#5 - JRL 8149 - JRL Home
Moscow Times
April 2, 2004
Editorial
The Unbearable Richness of Being
Ten months ago, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partners managed to convince a court to impound, some say unconstitutionally, the entire print run of a magazine dedicated to the billionaire's scandal-tainted climb to the top of Russia's business heap.
Of course, Khodorkovsky's people only went for this option after their offer to buy the entire print run was turned down, according to the periodical's editors. That kind of behavior was nothing new for the tycoon and his comrades, who learned early on that manipulating the courts, government officials, the press -- pretty much everything and everybody -- could help them amass astronomical wealth.
Nonetheless, the blatant attempt at censorship came as a surprise to many people who believed his assertion that he had undergone a personal epiphany back in 2000 -- the same year, perhaps not coincidently, that Vladimir Putin came to power -- and that his goal had changed from making money to building civil society.
In fact, just two months earlier, Khodorkovsky told this newspaper: "Before 2000, I thought business responsibility and social responsibility were separate issues. I've probably grown up now. Society expects not only success but social responsibility from its most high-profile members. ... It was a surprising revelation for me."
That kind of talk might sell in the West, but for more sober observers back home it smacked of hypocrisy. Having capitalized on the dark side, it became clear that there was money to be made recapitalizing on the sunny side: By cleaning up the public image of both himself and his oil company Yukos, he would be able to maximize value and pocket an absurd profit by selling it to a Western major. And cold hard cash, unlike the crude Yukos pumps, can safely be hidden abroad.
But then he was arrested. And having had six months to meditate on his past and future, he issues a sort of capitalist manifesto in which he lambastes the "liberal elite" for, well, being like him, while dismissing his own past dubious behavior as simply being what was in vogue at the time.
These "liberals," he says, should be ashamed of themselves for, among other things: Ignoring "the vital interests of the vast majority of Russians;" turning "a blind eye to social realities when they conducted sweeping privatizations;" speaking about "freedom of speech [while] doing everything within their power to ... control the media for their own ends."
Rich words indeed from Russia's richest man.
But then again, Khodorkovsky's trial is looming. With that in mind, he manages, in some 3,000 words, to squeeze in a few lines about respecting the president "whether we like him or not." He even praises Putin for absorbing "the anti-liberal energy of the majority" and bridling "our national demons."
Lest we forget that it is not Khodorkovsky that Khodorkovsky is worried about, but the destiny of this "unique civilization," the billionaire gives us a blueprint for building a brighter future, which is comprised of seven points. Slid in there at No. 6, between subordinating individual liberties to the national interest and ending the brain drain, is the need to "legitimize privatization and rehabilitate it in the eyes of the nation."
"To change the country," Khodorkovsky writes, "we must change ourselves."
We've heard it before; last year in fact, when he noted that the "personal transformation" he had experienced might not be eternal.
"Of course, I don't know if this will change in the future," he told us with a wolfish grin.
It is interesting to note that he hasn't lost his knack for making a buck. His perceived capitulation to the Kremlin helped push Yukos' market cap back up to where it was before his arrest.
Now, about that jail sentence ...