From: eagle_wng
A Tough Nut for a Hard Spot
10.10.2005 – 00:51:37
Given the lofty moral standards in the Kremlin these days, do you think Kanokov was appointed on his merits or in exchange for a suitcase full of cash?
The regional legislature in the Caucasus Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria last week confirmed the Kremlin´s candidate for president, Arsen Kanokov.
Kanokov, an ethnic Kabardin, was elected to the State Duma in 2003 as a Liberal Democratic Party of Russia candidate, but he joined the United Russia faction once in office.
His business interests include Sindiko, a large — and nontransparent — holding that specializes in building supplies and commercial real estate in Moscow.
Kanokov also owns a number of Intourist hotels and until recently the Nezhdanchik casino chain in the North Caucasus.
Kanokov sold off his casino business as he geared up to become president.
He also built a mosque in the regional capital, Nalchik, and introduced a bill in the regional legislature restricting the gambling business.
Kanokov is a very rich man.
It goes without saying that he will make every attempt to monopolize all business in the republic.
But he won´t stoop to stealing every last kopek of federal money sent from Moscow to pay benefits and pensions and to subsidize the reconstruction of flood-damaged homes.
The bulk of Kanokov´s business is in Moscow, and this makes him susceptible to Kremlin control because his holdings in Moscow are worth more than the entire republic of Kabardino-Balkaria with a couple of neighboring regions thrown in for good measure.
Finally, Kanokov is no Ramzan Kadyrov, but he won´t exactly be hurting for armed supporters who will stick it to the separatists if they come down from the mountains.
(The mountains in Kabardino-Balkaria, as in Karachayevo-Cherkessia and Dagestan, are outside of government control.)
Kanokov´s supporters will do a better job against the separatists than Russian cops because they won´t sell out for a ruble or two.
They will take up arms not to defend Russians but because extremists are bad for business.
And this gives reason to hope that the extremists will opt to strike a bargain with Kanokov: They´ll stay up in the mountains as long as Kanokov´s men stay down on the plains.
The appointment of Kanokov indicates that Moscow has decided to install capable leaders in the region.
Dmitry Kozak, presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District, clearly influenced this shift in policy.
Until recently, the Kremlin entrusted the North Caucasus to puppet leaders who wielded no real power in their regions, with predictably terrible results.
Following the ´´election´´ of Ingush President Murat Zyazikov, Russia effectively lost control of the republic.
In Karachayevo-Cherkessia, President Mustafa Batdyev was called as a witness in the trial of his former son-in-law, Ali Kaitov, who was accused along with 15 others in the murder of seven people in the capital, Cherkessk.
You might object that Kanokov or Mamsurov is no less likely to get involved in a gangland slaying.
But you´d be wrong. People who have survived being boiled in oil don´t knock over convenience stores.
This is the kind of thing you´d expect from small-time thugs who are suddenly placed in a position of power.
It´s hard to imagine a man like Kanokov being appointed governor in a European country.
It would be like naming Lucky Luciano U.S. ambassador to Sicily.
You may recall, however, that the United States did something similar during World War II, when it released Luciano from prison and sent him to Sicily in advance of the U.S. invasion.
Luciano helped enormously to defeat Mussolini.
Kanokov is a rich man. And this gives rise to what is, on balance, an unimportant question.
Given the lofty moral standards in the Kremlin these days, do you think Kanokov was appointed on his merits or in exchange for a suitcase full of cash?
by Yulia Latynina
Yulia Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Source: http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/10/05/007.html
300905 Arsen Kanokov
http://www.kafkas.org.tr/absoluten/showarticle.php?articleID=1383
