I've been thinking about politics rather too much recently and i do have moments when i want to get out. But...i still have a lot to say and, more importantly apply myself in a practical way. And Nord Ost, especially the people, is not something you take up when you feel like it. It's for life.

Chechenskoe Obshestvo

I was at the Frontline last nigth for Q and A session with Timur Aliev chief editor of the most liberal publication in Chechnya Chechen Society. I asked him a question which he kindly answered, and when it was all done came up to him. I said 'thank you' and he goes 'Thank you, for the play'. 'You know me?' He said 'Of course, you were on the front page of our paper'. A lovely man, very smart and brave. Answering my question one of the very interesting things he said was that young people in Chechnya actually genuinely look up to Ramzan Kadyrov and the claims by the rebels that young Chechens are joining their side in their hundreds is not true.

load of bull

As long as people believe that ‘FSB blowing up Russia’ is banned in Russia when in reality it’s on sale in every book store, and Novaya Gazeta is somehow seized before it arrives on news stands when in fact it’s widely available, the rift between Russia and the West will grow.

Anna’s last book published only in Russian just went on sale in Russia and is already sold out.

In view of the recent US-Russia related events and the forthcoming showdown at the G8 i suggest everyone watches Dr.Strangelove just to reenforce for themselves how pathetic this whole arms race idea is. I saw it again a couple of days ago as i am writing my own political farse.

shame really

Я не правозащитник, и не левозащитник. Я не вижу ничего за что стоит бороться всеми возможными силами. Перестала видеть.

if you weren't gone...

I'm sure if Anna was alive she'd write about this new Malik/Ramzan alliance. But she can't because they killed her. There is every reason to think Malik was involved, for the same reasons he was involved in Nord Ost. And Ramzan, he didn't help plot it but very much gave his approval once it happened. As one of those people told me 'she is where she should be'.

case closed...

It looks like Nord Ost case is going to be closed. This means it's pretty much over. This made big news in Russia. The reason given is very strange. The case is going to be closed because the terrorists are dead or in hiding, It is stated officially! that there were 52 hostage takers and 40 of them were killed. This is the first time they admit that a number of them escaped. They just want the case closed. I spoke to Tatayna, the president of non-government organisation Nord Ost, and they will appeal and she remains positive. But i feel this is it. It's sad, as their lives will now be just sorrow and there will be no more purpose, no mission. Just feeling of grief and injustice.

...

Today's Lugovoi claim that Livinenko and Berezovsky are MI6 spies and British secret services were involved in the murder is an interesting twist. It is very possible that BB was involved with MI6 one way or another but i don't think they were behind the murder. It might be that they now know who was behind it but can't uncover.
Anything goes in the dark world of politics. I hate it.

malik

Malik Saidulaev was in Chechnya having a nice friendly meeting with Ramzan. He is planning to come back to Chechnya, open an office and invest a portion of his billions into his beloved motherland. He holds no grudges, how nice. How quickly sworn enemies become friends in politics. I'm sure he wll soon be offered an official post in the government in return for large financial investments, but not into the economy naturally, but private accounts of Ramzan and a number of Russian officials. I remeber the old days when he spent hours telling me about how he will rebuild Chechnya and i thought back then he was sincere, but since the he decided to play by the different rules.

...

A well established English journalist i met at this event in the Forest Hill on Saturday said to me that he feels that, if not Berezovsky but any other man from another country would have made the statements he made, about planning a revolution in Russia (mentioning blood on the streets as something unavoidable), this man would be under house arrest. I was happy to hear that from an English journalist for the first time witout my prompting it. He aslo mentioned a coulple of people (whose names i will not disclose) who worked with Berezovsky and Zakayev and the rest of the gang as interpretors and are convinced he, BB, killed Litvinenko.

I was at Hyderabad meeting/celebrations yesterday. There are 200 million Muslims in India. Still a minority in India but that's more than in any country in the world, including Pakistan. There were prayers and speeches some of prety radical nature. The boss of this association looked like a regular gangster with his gold tie and gold watch and those mannerism; it apeared like he was on the Sopranos set and got lost.
Very interesting all in all.

BBC4 'The name of the British soldied killed in Afghanistan has been revealed....' We've gotten too used to hearing this line.

...

You can't change the world, only your attitude towards it. Is it true? I hate to think that. It hurts me when i hear from my Nord Ost guys that after Strasbourg they will give up. Is the world so corrupted and our minds so twisted that it's beyond repair?

lugovoi

So, Britain is charging Andrei Lugovoi with Litvinenko's murder. Everyone is talking about relationship between the countries deteriorating further. I was on the radio this morning and said again that i don't think it's Kremlin or FSB. I saw interview with Lugovoi and he says he's innocent. Most importantly he said that the murderers are in London not Moscow. He said that the only thing ghe regrets is getting close to Litvinenko and that whole group, it' sclear who he means. He said that now he realises that what happened to him and Litvinenko, the planning of it started a long time ago. Those strange calls, meetings, business offers, he said. I was framed and my and my family's lives were put in danger, he added. I believe him. I have my rather specific theory to which i'll come back.

wrong way

So, Kasparov wasn't allowed to board the plane to Samara anf therefore couldn't attent the Other Russia march. This created a perfect opportunity for another bit of Anti-Kremlin PR. Putin and those around him are not so stupid as to hand these guys more and more chances to be trashed. I think Kasparov lost his away and i'm seing Berzovsky symptoms, sadly. He knows how to use or create a situation that would benefit him. It's no longer about people but about his own struggle for power with people, like my Nord Ost guys, getting used along the way. Still some people with shaved heads and swastika manages to march down lovely Samara streets so that's......good...

question

It is always interesting talking to Yosri, the man picked by Bin Laden to interview Al Qaeda leaders after 9/11. He said that he is surprised he is so controversial when he is simple doing his job. But he is doing what nobody else dares to do. He constantly puts himself in great danger.
I started a conversation about why Arabic culture is totally ignored in western shcools. If kids in America and England studied at least a little bit of Arabic literature, when they grow and become full memebrs of society, their understanding of the east and their attitude would have been completely different.

crisis

It was easy when i had something i believed in. Now that the political forces here in London have, in my opinion, completely disgraced themselves and the opposition in Russia is a joke, there is no one to stand with, exhibiting a determend look and ready for a fight. It is a crisis of beliefs and ideals for me.

post Nat Geo

It was one hell of a trip to Moscow. Continuation of the spy drama. Our attempt to get interviews from command center guys wasn't very successful. Still too raw, still under great secrecy, an ongoing investigation and the current frosty relationship with England didn't help at all. This is post Litvinenko reality and reality of terrorism and secret services, the same everywhere. The shoot was great. Fab Basayev.

National Geographic

So, i'm consulting on a National Geographic C. documentary on Nord Ost. I was called a
'guru' in this subject, which i'm not. The film will go by minute by minute through the events of those 57 hours. It's non-political and will not touch on any of the conspiracy theories. Very 'black and white'. Which i now begin to prefer. It is such a complex story with so many questions. Just when you feel you got it....

Three tough months on...

Haven't written here in ages. Too much happened. My mind was in chaos and my emotions - scattered. I'm just now starting to pull it all together. A pic of from that other age. I thought i was jaded. Little did i know what was to come.