Slate's Bizbox
the breakfast table: An e-mail conversation about the news of the day.

Gessen and Quinn-Judge

the breakfast table
entries
1234567891011121314151617
from: Paul Quinn-Judge

Traffic and the FSB

Posted Wednesday, Oct. 14, 1998, at 10:47 AM ET

Just back from one of those cute Moscow experiences. I was crossing a fairly large road, and had stopped in the center lane, when some jerk and his bodyguards came along. A Mercedes bracketed by Chevy Suburbans. They decided they wanted the middle lane, too: The first Chevy accelerated and blasted me with his horn, the second Chevy driver flicked his wheel at me. I presume he planned to scare me rather than hit me. I think, though I'm not sure, that it was Umar Dzhabrailov (a Moscow businessman with a lot of well armed enemies). The security was distinctly upmarket: camouflage uniforms, presumably body armor, and Uzis or something sticking up against the windows. They are such shits.

I agree on the FSB. My feeling is that the only thing that has happened to them and the rest of the organs since the end of the Soviet Union is that their freedom to maneuver has been reduced. Their world view and their methods have not changed. These days, of course, they do not have to threaten an offender with the gulags: A few years in a prison system beset by a terrifying TB epidemic is horrendous enough.

Back to the organs for a moment. Do you think that Gusinski's analytical group is getting its pay? Are they still run by General Filipp Bobkov (KGB retiree)? I remember Chubais always assumed that they were the main ones bugging his phones.

You see that Boris Nikolayevich dragged himself into the Kremlin today, to show that he is still in working order. (One of the photographers who was with him in Uzbekistan said that he seemed at times to be slipping into his dotage). The ORT network has just shown a rather pathetic display: Yeltsin's jolly chat with Primakov and a couple of ministers. Even this effort to boost Yeltsin's image backfired: The TV showed Primakov informing Yeltsin that Jacques Chirac had called him, the prime minister, to talk about things yesterday. Further proof that Yeltsin is out of it. Cheers.

the breakfast table
entries
1234567891011121314151617
from: Paul Quinn-Judge

Traffic and the FSB

Posted Wednesday, Oct. 14, 1998, at 10:47 AM ET
Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
Masha Gessen is chief of reporting at the Russian newsmagazine Itogi and author of Dead Again: The Russian Intelligentsia After Communism. Paul Quinn-Judge is Time's Moscow bureau chief.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES
Washington Post
The Washington Post
OPINIONS
The Great Debate
Marcus | Forget Biden. I'd like to see McCain face off against Palin.
Toles: Another McCain SurpriseStumped: Where's Palin's Baby?