Dark days in Russia (but not for all Russians)

President Vladimir Putin has almost certainly approved the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, one of the last of the post-Soviet oligarchs (he made his money in oil) and increasingly vocal opponent of Putin. This has been decried in various quarters as signaling the death, or at least terminal illness, of the new Russian capitalism - see, e.g., The Economist's views here and a Washington Post op-ed piece here. This is a disheartening development, and I can only hope that it gets rectified, quickly.

On a semi-related and lighter note, the efforts of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich to buy a championship for Chelsea Football Club, an English soccer team, may be paying dividends - they're currently in second place (behind my team Arsenal, of course). This success follows a massive spending spree this summer on all kinds of players. Actually, some have suggested that Abramovich has bought Chelsea, and is building this fame in England, to insulate himself from the kind of attention Putin is paying Khodorkovsky. All sports fans should be so lucky as Chelsea fans, who have begun chanting in recognition of their newfound luck (as reported by Arseweb, the ultimate Arsenal blog):

A couple of the Chelsea fans' chants deserve a mention. Instead of "shall we sing a song for you" it was "shall we buy a ground for you" but my favourite was (to the tune of "Can't take my eyes off of you" ie Freddie's song) the simple and honest "We're f**king loaded".

- posted by Anonymous @ 10:06 PM