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Title: Godfather of the Kremlin: the Life and Times of Boris Berezovsky by Paul Klebnikov ISBN: 0151006210 Publisher: Harcourt Paperbacks Pub. Date: 01 September, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.76
Rating: 4
Summary: A good read about capital flight.......
Comment: What is capital flight? According to the author, a man named Boris Berezovsky was quite the expert at this. Take over a Russian company with government funds, kill anyone who gets in the way, and take over its assets by funnelling them out of the country, or filling filthy Chechen rebels' pockets with ransom money thus stripping the country of its vital tax assets to pay for social programs, pensions and wages.
What isn't good about this book has been the reviews. Some are calling it bunk because Berezovsky is in Spain now, or the author wrote the book at the time he was involved in a lawsuit with the man, but they don't get specific enough about why this discredits the book. To dismiss Berezovsky as not being capable of the fiscal atrocities he has caused Russia is to dismiss Stalin, Hitler and Napoleon as well. Of course the former didn't commit his acts alone(the book is clear about this) and neither did the latter.
Insofar as to the credibility of this manuscript, Harcourt and Amazon.com both have some apologizing to do for selling what could be a complete joke or they don't have to do anything at all because what Klebnikov wrote is indeed factual.
What do I believe? I truly believe this book confirms that Boris Yeltsin screwed the Russian people out of millions of their own rubles and did so because he allowed a kniving little Russian business mogul and thief named Boris Berezovsky to do so. This book explains this relationship very well. I would also like to request that any negative review of this book be accompanied by similarly massive appendices and footnotes to the contrary that Klebnikov afforded his readers to clarify his findings.
Rating: 1
Summary: This is a cheap tabloid-style pamflet, not a serious study
Comment: I read this book, initially with some interest, but its style would put everyone off who is interested in exploring the real recent events in post-communist Russia. Any serious researcher would first present the facts, then analyse them and use this analysis to draw conclusions. Paul Klebnikov however chooses a diferent path: present his views on Berezovski, on businesmen and politicians, on Russian reforms, and then use facts (or information about the facts drawn from various sources) to illustrate his views. Clearly this way every event is interpreted in the way that proves author's point of view, but the reader may not be so convinced...
Most reviewers try to judge this book by whether the description of facts in the book is true or false. This is an interesting question, but a pointless one, since, first, we have no way of knowing, and secondly, because out of thousands of events some are bound to be described accurately while others ought to be false.
Rather, we should judge this book by what we can draw from the text itself.
This book has to be read (if at all) in the context of the political struggle in Russia, in which it is common (as elsewhere) for one political or business group to use various publications in their fight against other groups. This book is clearly written to smear Berezovsky, other business figures as well as reformist Russian politicians. It is also easy to understand who could be the sponsor of such a book. Most characters in the book are described as looters, crooks, and liers, so it looks strange that there are some figures whose every word is presented as ultimate truth. Most of these figures are associated with the disgraced old Soviet regime, and specifically with Criminal Police or the KGB. The book says that the Criminal Police, the Militia was unable to fight crime effectively because it was poorly equipped, lacked resources and was obstructed by high officials. No word that this institution was corrupt from top to bottom even before Perestroyka (to the point that the deputy head of the interior ministry and Leonid Brezhnev's son-in law was jailed by Yuri Andropov - a rare event in Soviet history). Recent arrests of top police officers in Moscow show to everyone that this institution has become even more corrupt in recent years, so its 'sources' lacks any credibility.
Other information in the book is based on the interviews with "sources" from Soviet notorious secret police, the KGB and its successor, FSB. All people associated with this legendary organisation are described in positive terms. One of its generals, head of Boris Yeltsin's presidential guard, Korzhakov, is quoted so frequently, that the reader gets an impression that he should have been made the co-author. Given the notoriety this general demonstrated during early nineties, the reader will be well advised not to believe his accounts.
In a recent libel case heard in London, the employer of Klebnikov, the Forbes magazine, officially admitted that his allegations that Berezovsky was responsible for murders of various Russian figures (such a Vlad Listiev) were baseless. One wonders why Forbes still employs this guy. One article written by Klebnikov must have cost Forbes a fortune both in legal fees and reputation...
My view is that this book contains a lot of interesting information about recent Russian history, but its account of this history is substantially distorted and biased. For readers unfamiliar with recent events in Russian this book will be misleading. I don't recommend anyone but specialists to buy it.
Rating: 1
Summary: A poorly researched tale
Comment: This book is a joke.
For evidence of how poorly researched this book is, simply GOOGLE the authors name and title of the book and you will find a copy of the London Court's libel judgement against the author and various gripes from the authors "footnoted" interviewees who claim they were misquoted or that quotes were simply made up. One American Moscow correspondent even claims in his paper that the author used strong anti-semitic slurs when discussing Berezovsky.
If the publishers want to stick by their author, that's fine, but the public record and the English libel verdict as to this books accuracy is clear for all to see. Use Google.
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Title: The Oligarchs: Wealth & Power in the New Russia by David E. Hoffman, David Hoffman ISBN: 1586480014 Publisher: PublicAffairs Pub. Date: 19 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Comrade Criminal: Russia's New Mafiya by Stephen Handelman ISBN: 0300063865 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: April, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.22 |
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Title: Casino Moscow: A Tale of Greed and Adventure on Capitalism's Wildest Frontier by Matthew Brzezinski ISBN: 0684869764 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: July, 2001 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Sale of the Century: Russia's Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism by Chrystia Freeland ISBN: 0812932153 Publisher: Times Books Pub. Date: 12 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Red Mafiya: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America by Robert I. Friedman ISBN: 0316294748 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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