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The recent expulsion of four Russian diplomats from the UK by Gordon Brown, may well be seen as an indicator of strength and integrity in Britain’s new prime minister. After all, it’s hardly cricket for ex-Soviet spies to go around London poisoning other ex-Soviet spies at will, and Russia’s refusal to turn Andrei Lugovoi over to the British judicial system for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko can only be seen as the expected response of a dictatorial Soviet system.

At least, that’s what Mister Brown and his government would have us believe. The truth is, perhaps, a little more politically complex.

In the last few years, Russia has asked the UK for the extradition of twenty-one Soviet citizens wanted in their own country on various charges. Not least of these, is Boris Berezovsky. He is wanted on charges of embezzlement and fraud back in Russia, but is presently dividing his time between his luxurious “office” in London’s Mayfair district, and a $20,000,000 mansion in the affluent county of Surrey in southern England. This “pad” is equipped with bullet-proof windows, laser monitors, spy cameras, reinforced steel doors, and is guarded by ex-members of the elite French Foreign Legion.

Berezovsky has openly fomented revolution against the Russian government, stating violence is the only way to overthrow the Putin regime. It seems Boris Berezovsky is no stranger to violence.

In December 1996, a Russian journalist Paul Klebnikov wrote an article about Berezovsky in Forbes Magazine. It was entitled, “Godfather of the Kremlin?” In it, Klebnikov explains the methods that brought Berezovsky his millions, and names just a few who died in the process. Although Forbes was forced to recant the allegations when Berezovsky sued for libel, Klebnikov later expanded the article into a book of the same title. Berezovsky failed to sue Klebnikov on this occasion. Instead, the journalist was shot to death on a Russian street.

There seems to be a wealth of evidence suggesting Berezovsky’s involvement in many illegal matters, least of all the death of Paul Klebnikov, yet the British government refuses to deny him refugee status and allows him to live openly and freely in the UK.

Why?

Might it have something to do with his alliance to the Bush family of America? In 2003, the same year he was granted refugee status in Britain, Berezovsky became entwined with George W Bush’s younger brother, Neil, assisting in financing the educational software corporation, “Ignite! Learning” – the very same company that Barbara Bush, when she ungenerously donated to the Bush-Clinton Hurricane Katrina Fund, insisted her money be given to.

It would seem wherever he goes, Boris Berezovsky moves in the very highest of circles. By refusing extradition of just this one man alone, the British government has thumbed its nose at Vladimir Putin and shown its utter disrespect for a fellow member of the UN Security Council.

The expulsion of four Russian diplomats this week may be viewed by uninformed voters in the UK as the decision of a strong leader, but when the facts are uncovered it can also be seen as a sop veiling a weak government kowtowing to a rich and deadly criminal with good transatlantic connections.

NOTE: In late breaking news today, that king of British gutter-press newspapers, The Sun published an “Exclusive” story claiming Berezovsky was the near-victim of an assassination attempt by Russian agents at London’s Hilton Hotel recently. As yet, the story lacks both credibility and evidence to support it. Interestingly, The Sun is owned by News International, which in turn is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who just happens to be a longtime friend and business associate of Boris Berezovsky.

Filed under: Political corruption

These things happen. You wake up one morning. All is apparently well with your world. You have breakfast, send the wife off to work, and then with no warning whatever you realize something is terribly wrong.

This morning, it was when I repaired to the den to commence work and noticed the little red LED light flashing on and off. With two desktop computers, a laptop, Tivo, and a VoIP phone system, the occasional flashing light from a myriad technological gizmos necessary for any state-of-the-art home network these days, is nothing to get concerned about.

But this one seemed somehow different. It blinked balefully and somewhat mournfully, like you’d expect an LED to behave if it had suddenly been issued with the unenviable task of announcing the end of the world.

Undaunted, I was certain it was just needed power-cycling. These things happen. There’d been a thunderstorm in the night. Probably, the electric had died momentarily, triggering this problem. I unplugged the gizmos, waited the necessary half-minute, then carefully re-inserted each power cord into its correct orifice. Slowly, the gizmos woke up, looked about them, and began settling to their steady rhythm of yellow-green LED chatter, just as normal. Until, the one turned from yellow to bright red and began its doleful, doom-laden blink once more.

It was the gizmo for the VoIP phone, so I picked up the handset and listened. All seemed well. The comforting burr of the dial tone gently assailed my eardrum. I dialed my wife’s work number. An answering machine picked up the call, as I expected. It was too early for the telephonists to be at their desks. I replaced the receiver. The little red LED still blinked unremittingly back at me.

Now, I’m the sort of person who needs conformity. If something is doing what it shouldn’t, even though all seems well, I have to find out why. Some people can happily drive their cars halfway around the world with the “Check Engine Light” glaring at them out the dashboard. Not I. It’s into the curb and call for a tow-truck if there is so much as a flicker.

Consequently, two seconds later found me punching out the number of the phone company’s twenty-four hour customer service desk. It wasn’t the first time. I was on familiar terms with some of the staff. As soon as I’d give them my phone number, the response invariably came back:

“Oh, it’s RJ, I thought I recognized that British accent.”

On this occasion, however, no cheery voice returned my greeting. In fact, I never got chance to offer a greeting. An answering machine, in that tone of voice indicative of someone in a desperate hurry to escape the office, stated briefly, and hurriedly:

“We are not taking any customer service calls at this time. Goodbye.”

A momentary picture flashed through my mind – the radio-operator on the Titanic, last to leave the ship, sending his final desperate SOS before dashing to the rail and plunging into icy seas, just seconds before the liner slid forever beneath the waters of the North Atlantic.

Three attempts later, I gave up on trying to beat that mercurial answering message. Something was very wrong.

Readers of Sparrow Chat from its Blogger days, may well recollect – about twelve months ago – how enthusiastically I ranted about my new VoIP phone service. An up and coming company offering great value, fantastic service, free gizmo, and the promise of more technological delights for its customers as they grew in business stature.

That company was SunRocket.

Today, after checking out SunRocket on the internet to discover why its customer support service was down, I found out SunRocket is also down, for good. Belly up. Bankrupt.

And then it struck me. Only last week I’d paid them another $200 year’s subscription. Darn it, I’d get that back! I paid with a credit card. Reaching for the phone, I dialed the card company’s helpline.

What’s up, here? Why isn’t it ringing? Don’t tell me they’re bankrupt as well! Damn it, there’s no dial tone!

Perplexed, I glanced up at the VoIP gizmo. For a moment all seemed fine. Then, as I watched, the little red LED light blinked very rapidly five or six times, like a dying man struggling for one final desperate breath of life, and, as I stared, it finally went out for good.

Filed under: And some you lose

As the Roman Catholic Church shells out another huge monetary sum – some $660 million – as blood money to yet more victims of its abuse, this time in Los Angeles, one has to wonder at the sheer temerity and arrogance of that institution’s present leader, Benedict XVI. Only last week he reaffirmed through his Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – of which, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he was once the head – that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church.

Do these people expect us to treat them with any respect?

There are certain similarities between the position of the Roman Catholic Church in the religious world, and the United States of America in the political one. Both are claiming some God-given right to exalted leadership, while sanctifying corruption, perversion, inhumanity, and greed. Comparisons can be drawn between Benedict XVI and George W Bush. Each is narrow-minded, lacking vision, and retains a perception of the world that has failed to keep pace with modernity. As the many Protestant churches protest Benedict’s leadership proclamation, so do other nations stand in horror as the USA continues its preemptive power struggle in the Middle East.

For those individuals capable of stringing together two or more relevant thoughts coherently, the very concepts of politicians and clergymen have become anathema.

Filed under: Power plays