ARTICLE CRITIQUE
Response to Wall Street Journal "Khodorkovsky
Trial Will Offer Window on Kremlin" by Gregory White and Andrew Osborne, March 3, 2009
The
Wall
Street Journal’s article by Gregory L. White and Andrew Osborn takes a
one-sided look at the trial of Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. That the charges may be at least in
part valid is entirely ignored.
The article assumes Khodorkovsky is entirely innocent. It casts the
trial as one in which, if Khodorkovsky is found guilty, then Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev’s intention to establish the rule of law in Russia by
strengthening the courts and fighting corruption, will be unmasked as a ruse.
From this writer’s point of view, it is indeed unfair and a sign of the lack of
rule of law in Russia that only a few selected oligarchs were arrested or
otherwise held accountable by the state. It is also one-sided to ignore the
obvious fact that all of Russia’s major oligarchs became rich in the 1990s
through ill-gotten acquisitions.
To access the full analysis, please click here Download WSJ_WhiteandOsborn_3_Mar_09
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