(c) 2002, 2003 Copyright Lidija Rangelovska. Russian Roulette Russia's Economy In Putin's Era 1st EDITION Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. Editing and Design: Lidija Rangelovska Lidija Rangelovska A Narcissus Publications Imprint, Skopje 2003 First published by United Press International - UPI Not for Sale! Non-commercial edition. (c) 2002, 2003 Copyright Lidija Rangelovska. All rights reserved. This book, or any part thereof, may not be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from: Lidija Rangelovska - write to: palma@unet.com.mk or to vaknin@link.com.mk Visit the Author Archive of Dr. Sam Vaknin in "Central Europe Review": http://www.ce-review.org/authorarchives/vaknin_archive/vaknin_main.html Visit my United Press International (UPI) Article Archive ISBN: 9989-929-31-9 http://samvak.tripod.com/guide.html http://samvak.tripod.com/briefs.html http://economics.cjb.net http://samvak.tripod.com/after.html Created by: LIDIJA RANGELOVSKA REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA C O N T E N T S I. The Security Apparatus II. The Energy Sector III. Financial Services IV. The Russian Devolution - The Regions V. Agriculture VI. Russia as a Creditor VII. Russia's Space Industry VIII. Russia's Vodka Wars IX. Let My People Go X. Fimaco Wouldn't Die XI. The Chechen Theatre Ticket XII. Russia's Israeli Oil Bond XIII. Russia's Idled Spies XIV. Russia's Middle Class XV. Russia in 2003 XVI. Russia Straddles the Euro-Atlantic Divide XVII. Russia's Stealth Diplomacy XVIII. Russia's Second Empire XIX. The Author XX. About "After the Rain" The Security Apparatus Shabtai Kalmanovich vanished from London in late 1980's. He resurfaced in Israel to face trial for espionage. He was convicted and spent years in an Israeli jail before being repatriated to Russia. He was described by his captors as a mastermind, in charge of an African KGB station. In the early 1970's he even served as advisor (on Russian immigration) to Israel's Iron Lady, Golda Meir. He then moved to do flourishing business in Africa, in Botswana and then in Sierra Leone, where his company, LIAT, owned the only bus operator in Freetown. He traded diamonds, globetrotted flamboyantly with an entourage of dozens of African chieftains and their mistresses, and fraternized with the corrupt elite, President Momoh included. In 1986-7 he even collaborated with IPE, a London based outfit, rumored to have been owned by former members of the Mossad and other paragons of the Israeli defense establishment (including virtually all the Israelis implicated in the ill-fated Iran-Contras affair).