Khodorkovsky trial: Russia hits back at West

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

Russia has accused Western nations of exerting "unacceptable" pressure over the trial of jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Russia's foreign ministry was reacting to criticism by the US and Germany on Monday after a second guilty verdict was delivered against Khodorkovsky.

Khodorkovsky, once seen as a threat to former President Vladimir Putin, was convicted of embezzlement.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12085233

[Kolesar]

1. Nukes for Iran, Star-Wars missile "defense", ...

US' relationship with Russia is screwed.

[Dover]

2. As I recall, these two oil tycoons were privatizing Russia's oil/gas industry among other businesses

and may have even been U.S. spies or in cahoots with the U.S. who wanted to gain a foothold in
Russia's considerable oil/gas resources. Putin quickly put a stop to the 'oligarchs' and reclaimed that resource for Russia. And his actions were replicated by other nations, as for instance in South America where nationalizing and reclaiming resources became the modus operandi and mantra.

And of course, relative to our complaints about Russia's abuse of the law, does the U.S. really have a leg to stand on? One word ..."Guantanamo"...shuts down that argument pretty quickly. In both countries, claims of preserving national interests and security apparently trump the rule of law.

Iran just hung a spy, so I suppose it's all relative.