazeta, wrote on August 30, 1999, that the "largest part" of the laundered billions was "official credits allocated to Russia" and that most of this money ends up in places like Switzerland, Cyprus, and Gibralter (Novaya gazeta, August 30 as reported at http://www.jamestown.org/pubs/view/mon/005/159_002.htm ).]

Leonid Khotin, writing in the January-February 1996 issue of Problems of Post Communism, says that Gusinsky "acquired his entrepreneurial skills in a cooperative that produced and sold small portable garages and, later, cheap jewelry" http://www.nfobase.com/html/zhili_byli.htm.Considering Gusinsky's "employer" relationship with the alleged money launderer and narcotics kingpin, KGB General Filipp Bobkov, there is undoubtedly more to this post-communist fable than Khotin's chronicle.

In his 1995 speech at Georgetown University, "The Great Gusinsky" did his not-very-sincere "Horatio Alger" impersonation http://sfswww.georgetown.edu/sfs/ceres/gusinsky.htm. Mr. Gusinsky claimed that he got his start in construction, building garages, and possibly manufacturing cheap costume jewelry. I have read he had a glassware factory. I have also read that he had a close relationship with Moscow's Mayor Luzhkov and with a government agency that did a lot of importing and exporting for the USSR, the GKES, or Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations. This agency worked closely with the foreign intellience agencies of the former USSR http://www.nfobase.com/html/zhili_byli.htm. Therefore, it is entirely possible that the GKES was one of the "pipelines" for Bobkov and Company's alleged moneylaundering. Indeed, Nikolai Kovalev, the director of the FSB (russia's domestic security agency) admitted in the December 20, 1996 issue of Rossiyskaya gazeta that officials of the MVES (probably the post-soviet successor agency to the GKES) were being investigated by the FSB. Perhaps even more disturbing is Gusinsky's relationship with Russia's main arms exporting company, as reported by Dr. Graham Turbiville.

I would like to know more about Mr. Gusinsky's early business activities. It is interesting that Gusinsky may have had a jewelry business, http://sfswww.georgetown.edu/sfs/ceres/gusinsky.htm just like the reputed gangster Semiyon Mogilevich http://editor@villagevoice.com/issues/9821/friedman.shtml . A number of Russians murdered in the United States also had jewelry businesses. These include Moisy Zusim and Leonid Khazanovich, who were shot in a 1991 robbery at their West Philadelphia jewelry story; Fima Miller who was shot in 1991 inside a Brooklyn jewelry store; Yevgeni Michailov, allegedly involved in jewelry theft and fraud, who was shot in New York in 1991; Alexander Gutman, who was shot in 1994 in his Philadelphia jewelry store; and Vanya Sargsyan, who was shot over a dispute related to colored metals. In Italy, the police arrested a Russian mobster named Roizis and Monya Elson---an associate of Semiyon Mogilevich and reputedly the head of a Russian organized crime ring in Philadelphia and New York---on charges of money laundering and smuggling jewelry in and out of Italy.The Italians subsequently extradited Elson to the United States, where he is being held on racketeering and murder charges. http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/092899russia-inquiry.html In 1993, Elson, his wife, and bodyguard were all shot in front of Elson's Brooklyn home, but survived. It is notable that many of these killings were in Philadelphia, because the FBI is investigating Philadelphia area company started by Mogilevich, Magnex YBM. Mogilevich is being investigated in connection with the Bank of New York money-laundering scandal. There was also a famous case of a jewelry company in San Francisco, Golden Ada, linked to theft of assets from the former USSR.

THE CASE OF THE INTERNET BANKER ALEXANDER KONANYKHINE

The European Union Bank, "the first offshore bank on the Internet," was set up on a tiny island called, Antigua, a vacation destination in the Caribbean with a cruise ship dock and an airport. EUB was an internet bank. It is now out of business and another internet bank has taken its place. The Village Voice and The Washington Post have written about this bank, which during its existence made Internet promises that Antigua's laws make the EUB "a perfect vehicle...for the client who prizes discretion or who wishes to make investments in other countries without his name becoming known." Who do you think that means? The American government is concerned that drug dealers and criminals can just e-mail this cyberbank their ill-gotten gains and launder their dirty money with little chance of being detected law enforcement.

U.S. officials arrested a young Russian banker named Alexandr Konanykhine, who was a power behind EUB, on immigration charges. The Russians want to extradite Konanykhine to Russia for financial crime.According to The Washington Post, there are allegations his EUB was set up as a secret branch of Menatep, a large Russian bank with alleged criminal connections.

Menatep probably has its origins in the technology and computer organizations for young people in the Communist youth organization, the Komsomol. These Komsomol-sponsored computer clubs were called "Youth Scientific Technical Creativity Centers." MENATEP is an acronym for "Center for Inter Industry Scientific and Technical Progress." It is not clear to me if these two organizations are the same or whether MENATEP grew out of the Komsomol club. Oddly, the Komsomol newspaper was in the vanguard promoting the "perestroika" reforms that led to the fall of communism. This seemed strange at the time to me, because I had once read that the KGB chaperoned the Komsomol, the apple of the party's eye, to keep the young people ideologically pure. Of course, in retrospect, it seems that neither the KGB nor the young communists were too pure ideologically. It turns out that many of today's wealthy young Russians used to be in these Komsomol organizations. There are complaints that they got rich because of their connections to older communists with access to communist money, precious metals and gems, oil and so on.

Konanykhine is a computer wizzard and his websites pop up everywhere. He presents himself as the victim of persecution by a corrupt KGB and mafia. He says that the American FBI is being duped by Russian investigators who are really criminals. He sounds pretty convincing and much of what he says is true, but I myself don't believe that he is an honest businessman. Check him out and see what you think (if you can spell his name!). Jennifer Gould suggests in her 1997 Village Voice article, "Gangster Bankers," that Konanykhine has become an informant for the FBI. If so, it must be hard for the FBI to sort out the fact from the fiction. The Washington Post article is called "Russian Crime Finds Haven in Caribbean" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/drugs/oct/caribbi.htm

Mr. Konanykhine complains that he, an honest businessman, will be thrown in prison and murdered if he is returned by U.S. authorities to face criminal charges in Russia. He complains that Russian investigators pursuing his case are discredited because they have been jailed for corruption. I notice one inconsistency here. He claims that if he were jailed he would be innocent, yet he claims that the Russian investigator on his case is a "proven" criminal----because he is in jail!

Mr. Konanykhine claims that some scary guys tried to shake him down and kidnap him but that he escaped and fled to the USA where he was arrested on an immigration charge. One possibility is that Mr. Konanykhine may have ripped off some more powerful gangsters and they are really mad. On the other hand, Mr. Konanykhine complains that he was the victim of an attempted kidnapping. If this incident were really a mafia kidnapping, probably it would have been successful. My own imaginative theory, and it is just hopeful speculation, is that someone on our side gave him a little scare and he ran right into a trap when he fled to America. If so, way cool move, guys! Anyway, his EUB website is not responding, so that's some progress.

Here is how a former KGB analyst, Yuri Shvets, begins his testimony about the young Komsomol activist and Russian banker, Aleksandre Konanykhine, before the U.S. House of Representatives Banking Committee :

Starting from 1988, the KGB intelligence service focused primarily on following domestic developments in the Soviet Union. Also, it was "preparing" for future market reforms in the country. Number one priority of any KGB officer was to work on establishing new businesses or penetrating existing businesses, including the banks. I was a senior analyst, and my responsibility included analyzing the information provided by the field officers and composing reports to the top leadership of the country.

In this report I would like to focus specifically on just one KGB business operation. I believe it will by example give the distinguished members of this committee a better understanding of how Russia has been looted. This issue is widely discussed today, but the loot in Russia started before the Soviet Union collapsed.

In September 1990, KGB active duty officer Major Chukhlantsev together with a young free-wheeler Alexander Konanykhine established a private company named Rosinformbank. Prior to that, 24-year-old Konanykhine had been involved in an unremarkable construction cooperative. He did not graduate any college, was energetic and apparently liked publicity. According to the KGB standards, he was a good candidate for a role of a KGB front [Full testimony at http://www.house.gov/banking/92199shv.htm].

NOTE: Links about Kremlin banking scandals and moneylaundering will soon be posted here:

http://www.newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/in/in0213_1.htm

CATHERINE P. HENRY'S CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS ISSUE #2 JANUARY 25, 1999

THE FOLLOWING SITE HAS AN EXTENSIVE LIST OF SEARCH ENGINES THAT WILL HELP YOU WITH RESEARCH PROJECTS <http://tristate.pgh.net/~pinch13/framesearch.htm>.

POPULAR SEARCH ENGINES INCLUDE: <www.altavista.com> , <www.northernlight.com> (some selections on this site cost money, but many are free), <www.hotbot.com>, <www.mamma.com>.

"TO GIVE, OR NOT TO GIVE, THAT IS THE QUESTION"

Do the American people want to send aid money to Russia? Does this aid serve our national interests? Do ordinary Russian people appreciate and benefit from our aid? Or, is our aid money actually fueling anti-American feeling in Russia?

The focus of this project will be to use free Internet sources to follow the debate about whether or not the United States should continue to send Russia money to safeguard the security of Russian weapons of mass destruction, to feed the Russian people, to develop democratic institutions, and to develop a market economy.

Since the fall of communism, Russia has been having "the mother of all garage sales." Everything is up for grabs, and that includes weapons. The American government has responded with programs intended to help stop the export of these arms to so-called "rogue states" and terrorist organizations. Increasingly, however, there are complaints voiced in the press that the aid money is being stolen by a corrupt and powerful few and wasted or, worse, that it is enriching corrupt and anti-democratic forces in the former USSR and thus making ordinary people in Russia increasingly anti-American. After all, for the Russian people, misspent aid money can actually be a burden. It can cause the value of the currency to plummet. Also, if the money is a loan, citizen's taxes have to be used to pay it back even though they haven't had the benefit of the investment. Students will be expected to develop, read, and present sources that critique or support various positions on this issue.      

The main source that I use for Russian Studies research is Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: http://www.rferl.org. They also have a site that lists many sites, including several with financial information <http://www.rferl.org/links/index.html>. In a recent issue, the Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, defended the government's policy and averred that the money is well-spent and promotes our national security. Find the RFE/RL account of Secretary Albright explaining her position on providing assistance for export controls: "We provide material or technical assistance to more than two dozen countries to enhance the effectiveness of their export controls. We also share information. These efforts, although rarely publicized, have prevented numerous transactions that would have threatened our allies or friends or ourselves." Scan through and read some of the articles in the index at the following site which lists articles on financial problems: http://search.rferl.org/nca/special/ruchaos98/index1998.html.

Can you find a position opposed to aid to Russia at this site? Can you find any articles that dispassionately weigh the pros and cons of aid to Russia?

President Clinton recently commented publically that he expects some terrorist group to attempt some kind of strike in the next few years against America. The terrorists may get their weapons from Russian sources of supply. Find a news account of the President's remarks, perhaps in the Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com.

Several scholars such as the political scientist and Russian expert ,Dr. Peter Reddaway, of George Washington University, <http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/jp/Russia/archive/Reddaway.txt> and Dr. Michael Waller, of the American Foreign Policy Council, <http://www.afpc.org/index.htm> have expressed concerns about what is happening to all the money the West is sending to Russia. Find articles by these two writers expressing their concerns about how the IMF (International Monetary Fund) money or money from other sources is being spent. Look up <http://afpc.org/rrm/rrm484.htm> Besides waste, what other damage do they think is being done to American, and perhaps also to Russian, interests? What policies do they propose instead?

Find the site of the IMF <http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm>. What do they say about the money they are sending to Russia? Is the money a gift or a loan? What do they have to say about the problem of corruption? How are they responding to their critics? How are they trying to minimize the problem of corruption?

Look up a private or government site that reports on the security of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. What are their concerns? What are they doing to mitigate the dangers of weapons of mass destruction in the former USSR? How do they rank the relative dangers of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction? Who is paying for their work? A recent article in a Russian paper claimed that potatoes are guarded better than nuclear weapons. Can you do an Internet search and come up with the title of that article?

Often, policymakers are between the proverbial "rock and a hard place." They have to select between alternatives that are not exclusively "good" or "bad." Sometimes they have to choose between the lesser of two evils, and it is not easy to know what is the lesser evil. Probably American government largesse is motivated more by fears than by charity. That is, if the Russians didn't have all those weapons, they wouldn't be getting all that money and our government wouldn't be turning a "blind eye" to all the corruption. Some critics of aid may be suspicious that the money actually allows more weapons to be manufactured. Others may believe that the weapons issue is being overstated so that some people, either in the West or in Russia, can get rich solving the problem. What are some of the fears and suspicions that animate the debate about American aid to Russia?

NOTE: For a recent story about the misappropriation of IMF funds by the Kremlin see http://www.newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/in/in0213_1.htm

THE CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS

ISSUE # 3

FEBRUARY 21, 1999

Commentary:

The article, below, "Forced Labor in the Czech Glass, Bead and Jewelry Industry," was originally published in the Bead Study Trust Newsletter (#26, Winter 1995). I wish to thank Mrs. Marjorie Hutchinson, the secretary of The Bead Study Trust, for her kind permission to reprint my article on my site. Inquiries to The Bead Study Trust may be addressed to Mrs. M. E. Hutchinson, 29 Elliscombe Road, LONDON SE7 7PF, UK. The web site of the Bead Study Trust is http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/close/zv75/.

Another article I have written about the bead business and its links to illegal activities can be found at http://nfobase.com/html/body_zhili_byli.htm Also, an article about the banking, real-estate, and media-mogul, Vladimir Gusinsky, who reportedly began his career by leasing a glassworks and also by making cheap costume jewelry, can be found on my site http://www.erols.com/crascal/ at The Chronicle of Current Events #1.

In late 1998, the banking and media-mogul's company, MEDIA-MOST, launched a communications satellite http://www.afpc.org/rrm/rrm569.htm. If the reported CIA allegations that Gusinsky is tied to Russian organized crime are true (see http://afpc.org/rrm/970210.htm and http://www.uexpress.com/ups/opinion/column/gg/text/1997/02/gg970204.html), then why is an American company selling him a satellite, and why is Cape Canaveral helping him launch it? I would like to hear the American Government explain why this is allowed to happen. There are also allegations that Gusinsky's "security expert," former First Deputy of the KGB, General Filipp Bobkov, is part of a narcotics trafficking organization (see http://www.amber.ucsf.edu/~ross/russia_/felix.txt, http://afpc.org/issues/crimrev.htm, and my Chronicle #1). Should such controversial "bankers" and their KGB patrons http://call.army.mil/call/fmso/fmsopubs/issues/mafia.htm really be allowed to launch communications satellites? Might not the satellites be used to move money electronically? How can anyone accept the fiction that such a creature "pulled himself up by his bootstraps" making glassware, costume jewelry and portable garages, as has been reported? "The Great" Gusinsky might be better characterized as an evil genius, a "Professor Moriarity" with a laptop...and now with his own satellite.

FORCED LABOR IN THE CZECH GLASS, BEAD AND JEWELRY INDUSTRY

BY CATHERINE P. HENRY

"The Czechoslovak penal system...serves mainly as a source of cheap labor, especially for enterprises manufacturing glass jewelry...", Charter 77, 1987, Document #48

During the communist era in Czechoslovakia, the bead business had a dark side most jewelry importers are probably still unaware of. The Czechs had a tradition of being notoriously closed-mouthed about where and how their glass products were made. Most people assumed that this was to protect industrial secrets, but the real reason for this may be more complex and needs to be examined.

For hundreds of years, the center of the glass bead industry in Bohemia was a town called Gablonz. The Gablonz glass and metal costume jewelry business was mostly run by ethnic (Sudeten) Germans. The people of Gablonz exported attractively-made, inexpensive costume jewelry throughout the world. Sample-men travelled the world to gather information on the styles of beads in vogue in places as remote as Tibet, Africa, and Japan. Gablonz craftsmen imitated traditional beads found around the world, and their imitations were even cheaper in foreign lands than locally-made beads. The town was so successful that a Lloyd's steamship, christened "Gablonz," began transporting bangles from Trieste to Bombay in 1913. Nazi occupation brought an end to this successful era. Nazi 'experts' characterized the Gablonz projuction as a trinket industry and many factories were converted to military production (Jargstorf 1993: 4-15).**

In 1945-46, the Czech administration expelled the Sudeten Germans and the town was renamed Jablonec nad Nisou. Initially, the new communist government that took power in 1948 had no use for a costume jewelry industry. However, after Stalin's death, it was revived and a state monopoly was created, called 'Jablonex,' based in Jablonec nad Nisou, to export all costume jewelry and beads.

According to testimony by Joseph Frolik (1975) in the U.S. Senate, Jablonex and several other foreign trade enterprises provided commercial cover for agents and officers of the communist intelligence services. [Frolik was a veteran of 17 years in the Soviet-controlled Czech intelligence service who defected after the 1968 Prague Spring.] These foreign trade companies operated all over the world and combined their legitimate activities with the illicit transfer of embargoed military technology to the communist bloc.

After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, Slavomir Stracar, the Czech Minister of Foreign Trade, promised to purge intelligence officers from his ministry and from several foreign trade enterprises that did double-duty as trading companies and outposts for State Security. However, Stracar died suddenly at the age of 55 during an official visit to Brazil. Some newspapers, such as Lidove Noviny (Sept. 10, 1990), hinted at the possibility of foul play, and the former Charter 77 activist, Stanislav Devaty, called for an investigation into Stracar's death (Oberman 1990: 17). [Devaty is presently the head of his country's counter-espionage agency, the Security and Information Service, or BIS.]

In 1979, the internationally-recognized bead expert and museum consultant, Peter Francis Jr., published a monograph (Francis 1979) on the history of beadmaking in Czechoslovakia and Jablonec. This material was interesting and informative except for the fact that the author was evidently unaware of, or deemed irrelevant, the disturbing allegations about Jablonex's collaboration with the communist intelligence apparatus. The author did, however, include a colorful tale about two 18th-century Bohemian glassmakers who tried (and failed) to steal the secrets of glassmaking from Murano, the glassmaking island in the lagoon of Venice (ibid. 19). In this book, Francis commented: "Ironically, no glass beads are today being produced in the town of Jablonec itself. The glass factories there concentrate on imitation diamonds, and glass beads are made elsewhere in the district" (my emphasis), (ibid. 14). One would think that the chronicler of the Czech bead story, who was accustomed to sift through prehistoric archaeological evidence and had tracked Bohemian bead-spies through Venetian lagoons, might have turned over a few rocks in his quest to uncover clues about the sources of Czech beads during the 1970s.

In 1988, a London bead store owner, Stefany Tomalin, learned that one factory was located in Valdice Prison. Tomalin told The London Observer that a former Czech political prisoner, Jaroslav Javorsky, had visited her shop and recognized the beads he made in Valdice Prison, near Jablonec. Javorsky said that "one man was expected to produce around ten thousand beads per day." Tomalin (1988: 18) subsequently included her account of this visit in her popular book Beads!

On August 14, 1988, the Observer reported that Valdice, a former Carthusian monastery which Czech President Havel has characterized as the "Czech Sing-Sing," housed 2800 prisoners, including political prisoners. Those who made beads were expected to produce 30-40 kg a day (Sweeny 1988:24). Prisoners manufactured beads and assembled imitation jewelry, necklaces, chandeliers and rosaries. The Observer article and a follow-up in the Autumn issue of East European Review revealed that although not all glassware was prison-made, the scale of the jail-factory operation was "not small," that prisoners were worked "ferociously hard," and that prisoners faced "violence from other inmates if tough production targets were not met" (ibid.). Charter 77 activists Peter Uhl and Jiri Gruntorad (1988:16) observed sarcastically that "graduates of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University may learn how to make settings for gemstones; then for several years they do monotonous work assembling imitation jewellery." [After the 'Velvet Revolution' in 1989, Peter Uhl served briefly as the General Director of the Czechoslovak News Agency, or CTK.]

The prisoners had no doubts that the beads, jewelry and chandeliers were made for export. Jiri Gruntorad, sentenced for publishing subversive literature, told the Observer, "They told us to make it of the highest quality and on many of the necklaces the price tags were written in dollars" (Sweeny 1988: 24).The foreign trade company, Jablonex, would have been the exclusive exporter of all of this prison jewelry. A defensive rebuttal in the October 15, 1988 issue of Rude Pravo admitted that some prisoners were "dissidents" who "live in locked bedrooms and do not work outside the institution" (Krtica 1988: 1, 8-9). In fact, prisoners were not "locked in their bedrooms" like wayward teenagers, but packed like sardines into the monastic cells once reserved for monks of the contemplative Carthusian order.

In 1990, Janet Coles and Robert Budwig (1990:14) suggested that beads were manufactured, albiet slowly, in Jablonec factories: "Today in Jablonec, the bead center of Czechoslovakia, the export of beads is severely rationed, despite high demand, because in a typical factory there are only 80 skilled workers capable of producing 240 pieces every day." Although Valdice reportedly remains a prison, this testimony about a bead shortage strongly suggests that the inventory produced by the prison system declined or ceased altogether in late 1989 when both ordinary and political prisoners were released. Also interesting is Cole's and Budwig's assertion that the "typical factory" in Jablonec has 80 workers. Actually, the "typical factory" in a communist country was extremely large and produced most, if not all, of a particular product in that country. The operation at Valdice would be "most typical" of a communist factory. Even if Jablonec did have bead factories, typical or otherwise, the town would have needed a lot of factories to overtake the production and assembly schedule of the 2800 men at Valdice in 1988.

In 1991, Peter Francis (1991) summarized the Observer article in his newsletter under the heading "Beads Made in Czech Prison?" and observed that it "shook many in the bead world." He then cited an anonymous American importer of Czech beads and an anonymous but "well-placed" Czech to the effect that a "rather tiny percentage" of the total number of glass beads were made by prison labor and that "only one prison in the region is involved" (ibid. 9). Both sources claimed that Jablonex was "not (officially) aware of the practice, and does not knowingly export beads from this source. The beads are slipped into lots coming from other producers, and thus entered the market surreptitiously." Francis concluded, Where does the truth of all this lie? The new openness of Czech society should furnish us an answer in the near future" (ibid.).

In fact, the truth about the use of convict labor in the jewelry industry had emerged prior to the new openness and contradicts the testimony of Francis's confidential sources, who seem bent on minimizing both the extent of forced labor in the jewelry industry and the embarrassing revelations about the export company, Jablonex. Francis's anonymous sources might be discredited, but would probably not be endangered, by exposure. At least as early as March 1, 1976, a publically disseminated appeal signed by relatives and addressed to the authorities on behalf of political prisoners noted that the prisoners make glass pearls and artificial flowers, articles that Jablonex exports (Muller 1979: 40). This information was available, in English, by 1979, in Muller's Since the Prague Spring, and more on-the-record testimony followed.

In 1983, a recently released prisoner reported that the dissident Czech Jesuit, Fr. Frantisek Lizna, was assigned to work cutting glass for the Preciosa jewelry company in the prison at Plzen-Bory (Keston College 1973: 5). In 1987, a 160-page document on Czechoslovakian prisons, compiled by the human rights organization Charter 77 and signed by its leadership, stated unequivocally that "the Czechoslovak penal system serves mainly as a source of cheap labor, especially for enterprises manufacturing glass jewellery" and that those who derive a financial benefit from the prisoners' forced labor are a danger to the moral fabric of society, "because the public must not be told what is going on behind prison walls and consequently cannot control what happens ostensibly in its name" (Radio Free Europe Sept. 11, 1987 p. 33). This Charter 77 Document #48 was used as a primary source for the 1989 Helsinki Watch report, Prison Conditions in Czechoslovakia. Portions of Document #48 are translated in the appendix of that report. One section of the document was contributed and signed by Vaclav Havel, who is noe the President of the Czech Republic. The Charter 77 Document #48, which was published in 1990 in full and in Czech by Uhl and Gruntorad, should have been studied and publicized by U.S. Customs and by independent experts, such as Francis, on the history of the glass bead and jewelry industry in Czechoslovakia.

After the 1989 revolution and in response to the initial Helsinki Report, the Czech and Slovak governments invited Helsinki Watch to inspect prisons during July, 1990. This report concluded that "although many problems remain...most of the worst evils are gone...[and] prison administrators...seem genuinely committed to creating and maintaining a humane prison system" (Helsinki Watch, 1991, iv).

The grim conditions in Valdice were also addressed by two American physicians in an October 15, 1988 letter to The New York Times (Lawrence and Kirschner 1988: 31). They visited the political prisoner, Jiri Wolf, in Valdice. Wolf was first arrested in 1978 for participating in a dissident group, "The Committee Against the Dictatorship." After his release, Wolf began to work with Charter 77 and founded a journal on prison conditions, trade unionism, and human rights. He was rearrested and sentenced to six more years in Valdice (ibid.). Wolf described the now-closed Minkovice Prison and its glassworks in Document #48, and a translation appears in the 1989 Helsinki Report. In his autobiography, Wolf writes that during his imprisonment in Minkovice Prison (April 1980-January 1981) he "cut and polished small pieces for chandeliers" in a glass factory inside the prison. If his group did not meet their quota, they were beaten by a 'boss prisoner' (Wolf and Rawlings 1994: 53). When he was transferred to Valdice Prison in January, 1981, Wolf operated the presses and drills to make Christmas ornaments. Then he as "shifted to a section which fashioned over 200 types of glass and plastic jewelry. Almost all of these items were exported to America and Western Europe" (ibid. 81). For three years Wolf made glass necklaces; his quota was 48 necklaces a day.

According to Petr Cibulka, at Plzen Bory, "management were stealing products from each shift" so that one time "production fell literally overnight by 20 percent!" (Helsinki Watch 1989: 63). In any case, Cole and Budwig report that bead exports were severely rationed in 1990, so it seems that only a few beads were exported at this time, although it is probable that the bead shortage can be explained more by the massive release of prisoners that followed the 1989 'Velvet Revolution' than by the high demand for Czech beads. Whatever the explanation, it is probable, based on what Charter 77 uncovered, that glass and jewelry products were routinely, if not exclusively, made in prison factories.

Strangely, despite the evidence, the U.S. Customs Service never banned Jablonex products in the U.S., although American law forbids the import or sale of items manufactured in foreign prisons. Rather, Jablonex officials maintained an office in New York City and cultivated contacts with bead experts in the U.S. Hopefully, responsible Czech business people, government officials or reporters will provide a fuller account about the activities of Jablonex in the near future. Perhaps the Museum of Glass and Costume Jewelry in Jablonec could devote a section in its building to documenting the truth about the 'Czech bead story.'

References

- Coles, J. and R. Budwig. 1990. The Book of Beads. New York: Simon and Schuster.

- Francis, P. 1979. The Czech Bead Story. Lake Placid, New York:Cornerless Cube.

-----------1991. "Beads Made in Czech Prison?" The Margaretologist 4 (1): 8-9.

- Frolik, J. 1975. "Prepared statement of Joseph Frolik." Communist Bloc Intelligence Activities in the United States. Hearing before the Subcommittee to investigate the administration of the Internal Security Act and other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 94th Congress, First Session, November 18, GPO# 63-061-0.

- Helsinki Watch. 1989. Prison Conditions in Czechoslovakia. New York: Human Rights Watch.

-----------------1991. Prison Conditions in Czechoslovakia. New York, Human Rights Watch.

- Jargstorf, S. 1993. Baubles, Buttons and Beads: the Heritage of Bohemia. Atglen, PA:Schiffer Publishing Ltd.

- Keston College. 1983. "Fr. Lizna's Prison Conditions." Keston News Service. Issue No. 173, May 5:5.

- Krtica, K. 1988a. "A Report From the World Behind Bars." Rude Pravo. Oct. 15, pp. 1, 8-9. (For an English translation see FBIS-EEU. Oct. 24, 1988: 11-12).

- Lawrence, R.S., and R. H. Kirschner. 1988. "In Czechoslovakia, a rare visit with a political prisoner." New York Times. Oct. 15, p. 31. [Author's note: interestingly, this article and Krtica's, above, ran on the same day, Oct. 15, 1988.]

- Muller, V. 1979. "An appeal by relatives of political prisoners." Since the Prague Spring. Hans-Peter Reise (ed.). New York: Random House, pp. 41-44.

- Obrman, J. 1990. "Arms Trading Continues." Report on Eastern Europe Vol. 1 (23) (Oct. 26): 15-17.

- Radio Free Europe. 1987. "Charter 77 Document on Conditions in Prisons." Radio Free Europe Research Vol. 12 (36), Part 2 of 2 Parts (Sept. 11): 31-33.

- Sweeny, J. 1988. "Scandal of Slave Labour in Prison's Glassworks." Observer. Aug. 14, p. 24.

- Tomalin, S. 1988. Beads! NY: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

- Uhl, P. and J. Gruntorad. 1988. "A Day in the Life of Valdice Prison." East European Reporter 3 (3): 16-17.

------------------1990. O Ceskoslovensken Vezenstvi. Prague: Orbis.

- Wolf, J. and S. Rawlings. 1994. Good Soldier Wolf. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

**[BSTN Editor's note] See Neuwirth, W. 1994. Beads from Gablonz, noted in the Bibliography of this issue (BSTN 26, Winter 1995) and also in the review of Sibylle Jargstorf's 1993 book, Baubles, Buttons and Beads: the Heritage of Bohemia, by A. von Kahler Gumpert in Beads, Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers for 1993 vol. 5: 65-6, in which the review notes that, "It would have been interesting to learn about the industry under more than three decades of Communist rule during which the production continued, shrouded in secrecy."