Quotable notes (11/19/06)

Quotable notes

In keeping with Ukrainian tradition, on the 40th day since her death on October 7 we recall the courageous journalist Anna (nee Mazepa) Politkovskaya (see The Weekly, October 15). Following are excerpts of commentaries about her tragic murder.

"... Chances are Ms. Politkovskaya's murderer will never be officially identified. At least a dozen other journalists have been murdered in contract-style killings in the past six years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, and not one of those murders has been solved. Human rights advocates and pro-democracy politicians have been struck down in the same way.

"Yet it is quite possible, without performing any detective work, to say what is ultimately responsible for these deaths: It is the climate of brutality that has flourished under Mr. [Vladimir] Putin. A former KGB agent himself, he inherited an imperfect democracy and systematically undermined its institutions.

"The media, political parties, local government, private business - each in turn was neutered. Loyalty to Mr. Putin has become the quality that matters most, and any opponent is labeled an enemy, to be bankrupted, imprisoned or worse. Meanwhile, ugly nationalism was permitted to flourish. ..."

- editorial, The Washington Post, October 8.

"...Politkovskaya was not, it is true, the first Russian journalist to be murdered in murky circumstances since 2000, when President Vladimir Putin came to power. ...Nevertheless, Politkovskaya's murder marks a distinct turning point. There was no attempt to disguise the murder as a theft or an accident: Her assassin not only shot her in broad daylight, but he left her body in the elevator of her apartment building alongside the gun he used to kill her - standard practice for Moscow's arrogant hit men.

"Nor can her murder be easily attributed to distant provincial authorities or the criminal mafia: Local businessmen had no motivation to kill her - but officials of the army, the police and even the Kremlin did. Whereas local thieves might have tried to cover their tracks, Politkovskaya's assassin, like so many Russian assassins, did not seem to fear the law.

"Of course if this murder follows the usual pattern in Russia, no suspect will ever be found and no assassin will ever come to trial. But in the longer term, the criminal investigation isn't what matters most. After all, whoever pulled the trigger - or paid someone to pay someone to pull the trigger - has already won a major victory. ..."

"A Moscow Murder Story," column by Anne Applebaum, The Washington Post, October 9.

"...There is little to be gained from speculating about who exactly ordered the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. The system that encouraged the crime, the logic that made it politically expedient for some of those in power, that is the true face of Mr. Putin's Russia. This is the same Russia that chairs the G-8 and the same Russian leader who received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor from Jacques Chirac.

"With the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, the forces of corruption and repression in Russia have now made it plain that there is nothing they won't do to stay in power. This is obviously bad news for my country. But it is catastrophic for every nation that these forces continue to receive the approval of the leaders of the free world."

- Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion, chairman of the United Civil Front in Russia, in a commentary in The Wall Street Journal, October 9.

| Home Page |