“The Oligarchs bought, sold, or simply took over Russia's national wealth for pennies on the dollar...[They are] the most hated men in the country.” - Cali Ruchala, Sobaka, 03/26/04

Can you imagine the outcry if corporate sleaze bags, Ken Lay of Enron and Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom shame, avoided their federal criminal trials in the United States and ended up in the Kremlin, being toasted by a leading member of the Russian Duma? Why, right-wing blowhards would have a field day blasting Russia’s President Vladimir Putin for harboring “fugitives from justice.”

Well, this is exactly what Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), a Zionist, Iraqi War Hawk and opponent of justice for Rachel Corrie, pulled off on Feb. 2, 2005, in Washington, D.C. (1) He put his loyalty to the Zionist Cartel before his oath of office by bringing into his office two Zionists, Mikhail Brudno and Vladimir Dubov. They are each wanted on fraud charges by the Russian government and by INTERPOL. (2) Each man’s net worth has been put at $1.8 billion. (3) They are shareholders in the giant Yukos Oil Company, which was primarily owned by the imprisoned billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, another fat cat Oligarch. (4)

Khodorkovsky, a Zionist, too, is worth $15.2 billion. He is in jail and on trial in Russia for fraud and tax evasion. Yukos Oil Co., his most valuable asset, was dismantled in December, 2003, and “effectively renationalized.” It’s believed that Khodorkovsky bought Yugos, a state asset, for a mere $300 million, by rigging the system, even though it was worth billions of dollars more. He has been involved in other shady privatization deals, too, which has landed him in the slammer. He claims he’s innocent. (5)

Lantos invited the two fugitives, Brudno and Dubov, a/k/a “Oligarchs,” to an “hour long meeting on Capitol Hill.” The duo also attended, on Feb. 3, 2005, “a prayer breakfast” at a local Washington hotel at which President George W. Bush spoke. According to the news account, “Bush may not have even know they were there.” (1) Lantos is the ranking Democrat on the House International Relations Committee. Like his U.S. Senate counterpart, Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT), he pushed for the passage of the draconian USA Patriot Act and for the creation of the ultra-survelliance Homeland Security Department, soon to be headed by the Zionist, Michael Chertoff. The Zionist involvement in oppressive legislation in the U.S. extends back to the “Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995.” (6) That law called for “secret trials based on secret evidence,” and was cosponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and then House member, now Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY). Both Specter and Schumer are believed to be card-carrying Zionists.

When Khodorkovsky was arrested on Oct. 25, 2003, by Russian authorities, his cronies Brudno and Dubov, took off for Israel, where many of the ex-tycoons from Russia, and other countries, too, have sought sanctuary under Israel’s “Law of the Return.” (Strange isn’t it? A Zionist wanted for a criminal offense can flee to Israel for sanctuary, but Palestinians, who have been unlawfully put off their lands by the brutal Israeli Occupation Forces, aren’t permitted to return to their native homeland. (7) Why doesn’t Elie Wiesel, that putative humanitarian, speak out about this scandal?) Brudno and Dubov are traveling to the U.S. “on Israeli passports with long-term U.S. visas,” according to the Washington Post. Nevertheless, the huge difference between Judaism and Zionism must be underscored. (8)

Do you get the impression that there is a double standard working here; one for Zionists, who are accused of crimes; and another for everyone else living on the planet? Another instance of this was Marc Rich. A few years back, he was given a “Presidential Pardon” for his supposed financial wrongdoing by “Bubba Bill” Clinton. (9)

As for the looting of Russia, according to the riveting book, “Godfather of the Kremlin,” by Paul Klebnikov, it reached, in the 90s, endemic proportions. On July 9, 2004, Klebnikov, an extremely brave, Russian-born Jew, was shot to death in Moscow after leaving his office. (10)

Meanwhile, unconnected to the M.O. of the cited Oligarchs, Russian gangsters have been engaged in widespread criminal activity in the U.S. Sometime these violence-prone groups are referred to as the “Russian Mob” and/or the “Red Mafia.” According to another gutsy Jewish pundit, Robert I. Friedman of the Village Voice, Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, NY, is “ground zero for Russian organized crime in this country.” (11) Friedman also wrote an excellent expose’ on the Russian Crime Syndicates, in which he claims that since “Perestroika,” $600 billion has been taken out of Russia - - “the greatest looting of a nation in world history.” (12)

As for Lantos, it would have been more appropriate for him to have met the fugitive Oligarchs in a local Zionist facility, instead of using his Congressional office funded by the American taxpayers. By doing so, this lawmaker showed contempt for the public trust and the U.S. Constitution. Like Enron’s Lay and WorldCom’s Ebbers, the Russian Oligarchs, Brudno and Dubov, are entitled to their day in court. However, they are still fugitives from justice. The Russian judicial proceedings are deserving of every presumption of legality. The Oligarchs’ flight from the court’s jurisdiction could be considered as circumstantial evidence of their guilt. By the way, the PR machine for Khodorkovsky has been selling his image as a “champion of good corporate governance.” The critics of Khodorkovsky, however, would disagree sharply with that description. (5)

Finally, it is beyond cavil, that no one had suffered more in the 20th Century, via WWII, massive political murders, Genocide in the Ukraine, the resettlement of ethnic tribes and the horrific Gulag, than the Russian people. (13) What will happen when Russia’s Robber Barons set up shop in the U.S.? One thing for sure is this: Don’t count on any help from Rep. Tom Lantos!

© William Hughes 2005

William Hughes is the author of “Saying ‘No’ to the War Party” (IUniverse, Inc.). He can be reached at liamhughes-AT-comcast.net.

NOTES:

(1) “Prayer Breakfast Includes Russian Fugitives,” Washington Post, by Peter Baker, 02/05/05.
(2) www.kommersant.com/page.asp
(3) mosnews.com/images/p/2125.shtml
(4) news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3213505.stm
(5) www.diacritica.com/sobaka/2004/americanoligarch.html
(6) www.adl.org/PresRele/Teror_92/2690_92.asp
(7) www.pchrgaza.org/
(8) www.beth-elsa.org/be_s0427.htm
(9) homepage.mac.com/bhughes2/iMovieTheater97.html
(10) www.forbes.com/business/2004/07/09/cz_sf_0709klebnikov.html
(11) “The Most Dangerous Mobster in the World,” by Robert I. Friedman, Village Voice, 05/22/1998.
(12) www.polaris.nova.edu/~alford/reviews/friedman.htm
(13) “Stalin and his Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him,” by Donald Rayfield; “Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar,” by Simon Sebag Montefiore; and “Beria: Stalin’s First Lieutenant,” by Amy Knight.