(c) 2002, 2003 Copyright Lidija Rangelovska.
Russian Roulette
Russia's Economy
In Putin's Era
1st EDITION
Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.
Editing and Design:
Lidija Rangelovska
Lidija Rangelovska
A Narcissus Publications Imprint, Skopje 2003
First published by United Press International - UPI
Not for Sale! Non-commercial edition.
(c) 2002, 2003 Copyright Lidija Rangelovska.
All rights reserved. This book, or any part thereof, may not be used orreproduced in any manner without written permission from:
Lidija Rangelovska - write to:
palma@unet.com.mk or to
vaknin@link.com.mk
Visit the Author Archive of Dr. Sam Vaknin in "Central Europe Review":
http://www.ce-review.org/authorarchives/vaknin_archive/vaknin_main.html
Visit my United Press International (UPI) Article Archive
http://samvak.tripod.com/guide.html
http://samvak.tripod.com/briefs.html
http://economics.cjb.net
http://samvak.tripod.com/after.html
Created by: LIDIJA RANGELOVSKA
I. The Security Apparatus
II. The Energy Sector
III. Financial Services
IV. The Russian Devolution - The Regions
V. Agriculture
VI. Russia as a Creditor
VII. Russia's Space Industry
VIII. Russia's Vodka Wars
IX. Let My People Go
X. Fimaco Wouldn't Die
XI. The Chechen Theatre Ticket
XII. Russia's Israeli Oil Bond
XIII. Russia's Idled Spies
XIV. Russia's Middle Class
XV. Russia in 2003
XVI. Russia Straddles the Euro-Atlantic Divide
XVII. Russia's Stealth Diplomacy
XVIII. Russia's Second Empire
XIX. The Author
XX. About "After the Rain"
The Security Apparatus
Shabtai Kalmanovich vanished from London in late 1980's. He resurfacedin Israel to face trial for espionage. He was convicted and spent yearsin an Israeli jail before being repatriated to Russia. He was describedby his captors as a mastermind, in charge of an African KGB station.
In the early 1970's he even served as advisor (on Russian immigration)to Israel's Iron Lady, Golda Meir. He then moved to do flourishingbusiness in Africa, in Botswana and then in Sierra Leone, where hiscompany, LIAT, owned the only bus operator in Freetown. He tradeddiamonds, globetrotted flamboyantly with an entourage of dozens ofAfrican chieftains and their mistresses, and fraternized with thecorrupt elite, President Momoh included. In 1986-7 he even collaboratedwith IPE, a London based outfit, rumored to have been owned by formermembers of the Mossad and other paragons of the Israeli defenseestablishment (including virtually all the Israelis implicated in theill-fated Iran-Contras affair).
Being a KGB officer was always a lucrative and liberating proposition.Access to Western goods, travel to exotic destinations, making new (andinfluential) friends, mastering